Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 58: A scary sight

When Nicholas ran out of the emperor’s drawing room, the maids, guards, and everyone else looked at him in shock. What could have happened for him to behave like that? He looked nothing like the usually cold and indifferent prince.

Adam heard what the guard reported and was also surprised by the prince’s reaction. The prince he knew was so aloof he didn’t even flinch in the face of danger.

"Where is she?!" He growled dangerously at the guard he assumed to be the messenger because he was from his manor.

"The princess consort is in the eldest prince’s manor," the guard reported. Nicholas mounted his horse and pulled the reins; the horse shot forward like an arrow, leaving Adam behind.

Watching the disappearing figure of the prince, Adam shook his head. This was bad! Even though Prince Nicholas was loved by many, it was no secret that he had a lot of enemies, powerful and dangerous enemies. His list of enemies could form a queue from the palace to the capital city.

If the failed assassination attempt on the princess was an act by any of the prince’s enemies, then it would be because they were already aware that Prince Nicholas treated her differently, and that discovery in itself was dangerous. For someone like Prince Nicholas, having a weakness was as bad as the word. Adam couldn’t help but fear there were going to be some tough times ahead.

~~~

When Nicholas saw Luciana safe and sound, he felt the breath he had been holding in all this while finally being released. Luciana’s back was facing the entrance as she paced up and down the hall, so she didn’t notice when Nicholas arrived.

Nicholas saw her and couldn’t resist; he hugged her from behind. His whole body was trembling, and his usually aloof and emotionless eyes, full of bloodlust, now had a hint of fear in them.

When Nicholas heard the eunuch report an assassination "attempt" on the princess consort, he knew it meant she was alive; maybe she was hurt, but she was alive at least. Bad news, such as death, spreads fast. But the knowledge of both the known and unknown caused a strange emotion he had never experienced to well up within him.

The emotion was so foreign that he didn’t think he had ever experienced it in all of his lifetime. It was fear; even if he didn’t want to admit it, the fear of living in a world without her seemed like a nightmare.

Maybe he wouldn’t be acting this way if he only had those previous memories between them from Serenevale; maybe it was because he had finally experienced what it was like having her so close, feeling how addicted he was to her that it was driving him crazy; he just couldn’t keep calm until he saw she was safe and sound with his own eyes.

Luciana’s nerves were already jittery as it was, so when someone held her like that, she screamed, trying to kick the person away.

"It’s me," he said, his hands that were holding her in place to stop her from moving couldn’t stop shaking.

"Lu—Luciana," He called out softly, his voice barely above a whisper. Luciana’s eyes whipped to stare at him. Why did it seem as if there was something wrong with him? She had never seen such a look of extreme fear, mixed with relief and something else she couldn’t quite describe on Nicholas’s face before. Not in her wildest imagination. ’Was he like this because of her?’ The thought sent a sweet shiver down her spine.

"Nick," she said and hugged him tightly. Nicholas held her as if he wanted to merge her body into his. His grip was tight but very comfortable and full of assurance. All the fears and her jittery nerves calmed down in his arms. She had been acting strong after everything that happened, even though she had been scared stiff seeing that man falling in front of her with blood slipping out of the arrow wound. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Your Highness, we are losing him. The arrowhead seems to have been poisoned, and the imperial physician has no idea what kind of poison it is," James reported, his gaze lowered, and he tried not to look Nicholas in the eye. He knew he failed in his duties of protecting the princess consort.

Nicholas was emotionless as he still held Luciana in his arms. It was as if she was the only person he could see. Luciana saw what was happening and slightly pushed him.

"Nick, please, we must save him; he saved my life," she said. Nicholas came to his senses and turned to James with fury.

"Where were you when all this happened? I left her in your care!" He snarled. Even though James didn’t possess any supernatural gift or super strength abilities, due to his and Adam’s constant training with the prince, they were among the list of the top five swordsmen in the whole of the Windermere continent, except the kingdom of Zubrekacadesh.

"I deserve to be killed for not protecting the princess consort," James said. He was already feeling guilty about everything. It happened in front of him, and he couldn’t even intervene.

"Nick, don’t blame him; everything happened so fast; we were all distracted, and everyone was caught off guard," she said, and James looked at her in surprise. He had thought she was going to blame him too.

"Distracted? What kind of distraction happened for my skilled right-hand man to not even realize danger was approaching?" He spat, and Luciana realized where the conversation was leading to. She couldn’t say David appeared out of nowhere, held her wrist, and caught her off guard, right? She was sure James had been distracted by the same incident.

"Nick, let’s check on the man first, please; he saved my life; I can’t let anything happen to him," she said worriedly, and Nicholas finally moved; he had seen the flash of panic within her eyes. He was going to find out everything from his men later anyway.

"Go and wait for me in my chambers," he said to her and turned to James and added, "Take her with you; she must rest."

"No, Nick, I want to come along. Please, let me also check on him; I can only relax if I know he’s fine," she said.

Nicholas saw how worried she looked and nodded; he didn’t want her to leave his line of sight either. It was just that he was worried seeing the wound would make her feel bad. He knew how kind she was.

They walked through the corridors and came in front of a room at a secluded spot of the prince’s manor. James pushed the door open and they all walked in.

Amirion was lying on a bed, and the imperial physician had a frown on his face as he looked down at him.

"What is happening?" Nicholas asked.

"Your Highness, there’s poison on the arrowhead, and it’s causing him to bleed continuously. If we don’t stop the bleeding in time, he might bleed to death; he has already lost a lot of blood," the imperial physician reported.

"The problem is, I can’t tell the kind of poison it is, and I can’t find the cure too," the physician added.

"Can I check his wounds?" Luciana asked, and everyone’s eyes fell on the princess consort.

"You?" The imperial physician asked.

"Does the princess consort know medicine?" The man added a look of mockery hidden in his gaze. Thanks to Lady Evelyn, the imperial physician didn’t have any good opinions about the princess consort.

"I know a little about poisons and medicine," Luciana said modestly.

"Let her check," Nicholas said, and a brief look of surprise passed through her eyes, but she didn’t show it; she couldn’t wait any longer and approached Amirion.

She pushed his robes to the side, revealing the wound that still looked bloody; that part of the skin was pale with black marks stretching across the skin like a dried crack surface. It was a scary sight, to say the least.

"I can save him," Luciana said.