Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 60: The dragon king

In the middle of the Windermere continent, right in the center of it all, stood the dark forest. The atmosphere looked eerie and mysterious. Tall, shadowy pine trees stretched up like arrows into the sky; dark tree trunks and spooky shadows were overhanging across the paths, and clumps of bushes with barely visible black trails were snaking through the undergrowth.

The little rays of the sun as it approached sunset did nothing to help, even though they shone through the tiny spaces between the leaves. One would have to have keen eyesight to glimpse through the trees.

Hidden in plain sight, with the ability to evade, merge with the atmosphere, and only be seen by a select few, was the Dragon King, King Emric.

The dragon’s shut eyes flew open, and his golden eyes looked as gentle as a harmless bunny for just a brief moment before they turned fierce like a demon’s. He raised his head, which was shaped like a camel’s, with horns like a deer’s and ears as big as a bull’s, and scanned the area with his sharp, piercing eyes.

All over his body was covered with black and gold shiny scales resembling that of a carp, and its gigantic body was twisted and turned like a snake’s, with its belly as tough as a clam’s shell. He stood on its front feet that resembled a tiger’s and his sharp claws that resembled that of an eagle and transformed himself to look like a human.

At first glance, he oozed power, and a celestial aura clung to him. His features looked divine and otherworldly. In the next moment, he disappeared from where he had been standing.

~~~

A woman’s creepy and evil laughter filled the large atmosphere, causing echoing sounds in the vast space. One could feel goosebumps rising on their skin just by listening to her evil laughter as she laughed sinisterly. If Luciana saw this woman, she would have remembered her as the woman from her dream, the woman who was the very first, Princess Luciana.

Her happiness was short-lived when she felt a constriction around her neck. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Even though she was just a soul trapped in space, she could feel everything just like when she was still a human. And right now the pain she felt in her neck was as if she was dying all over again.

Her fingers went up and tried to peel away the claw-like hold on her neck, but all her attempts were futile.

"What is the meaning of what you just did?" King Emric snarled.

"You have become more evil and unruly because I can’t kill you until the prophecy is fulfilled, but have you forgotten I can bind your soul so that you don’t repeat what you did again?" He added and dropped the woman onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

The woman held her neck and coughed several times in a very pitiful manner.

"It will not happen again, great one; please forgive me just this once. I was desperate; he had been stuck in that place for 2000 years because of me. He chose the spiritual solitary confinement and allowed me to inhabit this place. I just wanted to speed up the process so that he could be free. He’s your son; you cannot watch him suffer like that for all these years," the woman said.

"The both of you chose this path yourselves. I have tried to make it so that the pieces of your scattered souls would find each other and get married in the right way so that the heavens would recognize what you were meant to be and free your souls from this punishment, but you always interfere, causing it so that they always end up being star-crossed lovers. Do you think I didn’t know you are the reason why all the previous souls had no memories of their past?" King Emric said with a dangerous glint in his eyes, and the woman’s eyes opened wide in fear.

"You knew?" She whispered, trembling in fear.

"For 2000 years I have watched you have fun with those little souls and didn’t interfere because I’m not supposed to meddle in the lives of the humans, but who knew you’d take advantage and do whatever you want? Maybe it would be best to dissolve your soul into nothingness so that an evil woman like you no longer exists in this world."

There was a sinister gaze on King Emric’s face as he said the words one by one, stalking towards the woman lying on the floor and grabbing her neck again.

"Please, it won’t happen again. I’ll not speak to the emperor’s son again. I don’t know what came over me to go and show him that fake vision," she choked out, her voice sounding hoarse.

"I was just afraid that the cat would help the girl to release the soul of my husband. I didn’t want him to fall in love with this new version of me; we are completely different. I love him too much; I did everything I did to be reunited with him," she added, tears spilling down her eyes.

King Emric sneered. Didn’t he already know how scheming and conniving this woman was? She was just pretending because she was at death’s door.

"The soul-searching lamp would only allow my son to have a glimpse into the past; it doesn’t have the power to release a soul that has been trapped in a spiritual solitary confinement cell. I’m interfering in the lives of mere mortals because of you; stop pushing me. Forget it; you are coming with me. You are going to stay in the dark forest so that I can keep an eye on you," King Emric said, and a big glass jar as tall as a human appeared out of thin air.

This is your new home, King Emric said, and before the woman could protest, King Emric opened the lid, and the soul of the woman was directly sucked into the glass jar.

She screamed and screamed, but King Emric ignored her and tightly shut the lid. In a few seconds, they disappeared together. What King Emric didn’t see was a little black wisp of smoke floating away when the woman’s soul was being sucked into the jar. The woman saw the wisp of black smoke floating away, and an evil grin fell on her face, but because her gaze was lowered, the dragon king didn’t notice.

~~~

In Nicholas’ courtyard,

Dora followed behind Luciana, carrying a tray that had the bowl of medicine Luciana had brewed on top of it.

"Let me help you with that," James said and took the bowl from Dora. He helped Amirion drink the medicine and looked at Luciana for further instructions.

"Let’s wait for about half an hour and check on him again. He should be out of danger by then," Luciana said, and James nodded.

Nicholas saw how haggard Luciana looked and carried her, causing her to yell in fright, caught off guard by his actions.

"Nick! There are people around," she softly scolded him, but her hands had already moved to wrap around his neck to help her lay in his arms better.

Even though she was scolding him, she was grateful for his support when she said she could treat Amirion. He had instructed his men to listen to all her instructions, and they had hurriedly brought all the herbs and flower parts she needed to decoct the medicine.

"What is wrong with carrying my wife and taking care of her?" Nicholas asked in a deep, husky voice. Nicholas saw how her cheeks flushed due to his words and smiled. He felt as if he was in a dream; he and Luciana had been working together since he arrived, and the both of them had been so harmonious and not argued for even a second.

Luciana finally began to feel tired and hungry now that she was lying in Nicholas’ arms. As she thought of food, her stomach grumbled, making a loud sound. She felt like disappearing from there. It was too embarrassing!

Nicholas chuckled seeing how adorable she looked, acting shy like that.

"Let’s get you something to eat, wife," Nicholas said, and Luciana’s eyes bulged. This was the first time he had directly called her wife.

"You look surprised, wife... Do you crave any special food, wife?"

"Shut up," Luciana yelled, her face as red as a tomato. She was sure everyone was watching them now.

Nicholas laughed, and all his men and servants in the vicinity looked at him in surprise; this was the first time they had seen the eldest prince laugh so heartily.

Nicholas reached the dining hall and placed Luciana on her feet. He was about to help her sit when the black wisp of smoke that had been floating from the vast space where the woman was kept hovered around Luciana’s head for some time and entered her head without anyone noticing. Luciana held her head and groaned in pain.

"Aaahh," she yelled before Nicholas could ask what was happening. Her knees buckled, and she fainted.

"Luciana, Luciana, Luciana, please wake up," Nicholas frantically called out, shaking her and tapping her cheeks in succession. But try as he might, Luciana never responded to his calls.

Description of dragon: credit goes to youtube