The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 33: Various Experiments

It was already night when Nikolai together with Taro arrived at Mount Sorel in their mist form. It was a sanctuary sandwiched between Cordon's northwestern lands and Valcrez's southeastern territories. A sacred place protected by both kingdoms, it also served as an exclusive academy for those who want to enhance their combat skills in all aspects.

As was agreed upon long before, independent Masters that didn't involve themselves in any political strife in any of the kingdoms were in charge of managing it, and they were very strict in terms of who they accepted into their fold. They didn't just accept any disciple that wanted to join them. No, they had to pass their particular tests first before they could even begin to be accepted into their prestigious halls.

It was in these halls that Nikolai met and became good friends with Darius, long before the latter had been crowned as the new king of Cordon. It was a very important and sacred place for him… The one place where he actually found solace back when he was going through turbulent times.

"Your Majesty, what brings you here?" Lucrezia, the Master of Arts, quickly greeted him outside the strong barrier that was protecting Mount Sorel from outsiders and unexpected visitors.

"Lucrezia," Nikolai weakly whispered with a faint smile before he had to take a kneel from overexerting himself.

Ah… He would've loved to stay close to his wife right now, but the withdrawal symptoms he was going through were currently taking too much of his energy to endure. If he ever lost control, there would be a high possibility for him to lose himself, and the last thing he would want to happen was for him to harm his little swan without him even knowing it.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

"What happened to him?" Lucrezia asked Taro when she saw Nikolai's current state. Unfortunately, traveling in his mist form almost drained him of his remaining energy. It was very uncommon, but he supposed that was simply the effect of these strange symptoms he was having.

"He's going through withdrawal," Taro explained. "He vomited out Lady Rosela's blood last night."

"But it wasn't even the full moon," Lucrezia worriedly remarked. Seeing his condition, she quickly moved and said, "Help me get him inside."

Nikolai was barely conscious as he felt his body being carried into the familiar tower where the quarters he used to stay in was located. It was a nostalgic sight, but he was too busy being weak to truly appreciate it.

"Tell me everything," Lucrezia demanded to Taro.

Nikolai could only weakly listen as Taro explained everything to Lucrezia.

"Magnus is currently in seclusion in the Quintessence Tower," Lucrezia hummed. "I'll try to reach him. He's more familiar with what to do in cases like these."

It was these words that Nikolai last heard before he completely lost consciousness.

*****

Taro let out a heavy sigh as he watched Master Magnus, the white wizard, and the head of Mount Sorel do a combination of his magic and alchemy to work on His Majesty. It wasn't the first time he had seen such talents, of course, but the last time had been so long ago. Over a century, if he was recalling correctly.

It was different back then as well. The last time it happened, His Majesty was bathing in the blood of the person he cherished most. He was also calmer now if not weaker, unlike before when they had to confine and cast a spell against him for him to stay put.

"And here I was busy designing the best gown to wear to witness the Coupling Rites," Lucrezia sighed beside him with a pout. Lucrezia was one of the Masters in Mount Sorel, particularly in handling arts. She was an Oread, a nymph of Mount Sorel.

Taro let out a small smile at the attempt at raising the mood even as he watched Magnus inserted some kind of tube into his king. After which, some kind of fluid flowed and entered his King's veins.

"Wiill he be back to normal after this?" Taro asked.

There was a loud breath coming from Magnus as he explained, "I'm not sure how long this will last, but this is not a permanent solution to his problem." He sternly added, "Administering this kind of potion twice was the maximum his body could take."

"He has to quench that new thirst of his," Lucrezia interrupted. "He needs to feed on his wife."

"It's not that easy, unfortunately," Taro murmured with sagged shoulders. "Our Queen is human, and His Majesty hadn't recovered from his past trauma from the last time he fed on Lady Dahlia just yet."

Lucrezia frowned. "I still can't fathom how he even lost control that time," she sighed. "He usually fed on Dahlia without a problem, so how come he ended up draining her that time?"

Unfortunately for them all, no one really knew what had happened that day. During that full moon twenty-one years ago… A blue moon, in particular, had turned what was supposed to be a normal night into a tragic event for His Majesty.

King Nikolai never talked about it ever since that night of the incident. And from that same night onwards, his father, the former King Arturo, quickly forbade anyone from talking about that incident or even mentioning Dahlia's name.

Dahlia… It was like she never even existed in the history of Valcrez. It was also then that King Arturo began facilitating various experiments with all the best Alchemists they could find in order to help his son Nikolai quench his thirst during the full moon. Of course, that experiment involved Dahlia's sister, Rosela, who shared the same blood as her twin…

"It's a pity that he can no longer feed on Rosela. The woman even volunteered to turn herself into a Scion so that King Nikolai wouldn't hesitate on feeding off," Magnus regretfully whispered. "That psychological crutch at least helped His Majesty to feed on her as a substitute for Dahlia."

"Can't he just turn his Queen into a Scion like Rosela then?" Lucrezia asked Taro.

"Our Queen has chosen to remain as a human for now," Taro quickly replied. "And King Nikolai respected that decision."

Luzrezia's face fell as she turned to Magnus. "He's unconscious right now, but he can still perfectly hear our conversation, right?"

"Yes," Magnus confirmed.

Lucrezia clicked her tongue in annoyance as she turned to Nikolai and scolded, "You should told her about your case! Maybe then she'll let you turn her into a Scion." She grumbled, "If she knew that it's the only way for you to quench your thirst… If she's truly your wife, she'd allow it to happen immediately."

"Things are complicated Master Lucrezia," Taro couldn't help but interrupt.

"Why? Because she's the infamous cursed princess?" Lucrezia scoffed, to which Taro could only nod. "Do you know what her curse is then?"

Taro simply shook his head.

"Well, we need to know for us to be able to help him properly…" Lucrezia sighed aloud. "The next full moon will be coming soon. If he won't be able to quench his thirst then, I can't imagine how he'll survive."