The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 176: Tree of Life

Chapter 176: Tree of Life

Zoran was bleeding hard the moment he teleported himself back to his safe haven.

"That bastard," he cursed under his breath as he removed his clothes and dipped himself into a pool of water inside his private chamber. With the tub having a rune for healing, he instantly meditated and used his magic to get himself better as soon as he could.

He needed all the help he could get. Nikolai gave him a wound deep enough that he had no choice but to flee from him unless he wanted to die. In fact, it was so deep that it took him almost a whole day of healing just so it would stop hurting.

A day later after soaking in his healing pool, Zoran opened his eyes. He was profusely sweating, and he was panting hard enough that he felt like almost of his energy had been drained.

"Zoran, are you inside? Open the door please."

He inwardly cursed upon hearing Dahlia’s worried voice outside the door. She probably saw the bloodstains on the floor and got worried. He was in so much of a hurry to place his body inside the healing pool for quick healing that he forgot about her having the chance to see the drops of blood outside.

"Open this door right now!"

He chuckled at her high-pitched tone. He could already see her frowning face from where he sat. With a gesture of his hand, the door opened, and Dahlia rushed inside with a deep frown on her face.

"There’s so much blood!" she exclaimed, her tone laced with anger and anxiety. "What happened? How bad is it?"

Ignoring her anger, Zoran moved to face her as he rested his arms comfortably on the edge of the stones. This wasn’t the first time Dahlia saw him wounded, but every time he showed up like that, he would receive an ever increasing amount of scolding from her. Five years... During the five years that they’ve lived together... they grew so much closer to each other that it almost felt like he was inside a beautiful dream.

Giving her a smile, he genuinely replied, "It’s not that bad. I was wounded by the vampire who killed you, but it turned out that he actually wasn’t the one who killed you."

Dahlia’s face dimmed as she asked, "What do you mean?"

Zoran cryptically shrugged as he lamented her cluelessness. She had lost her memories, after all, and it didn’t help that he constantly fed her medicine so that she wouldn’t remember who she was. He was afraid that she would come back to Nikolai once she got her memories back, so he did everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

"Remember when I told you that you died in the hands of a vampire who drained you of your blood?" Zoran started. "Today, I faced and fought him, and..."

He trailed off as memories of their fight came back to him. He wasn’t aware of what Rosela did, but he still witnessed everything that happened because of that Seer. Rosela’s confession to the Queen, and how she manipulated everything to the point that it led to Dahlia’s demise...

His face darkened. Dahlia got the justice she deserved when Rosela died due to the spell he put on her, but something was still bothering him... It was the fact that Nikolai wasn’t responsible for Dahlia’s death. That meant...

He turned to Dahlia and stared closely at her. Was he bound to lose her again after everything he did and the sacrifices he made just to save her life? For years, he despised Nikolai. He gave up on Dahlia knowing that she’d be in good hands. He focused on traveling and training himself well to become the best warlock only to then find out one day that she had been killed by the man he once trusted.

Zoran couldn’t help but recall how he begged Rosela to allow him to have Dahlia’s body. Back then, Rosela easily agreed and he didn’t really understand why. Now, everything made sense. Rosela simply wanted Dahlia out of her way.

But back to what he did back then, he didn’t give up on Dahlia’s lifeless body knowing that there was still a possibility to save her as long as there was still warmth in it. He had heard about the Tree of Life inside the territory of the Demon King, Devon.

He took a deep breath to do what he had to do, and the rest was history. In summary, he sold himself to the devil for Dahlia to have a second life. For sixteen years he waited for her to open her eyes as he kept her lifeless body under the Tree of Life.

And thankfully, his waiting paid off.

"Revenge wouldn’t solve anything, Zoran," Dahlia scolded him. "Why even bother when I’m already alive and well? What’s the purpose of revenge then?"

’Because I’m afraid...’ he internally scowled. ’As long as Nikolai is alive, I feel like I can lose you at any moment...’

Zoran could only stare at Dahlia as he mulled over his words. For five years, their relationship had no label at all.

"I’m scared of losing you, Dahlia," he confessed.

"I don’t see the connection of that with your revenge," she frowned in reply. "Is that man hunting to kill me? Why? I’m really confused right now, Zoran. Is there a way for me to remember everything? I want to regain my memories."

Zoran felt his chest tighten. Staring at her directly, he weakly uttered, "I will lose you if your memories come back, Dahlia. You’ll come back to him..."

"I’m getting frustrated right now! What are you saying?" Dahlia groaned, her face turning red with annoyance. "You’re being confusing, Zoran. Why would you lose me? You’re the most special person to me now, don’t you get it? I will never leave your side no matter what, so how would you lose me?"

Zoran raised his hand as he reached out to cup her cheek, gently caressing it as he began to explain.

"The medicine I’m giving you are stopping you from remembering your past, Dahlia. From now on, you can choose whether or not to drink it," he admitted with a soulless smile.

"Now that the truth of who was really responsible for your death had been revealed, you deserve to regain your memories. It turned out that your previous lover was not the one that led you to your death. Instead, it was Rosela, your twin sister."

"You... Why are you telling this to me now?!" Dahlia burst out, her eyes welling up with tears.

"I’m sorry, Dahlia. I only wanted you to be safe and sound..." Zoran confessed. "And I truly thought that keeping you hidden here like this was the right thing to do..."

That wasn’t all of it, however. He also had to make sure that her body was well enough after she had woken up from a long coma. It had been five years already since then, and so far, her body had fully recovered.