The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 165: Continue the Search

Chapter 165: Continue the Search

Another morning came, and Nikolai was just about getting ready to search for Ezekiel again. At the same time, Mineah was already doing her best to look as innocent as possible even as she was actively looking for an opportunity to sneak out and see her brother’s body. It was still out there, of course, and just the thought of meeting that dragon once again was already making her nervous.

"Are you ready, Mine?" Nikolai asked as they got on their one horse. "It’ll be another tiring day of searching."

"I’m ready, Lai," she nodded in determination behind him. "We won’t find him unless we search for him, and that won’t happen if we wait for my body to recover."

It had been a while since she first had his spirit in her possession once again, and even longer since their last attempt at searching for Ezekiel. The more time they wasted trying to be at their best, the more time they gave Vulcan to fully merge with her brother’s body.

"Unfortunately so," her husband regretfully sighed. "Still, if you start to feel tired, we can call off the search for another time."

"I know, Lai. I won’t stretch myself too thin this time."

With a flick of the reins, Nikolai ushered their horse to move. Leaving the encampment, they made their way to the last location they searched at, with Mineah promptly disembarking as she motioned to utter a spell that would supposedly help find her brother... which was impossible since she already knew where to look for him in the first place.

"It’s... this way," she lied through her teeth, knowing full well that the spell she just uttered was a simply light spell that faked her intentions. "He must be close."

"Lead the way, Mine."

With both of them disembarking, Nikolai led their horse with him as he followed behind her. Meanwhile, she did her best to look busy, her mind already running a mile a minute as she tried to come up with ways to lie to her beloved husband again.

’How do I explain not getting any results again?’ she inwardly agonized even as she showed nothing in her expressions. ’Maybe I can feign ignorance again? Tell him that I lost the trail?’

She shook her head at such a thought. After all, Nikolai was already getting suspicious. Sure, he didn’t say anything, but she could tell that he was being much more observant than he was before. Surely, she wouldn’t be able to fool him twice.

’Maybe something else might happen that I can use as an excuse,’ she hoped in her thoughts as they journeyed deeper into the forest they were currently in. ’Maybe there’s-’

A roar pierced through the air just as they were about to reach a clearing. Mineah froze as she looked up. Sure enough, up in the sky, a massive dragon flew overhead. It was Ezekiel, and she couldn’t help but feel both excited and afraid as she did her best to hide her reactions.

"Vulcan!"

However, the same couldn’t be said for her husband as he glared at the dragon with both anger and fury. Immediately, Mineah knew that he’d try and fight it, possibly winning and killing Ezekiel forever as well.

She had to stop him.

"Lai-"

"Mine, get to safety," Nikolai immediately instructed her, practically shielding her from the dragon using his own body. "I’ll take care of this."

"Lai, wait!"

Nikolai froze just as he was about to give chase. Turning around to face her, she did her best to remain calm even as she saw the look of eagerness on her husband’s face.

"Why? The enemy is right there!" Nikolai reasoned. "We have to take advantage of this now before it can do damage."

"But it hasn’t done anything yet," Mineah pleaded. "You promised that you won’t try and fight it unless it does that, right?"

She held her breath as she waited for her husband’s reply. For a brief few seconds, she almost thought that she’d have to restrain him, but thankfully, she saw his shoulders sag as he let out a grunt of disappointment.

"Very well. It shall live another day," Nikolai sighed. "But the moment it does something-"

"I know, Lai... You’ll put it down for good," Mineah gratefully nodded before moving close to him and giving his arm a soft hug. "Thank you."

"Let’s just hope we won’t regret this," he grunted.

After their brief encounter, Mineah did her best to ignore going after the dragon. Instead, she did her best to lead Nikolai on in their fake search for her brother. The guilt in her continued to eat away at her from the inside, but she swallowed it all if only because she knew that her time to save Ezekiel was nearing.

"We should make camp," Mineah suggested as the setting sun finally gave way to dusk. "It’s getting dark. We can continue the search tomorrow."

"You don’t want to go back to the camp?" Nikolai asked even as he started to prepare a small camp for them.

"It’ll be faster if we start from here tomorrow," she lied. "Besides, it’ll be nice to spend time with you out here in the wilderness."

In truth, she was already getting ready to sneak out that night. With the sudden confirmation that Ezekiel’s dragon self was nearby, she had to take this opportunity to try and fuse his spirit with his body. Doing so would theoretically allow him to shift back into his human form, and from there, they could finally get rid of the danger that was Vulcan trying to consume him and destroy everything they held dear.

"I’d very much like that as well, Mine," Nikolai smiled at her, making her heart squeeze achingly as the guilt within her took hold. "I’ll make sure that we’ll be as comfortable as possible then. Let me go out and hunt for food."

"I’ll be looking forward to it, Lai," she beamed. "Take care out there."

Smiling at her retreating husband, she let out another sigh the moment she saw him disappear into the forest. Left alone, the urge to try and enact her plan was getting stronger. Unfortunately, she knew that wasn’t the time for it.

She had to bide her time. She only had one shot at this, and she couldn’t risk wasting it by being too impatient.