Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Luciana asked the man who wouldn't leave even though she was now lying on his bed and trying to sleep. But how could she possibly sleep under his watchful gaze?

"No, I have nowhere else to be," Prince Nicholas shamelessly said, a mischievous smirk dancing across his face.

"I thought the general and his son came to see you," she said.

"They can wait; it's not every day that you are so obedient; it's making me feel like I'm in a dream; I want to savor the feeling a while longer," he said.

Luciana wanted to say he had forced her to be obedient, but she valued the rare freedom Nicholas had given her and had no intention of making him take it back.

"Nick, it won't be good to keep them waiting; they must have something important to report," Luciana said gently in a coaxing manner.

Nicholas studied her face as if making sure she wasn't planning anything in that head of hers and nodded.

"I will go and talk to the general; if you need me, come to the study where we spoke yesterday."

At those words, Luciana recalled what they had talked about in his study yesterday and remembered she had still not told him to increase security around the empress.

"Nick, wait!" She exclaimed.

Nicholas turned to look at her with the corner of his lips lifted into a subtle smile.

"Don't tell me you miss me already and don't want me to leave," he said in a seductive tone, his husky voice sending shivers down her spine.

Luciana wanted to roll her eyes; who missed him? Instead, she lowered her gaze so that he wouldn't see the emotions in her eyes and said,

"About the empress, I think you should increase the number of security around her courtyard."

"Why?" Nicholas asked in his usual cold voice, his earlier playfulness nowhere in sight.

Luciana scanned her thoughts to come up with something reasonable, but nothing came up. But she knew she couldn't tell him the actual truth; it would be so ridiculous; so she could only come up with a believable lie.

"I heard some maids talk about how the empress seemed to be acting restless these past few days. I figured it might be because she is about to have an episode, and she might try to leave her room and escape from the servants if that happens. So I thought it would be best to increase security around her just in case she tries to escape from them without their notice," she said and raised her gaze to look at him to see if he bought her story, but her heart skipped a beat seeing the murderous look in his eyes.

"Which maid is so daring as to gossip and spread rumors about my mother? I would sever her head from her body, not before I cut her tongue to teach the rest of them a lesson," he snarled.

"She was just worried about Her Majesty and told me about her health in confidence; I can't betray her," she said.

"You spoke to a maid from my mother's courtyard? Do you want to know for yourself if my mother is indeed crazy?" Nicholas spat each word with venom laced in his tone as he approached her step by step.

'She was like just the rest of them; she also wanted to use his mother's condition against him,' he thought angrily. It didn't help that the anger he felt against Luciana's father came back ten times stronger as he thought about the fact that she was the daughter of his enemy. He was disappointed in himself for loving his enemy's daughter while his mother was in such a condition because of her father.

Luciana shook her head in fear seeing how he turned into a demon in just a few seconds. She realized he must have misinterpreted her words and thought she had found a maid from the empress' courtyard to extract information about the empress.

"Your Highness, please calm down. I didn't do anything of that sort; I just don't want anything to happen to the empress. I don't want you to be worried if she escapes during a relapse," she said calmly, trying to make her words sound steady even though there was a rising tension underneath.

Nicholas laughed maniacally as if he had heard a joke. In the next moment, his hand grabbed a fistful of her hair, and Luciana took in a long breath and gritted her teeth to prevent herself from crying from his rough tug.

Nicholas tilted her head, stared into her tear-stained eyes, and growled,

"Do you think I'm a fool? Why would you care about my mother when you hardly even know her? Do you think I will believe your lies?"

Luciana wanted to ignore him and make him bear the consequences of his own stubbornness; she didn't know why Nicholas was acting this way because she talked about the empress. In her past life, after that incident led the empress to be stripped of her title, she had been exiled to go into the countryside, so she had not heard about her again.

She didn't really care about the woman then, so she had not inquired. But now everything was different; she wanted to help Nicholas, and she knew just how much he treasured his mother. If the empress is healed, it would be even better since that stain will no longer be in his life, but it seems she should wait and talk to him when he is less angry.

"You already think the worst of me; nothing I say would make you believe me," she said calmly in a tired voice even though she wanted to scream and yell at him, but she stopped herself. She must be the calm one; if not, everything will spiral out of control, and they might repeat the same mistakes in her past life.

Nicholas saw how she quietly accepted his rough behavior, and his chest felt like it was hurting. Her father had done the worst thing a man could do to a woman to his mother, but he couldn't even bear to see her cry.

He let go of her hair and turned to leave, never once looking back with mixed emotions running through him.

Luciana lay in bed as numerous thoughts ran through her mind. She thought about her past life, her rebirth, and everything that happened after she was reborn. She also thought about Nicholas' possessiveness, his anger, and all the weird changes that were happening to her. In the end, she felt like her mind was spinning too much and closed her eyes; she didn't even know when she fell asleep.

The loud sound of someone unsheathing his sword caused Luciana to open her eyes. The scent of fresh blood filled her nostrils, and all the sleepiness in her eyes vanished; she squinted her eyes and saw Nicholas covered in blood with some on his face. Feeling panicked, she shot out of the bed and held his face in her palms.

"What happened to you? Are you hurt? Who did this to you?" She asked a string of questions in one breath, and Nicholas' heart shook. 'Luciana, if you are lying to me, make sure you are going to pretend forever.'

After what he did to her earlier today, he thought she would try to get away from him; he thought that if she saw him with all the blood, she would be scared and even want to leave his presence, begging to return to her chambers, but looking at the worried look on her face, he didn't even know what to think.

Luciana saw how he was looking at her without saying a word and awkwardly let go of him.

"I'm sorry for grabbing you like that, Your Highness," she said, lowering her gaze and taking a step back.

"I will leave you to take care of your wounds," she said and made her way out only to hear him finally speak.

"Stay."