Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 89: Flashback: Rain
The morning after,
Throughout the night after he returned from Luciana’s chambers, Nicholas made preparations for his departure from Gloryland.
He knew that for him to elope with Luciana meant he would no longer bear any attachment to the royal family.
He knew he would sooner or later be branded as a traitor and a criminal, but it was for his happiness. He would create his own family with Luciana. Something he had been craving for a long time now.
A real family with her and their future children. Just thinking of such thoughts made every suffering seem worthwhile. Once they safely arrived at the holy saint’s village, he would try not to draw too much attention to his new family, and they would try to live simple, happy lives.
Nicholas called together all his men who were still in the army in secret and told them about his plans to leave for good. Those who wanted to go with him were welcome, and for those who wanted to stay for one reason or another, he understood them and gave them his blessings.
Out of about 50 men, about 32 men agreed to go with Nicholas, and they were all given instructions to meet at Salt, a little town on the outskirts of the capital, at a certain time, and they dispersed.
After meeting with his men, Nicholas realized Evelyn was still not back and began to worry, but she still didn’t return until after daybreak.
"Evelyn?" Nicholas called out in relief and surprise when he finally saw Evelyn walk through the doors of his manor.
"What happened? Why are you returning by this time?" He asked.
"I’m sorry, my Lord, for making you worry. I took a long time to attend to the prince, so I mistakenly inhaled the sleep-inducing perfume. I began to feel drowsy when I was coming back to the manor and decided to find some stables to sleep in first before returning to report," Evelyn said.
"Good, you did very well yesterday; I will give you a reward later. You can return to your sleeping quarters," Nicholas said and walked away.
Nicholas had wanted to tell Evelyn to prepare herself for their departure; it would be great if Luciana had an extra maid, but he decided against it after smelling a faint fragrance of an expensive incense on Evelyn.
The scent of such incense could only be smelled on someone if they had been in a room where the incense was burning for a long time. Someone who has slept in a stable wouldn’t smell like that.
Nicholas decided to keep an eye on Evelyn for the remainder of the day before telling her about his plans to leave Gloryland.
The only reason why he wanted Evelyn to come along was because he somehow felt responsible for her, and he was the one who brought her to the palace after all.
Unknown to Nicholas, he was right to be suspicious of Evelyn. She had betrayed him.
To win the crown prince’s favor, Evelyn spilled the beans when David woke up and found her in bed with him. Evelyn, who had thought her life was about to change, didn’t expect the crown prince to kick her out as soon as he woke up.
"Your Highness, it was my first time; you are my first. No one would want me after you took my innocence; please have mercy," Evelyn begged, only to hear David heartlessly say.
"If I’m to take every maid I mistakenly sleep with as my concubine, would there be any space left in my harem for you to want to join? Besides, all the maids in my mansion belong to me; I can do whatever I want with them. You have some nerve talking about no one ever wanting you. If I don’t give permission, do you think a maid like you can live freely and get married?"
"Your Highness, I may be a lowly maid, but I have my uses; you can instruct me to do everything you want, and I’ll do it. Please don’t reject me," she had said on her knees, crying her heart out.
"I have a lot of maids; what is so special about you?" He spat, getting irritated.
"There is important information in my possession; if his highness promises not to kill me, I’ll tell His Highness everything I know," Evelyn said, giving David a hint.
"What important information can a lowly maid like you have?" He asked, not taking her words seriously.
Evelyn briefly hesitated at the crown prince’s question.
There were two probabilities if she told David about Nicholas.
The first probability was that he might not believe her, and her fate might even be worse since Nicholas would also not forgive her if he found out about her betrayal. Prince Nicholas had already warned her that he wouldn’t give her any second chances if she screwed up.
The second probability might be what she was looking for. She would be Crown Prince David’s person, and little by little, she would be able to get close to him.
"Your Highness, forgive me for being presumptuous, but what if I tell you I never belonged to your mansion in the first place, but I rather belonged to the eldest Prince’s manor?" She had asked, a demure and fearful expression on her face.
That was how Evelyn ended up telling David everything. Luckily for Nicholas, because Evelyn didn’t know the reason why he had made her do what she did, her information had been incomplete, so David had sent her back to stay by Nicholas’ side and to report to him whatever Nicholas did.
~~~
In the crown princess consort’s estate, after the maids who came to help the princess prepare for the day saw the mysterious rash that had broken out on the crown princess’ skin, they all began to stay far away from the princess as if she were a plague.
Only Dora, her trusted maid and childhood friend, stayed by her side, and an imperial physician was summoned.
After a while, David also arrived, and when he saw Luciana’s condition, he looked quite shocked. He also didn’t want to get close to Luciana, but he masked his disgust with empathy and promised Luciana would make sure to turn over the whole of Gloryland if necessary to find a cure for her.
Luciana, however, disagreed with his "turning over" Gloryland just to find a master physician to cure her.
"Your Highness, I would like it if no one knew about my condition for the time being. Just give me a few days; after two weeks of rest, I should be strong enough to find a cure for this condition myself. You are already aware I’ve been trained in the art of medicine."
With Luciana giving David such a valid reason, he immediately left her presence, citing his busy schedule as an excuse. He didn’t want to be infected by her strange disease.
Because Luciana forbade everyone from spreading rumors about her condition, the situation was kept under wraps, and Nicholas never heard of it.
~~~
11:00 pm at the meeting place
"James, are you sure everything is intact? Have you cross-checked everything?" Nicholas asked, his attention switching between James and the pathway leading to the library.
"Yes, your highness, everything has been cross-checked. You don’t need to worry," James said respectfully.
He didn’t know why the prince was acting strange after he returned after disappearing the previous night.
The prince divided his possessions into small parts and smuggled out most of them at midnight. He had been putting things together, meeting people, and doing things that indicated he was never going to return to the capital.
He was worried that the prince might be making such a rushed decision without thinking it through. It was at this time that he wished the prince had a mother or wife at least. Maybe it wouldn’t be so rash all the time.
He had wanted to ask the prince if they were running away from something or someone with the way he was acting so secretive the whole of today, but he had decided against it after seeing how restless he looked.
Nicholas had no idea his actions were causing James to be worried and imagining ridiculous circumstances in his mind.
His eyes were fixed on the pathway. He was watching to see if he could catch a glimpse of Luciana approaching, but he didn’t see anyone.
After waiting until it was midnight, he began to contemplate if it would be wise to go and check on her and come together with her, but he later decided against it.
They might miss each other on the way, and that would further delay them. Nicholas waited and stared onto the pathway with bloodshot eyes and an anxiously beating heart, but until it was 1:00 am, she still didn’t appear.
He began to have a bad feeling in his chest, but he held on, still waiting and hoping until another hour passed, and she never came.
As if the deities were mocking him, lightning accompanied by thunder loudly ripped through the sky, and in the next moment, it began to rain heavily.
"Your Highness, it’s raining; we should leave," James told Nicholas, but he remained immovable. The rain continued to fall, and unknown to everyone else, Nicholas cried that day.
The strong commander stood in the rain, his tears mixing with the heavy downpour, but no one knew. The heavens were crying with him.
~~~
On the second floor of the main library, a silhouette was standing behind the thick pillars as she watched the man in the rain with tears streaming down her face.
In truth, Luciana had arrived before Nicholas and found herself a blind spot to hide. She watched everything unfold but never once moved from her hiding spot. It was never meant to be.
