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Chapter 33: Various Experiments
Chapter 33: Various Experiments
It was already night when Nikolai together with Taro arrived at Mount Sorel in their mist form. It was a sanctuary sandwiched between Cordon's northwestern lands and Valcrez's southeastern territories. A sacred place protected by both kingdoms, it also served as an exclusive academy for those who want to enhance their combat skills in all aspects.
As was agreed upon long before, independent Masters that didn't involve themselves in any political strife in any of the kingdoms were in charge of managing it, and they were very strict in terms of who they accepted into their fold. They didn't just accept any disciple that wanted to join them. No, they had to pass their particular tests first before they could even begin to be accepted into their prestigious halls.
It was in these halls that Nikolai met and became good friends with Darius, long before the latter had been crowned as the new king of Cordon. It was a very important and sacred place for him... The one place where he actually found solace back when he was going through turbulent times.
"Your Majesty, what brings you here?" Lucrezia, the Master of Arts, quickly greeted him outside the strong barrier that was protecting Mount Sorel from outsiders and unexpected visitors.
"Lucrezia," Nikolai weakly whispered with a faint smile before he had to take a kneel from overexerting himself.
Ah... He would've loved to stay close to his wife right now, but the withdrawal symptoms he was going through were currently taking too much of his energy to endure. If he ever lost control, there would be a high possibility for him to lose himself, and the last thing he would want to happen was for him to harm his little swan without him even knowing it.
"What happened to him?" Lucrezia asked Taro when she saw Nikolai's current state. Unfortunately, traveling in his mist form almost drained him of his remaining energy. It was very uncommon, but he supposed that was simply the effect of these strange symptoms he was having.
"He's going through withdrawal," Taro explained. "He vomited out Lady Rosela's blood last night."@@@@
"But it wasn't even the full moon," Lucrezia worriedly remarked. Seeing his condition, she quickly moved and said, "Help me get him inside."
Nikolai was barely conscious as he felt his body being carried into the familiar tower where the quarters he used to stay in was located. It was a nostalgic sight, but he was too busy being weak to truly appreciate it.
"Tell me everything," Lucrezia demanded to Taro.
Nikolai could only weakly listen as Taro explained everything to Lucrezia.
King Nikolai never talked about it ever since that night of the incident. And from that same night onwards, his father, the former King Arturo, quickly forbade anyone from talking about that incident or even mentioning Dahlia's name.
Dahlia... It was like she never even existed in the history of Valcrez. It was also then that King Arturo began facilitating various experiments with all the best Alchemists they could find in order to help his son Nikolai quench his thirst during the full moon. Of course, that experiment involved Dahlia's sister, Rosela, who shared the same blood as her twin...
"It's a pity that he can no longer feed on Rosela. The woman even volunteered to turn herself into a Scion so that King Nikolai wouldn't hesitate on feeding off," Magnus regretfully whispered. "That psychological crutch at least helped His Majesty to feed on her as a substitute for Dahlia."
"Can't he just turn his Queen into a Scion like Rosela then?" Lucrezia asked Taro.
"Our Queen has chosen to remain as a human for now," Taro quickly replied. "And King Nikolai respected that decision."
Luzrezia's face fell as she turned to Magnus. "He's unconscious right now, but he can still perfectly hear our conversation, right?"
"Yes," Magnus confirmed.
Lucrezia clicked her tongue in annoyance as she turned to Nikolai and scolded, "You should told her about your case! Maybe then she'll let you turn her into a Scion." She grumbled, "If she knew that it's the only way for you to quench your thirst... If she's truly your wife, she'd allow it to happen immediately."
"Things are complicated Master Lucrezia," Taro couldn't help but interrupt.
"Why? Because she's the infamous cursed princess?" Lucrezia scoffed, to which Taro could only nod. "Do you know what her curse is then?"
Taro simply shook his head.
"Well, we need to know for us to be able to help him properly..." Lucrezia sighed aloud. "The next full moon will be coming soon. If he won't be able to quench his thirst then, I can't imagine how he'll survive."