The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 148: Vulcan Attacking the Enemy

Chapter 148: Vulcan Attacking the Enemy

Nikolai walked towards the tent Ezme had prepared for him and Mineah to check it out first. He wanted to make sure that his wife would be comfortable during their stay in the encampment, and what better way to do so than to see if their accommodations were up to standard himself.

"You do know that you’re not here for a honeymoon, right?" Ezme annoyingly huffed as she watched him closely inspect everything they’d prepared for him.

"I want my wife to feel comfortable even if we’re in the middle of the war, Ezme," Nikolai casually explained. "Anyway, you did a great job. Did you make sure to ask our cook to prepare a human meal for dinner? We’ll eat together with my wife and my mother-in-law, Queen Dana."

Ezme rolled her eyes at him and scoffed. "Relax, will you? You’re being so creepy right now."

"Am I?" he questioned with a blink.

"Totally, Brother. It’s not like this is your first time meeting your mother-in-law, so why do you look so worked up?" Ezme huffed in annoyance.

Nikolai wanted to protest, but he knew that she was right. He was indeed a bit more nervous than he would usually be. At some point, he started wanting his in-laws to like him somehow. Before, it didn’t matter to him, but things were different now. He wanted anyone close and important to Mineah to like him too. He wanted to please them, knowing that Mineah would be happy seeing him getting along well with her loved ones.

"Ah... I can’t believe this. Look at you even zoning out at this point. Brother," Ezme exasperatedly sighed. "You’re in deep trouble. You look so smitten with your wife. I’ve never seen your eyes glisten like that, and that’s counting even back then when you were with Dahlia."

He almost flinched at that. He almost forgot how tactless his dear sister was. "You... Stop teasing me and give me some important heads up before I see our officials."

"There’s nothing much," Ezme shrugged. "Things are practically all the same as I last reported."

Nikolai nodded at what he heard before then walking to go outside.

"Oh right, I almost forgot," Ezme suddenly chimed up as she quickly walked beside him. "As soon as Queen Dana arrived, she asked me to stop the search for Prince Ezekiel and Seer Tarah. She reiterated that she will be the one to handle the search together with wizard Lurio and a few chosen mages that came along with her. She said that it was royal affairs only and that our reinforcement should only focus on the task of bringing down Devon and the Helion Army as we agreed."

Nikolai simply raised a brow at that information, and he was just about to continue walking when Ezme grabbed him by the arm to stop him from walking outside the tent. "Didn’t you find it weird?" she insisted. "We’re offering help and assistance already, so why are they refusing it?"

"It’s not weird, Ezme. They are humans, so I believe it will be in their best interest to find the missing Prince and Seer instead of fighting a battle with the monsters themselves," he pointed out. "It’s a good strategy; letting our men do all the hard work of facing Devon’s army instead of just roaming to look for the Prince."

He did his best to sound neutral. Having Ezme suspect that something was wrong was the last thing he wanted. His dear sister was often uncontrollable, so it would be best that she wouldn’t think ahead when nothing was even confirmed yet.

"Come now. Don’t overthink about it," Nikolai hummed as he pulled Ezme along with him outside. "Let’s wrap up the discussions quickly. It’ll be getting dark soon."

From there, they walked towards their faction’s meeting and strategic tent. As soon as they were inside, the Valcrez officers that had gathered inside quickly addressed them.

"Welcome, Your Majesty," the officers greeted in chorus.

Nikolai promptly sat on his throne. Getting situated, he then gave off a signal, and one of the officers started reporting about the plans ahead of the battlefield.

"Admiral Sixto’s ship will arrive in two days’ time," Nikolai stated as soon as he was finished hearing the on-the-ground reports. "We’ll be deploying more Melds this time so that they can participate in the battle even if the sun’s up."

The officers that mostly consisted of Curbs and some Scions nodded in agreement at his assessment. Not all Curbs had the ability to withstand the sunlight for a long time, after all. That was unless their makers were Scions.

"Also, pull out the search party for the Prince as Queen Danasuggested. I will be selecting a few that will come with me and my wife to continue the search for Ezekiel and the Seer," he instructed. He then turned to Ezme and asked, "Any news from our spy at Helion’s encampment?"

"They confirmed that Ezekiel is not a captive there," Ezme reported with a frown. "For all we know, Ezekiel is still inside the wilderness in that forest..."

"The dragon then..." Nikolai deflected. "What’s its latest movement?"

"It’s still-"

The discussion was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a messenger inside the tent.

"Your Majesty, the dragon was spotted attacking a Helion platoon near the Badian Gulf!" a soldier reported, creating murmurs inside the tent.

"Vulcan attacking the enemy? Just what the hell is going on with that dragon?" Ezme burst out with a deep frown on her face. "I already expected it to make a pact with the demon to help it rise and break the seal in the Forbidden Forest, but it looks like I’m wrong."

Nikolai didn’t expect that news as well.

’It can’t be. It’s just all coincidence,’ he inwardly reasoned as he shrugged off the thought suspecting that Ezekiel and Vulcan merging. ’There’s no way Ezekiel would last if the dragon is inside him. It’s simply impossible to consider such a scenario.’

"What should we do if we have an encounter with the dragon, Your Majesty?" one of the officers asked. "Shouldn’t we just attack it and avenge our kind for it killing our ancestors mercilessly?"

Mineah’s request rang inside Nikolai’s head as he instructed, "No, let the dragon be for now. If it’s attacking Helion, then let’s observe it some more. Who knows? The dragon might end up helping us wipe out Helion’s armies and make things much easier for us."

He did his best to sound casual as he firmly added, "For now, let’s observe the situation and let Vulcan be. I will finish that dragon off myself, so no one should touch it except for me. Vulcan will die by my hands..."

Nikolai delivered those words with as much conviction as he could, and predictably, nobody inside the tent commented on his dedication. However, he knew that he only said those words so that he could keep his word to Mineah. So long as the dragon wasn’t harming any innocent lives, then he would stay put. However, the moment Vulcan tried hurting innocents, he would move immediately and do something to finish it off!