Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 81: Flashback: No one knows

"You remember my name," Nicholas said, and an evil grin broke on his face. His gaze was captivating, and the slight curve of his lips, as he smiled, looked tempting, as if ensnaring her into a web of pleasure and sin.

Luciana gulped, seeing as his mere presence was tempting her in ways she couldn’t describe.

"Is there something urgent His Highness must tell me tonight that can’t wait until daybreak?" Luciana asked, trying to sound calm even though she was uneasy.

"There’s no such thing; I just came to keep you company," Nicholas said, causing Luciana’s eyes to widen briefly before returning to their usual calmness.

"Um, where is the crown prince? Why didn’t he come with you?" Luciana asked, looking behind him and expecting to find David also coming through the door behind him. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"My younger brother is with his mistress... ahem," Nicholas said and coughed as if he had mistakenly let it slip and added,

"I’m sorry, Crown Princess, I didn’t mean to let you find out this way."

Nick, who was standing in the shadows and was forced to watch everything unfold, was also caught by surprise at Nicholas’s words; he was sure the crown prince was with no mistress, so why would he lie? ’Could it be that he wanted to cause a misunderstanding between the couple?’

"It’s okay; you don’t have to apologize. I knew I shouldn’t expect too much from a prince, but I thought he was different," she said, a hint of sadness flashing past her eyes.

Nicholas saw how sad she looked and felt bad, but he still maintained his charade; a subtle smile, full of understanding, adorned his face.

"You... you shouldn’t be here; think of what people would say if they knew you were here in my chambers, alone... with me, by this time of the night," she said.

"No one knows I’m here; the guards outside your residence are all my men; they won’t tell a soul," he promised, and she breathed a sigh of relief at his words but realized that wasn’t the most important part.

"My maid!" She exclaimed, realization dawning on her,

"What did you do to my maid?" She asked.

"I knocked her out," he began, and when he saw how she stared at him with a guarded expression on her face, he finished his sentence, "I just put her to sleep; she’s fine. She will wake up soon."

Luciana’s gaze didn’t soften, and her guard further went up when he took a step forward to bridge the gap between them. She immediately took one back.

"Prince Nicholas, please, you shouldn’t be..."

"Nicholas, just call me Nicholas," he interrupted her, the smile on his face fading, and in the next moment, he was standing before her, invading her breathing space and too close for comfort.

"I only wanted to check on you because I thought after the long journey, you might be sad and you might be missing your parents. I also brought you this," he added, his voice as low as a whisper, and pulled out a round box from behind him containing sweets.

Luciana’s guard lowered quite a bit after seeing the box of sweets, especially when the cover was lifted and a nice aroma filled the room. But she stiffened again, realizing their proximity; behind her was the bed, and in front of her was the imposing man.

"Thank you for bringing this to me. You can..." Luciana, who was about to show him the door, saw how he walked to the bed and sat on it as if he owned the place.

"Um, Your Highness..."

"Nicholas, just Nicholas," he said, interrupting her again.

"Um... Ni... Nicholas, it is quite late, and I..."

"Why don’t you have a taste? I would love your honest opinion about how they taste," he said, deliberately interrupting her again.

Reluctantly, under his intense gaze, she picked one of the sweets, placed it on her tongue, and nearly moaned at the taste. She closed her eyes as if she was savoring something out of this world...something so divine.

Nicholas smiled, seeing her expression; he thought she looked adorable as a little bunny.

"You like it?" He asked, and she nodded her head eagerly like a little kid who had gotten a treat after dieting for ages.

"Yes," she admitted in a sweet voice.

Nicholas’s smile widened; he had thought it would take him quite a while to break through her defenses.

"Then have another one," he said and picked one of the sweets, holding it between his thumb and index finger, and brought it to her lips.

Luciana’s eyes widened when she saw he wanted to feed her. Nicholas’s hands momentarily paused in midair due to her actions, but he tried to cover his unease with a smirk.

Luciana found herself parting her lips and allowing him to push the sweets into her mouth, but she froze when her tongue accidentally licked his fingers.

She saw how his gaze turned downright predatory as he gazed at her.

"S...sorry," she stuttered, and averted her gaze from him, the taste on her tongue making her forget how awkward everything that was happening was.

She closed her eyes again as her lips moved subtly to chew.

Nicholas’ thoughts began to stray. He began to wonder how it would feel to taste those lips. Would it be as he imagined, or would it be beyond his imagination? This isn’t right, Nicholas, she is your brother’s new bride, he told himself, but he was still unwilling.

Luciana finished what was in her mouth and finally remembered where she was. She couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to be won over by something as simple as food, and she had even allowed herself to be fed by him.

When Luciana was battling within herself about what she was doing, she realized Nicholas had brought another treat to her lips.

"I... can eat it myself, Prince Nicholas," she said and held his wrist to push it away from her lips, blushing from embarrassment.

Nicholas’s other hand went forward and placed his large, calloused fingers over hers, the sudden contact causing her eyes to widen.

She thought Nicholas was holding onto her because she was holding his wrist. She let go of him as if she had been scalded by a hot iron, only for Nicholas to yank her forward the next moment; she was lying on top of him on the bed, warning bells going off in her mind.

She stared at the man beneath her and gulped when she saw how his face was just inches away from hers, their breaths mingling. She didn’t know if she was imagining it, but she felt as if their faces were drawing closer and closer.