The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 203: The Chances

Chapter 203: The Chances

After making sure that Sibil wasn’t following him, it was almost midnight when Zoran was transported back to the isolated place where he was keeping Dahlia. The first thing he did was to check on her in her bedchamber. Entering the room, he sat on the edge of her bed as he watched her sleep peacefully.

"I’m glad that you’ll be able to finally live your life away from the confines of this cave. You’ll be able to see your real family and be with them now," he whispered as he reached out to gently remove the strands of hair covering her face. "I’m sorry that I took you away for five years, Dahila."

Letting out a wistful sigh, Zoran leaned closer to give her one last stolen kiss on her lips. But then, Dahlia stirred, her eyes suddenly opened as soon as his lips were against hers.

Startled, Zoran quickly moved back while Dahlia sat up on the bed.

"I’m sorry," he whispered as he tried to get up. But before he could turn around and leave, Dahlia grabbed him by his wrist.

"Wait," she whispered, making Zoran turn and meet her gaze. "Stay here," she timidly added.

"I’m sorry I disturbed your sleep," Zoran muttered, almost a gasp as he did his best to avoid her gaze. "You have to get more rest. Tomorrow, I’ll be sending you back to Valcrez... to Nikolai."

It took him his all just to say those words. At the very least, he was glad that he managed to utter them so easily despite how he already felt like he couldn’t breathe. Unfortunately for him, Dahlia decided to move closer to him until both of them were now sitting side by side on the edge of the bed.

"All of my memories are back now," she informed him.

Zoran released a mouthful of a sigh as he did his best to speak. "That’s good then. You won’t have a hard time settling back with them," he sincerely stated. He then let out another sigh as he apologized, "I’m really sorry that I had to keep you away from your memories, Dahlia. I really thought that I was doing the right thing thinking that those memories would only bring pain to you. Unfortunately, I was wrong."

"You didn’t even know what really happened back then, Zoran. You only found out that Nikolai wasn’t the one responsible for why he was unable to control himself from killing me recently," Dahlia reasoned. "In fact, I want to find out about every detail of it. We know Rosela is to blame, but I want to know more, like who was the person she asked to help her control Nikolai."

Zoran frowned. He had no idea about those things at all, but he was sure that Nikolai would help Dahlia to investigate about such matters. Rosela probably asked for help from a powerful dark witch as only such a being would be able to manage to go against a powerful vampire such as Nikolai who, at the time, still had limited knowledge about magic making it easy for Rosela to deceive him.

"Nikolai will help you," Zoran remarked. "By now, I’m sure he’s already on the hunt to find out who helped Rosela."

"Will you go with me to Valcrez then?" Dahlia asked with a whisper. "I’m sure Nikolai will accept you back, Zoran. Please come with me..."

"I can’t, Dahlia..."

He stayed his tongue from saying further. That was the only thing he could utter to her...

"I’m sorry... It’s all my fault. I know... Your life now belongs to the Demon King," Dahlia apologized as she burst into tears. "I’m sorry that you have to sell yourself to him just to s-save me... I..."

Zoran was caught off-guard. "How did you-"

"I know everything, Zoran..." Dahlia sobbed. "All your sacrifices for me and why you did them... I know all of it."

Zoran was about to ask for more when his body stiffened. Before he knew it, Dahlia had pounced on him and hugged him tightly. "I’m sure there’s still a way to undo your bond with the Demon King," she insisted.

"Why..."

That was the only word that came out of Zoran’s lips. Dahlia’s tears and words were confusing him. Was it really possible for her to still have feelings for him despite her having all her memories back?

As if answering her unsaid question, Dahlia gently pushed away him so that she could stare directly into his eyes.

"I care for you, Zoran, and I know in my heart that you mean so much more to me. I’ve been very grateful and happy in those five years we had together. Now that my memories are back though, I will need some time to balance out my feelings," she hesitantly explained. "I need to see Nikolai and talk to him... I believe meeting and talking to him would help me sort out what I truly feel. But for now, please... This may sound selfish, but I don’t want to lose you, Zoran."

Zoran weakly nodded. He understood Dahlia’s plight well, and it didn’t take him much to pull her into his embrace and lovingly stroke her hair. A soft chuckle then passed through his lips as he whispered, "You telling me that you don’t want to lose me is more than enough to make me feel like I’m on cloud nine right now, Dahlia. However, I can’t come with you even if I wanted to."

He let out a self-deprecating scoff as he explained, "Devon will take my life the moment he finds out that I betrayed him, so I need to stay here and figure things out on my end."

He then took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh as he continued, "I can’t promise that I’ll come back to you, but I’ll try my best to survive this and do that regardless. For now, you have to promise me that you’ll keep yourself safe and well." He smiled as he added, "Live a happy and healthy life no matter what happens. You have to move on with your life and treasure it. Promise me that..."

Dahlia pushed him away a bit. Understandably, she had a deep frown on her face. "You sound like we’ll never see each other again," she hissed. "It’s like you’re giving me your last farewell, Zoran. I won’t promise you anything so you have to see for yourself if I’m really doing well or not!"

He smiled as he caressed her cheek. He would miss her scolding him like this. "Aren’t you such a nagger?" he jokingly murmured.

He would’ve said more, but the smile on his face faded when Dahlia leaned closer and kissed his lips. It was only a chaste kiss that he really didn’t expect, but it still affected him regardless.

He was ready to face his unfortunate fate in the hands of Devon, but what Dahlia just said to him was giving him hope to do his best to survive. Even though the chances of him doing so were impossible, he should at least give it a shot if only to at least be able to meet Dahlia’s eyes expectations of him.