Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 50: Cinderella and two knights
Luciana felt as if her world was crumbling under her feet after hearing his unreasonable words. She felt as if everything was falling apart. Scenes from her previous life, where she was treated like a prisoner, caged under Nicholas’ strict supervision, flashed past her eyes, and tears began to spill from her eyes, but she immediately wiped them away with the back of her hand.
She felt as if there was a huge lump in her throat, with a heavyweight pressing against her chest. She clutched her chest in pain and lowered her gaze. ’Where had everything gone wrong? She just wanted a peaceful life this time around; why was it so difficult?’
Nicholas saw how sad she looked and nearly pulled her into an embrace but stopped himself.
’She was just pretending because she didn’t want him to hurt David! He knew there was something suspicious between them that day in the palace. But she had cleverly used his own words against him and made him think she had nothing to do with David, and like a fool, he had believed it. If he hadn’t heard everything clearly with his own ears, she would have kept up the charade.’
The more he thought about everything, the more furious he became. In the next moment, he pulled out his sword from the sheath and tossed the sheath onto the ground. The clanging sound of the sheath against the floor caused Luciana’s heart to thump wildly in her chest.
"Are you going to hide behind her like a coward, or would you fight me like a man?" Nicholas snarled at David, who had been silently watching everything unfold. He raised a brow at his words.
"I’m ready when you are; I won’t be caught off guard this time," David said, not batting an eye and also unsheathing his sword, the sound causing Luciana to become even more anxious. She had hoped one of them would be the voice of reason. They were in the middle of the capital; didn’t they know that?
"2nd Prince, please stop saying such things," Luciana said to David over her shoulder and stared at Nicholas with an expression full of guilt.
"Nick, please." Luciana cried; her words sounded like a plea.
Nicholas was indifferent in the beginning, but seeing her hunched posture and her trembling shoulders as her tears began to fall from her face, he just couldn’t take it. But he acted tough.
"Don’t say my name!" He snarled, and Luciana shook her head. ’She wished time would go back to an hour before; she would have done things differently. She already knew how possessive Nicholas was, but she ignored all the warning signs and came with David.’
"We are in public, please; people might see, and rumors might spread," she said, sniffing, and then a thought crossed her mind.
She began to approach Nicholas, who was still holding his sword in an aggressive stance. But she still acted brave even though she was afraid he might become even angrier, so she decided to bet on Evelyn’s words from her past life. She said that Nicholas loved her and that she was the one who never noticed.
She raised her hand up, intending to push the sword away from Nicholas and hug him. Her palm was just a hair’s breadth away from the sharp edge of the sword when. Nicholas’s pupils shrank.
"Luciana!"
"Luciana!"
Both men yelled her name at the same time and turned to look at each other with hostility in their eyes. If looks could kill, both men would have dropped dead by the raw intensity of their gazes.
"Would you hurt yourself just so I won’t do anything to him?" Nicholas snarled; there was a hint of mockery in his tone.
’Was she willing to go to such lengths to prevent him from fighting David?’ he thought.
"Luciana, don’t do anything stupid for my sake. The eldest prince and I have always been like this. Your presence has nothing to do with it," David said, and Nicholas’ eyes dangerously narrowed. The atmosphere became charged as both men looked like they were about to tear each other apart.
Luciana frantically shook her head at Nicholas, whose gaze had become downright intense and frightening that she even wanted to flee from his presence.
"No, Nick, please listen to me. It’s not like that. Believe me, I don’t want to escape; David is just spouting nonsense; I just don’t want to cause a scene in public; what would happen if the emperor found out?" Luciana explained but realized Nicholas looked even angrier.
"David? You call him David, and he also calls you Luciana. Now, tell me, what am I missing? Are you still going to lie to my face? What do you take me for—a fool?!" He laughed loudly as if he was crazy, and David’s stony expression cracked the slightest bit. He had never seen Nicholas show so much emotion in one day. It seems he had underestimated the bond between his brother and Luciana.
David could see how anxious and frightened Luciana looked and couldn’t help but wonder why she was so scared of his brother. What had she seen? Could it be because of her parents’ massacre?
Luciana felt as if the world was coming to an end once again. Her body turned weak, and her knees felt weak from all the tension; she staggered backward, and her dried eyes became moist once again, and she pressed her lips together. It seems it would be better to keep her mouth shut so that she doesn’t say anything to anger him further.
Nicholas saw how she staggered on her feet and saw how pale and scared she looked with lips trembling and lost interest in fighting David; he wouldn’t fight David—not yet, at least not in front of her.
"Come here," he said to the trembling woman who walked towards him as if she was going to faint in the next moment.
Luciana walked towards him with deliberate and careful steps. When she finally reached him, she collapsed into his embrace, and even though he was angry, he caught her with ease. His grip was strong but not too tight to hurt her.
"I don’t want to leave you, believe me, I swear," she said in a low voice, almost sounding like a whisper.
"Shhhhh," he said and rubbed her back. He was a fool indeed; in the end, he couldn’t watch her look so broken like that; he couldn’t see that look on her face that looked as if there was no light in her world. He just couldn’t do it. But he promised himself that he would never allow something like this to happen again. He wasn’t going to risk it.
"You owe me a duel, little brother," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice and especially stressed on ’little brother.’
"Stay away from ’my Luciana.’ From now on, it would be princess consort to you," he said and added after a beat.
"Oh, I forgot; you wouldn’t get such an opportunity to be close to her again. You should try joining my special guards, who will be following her every move from today onwards... Maybe then your dream of being close to her could come true."
Luciana stiffened...
