"Are you scared now? I would never let you go, and since you want to be my wife so badly, prepare to perform your duties as my wife." He declared tyrannically and possessively hugged her waist and pushed her onto the bed. He roughly tugged on the ribbon and strings that held her elaborate gown together, an indication that he wanted to undress her. But when he realized she just lay there on the bed and wasn't resisting, he paused in his actions as his gaze scanned her face.
"What are you planning again in that little head of yours? I'm warning you, don't have any ideas," he warned coldly.
Luciana inwardly smiled, but outwardly, she acted indifferent; her guess was right: Prince Nicholas had no intention of going all the way in her previous life, but she had overreacted and even hurt him in the process.
That night after he had left her chambers a few minutes after he arrived and asked the guards to guard her door, she remembered how that caused rumors to fly around. Everyone realized she was an unfavored wife, and all the subsequent rumors about her entanglement with Dominic had stemmed from today. This time she was going to change everything.
"I'm at your mercy; I know that since I have delivered myself to you, you would never let me go; I might as well accept my fate," Luciana said flatly.
Nicholas's eyes narrowed as he stared at her face; it was true. He had planned on keeping her to himself and never letting her out of his sight, but wasn't she acting too strange? The woman he knew wouldn't give up so easily without a fight.
He got off the bed, losing interest and feeling confused. Luciana saw he was planning to leave her alone again and voiced her concerns.
"Since I've decided to accept my fate. Shouldn't you also do your part? You already didn't attend the wedding. If you leave right now, people will start spreading rumors. I only have a request. Please spend at least two hours here with me; it would make everyone believe that we have at least consummated. If the emperor finds out, he wouldn't be too angry with you for not attending the wedding."
Prince Nicholas didn't know what she was up to, but he knew how bad rumors could be, and it would indeed be for his benefit if the emperor thought he was no longer against the arranged marriage and was making an effort to spend time with the princess.
"Okay," he said flatly, and the maids were called in to help Luciana out of her gown. After the maids left them alone, they both shared the space, lost in their own thoughts. None of them spoke a word. Luciana had her back towards him, and he also sat leisurely on the chair on the side. When it was about two hours later, he left the room, still not saying a word.
~~~
Left alone in the room, Dora, her maid, entered, and seeing her lying quietly on the bed, asked her worriedly,
"Your Highness, are you in immense pain? Can you bear with it? In the morning, I'll prepare a hot bath for you so that you can soak your body in it. It would alleviate the pain."
Luciana saw her face full of worry and realized what she must be thinking. Dora must have thought they had consummated and must have been in pain since it was her first time and also due to the rumors of how violent the prince was. Her mind drifted to what Dora had done in her previous life.
Before she was left alone in her chambers to await the prince's arrival, Dora had brought her some medicine that she advised would help with 'the pain.' Luciana had remembered her optimistic eyes as she urged her to drink the bitter medicine.
"I know the prince is said to be cold and violent, but I know that if he sees your beauty, he would naturally be gentle with you," she had said.
Dora had never understood why her mistress had to journey to Florendel to replace the princess to marry the rumored "devil" when she was supposed to be in mourning. She had an inkling it was due to her parents' massacre, but she had still followed Luciana to death's door. Her life belongs to Princess Luciana, and that was it.
"I'm not in pain, Dora; the medicine you gave me was quite helpful," Luciana said, not adding any details. She knew how faithful Dora was to her, but some things were better left unsaid. She promised that in this life she would keep Dora safe and not allow her to fall prey to people's schemes like her previous life. She would protect Dora with all her might.
Right now what she needed to do was use her gift well and make herself powerful. In her previous life, everyone had looked down on her because they felt her gift wasn't important, and she had never proved them wrong, so she was always treated like she was unimportant and could be overlooked.
Even though in her past life, with all the plots and schemes against Prince Nicholas, he still ended up being the crown prince, she knew it wasn't an easy feat. And if she remembered clearly, after those accusations against her, there had been an uprising to strip him of his title so that the second Prince David Hunt would be crowned as the crown prince.
In the Windermere continent, there were about 7 countries, the largest one being Gloryland, which was like five of the remaining small countries combined. Gloryland was the only country that had an emperor, and the remaining countries had kings.
The emperor of Gloryland, Emperor Ethan Hunt, Prince Nicholas Hunt and Prince David Hunt's father, lorded over the remaining countries. Gloryland was like the father and lord of them all. When you are born to a royal family in the Windermere continent, you receive a magical gift on your tenth birthday.
A magical ability that is special to only you. There had been strange cases of people born of normal birth receiving a magical gift on their 10th birthday, but it was a very rare occurrence.
Some people are blessed with the gift of seeing into the future, some are blessed with the gift of disguise, some are blessed with supernatural strength, some are blessed with gifts of healing, some people can also command the natural elements at will, and some people are blessed with extraordinary beauty, which is usually considered vain, and that is what Luciana was gifted with.
Most people were also lucky and ended up receiving two gifts. Luciana was one of the lucky ones and had a second gift, but her second gift was also considered unimportant because it was related to beauty and aesthetics. She could touch a single plant, and numerous flowers would bloom on the tree, creating a very beautiful sight.
She could create a whole courtyard of flowers from a single flower bed just by touching it. But what people didn't know was that due to her gift, she could hear the inner thoughts of plants. She could tell the special quality of a plant by touching it, and she could use that knowledge to concoct several rare medicines and other stuff like spices, makeup products, and many other products that were derived from plants.
But in her previous life, she had not used all these to her advantage and had wasted her talents being a wallflower in Prince Nicholas' manor. This time she was going to change her fate.
She was going to punish those evildoers and everyone who had helped them to grow such wings and have such audacity.
~~~
Nicholas did not know what to feel. He knew she hated him and wanted to kill him, but she was still pretending. How did she end up being the princess of Florendel in the first place? Was this a conspiracy? He must admit he had not seen through her schemes and fallen in love with her.
On one hand, he was happy she was now his wife and with him, but on the other hand, he knew she wanted him dead, and he also didn't even know if he should love her, considering whose blood was flowing through her veins.