The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 66: A Beholden Law

As soon as they were ready, Nikolai started traveling in his mist form while carrying Mineah in his arms. "Tell me if you're comfortable, Mine," he spoke.

"I'm fine," she casually replied. "Just talk to me while we're traveling."

It wasn't her first time traveling like this, but he was fully aware that it would still take some time for her to get used to traveling like this. They would have to take the longer route to arrive at Sixto's fleet as well, now that it was currently drifting not far from Valcrez's main harbor based on his last estimates.

"Right, how about you tell me about the Beholden Law?" Mineah asked. "I'm honestly really curious as to what way you owe the King of Cordon enough for him to use it against you to get my sister."

Nikolai smiled at her question, and he was about to answer when he remembered something. It had been bothering him too ever since he got a taste of her blood, so he said, "I'll tell you about it if you'll also genuinely answer a question from me."

"What question?"

"Your blood, Mine. It's intoxicating, and I feel that there's something special with it somehow," Nikolai explained with a frown.

"I can't point out what exactly since I can't compare it with any human blood I've tasted except for Dahlia's, but yours tastes so heavenly that I can't help but think that there's something more. I feel like it contains something that is sustaining a part of me somehow."

There was also something more… He could see through a human's limited precognition of the past by tasting their blood, but with Mineah's blood, there was nothing he could see beyond this cold dark abyss.

Mineah hummed at his question before she replied. "I also don't know, Lai. I think it's best if you observe yourself for a bit and see if there will be any negative side effects on you for drinking my blood," she answered. "Remember, I'm a cursed child… That's probably the reason why my blood is like that for you."

There was a beat of silence between them as their words lingered in the air. Nikolai already thought the same too. Although, for some reason, he had a feeling that there was more to it than just that. Why did a cursed child's blood taste so heavenly? For some reason, that didn't seem to sit well with him.

"It's your turn now, Lai…" Mineah broke the silence.

Nikolai stiffened, but he took a deep breath before he began. "When I lost Dahlia, my world crumbled. I… the guilt and pain were all too much…"

"A-Ah… I'm sorry my question brought up sad memories," Mineah quickly apologized, almost with a whimper. "You can stop now."

"It's alright, Mine. That particular year, a lot of devastating things happened. The souls of the dragons tried merging with the most powerful of our kind, killing all the male Exordiums including my father who was the King at the time," he further explained.

"I'm sure you already knew about that story since Ebodia was also involved in the trapping of the souls in question. Your Mother in particular was the only one who was capable of trapping Vulcan…"

There was another pause before he let out a loud sigh and continued, "I tried moving on because I bore the responsibility of inheriting the throne my father left. I bore the Mark of Eternity, and they all deemed that I'm the rightful owner of the crown even though I wasn't well fit for it at the time."

Nikolai paused again, then he heard Mineah ask, "What happened then? How did you meet King Darius?"

"My mother suggested that I move to a different environment and get some rest. Wizard Magnus, who is the head of Mount Sorel and also a great friend of my father, suggested that I stay with him at Mount Sorel for a while," he responded.

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"He chose me as his pupil, and thus I became his student there alongside Darius when he also entered Mount Sorel to study. At first, we didn't talk to each other at all or even bothered with each other's existence although his cabin was right beside mine."

He further stated, "You see, I still felt like I don't deserve to live anymore despite knowing I'm that immortal, so I decided to end my life by any means back then. Darius witnessed it all happen, and he saw me jumping off a cliff…"

Nikolai then chuckled and said, "He went down to see me with all of my bones cracked and said, 'Are you stupid? You're a vampire. You can't kill yourself like that…'"

Hearing his story, Mineah burst out with a burst of crisp laughter and said, "Well, I apologize, Lai, but I agree with him."

"There are further incidents when I tried more things like poisoning myself, burning myself, stabbing my own heart, and also having myself decapitated," he further recounted. "But for some reason, Darius will always appear at the right time to knock some sense into me…"

"He's probably stalking you at the time," Mineah chortled. "I can't help but imagine him tailing you around back then."

Nikolai laughed as he recalled how hilarious Darius was during their time together. He even sneaked out of his cabin ahead of him to replace the various chemicals in Magnus's laboratory with various beverages before he could try mixing them into some kind of concoction that could kill him.

"That's true. He confessed that he was intrigued by my actions, so he said he'll make sure that I won't end my life," Nikolai continued. "He even told me that I'd burn in hell if I ended my life on my own. Oh, and the last one was when Darius himself got hurt from saving me from getting decapitated by paid mercenaries I hired myself."

"What?!"

"He beat me so hard back then that I almost turned into pulp. That was all while he was screaming and scolding me on why I was thinking so selfishly," he further recounted.

"He asked me if I have a family that will be left behind, or if there was someone who was relying on me that will be utterly devastated once I succeeded in ending my life… That was when I woke up… My mother's face appeared before my eyes, my sister Ezme… my people…"

Another deafening silence came before Nikolai added, "I'm honestly not proud of my actions during that time… I was fortunate enough to meet Darius at the time, and since then he forced me into securing a Beholden Law between the two of us with a Blood Brother Oath involved."