Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 98: Flashback: Kidnapped

"Release the signal," Nicholas said to James, who answered,

"Dora is releasing the signal as we speak." James had just finished speaking when, in the next moment, a firework flew up into the sky and burst into flames.

It was a signal to summon his secret guards, who were staying in the mountains and training day and night in preparation for a day like this.

But it seemed his preparations were not enough, as those scums had caught them off guard.

"Stay here and divide the men as we discussed; I will go and check on the people first," Nicholas said to James, who nodded.

"I understand my Prince," James replied. Nicholas had just taken one step when he paused, hearing the screams of Luciana coming from within the house.

"Protect my wife and son," Nicholas said, and James bowed.

"I will protect them with my life," James vowed.

Nicholas leaped into the sky and began to float, riding on the winds as if he were flying, and that gave him an advantage since he could clearly see everything from up in the sky.

Nicholas saw the once peaceful village in ruins and chaos. Dark plumes of smoke rose into the sky, scattering in all directions by the wind.

The villagers and the armed men were fighting against each other, but the soldiers were winning.

Most of the villagers were not trained for the battlefield, and using magic was also not helping since the villagers had to take their own people into consideration so that they wouldn’t hurt their kin, and the soldiers were taking advantage of that.

They attacked blindly, not caring for women or children, and when Nicholas descended, he was like a god of justice and death combined together as he slayed them in rage. Soon the soldiers began to fall one after the other as they met Nicholas’s furious sword.

Nicholas continued to kill and plunge his sword into the soldiers with such an ominous aura surrounding him that it caused some of the soldiers to run away, but they were too late.

Nicholas’s secret guards had arrived, and in no time, the situation was brought under control. But before he could relax, he saw the displeased gaze of Master Kendrick, the village head and his spiritual master.

"They died because of you," he said with a voice full of disappointment.

"They were innocent children who knew nothing, weak women, but they all died because of your lies. You stole your brother’s wife and committed such an abomination in our holy land, and the deities are punishing us because of you. Because we gave you shelter!" Master Kendrick snarled, his voice full of hatred and remorse.

"Leave! You and that sinful wife of yours. Leave our village; we can’t accommodate you," Master Kendrick said, and Nicholas stared at him tongue-tied.

"I’m sorry," he said.

"I never thought I would put your people in danger; you were all my family. This was my home," Nicholas said, his voice full of guilt and remorse, but Master Kendrick ignored him.

After a long time of suffocating silence, Nicholas said to the head of his secret guards.

"Help the injured, and let me know everything they’ve lost; I’ll compensate them."

"We don’t need your gold. Can your silver and gold bring the dead back to life?" Master Kendrick heard Nicholas’ words and vehemently refused. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"I know, I can’t bring the dead back. I’m just paying for my sins by giving them a little water to quench their thirst after the drought," Nicholas said and walked away. His wife and son needed him. He hoped they were both alright.

Nicholas already knew he and Luciana couldn’t stay here in the village anymore since David had found their location, but he didn’t want Master Kendrick to hate him because of something beyond his control.

He never wished for this to happen, so he had done all he could to throw David off their trail. He had sent spies to investigate, and he learned he had been branded as a traitor who forcefully kidnapped his brother’s wife.

He just wanted a peaceful place to take care of Luciana and his unborn baby until she safely gave birth, but it seemed David didn’t want peace. He still continues to hunt him till the end of the earth.

The next time, he wouldn’t take his bullying just like that. Nicholas vowed, not knowing his words would soon come to haunt him.

When Nicholas reached his courtyard, his heart skipped a beat again. This time he felt his whole body trembling.

"No, no, no, this was not happening," he mumbled to himself.

The door to his bedroom was ajar, and all the men looked like they’d fallen asleep. There was no blood on his men. When he burst into the room where Luciana had been lying a while ago, all he saw was a trail of blood. There was no Luciana, and neither was his baby present.

They were gone without a trace; it was as if they had vanished into thin air. He knew who did this—David. The bastard took his wife and son away.

Nicholas walked towards James and tapped him for a while before he woke up.

As soon as James saw it was Nicholas, he scrambled to his feet and knelt before Nicholas.

"I deserve to die, Your Highness. I failed to protect the princess and the prince," James said, lowering his head in shame. Nicholas, however, didn’t have time for his show of guilt.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" he asked.

"We were standing guard when someone dropped something from the sky, and the courtyard was filled with smoke and fumes. The next minute, I saw how the men began to fall one after the other through the smoke and tried not to inhale more of it, but it was too late; I had already inhaled some."

"I tried to keep myself awake, but I felt paralyzed all over, and then I don’t know if it was my imagination or because of the smoke, but a huge beast, resembling a dragon, landed in the courtyard, and they took the princess away. I heard her protesting, but they ignored her and dragged her away since she looked so weak at the time; she didn’t even fight back."

After hearing the accounts of the events that occurred, Nicholas had already come to a conclusion.

David had lied to the people of Zubrekacadesh that he had taken Luciana against her will and had gotten their help. The people of Zubrekacadesh were known to be ruled by a dragon queen.

And there seemed to be a mole between his men; Luciana’s premature labor seemed to have been instigated by someone close to him. They wanted her to be vulnerable in order to easily abduct her.

Nicholas could only shake his head at his discovery. He had underestimated David.

But one thing was for certain: David had underestimated what he could do to make Luciana return to him. He could only blame himself for his foolishness.