Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite

"Is it poisonous?" Ruth asked in a fearful voice. 

"Are you scared?" Lady Evelyn asked back.

"I'm just afraid it might put you in a difficult position if the prince finds out." 

"I didn't know you cared so much about me. This is made from the vitellaria paradoxa plant," she said and paused as if she were in deep concentration before turning to Rhoda and asking. 

"You said it doesn't cause any skin reactions, too, right?" 

"Yes, my lady, it has a very nice fragrance and has relaxation abilities too. It would just cause barrenness after continued use by a woman," Rhoda said. 

Ruth felt her hands that were holding the pouch tremble. 'Wasn't this too scary? Barrenness in the princess consort?!'

"After one year, if the princess consort doesn't get pregnant, I'll believe she has indeed become barren. By then I'd have given birth to my son and become the prince's favored woman. I will request he release you from being a slave and give you enough money to live in comfort for the rest of your life so that you can happily live a carefree life outside these walls," Lady Evelyn said. 

Ruth felt as if the fear she had been feeling a moment ago had reduced by half after hearing those words. She happily nodded her head. 

"Thank you, my lady. I will take my leave," Ruth said and was about to retreat when the next words of Lady Evelyn made her freeze in her steps. 

"However, if you make any mistakes and you are caught, I'll make sure your corpse is thrown into the forest for beasts to feed on. Do you understand?" Lady Evelyn added in a chilling voice. 

Ruth's heart skipped a beat, seeing the warning in Lady Evelyn's eyes, but she could only respond.

"Yes, I understand, my lady," she said and hurriedly turned to leave as if she was chased by the devil. 

Staring at the empty doorway where Ruth had just disappeared, an evil smile formed on Evelyn's lips. "Maybe it was not too late to put things back on the right track; she must change the trajectory of the future, and this was the perfect opportunity. If, after all his visits, the princess consort doesn't become pregnant, he is going to lose interest sooner or later, and then who else would he cherish if not the mother of his son?'

~~~ 

Luciana was a bundle of nerves as Prince Nicholas held her hands and tugged her out of her chambers. Now she was more sure than ever that something was wrong with her. After she had agreed to go with him, Nicholas treated her like a doll, telling her to raise her hands, turn, and move her body sideways as he dressed her up. 

He had done as he wished, sparing no moment to be touchy-feely with her body even when she had told him she could do it herself. When he had finished dressing her up and had held her fingers, she had protested and said her fingers hurt so that he wouldn't have any reason to touch her again. He had touched her plenty when dressing her up. 

"Let me see," he had said and had held up her fingers to his face and asked in a dangerously low voice, 

"I don't see anything. Have you resorted to lying to me now?" 

Luciana had snatched her fingers back from him only to see her smooth fingers with nothing in sight, no blood, no cuts, just skin. She could say her fingers looked even more beautiful. If she had not seen the blood herself and Dora had also seen it, she would have thought she was hallucinating.

"I thought, I mean, the flowers… No, the thorns pricked my fingers, and there was…" Luciana paused and stared into Nicholas's face, her heart beating wildly in her chest. 'Would he think she was a freak of nature if he realized what was wrong with her? No, it would be best to keep everything to herself; she couldn't trust anyone.'

"No… Nothing is wrong with my fingers," she said, looking flustered. 

Nicholas just waved it off and didn't think much of it. He knew Luciana still bore a grudge against him for what he did to her parents, but that would soon change; he would make sure she would never take him out of her heart. 

"I want to take you out and show you something, but before that, let's go and eat something, shall we? We might not return until nightfall," he said, tugging her along out of her courtyard. Luciana absentmindedly nodded even though she wanted to say she wasn't hungry. 

She could feel the gazes of the servants on them, but even though she felt embarrassed by the prince publicly holding her hand, her thoughts of all the changes happening to her caused her greater stress than that. The bigger problem was Nicholas wanting to spend time with her. She hoped she wouldn't do anything strange that would raise eyebrows in his presence. 

They had just walked out of her courtyard and were headed in the direction of his courtyard when they met Paul, Nicholas's eunuch, who seemed to have been on his way to meet the prince.

"My Prince, there's urgent news…" Paul said and paused, noticing Luciana's presence. 

"Is someone dying?" Prince Nicholas asked nonchalantly. 

"No, my prince," Paul said and looked at him with a bit of hesitation.

"Then why do you look like that? Out with it, what is it?" He demanded. 

"There's news from the Southern region, and General Aaron and his son have also arrived with news and would want to have a word with you," Paul said. 

Luciana stiffened when she heard about the Southern region; she remembered an event in her past life that happened in the Southern region. That was where the third prince had been stationed, and she remembered the 3rd prince had been accused of staging a rebellion. 

Deputy General Edgar Wallace, who was Noble Consort Margaret's brother and 2nd Prince David, had been the one to arrive in time with soldiers to stop the rebellion. Later, they handed over a letter written in blood by the 3rd prince, which accused Prince Nicholas of being the mastermind behind his rebellion. 

Even though there was no substantial evidence, Prince Nicholas was put in a tight position, and it affected his chances of becoming a crown prince. 

It was about 3 years later that Prince Nicholas was able to investigate and find out the truth. It turned out that Prince David and his uncle General Edgar had found a gold mine in the Southern region and wanted it for themselves and didn't report it to the emperor. They had used the 3rd prince as a scapegoat for their benefit. 

'She needed to let Nicholas know so that the 2nd Prince and his uncle wouldn't win this time around. But how was she going to tell him without sounding suspicious?'

"Let them wait for me in the dining room and let them know I'm on my way. Tell the kitchen to set the table for all of us," Prince Nicholas said. 

"Yes, my prince," Paul said and quickly left their side. 

The thought of having to eat alone with him was already too much for her to handle, and now they also would be eating with other people. Luciana felt like she was coming down with a fever. 

"Your Highness, since you're having some people over, maybe I should allow you to talk alone with them?" Luciana said and looked at him in anticipation. 

His eyes flashed with something indescribable, and then a wicked smile appeared on his lips as he took in her expressive, clear eyes that looked up at him. 

"Oh, my little princess, are you still planning on getting out of this date with me? Did you find just the perfect excuse to run away from me?" 

Luciana frantically shook her head. "No, I'm not; I just think you'd have a lot of things to discuss with the general, and you wouldn't need to be there." 

"No, my dear, you are gravely mistaken. Indeed, I find doing other things and spending time with other people boring, but you, my dear, I'd want to spend every waking breath with you. I mean to say I have all the time in the world for you, my little princess." 

Luciana looked at him with widened eyes and didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse to be loved by him in both lives.