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

Feeling overwhelmed with the confusing emotions that were fighting within him, he decided to visit his mother. His mother was currently staying in a courtyard within his manor due to her deteriorating health; he had pleaded with his father, the emperor, to allow his mother to stay close to him so that he could take care of her.

The emperor had made an exception for the empress to stay out of the palace in exchange for Prince Nicholas marrying the princess of Florendel.

As Nicholas entered the empress's courtyard, the guards and maids bowed upon seeing him, and a eunuch announced his arrival. The head maid, Samira, who was also the empress' personal maid, was surprised to see the prince since it was his wedding night, but she realized it was already past midnight, so the prince must have left after spending time with the princess. It was not unusual for the men in the palace to leave the side of their women in the night.

"How is my mother?" he asked. 

"Reporting to the prince, the empress just retired to bed after taking her sleeping pills," she responded, bowing respectfully. 

"You are excused; I want to be alone with her," Nicholas instructed. Samira bowed and left the prince with his mother. Nicholas sat beside his mother on the bed, watching her sleep. His mother's health has deteriorated over the past years. Everything began when she was defiled by Luciana's father, the king of Serenevale, during a gathering between the kings years ago here in Gloryland. 

Nicholas was about 6 years old then, and instead of his father, the emperor avenging his empress for such disgrace or at least for his honor, he neglected the empress and focused on his noble consort and other concubines, making the empress feel she was the one at fault. As time went on, the previous radiant empress, who was always a sight to behold, became a shadow of herself. 

Queen Lucy, Luciana's mother, had witnessed the incident, and instead of calling out the wrongdoings of her husband, she had instead begun to spread lies about his mother, Empress Aurora. According to the vicious rumors, Empress Aurora had always been flirting with her husband, the King of Serenevale, and seducing him any chance she got.

According to her, Empress Aurora deserved it. She had vowed that her husband was intoxicated and had done everything under the influence; she wholeheartedly understood and forgave her husband. 

When she had been called in front of the council of elders, Luciana's late mother had stood her ground and had repeated the same words. The council of elders was like the judges and the scale of justice in the Windermere continent, and their headquarters was in Gloryland.

After Queen Lucy's lies, when Empress Aurora tried to explain her side of the story, the emperor did not even listen to her side of the story and walked out of the hearing, abandoning her. 

Nicholas remembered how everything affected his mother to the point of madness. He remembered his mother's constant mumblings: "I didn't, I didn't do it, I didn't. He forced himself on me." It was so heartbreaking he vowed to kill the king of Serenevale.

When he was old enough, he started investigations and found out Luciana's mother was best friends with his mother, and the King of Serene Vale was their childhood friend. The three of them grew up together, but they betrayed his mom and made her a shadow of herself.

But why was the heavens punishing him? There were many girls in the world, so why was it his enemy's daughter he fell in love with? 

His mind drifted to the night he had infiltrated the Serenevale palace with his soldiers and had killed the king and queen and anyone in his path to avenge his mother. He had set the King's pavilion ablaze and made his way to the throne room to retrieve the seal, only to see a portrait of the girl who had been plaguing his thoughts. Pulling a palace guard who was almost on his last breath by the collar of his bloodied uniform, he asked, pointing to the portrait, 

"Who is she?" he growled. 

"She, she is the princess," the guard had fearfully responded. He felt as if he had heard something abominable; he felt like an explosion had gone off in his head. In his anger, he punched the pillar in front of him, and cracks appeared in the walls as sand and debris began to fall.

Prince Nicholas was gifted with supernatural strength on his tenth birthday, and he had honed his skills to perfection so much that he was the strongest man across the continent. 

Realizing what was happening, he panicked and asked the guard again in a commanding tone.

"Where is her room located?" 

"In the south wing," the guard responded. With the speed of lightning, Nicholas ran towards the south wing, hoping his soldiers had not killed her yet, but after searching through the whole palace, he never found her. 

He let out a sigh of relief knowing she must be out of the palace exploring again. The both of them had met outside the palace after all; maybe she had sneaked out again. 

Back to the present, he stared at his mother's sleeping face. 

'From his investigations, there was a huge probability she must have known his identity and approached him on purpose. She was just like her father, cunning and manipulative. If he had not seen the portrait and asked the palace guard, who answered she was the princess, He wouldn't have known he was in love with his enemy's daughter.' 

"Mother, what should I do?" he whispered.

"Do you think I'm selfish?" He continued,

"I know her intentions, but I don't want to let her go." He smiled at himself deprecatingly. He gently patted his mother's hair and whispered,

"Good night."

That night under the starless night, Prince Nicholas wandered about in his manor, not having any particular direction in mind. After a while, he decided to return to his courtyard. There were a few hours left until morning. 

As he neared his courtyard, he didn't even know when he changed his direction, walking towards the princess' courtyard. Upon arrival, he gestured to the guards and servants to be silent when they were about to greet him. 

With silent steps, he slowly pushed the door and saw her small figure curled up on the bed. He approached her and saw her slow and steady breathing and looked at her beautiful and peaceful face. He yearned to pull her into his arms, to breathe in her intoxicating, calming fragrance that always filled him with a sort of indescribable inner peace. But instead, he found himself frozen in place, staring at her until he reluctantly turned around and returned to his room. 

'This heartless girl,' he thought. 'He could barely sleep, but here she was sleeping so peacefully.' 

What he did not know was that Luciana opened her eyes as soon as he left, her eyes clear with no sign of sleepiness. It was bound to be a sleepless night for both of them.