The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 46: Suspecting Someone

Mineah frowned at Nikolai's words.

Assessing her confusion from her expression alone, Nikolai let out another heavy sigh as he added, "I need to practice my control without any other distractions or vampires around you that could sniff your blood as well. Seeing as this is a rather remote place, this is the perfect location for me to do so until I'm able to get myself used to your blood's scent. We also cannot do the Coupling Rites until then."

Still frowning, Mineah asked, "...And how long will that take?"

Nikolai hummed to himself in thought. He would just love to make things go on longer than it should, but they still needed to arrive at Valcrez in a reasonable time to formally crown Mineah as his queen.

"Until the day that we're supposed to arrive at Valcrez," Nikolai replied, having decided on the amount of time they could afford to be alone. "Admiral Sixto had already rescued all the survivors from our ship and will arrive at Valcrez Port in three days. We'll be staying here during those three days and travel in my mist form to Valcrez on the last day."

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"And what if you're still unable to control your craving for my blood during those three days?" Mineah skeptically pouted.

"Then we'll have to stay here for a bit longer," Nikolai jokingly chuckled. "So if you want us to be on schedule, you should cooperate and do as I say."

Well, It wasn't exactly true. In fact, it would only take him just a lick of her blood for him to gain full control of himself. But no. He simply wanted some time alone with Mineah, and arriving at Valcrez would only take that privilege away from him for some time. It was due to all of the traditions. Specifically, the Midnight Sun Waiting.

Now that he had to experience it, Nikolai thought of how it was a pesky one. The Midnight Sun Waiting was the tradition that a ruler should not let his queen live with him in his own palace for the first few days after the Coupling Rites were completed. At least, until the Midnight Sun had arrived.

It was a sacred tradition in their kingdom that was said to be essential to receive Heaven's blessing for a fruitful and blessed union between the king and his queen. He had heard of how his parents had strictly followed this tradition, and thus they were miraculously blessed with two children, him and Ezme.

Still, it wasn't like the wait would be that long since every season, Valcrez would experience one to two instances of the Midnight Sun appearing in the sky. This coming winter, it would probably take around thirty days or less for such an event to come.

'How inconvenient,' Nikolai inwardly complained.

There was a bit of silence between them before Mineah broke the silent air with a hum. "Thank you for saving me."

"I'm glad I didn't arrive too late. The lightning made it hard for us to navigate freely in our mist form, but we managed to come here safely," Nikolai lightly chuckled.

"Now go ahead and get some more rest. You almost depleted your energy reserves again just from putting up that barrier you created. Wouldn't you need to meditate to replenish yourself? You can borrow from mine from now on…"

Mineah blinked at his offer. As such, he explained, "Dani told Taro more about your daily meditations and how you're borrowing energy from your Shadow Maidens to replenish yours. Something along the lines of using the borrowed energy for you to pull in the elements available within your energy's reach."

"They really became that close that easily, huh," Mineah scoffed with a frown.

Nikolai chortled, "I'm not sure, but I believe they currently have a give-and-take relationship since your handmaiden asked him quite a lot of questions. After all, you wouldn't expect my men to simply give everything away without asking for something in return."

"What a sly vampire. I'm sure you're well aware of how capable my ladies-in-waiting are by now then," Mineah sarcastically chuckled with a pout. "Just like you have your Shadow Knights, I have my own Shadow Maidens. So you can go ahead and order your men to give us the privacy we deserve."

"They are capable, but not as good enough as what my men can do, Mine," he firmly remarked.

"But it's creepy having four of them tailing me," she complained. "Are they even necessary? Also, my handmaidens aren't comfortable with the idea of having your shadows tailing them. Is my life truly in danger, or are you merely spying on me because you're suspicious? I already told you about my curse.

'But not all of them,' Nikolai inwardly replied.

He wanted to ask her more about them since Seer Beirut didn't tell him the complete story, but he stopped himself from asking. He firmly wanted Mineah to open up to him about this on her own accord, simply because that would mean that she had trusted him enough to share her secrets with him.

It was rather coincidental… Of how Mineah wanted Nikolai to fall in love with her, while Nikolai himself wanted Mineah to trust him with everything…

Seeing Mineah's adamant request, Nikolai let out another heavy sigh and said, "Fine. I'll tell them to leave your handmaidens alone. But you…"

There was a pause as Mineah stared intently into his eyes. Likewise, Nikolai stared back, engaging in a battle where the one who blinked first would lose.

In the end, Nikolai shook his head and informed her, "Someone is trying to harm you, and I'm still trying to find out who it was exactly. Even the sudden attack of the Sirens is suspicious since it never happened before."

He couldn't help but growl slightly as he grumbled, "They never hurt anyone of my subjects. Instead, they simply destroyed the ship and mainly attacked my Scions and Aunt Alexa who were with you."

"But I'm nothing but a cursed princess. My existence is barely even acknowledged anywhere!" she pointed out. "Who and why would someone try to kill me? Unless it's related to you…"

"What do you mean, Mine?" he asked with snapped brows. He had a hunch that Mineah was suspecting someone. "Tell me, who do you think is responsible for this?"

She simply shrugged. "I'm not someone who will simply accuse anyone without any evidence just yet, so I will keep my thoughts to myself for now," she firmly stated. "Besides, I'm not sure if that someone is even powerful enough to summon Sirens. Well, unless that person is connected to a sorcerer or a powerful witch. Only that would explain it…"

Nikolai watched as Mineah crossed her arms as she added with a raised brow, "By the way, I heard an interesting rumor. Or maybe it wasn't just one…"

"What are you saying, Mine?"

She bit her lower lip, and Nikolai somehow subconsciously hoped he was the one biting down on her.

"Is Lady Rosela your lover?" she directly asked. "Are you going to make her your mistress in the future? Because that's what I heard. Everyone seems to assume the same as well."