Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 99: Flashback: You win

Nicholas and his men were currently stationed in the woods a few meters behind the palace walls. This forest was part of the palace lands but had been separated by a wall.

He had been putting in measures to infiltrate the palace, but it seemed David the coward was prepared.

The palace was under heavy surveillance and seemed impenetrable. It’s been a month already. A whole month had passed, and he hadn’t seen Luciana and his son.

He could barely sleep these past few days with Luciana’s voice and her face full of pain calling out to him. He had been studying the pattern of how the guards switched in performing their duties, but he realized the pattern was inconsistent.

It seemed it would be best to send someone inside the palace to check on the situation, but who could he send?

Lost in thought, he saw James and Luciana’s maid, Dora, bickering over something again.

The fact that they still had the energy to bicker made him angry for no reason, and he felt like giving them something to do since they were so free.

"Come here, both of you," Nicholas called the couple, and they both stared at each other as if they wanted to pluck each other’s eyes out.

’Were they lovers in their past lives? Why were they always at each other’s throats?’ Nicholas thought.

"It seems you two have a lot of energy; why don’t you go and gather firewood for later use? And James, you should hunt some game for dinner while at it," Nicholas instructed. He saw Dora glaring at James and averted his gaze; he was in no mood for their drama.

"It’s all your fault; I already said I could enter the palace, but you were making fun of me. See what you caused?" Nicholas, who was still thinking of who to send into the palace, heard Dora’s words and snapped his gaze to look at her.

’Why hadn’t he thought of it? Dora was the best person. She was a woman and could throw suspicion off her easily.’

"Dora, come back here," he called her.

"My Prince," Dora said and bowed.

"Do you think you can go into the palace and check on the situation inside and report back to us?" Nicholas asked.

"I can, Your Highness; I will check on the princess’s condition and everything you need and report back to you. I will wear my maid’s uniform, and no one will notice," Dora said.

"Good," Nicholas said,

"But you must be very careful; you shouldn’t underestimate anyone or trust anyone. You are your own friend, understand?" Nicholas said, and Dora nodded.

"I will not fail, Your Highness. I will make sure the princess and the little prince are safe," Dora declared.

Nicholas nodded and gave Dora a round-looking object.

"Take this with you; if you’re in danger or if you suspect someone is onto you, run to an open space and hit it on the ground. It will give us a signal," he instructed.

"I will bear in mind and do what you said, my prince," Dora said valiantly like a knight and bowed.

~~~

Dora entered the royal kitchen and heaved a sigh of relief. No one had noticed her, she thought. But before she could relax, the head cook called her over.

"You there, what are you standing there for? Come and send this over to the crown princess." The woman said.

Dora hurriedly went over and took the tray, thanking her stars that her first assignment was to see Luciana.

"After working in the royal kitchen for 20 years, I thought I was going to rest. Who knew I’d be busier now since the crown princess has refused to eat, and I have to cook again and again anytime she refuses to eat? Ha, what a life!" The cook mumbled under her breath with her tone full of dissatisfaction, but her voice was loud enough for Dora to hear. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’Could it be that the princess was starving herself?’ Dora thought worriedly and hurriedly made her way to the crown princess’ estate, all the while keeping her gaze lowered so that no one recognized her.

A maid lowering their gaze wasn’t new since that was the law, to begin with, so that wouldn’t seem suspicious.

"Dora had just reached the door when she heard sounds of items being crashed onto the floor coming from the princess’ bedroom.

"I said I want to see the crown prince; bring him here. I’ll kill myself if you don’t bring him here. Where is my son? I want my son! Bring my baby to me!" Luciana yelled shrilly.

"Your Highness, calm down; I’ll go and tell the crown prince that you want to see him," the court lady said and turned to the eunuch.

"What are you waiting for? Tell the prince what is happening." The court lady said to the eunuch; only then did Luciana seem to calm down a little.

Dora looked at the changes in the staff in confusion.

’Why did it seem as if this were the staff meant for the Empress? Was something going on?’ she thought.

"Greetings, I brought the crown princess’ food," Dora said, and the court lady stretched her hand to take the tray away from her, but Dora hesitated.

"I was asked to bring it to the crown princess myself," Dora said.

"And who are you to say that to me?" The court lady said, seemingly offended.

"But that is what..."

"Let her in," Luciana said, cutting Dora’s words off, and the court lady clamped her mouth shut.

Dora entered the room, and Luciana’s eyes widened; she thought the voice sounded familiar, but she never thought her intuition was right.

"Do..."

"Greetings to the crown princess. This meal has been specially prepared for you," Dora said, interrupting Luciana and giving her a look that said, "They will hear us."

"I’m not hungry; take it away," Luciana said, returning to how she was previously acting.

"Not eating would affect your health, your Highness; you must eat something," Dora persuaded, acting along.

"I already said take it away; I’m not hungry, didn’t you hear me?" Luciana snapped, but Dora was persistent.

"Your Highness, you should think about your health and your strength. Please, just a little bit," she said, only for Luciana to push the tray away, causing the tray to tumble over and the soup to splash all over her clothes. Luciana ignored the heat coming from the hot soup and angrily roared.

"You...How dare you? Do you want to die?"

"Forgive me, Your Highness, I didn’t mean to." Dora fell on her knees, begging with tears in her eyes.

"You are sorry? Hurry and go prepare a bath for me; I will deal with you later," Luciana said, and Dora nodded frantically and tried to get up to go and prepare the bath.

Seeing those two actresses, even the deities were shocked. Unluckily for them, the stunt they pulled to be alone and talk was ruined when David walked in.

"What is going on here?" David asked, a look of frustration on his face.

"You have eyes; you can see for yourself. I want my son with me!" Luciana yelled angrily.

"He’s with his wet nurse; what is so difficult to understand by that? You’ve been testing my patience, Luciana. Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like what I’ll do if you keep pushing me," David warned.

"I don’t need a wet nurse for my son. If you don’t bring him to me, I’ll kill myself," Luciana said defiantly and grabbed a broken porcelain plate on the floor, holding it against her throat.

"Do you think you can threaten me? Do you think I don’t know you are finding ways to reunite with that bastard and your son? Go ahead, kill yourself," David said confidently, only for Luciana to thrust the porcelain into her neck, causing the skin to break and trails of blood to begin to slip down her pale neck.

"Luciana, how dare you!" David said and held her wrist, knocking away the weapon.

"Fine, you win. I’ll let them bring him over for a few minutes," he said, his previous face full of indifference now full of indulgence.

"Not for a few minutes; I want him with me all the time," Luciana said and added when she saw David shake his head, about to refuse her request.

"I will stay with you if you let my son stay with me. Your choice; don’t make me hate you."

"Fine, Luciana. Let that bastard stay with you. But only for a year; a prince is not raised by their wet nurse," David said, and his eyes scanned the broken shards and the food scattered on the floor.

"You there, clean everything up and go and accept your punishment for not serving the crown princess well," David said to Dora, but Luciana refused.

"No, she’s going to help prepare a bath for me and help me bathe. I’ll punish her myself afterwards," she said.

"Don’t you have bath maids?" He asked Luciana, and then he looked at the maid as if recognizing something.

"You, raise your head. What is your name?"