At Mount Sorel
"You're finally awake."
Nikolai opened his eyes as he heard Magnus greet him awake. Imdiately sitting up from the bed, he turned to Taro and asked, "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Two nights and a day, Your Majesty," Taro dutifully answered.
Nikolai frowned. It had already been that long?
"Your Majesty, you must delay The Coupling Rites until you're fully able to quench your thirst for your wife and control it," Magnus reiterated.
Nikolai chuckled. "Ah, my wife had been looking forward to the Coupling Rites though," he joked. "I even promised to do it whenever she wanted even if we don't follow traditions. It would be such a sha if I were to delay it…"
"What is your plan then, Your Majesty?" Magnus sighed. "You must know that even if I want to, I cannot help you any more with this coming full moon. The only solution is that you quench your thirst like before."
Nikolai closed his eyes and weakly murmured, "Like before… but that ended tragically for her…"
It had been twenty-one years since the last full moon… Back when he lost control of his urges and killed the woman he cherished the most without him even knowing how it happened.
He was a vegetarian, but his vampiric urges for fresh human blood still surfaced thirty years ago, at the sa ti as the prophecy about the union of royalty from Ebodia where the sky cried blood ca to happen.
It was a full moon that day, and since then, he had a constant urge to drink fresh human blood. And unfortunately, his dilemma didn't stop with him just rely having consu blood. No, the blood had to be from a person that attracted him through a particular scent like Dahlia's and Rosela's.
The twins had the sa scent to him. Both were like a combination of woody and slightly fruity tones, both sweet and warm as if to invite him into a cozy cabin. But despite the two of them being the sa to him, he chose to feed on Dahlia since she was also his lover at the ti.
Mineah, on the other hand, had a distinctly different scent from what he was used to. It had the strongest pull on him like he had never experienced before. She had this very sweet, creamy, and comforting scent to her with a hint of exotic spices that were very rich and seductive. Sohow, just catching a whiff of her had gotten him to the point that Rosela's blood didn't appeal to him anymore.
Subconsciously, Nikolai closed his eyes as the recollection of Mineah's scent surged all over his craving body. He wanted a taste of not only her blood but all that her body had to offer as well.
"Maybe we can just wait for another full moon and see if Lady Rosela's blood will work again," Taro comnted out of the blue.
"Are you thinking?" Lucrezia scolded the mont she appeared. "Stop spouting nonsense words just to comfort your king."
Nikolai chuckled as he watched poor Taro scratch the back of his head. It had been a while since he heard Lucrezia's sharp and straightforward tongue.
Rolling her eyes, Lucrezia mocked, "Ah, it's so nice of you that you can still chuckle at monts like these, Your Majesty."
"I've missed you, Master Lucrezia…" he humd with a smile.
"Hah, are you planning to join this batch again in disguise, Your Majesty?" Lucrezia scoffed. "Are you going to proudly tell everyone that you're eighteen sohow despite how you look?"
Nikolai laughed at the obvious joke. The last ti he went to Mount Sorel for his so-called studies was fifteen years ago. It was also then that he t the young Darius of Cordon who was sixteen at the ti.
Back then, Darius was naive enough to believe that he was only eighteen at the ti. At first, both of them had their own world inside Mount Sorel, but all of that changed when Darius saved him from ending his immortal life.
"That's honestly a good idea, Lucrezia," he grinned. "Maybe I should do that and see if any among your pupils can quench my thirst this coming full moon."
Lucrezia clicked her tongue while shaking her head.
"Do you like your new queen so much that you don't want to obligate her with dealing with your problems right now?" she questioned with a sarcastic smirk. "Do you need help? I have so ti to spare. I can co to Valcrez before the full moon to visit your wife and make friends."
Nikolai shook his head. "I still have enough titt6 until the full moon, Lucrezia," he insisted. "There's no need to rush. I'll tell her everything myself once I return."
It wouldn't do for him to involve other people with this. His affairs should be his own. Besides, he was sure he'd find a way to work out a solution to his problem in his own ti.
"Has there been any progress in the experint you were conducting?" Lucrezia asked with a frown.
Oh, right. He almost forgot about his own laboratory where he employed the best alchemists he could find. Their main goal was to produce synthetic blood that had the sa scent and taste as Dahlia's, and last he checked, they were still doing just that.
"It's been a while since I last saw their progress, but seeing as no reports have been coming to , I guess there's still no good progress to be had," Nikolai shrugged as he then got up from bed. "Actually, it's a good thing you remind about it since I might have to tell them to revise the experint based on my new craving."
"Are you leaving already?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," he smiled. "I do have a wife waiting for ."
"What good is a wife when you can't even share your problems with her, Your Majesty?" Lucrezia scoffed. "If that's the case, then she might as well just be a trophy to decorate your throne room."
Mirthfully ignoring his forr master, Nikolai turned to Taro and amusingly said, "Co now Taro. Let's leave so that Lucrezia can stop her nagging. Ah, she's worse than my mother at tis."
"You…!"
"Your Majesty, don't forget to delay the Coupling Rites," Magnus reminded him once more. "At least not until you can control your own urges against her blood."
"Yes, Magnus. I perfectly understand," Nikolai answered before he vanished before their eyes. He would never harm his dear wife, and controlling himself this ti wouldn't be a problem so long as there wasn't a full moon out in the sky.
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