The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 320: Drink Her Dry

Chapter 320: Drink Her Dry

Nikolai scratched his chin as he stared at his female Scions that he ended up giving the task of handling Mineah’s surprise birthday party to. He was supposed to talk to her shadow maidens, but he quickly realized that doing so would end up spoiling the surprise since her wife would probably just read their thoughts if not outright just order them to tell her what was happening.

In the end, he ended up deciding that if he wanted this done right, he had to use his own men for his purposes. At the very least, the female shadow knights before him now weren’t usually around his wife anyway, so Mineah shouldn’t be able to see or read their thoughts even if they worked around her.

"How is everything going?" he asked them.

"Smoothly, Your Majesty," one of his female Scions reported. "We’re just about done with the preparations and will begin distributing the invitations the night before Her Majesty’s birthday."

Nikolia nodded in approval. Mineah was turning twenty-one in two days, and he wanted everything to be perfect for his wife’s special day. Since she only had a simple wedding ceremony with him in their kingdom, he wanted to make it up to her by making her birthday celebration a grand one.

"And the performers?" he followed up with a curious tone. "Are they properly vetted?"

"Yes," another one of his Scions replied. "We made sure to have all the best performers we could afford to provide entertainment for the celebration."

"Excellent," he hummed in satisfaction. "It would seem that things are going according to plan."

With that, Nikolai then further discussed a few more details pertaining to Mineah’s birthday party, and after that was done, he promptly dismissed everyone in front of him. With everything seemingly going as intended, he could only hope that things would keep running smoothly until the date actually arrived. No sudden attacks, no emergencies... He just hoped that things would stay that way.

Taking a small breath, Nikolai allowed himself to rest for a bit before the inevitable happened yet again that day. He was sure that Dahlia would come knocking on his door again, and he could only sigh as he waited for it to happen. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the guard outside entered and informed him that Dahlia was once again outside the door asking for his audience.

"Let her in."

As usual, Nikolai let her in, allowing the guard to open the door for her while he himself sat on his throne. As with any other time, Dahlia looked determined as she began with her usual spiel of asking him to let her see Zoran.

"Your Majesty," she curtly greeted.

"Dahlia," Nikolai casually greeted back. "Do we really have to do this same song and dance every day?"

"For as long as it takes," she replied in determination. "I won’t stop until I’m allowed to see Zoran."

Nikolai let out a sigh as his thoughts went back to Mineah’s words. She had asked him to finally allow Dahlia to see her husband, and against his best wishes, he couldn’t help but just want to say yes. He felt bad seeing Dahlia beg to him like this every day, so perhaps now would be the time to let her see the man himself.

"A valiant effort," Nikolai chuckled as he stood up. "Fine then. Let’s go see Zoran."

To his amusement, Dahlia almost looked shocked as she stared at him like he had just grown a second head. She probably expected to fight for her life again just to try and see her husband.

"W-Wait... That’s it?" she couldn’t help but ask.

"You’ve begged for long enough," he smiled warmly at her as he walked up to her side. "Also, Mineah wanted to give you a break, and I actually agree with her."

Dahlia paused as a smile slowly grew over her face. "T-Thank you!"

"Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t seen him recently," Nikolai told her. "Let’s go."

Leading Dahlia from the front, Nikolai kept his silence as they both made their way to where Zoran was currently being treated. Eventually, they arrived at their destination, and he promptly knocked on the door for Fritz to let them in.

"Oh, Your Majesty," Fritz greeted him as he opened the door for them. "And Dahlia as well. What brings you two here?"

"We’re here to see Zoran," Nikolai promptly responded. "I’m here to personally escort Dahlia here just in case things go south."

Behind him, he could feel Dahlia fidget as she heard her husband being talked about like he was an out-of-control monster. Unfortunately for her, that was partly true, and Nikolai would just have to make sure that nobody would get hurt.

"I... I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to see it for myself," Dahlia spoke up from behind him. "I just want to see my husband."

Turning back to Fritz, Nikolai watched his friend’s face go from hesitation to resignation as he fully opened the door.

"Be my guest then," Fritz replied as he let them in. "Make sure to stay on the other side of the room though, Dahlia."

Dahlia nodded, and Nikolai made sure that he was still in front of her as they slowly approached Zoran’s bed. Sure enough, the man was already sitting up to greet them.

"Ah, Your Majesty," Zoran casually greeted him with a wave.

"Zoran," Nikolai nodded back. "I see that you’re doing well already."

"Not completely though," Zoran admitted with a shrug. "Apparently I’m still a danger to those close to me."

Nikolai simply hummed as he observed the situation. Fritz was currently on standby with Dahlia while he himself talked to the man of the hour. Looking at Zoran, he could already tell that his wife’s presence was having an effect on him based on how his fangs were starting to elongate.

"That, you are," Nikolai regretfully sighed. "You’ll have to work on your control though."

"W-What? Why? He’s already fine, right?"

Behind them, he heard Dahlia start crying as she voiced out her thoughts. He could tell that she was just happy to see that her husband was still alive and kicking. Unfortunately, the man couldn’t even remember his own wife at the moment.

Already, Nikolai was silently commanding Zoran to stay put. With the man being his Scion, he could control him easily to stop him from doing anything stupid.

"While that might look to be the case, he’s actually still, for a better word, foaming at the mouth to try and get you," Fritz sighed as he began explaining the situation to Dahlia. "His control still needs a lot of work, especially if you want him to be with you for prolonged periods of time."

"Hey, I resent that statement," Zoran pointed out with a frown. "I’m not doing anything right now, right?"

"That’s because I’m stopping you already, Zoran," Nikolai pointed out. "You’re my Scion, so I know what a potential attack looks like."

"B-But surely Zoran wouldn’t hurt me, right?" Dahlia questioned. "I’m his wife."

"That’s... also a complicated issue at the moment," Fritz frowned. "He doesn’t remember anything about you at the moment. Devon messed with him as his last act of petty revenge for defying him."

"What?!" Dahlia burst out. "But..."

"We’ll break the spell as soon as we can. Don’t worry," Zoran reassured her. "I can feel muted feelings for you right now as well, so I’m sure it won’t be too long."

Nikolai chuckled at Zoran’s words. "Those are some loaded words coming from a man who can’t even control himself around his wife."

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Zoran joked back.

Dahlia blushed furiously at the implications, and Nikolai could only laugh as he decided to try and think of something to help these two lovebirds get back together again.

"Not if you’re going to drink her dry if you can’t stop yourself," Nikolai pointed out with a scoff.

"Fritz told me I was doing better," Zoran rebutted back.

"That’s obviously untrue if I’m still the one holding you back right now," Nikolai answered back. "Still, this can be an opportunity. How about trying to practice your control while Dahlia is around?"

"I agree!" Dahlia immediately nodded. "I’m available whenever I’m needed."

"But not without me, unfortunately," Nikolai quickly added. "Even now, Zoran’s trying his best to silently break free from my hold. Since I’m his Sire, he can’t do anything to me, but that won’t be the same if it was any other person trying to hold him back."

"Oh..." Dahlia blinked.

"Still, this might work, right?" Zoran asked. "It sounds perfect."

"I’ll try to make time during my busy schedule," Nikolai nodded in agreement. "Perhaps once a week. Maybe more depending on the agenda."

"I’ll keep our schedules open here as well then," Fritz chimed in. "That way, you can slot yourself in whenever you have the time."

Nikolai simply hummed in satisfaction at a plan quickly hashed out. At the very least, this would give them more time to come up with a solution to Zoran’s amnesia problem. It would also help that Dahlia would spend more time with him, and maybe that would jostle some of his memories back into place.