Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 32: An ill-fated relationship

Author Note: Hello, lovely readers; thanks for giving my book a read, and I’m enjoying it so far. I’m grateful for your votes, comments, and reviews.

Note: This Chapter begins with the spin-off and backstory of the first lives of the main characters. Please don’t be overwhelmed, and feel free to drop questions and comments. I promise to only serve you the best reads... Love Pretty Darlie

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Luciana had just closed her eyes when she began dreaming again. Everything that happened in her past life flashed by like a fast-paced movie.

She dreamt about how she took the place of the princess of Florendel to marry Nicholas and take revenge on him, her failed attempt on his life, her hatred for him, her plan to escape, his forcing himself on her and making Dominic her guard, getting pregnant, their constant arguments, and being left alone most times in an unfamiliar land and getting close to Noble Consort Margaret because she showed her a little kindness.

She also dreamt about the scorn, humiliation, and maltreatment she received from the empress dowager and other women in the palace when they found out she was a fake princess of Florendel. Her being the crown princess consort in name only but not given the needed respect after Lady Evelyn was promoted to noble consort.

How her hatred for Nicholas doubled after Lady Evelyn was made a noble consort, listening to bad counsel from noble consort Margaret, causing problems for Nicholas several times and causing them to be more estranged.

The scene in her dreams moved to the day of the blood test between ’her daughter’ and Nicholas, which was done in front of the emperor and all the important people in the palace. She remembered their disgusted and disdain-filled gazes as they stared at her, an adulterer who had cuckolded the crown prince. How no one believed her when she said she was innocent, how even Nicholas stared at her as if she were a stranger. It was a nightmare.

Luciana tried to wake up from all those bad memories, but it felt as if she had fallen into a deep trance. Try as she could, she couldn’t wake up, and then, after a long time, she felt as if she was in a vast space with sounds echoing all around her. She felt as if several people were calling her name in different time frames.

"Luciana."

"Luciana."

"Luciana."

She heard her name from different directions. After looking around for a while, she felt like she was going crazy in the vast space alone with the numerous voices. And then a thought crossed her mind, and she decided to try it.

She tried to focus all her attention on one voice, the loudest of them all, and then as she began to focus, everything became clearer until a woman with glowing light surrounding her whole body materialized before her.

At first glance, she looked so bright, like a deity, that Luciana had to squint her eyes for a while before adjusting her eyes to see her clearly. She looked beautiful, like a fairy, and Luciana had not seen anyone so beautiful, but she realized the woman had a lot of similarities with her. She looked like a mature version of herself, but she was still very beautiful nonetheless.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I’m the one you have been waiting for," she said, and a creepy smile formed on her face.

"The one I’ve been waiting for?" Luciana repeated in confusion.

"Yes, I’m the one who is going to give you the answer to all your questions," she said.

"Come with me," she said, and Luciana could only follow her at this point. It was only the two of them at this point.

The woman showed her a scene from the day she was sentenced to death by poison in the cold palace.

She was like a bystander as her spirit stood by and watched everything unfold like a movie, and she couldn’t do anything, then the woman gestured for her to follow her again, and she followed as she floated around in the palace and entered the crown prince’s mansion only to see the strong Nicholas she knew on his knees looking battered with bruises and blood slipping out the side of his lips.

The furniture in the hall was broken and scattered around messily as if a violent storm had just swept through the hall, an indication there had been a fight.

Prince David wore an evil grin on his face as he stood tall in front of Nicholas, looking down on him, who was kneeling before him.

"I must say, brother, your strength is indeed unimaginable. To think, after all that poison, you still had the strength to fight? Do you want to know how you didn’t detect the poison this time?" He asked and grinned wickedly before adding,

"I especially found a poison master to make the poison tasteless and odorless, and for the first time, I successfully achieved my goal; what do you think? I’m a genius, aren’t I?" He said and kicked Nicholas in the stomach.

Nicholas buckled over, his face contorted in pain. Nevertheless, he still tried to get on his feet, but he couldn’t because Prince David wouldn’t stop his assault. He kept kicking the already weak Nicholas, giving him no chance to recover.

Luciana kept yelling at David to stop, but no one heard her; she tried to shield Nicholas and help get him onto his feet, but his body passed right through her invisible hands as she continued to helplessly watch everything unfold.

"She was mine! But after stealing her away from me, you didn’t even protect her well. You made her suffer and also killed her. I’m going to kill you! In the next life, I’m going to meet her first and reclaim what is mine," David growled and swung his sword towards Nicholas.

"Watch out!" Luciana screamed, but it was unheard, and David’s sword went through Nicholas’ heart, and he fell onto the floor, his blood staining the floor and spreading.

Tears fell from Luciana’s eyes, seeing Nicholas staring wide-eyed at her as if he could see her and stretching his hand towards her; before she could react and touch him too, his hands fell limply by his side. He had stopped breathing.

"Nick!!!" She wailed, crying buckets. ’What did David mean that she was his and Nicholas stole her away from him?’ She thought, her head spinning from what she had heard.

"It’s because that’s the truth: in every life, David had met you first, but you always ended up being with the one who was not meant for you. You and Nicholas are ill-fated lovers; you are not meant to be; your love for each other is forbidden; you are his doom," she said, and Luciana frantically shook her head in disbelief.

"No, you are lying; this isn’t true. I was given a second chance to rectify my past mistakes and live happily with him," Luciana said.

"Strange things have been happening to you, haven’t they?" She asked, and Luciana stared at her in shock.

"How, how do you..."

"How do I know?" She asked, completing the question for Luciana.

"Because I’m you, and you are me. I’m the first Princess Luciana. I existed two thousand years ago, and I have watched how you’ve suffered through countless cruel fates with Nicholas. He was the sin I shouldn’t have allowed myself to commit. All those changes you’re experiencing are because all your scattered souls are coming back together as one," she said and paused and added,

"In your previous lives, only a part of your soul was present. You see, I was born different; I was an anomaly; I was born with all the gifts."

Luciana looked at her as if she was crazy.

"All the gifts? How is that possible?" Luciana asked.

"I didn’t understand it then; it might be that the deities made a mistake, but it was more of a curse than a blessing. Gradually, as your remaining souls begin to heal, stranger things would happen to you, and you would begin to remember bits and pieces of everything from where it all began."

"You must leave Nicholas; you must sever all ties with him; this is your last rebirth; I was able to approach you because of that. I’ve been trying to get to you all these years, but I failed. Your relationship is ill-fated; it will lead to death. You must listen to me and not repeat my mistakes!"

"What if I don’t want to leave him?" Luciana asked.

"There would be life-threatening consequences if you don’t leave him. If your remaining souls heal and become complete, you will begin to drain his strength and spiritual essence anytime he gets close to you; his strength will begin to fail him, and he will eventually become weak. Imagine what would happen if he faced a rival in such a situation. Death! He will die because of you!"

"No... no... no... no!" Lucia yelled, ’This was not possible.’

"I don’t believe you; in my previous life, nothing like that happened; why would it happen now? If you did something wrong, what has that got to do with me?" Luciana yelled.

"It has everything to do with you. I’m you, and you are me, remember? I’m not here to scare you. I already told you that all your scattered souls are coming back together as one, and this is your last rebirth; the curse is getting stronger now because your feelings towards Nicholas are changing. I have exerted a lot of energy to be able to speak to you, because time is not on our side: you must leave Nicholas. Listen to me!" She said,

"A curse? What are you talking about?" Luciana asked.