The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 328: Blessed

Chapter 328: Blessed

Nikolai raised a brow on what Mineah just said to him. Judging from what was happening, it would seem that his wife had finally seen through his ruse. Then again, she was practically staring right at him at the moment even though she clearly didn’t know that it was him. It was fun seeing her look around as if she was on a treasure hunt. After all, she was the true treasure in this analogy even as she did her best to switch from partner to partner to get more coverage of the area.

Of course, he allowed it all to happen as well. It was fun seeing Mineah struggle for once. He did his best to make things hard for her, and thankfully, it would seem that all of his planning and effort hadn’t been wasted.

After all, he would never let his wife dance with any other man other than himself.

[Are you sure about that?] he questioned, doing his best not to give himself away as he let her pull him along the dance floor. [Maybe you’re mistaken.]

[You sound a bit scared there, Lai,] Mineah taunted. [Are we actually staring at each other right now?]

[In more ways than one,] he cryptically answered as he began to pull Mineah away from the edge of the room. [Maybe you’re just not thinking things through correctly, actually.]

[Hey, I didn’t tell you to give me a hint.]

Before he could reply, Mineah went ahead and attempted to swap partners yet again. Of course, seeing as he didn’t want to get left behind, Nikolai deftly replaced the man that his wife just picked, allowing him to continue the charade of being the unknown man leading her through the celebrations.

[You clearly needed it,] he chuckled back. [In fact, why not focus more on what’s in front of you?]

Mineah visibly flinched in his arms as she got his message. He had a feeling that she was starting to get suspicious, but he wanted to keep things going for now.

[That’s a lot more than a hint now, Lai,] Mineah narrowed her eyes at him as she stared at her supposedly nameless partner. [Are you seriously suggesting that I can’t recognize my own husband who’s right in front of me?]

[Am I now?] he deflected. [Weren’t you just looking at the edges of the hall?]

"Who do you take me for, Lai?"

Nikolai blinked as Mineah talked to her through actual speech, her gaze now firmly on him as she flashed him a smug smirk.

"I know it’s you, Lai," she accused, her gaze unwavering as she stared right into his mask. "For a powerful room-wide illusion, you somehow didn’t bother doing it properly on yourself."

A second passed as the music seemingly came to a crescendo, and Nikolai began to twirl his wife around with the rhythm of the music. He knew that his time was up, and now was the time for his grand reveal.

"It would seem that I’ve made a slight calculation then."

***

Mineah felt her heart skip a beat as she finally heard Nikolai’s voice up close and personal. As the music drew to a close, he began to pull her closer as he dropped her low to the ground, ending the dance with a climactic finish as they both came face to face with one another.

"This is too much," she told him as she stared at his masked face. "Also, you should lose the mask. It doesn’t look good on you."

"So I’ve heard," he chuckled back. "Still, it served its purpose well enough."

A second passed, and Mineah eventually felt Nikolai pull her back up to a standing position. Reaching out from behind him, he took off his mask, revealing to her his ever handsome face as he smiled at him.

"Lai," she greeted him with a loving smile.

"Mine," he lovingly greeted back. "It’s good to finally see you."

A beat passed as they both stared at each other lovingly. Around them, everyone seemed to have disappeared as their focus remained solely on each other.

"Happy birthday, my love."

"Thank you..."

With their hands on each other’s cheek, they both leaned in to give each other a deep and loving kiss, relishing in their love for one another as Mineah hummed into his lips.

Around them, the people clapped at their display. She could only assume that everyone was present there to greet her, but she didn’t care at the moment. What mattered was that Nikolai was there, and that was all she could ever ask for.

Eventually, however, their kiss had to end, and Mineah could only giggle as she let Nikolai lead her to their table.

"I’m assuming that everyone’s here to greet me?" she couldn’t help but ask as she got seated.

"More than that. There’s even a program for the festivities today," Nikolai told her as he took his seat beside her. "You can just sit back and enjoy your party. Food and drink are available, as well as your friends and family."

Mineah raised a brow at that. Family?

Curious, she had a look around the great hall once more. Now that the illusion was gone, she could see familiar faces among the crowd. Sure enough, her friends and family were there. In fact, she was surprised to see her parents happily smiling and clapping at her alongside her brother Ezekiel and her sister Xenia along with her husband Darius.

"This is..." Mineah choked out as she felt tears coming to her eyes. "Again, this is too much..."

"And again, it’s the least I can do for you, Mine," Nikolai comforted her with a loving hug. "You deserve nothing less for everything you’ve given me."

Mineah turned to Nikolai and gave him a loving hug before leaning up to him and giving him a loving kiss. Truly, she was blessed to have such a caring and thoughtful husband like him.

She really didn’t expect anything for her birthday, and yet Nikolai went and gave her something that went beyond any of her wildest expectations.