The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 209: Missing Too Much to Ignore

Chapter 209: Missing Too Much to Ignore

The night of the celebration continued, and Nikolai couldn’t help himself as he approached his dear friend Darius who was currently acting like a fool smiling to himself all alone.

"Look at you still smiling like that despite being all alone," Nikolai teased.

"Well, I couldn’t be more proud," Darius boasted.

Nikolai nodded as he stared in the direction where the family royal family of Ebodia was currently gathered.

"A Nephilim... " Nikolai hummed. "Since when did you become aware that she’s not completely human?" He was curious to see if Mineah’s sister had also kept this a secret from Darius for far longer than it should’ve like her younger sister.

"Hmm, she told me about it way before our training started," Darius replied.

"How fortunate of you to have a wife that trusts you even before you two got married," Nikolai remarked with a sigh. Still, deep inside, he understood how Mineah’s situation was quite different from Darius’s wife. Mineah knew of his grudge against the dragons, particularly against the Dragon King, Vulcan’s soul.

"The two of you had a marriage of convenience," Darius explained. "It’s quite different from my situation. Xen is my mate. Thus, I could just let my instincts take over for me. I didn’t hold myself back, Nikolai. I let her know of my feelings immediately as soon as possible. Women need assurance, you see. Then trust will follow..."

It was genuine advice, and Nikolai nodded in appreciation of it.

"Look at you... You were the last person that I expected to say something like this, but here you are saying it anyway," Nikolai chuckled. "Regardless, while we have a bit of privacy here, how about we discuss matters about Vulcan?"

Nikolai kept his level gaze as he suddenly changed the topic. He wondered if Darius was also aware already of Ezekiel and Vulcan’s souls merging.

"I thought you’ll observe him some more?" Darius frowned.

"I am observing, Darius, and I’ve noticed just how strange Vulcan seems to be acting. He’s an abomination, but strangely, he’s helped the Ebodian soldiers. Don’t you find it strange?" Nikolai postulated. "He’s a golden dragon moving as if he’s fighting for the people who trapped his soul in the Forbidden Forest! The most I expected was for Vulcan to join hands with Helion’s Army to destroy the humans that trapped him and his kind in the first place..."

"That’s indeed strange, Nikolai, and I’ll help you look into it. But for now... Let me wrap things up here in my kingdom first," Darius insisted. "I’m still in the process of cleaning up all the mess created by one of my Elders, and I don’t want to leave without being sure that the kingdom won’t collapse while I’m away."

"Of course, my friend. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of how dangerous it is to let a dragon lurk freely in our world," Nikolai lightly chuckled. "We don’t want a repeat of the same chaos as before, don’t we?"

Nikolai’s face dimmed. He could already tell that Darius was also aware of Ezekiel, and yet his dear friend was still acting his best to look like he didn’t know a thing.

"Are you going to stay here for a tad longer?" Darius suddenly asked, trying to change the topic with a bit of teasing. "You went quiet when your wife said that she wanted to stay here for longer. It seems like you’ve been smitten, or rather, have fallen head over heels with her already."

"I need to go back, Darius. I also have a lot of things to fix in my own kingdom," Nikolai sighed as he took a sip of his own wine. "I suppose I’ll let my Queen have a few more days off. I’ve seen how hard she’s been working lately, and I can probably spare a few more days before I’d come to pick her back up."

Darius chuckled and teased, "How come you’re not drinking what I prepared for you?"

Nikolai rolled his eyes at the teasing. Darius had told him that he prepared some blood from freshly-slaughtered lambs for his friend, after all.

At his friend’s question, Nikolai chortled, "I’d feel weird drinking blood when I see all of your guests drinking wine around me."

"Haha! Haven’t you noticed how you’ve also been changing?" Darius teased. "Since when did you care about what other people thought? You’re known to be an unbothered king. You used to not let these things affect you, especially this one."

Nikolai didn’t comment. Instead, his eyes darted towards his wife Mineah. ’Does she really want some space or did she just say those things to distract me a while ago?’ he pondered. Somehow, thinking about his wife wanting to have a vacation on her own didn’t sit well with him at all.

"So tell me, how many days should I expect the Queen of Valcrez to stay here?" Darius asked. "I have to make all the necessary arrangements to make sure that her stay here will be incredible."

A beat passed, and there was no response. In truth, Nikolai was just adamant about letting his wife have the vacation that she wanted.

"I bet you won’t even last a day or two without barging your way back into my kingdom to either get her back or stay with her..." Darius confidently uttered.

"What?!"

Nikolai burst out as he shook his head in exasperation. It would seem that Darius was just hell-bent on teasing him with him being in a good mood like this. He didn’t mind it though so long as he would only tease him about his wife.

Darius patted his shoulder. "Heh... It’s so nice seeing you disoriented like this. In fact, I’m more alarmed seeing you all calm and recollected since that’s a sign that you’re getting bored with your life again, Nikolai."

Nikolai didn’t bother to respond to his friend’s teasing.

"Come now, Nikolai" Darius scoffed. "Let’s rejoin our wives..."

Darius started walking ahead, and Nikolai quickly followed after him. Throughout it all, his thoughts wandered back to Darius’s words of how he couldn’t even last a day before wanting to get his wife back. He let out a sigh of resignation as he kept his gaze on his wife who, in reality, he was already missing too much to ignore.