studiobondurri Chapter 39: The Experiment
Chapter 39: The Experiment
Chapter 39: The Experiment
At Mount Sorel
"You're finally awake."
Nikolai opened his eyes as he heard Magnus greet him awake. Immediately sitting up from the bed, he turned to Taro and asked, "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Two nights and a day, Your Majesty," Taro dutifully answered.
Nikolai frowned. It had already been that long?
"Your Majesty, you must delay The Coupling Rites until you're fully able to quench your thirst for your wife and control it," Magnus reiterated.
Nikolai chuckled. "Ah, my wife had been looking forward to the Coupling Rites though," he joked. "I even promised to do it whenever she wanted even if we don't follow traditions. It would be such a shame if I were to delay it..."
"What is your plan then, Your Majesty?" Magnus sighed. "You must know that even if I want to, I cannot help you any more with this coming full moon. The only solution is that you quench your thirst like before."
Nikolai closed his eyes and weakly murmured, "Like before... but that ended tragically for her..."
It had been twenty-one years since the last full moon... Back when he lost control of his urges and killed the woman he cherished the most without him even knowing how it happened.
He was a vegetarian, but his vampiric urges for fresh human blood still surfaced thirty years ago, at the same time as the prophecy about the union of royalty from Ebodia where the sky cried blood came to happen.
It was a full moon that day, and since then, he had a constant urge to drink fresh human blood. And unfortunately, his dilemma didn't stop with him just merely having consume blood. No, the blood had to be from a person that attracted him through a particular scent like Dahlia's and Rosela's.
"Do you like your new queen so much that you don't want to obligate her with dealing with your problems right now?" she questioned with a sarcastic smirk. "Do you need help? I have some time to spare. I can come to Valcrez before the full moon to visit your wife and make friends."
Nikolai shook his head. "I still have enough timett6 until the full moon, Lucrezia," he insisted. "There's no need to rush. I'll tell her everything myself once I return."
It wouldn't do for him to involve other people with this. His affairs should be his own. Besides, he was sure he'd find a way to work out a solution to his problem in his own time.
"Has there been any progress in the experiment you were conducting?" Lucrezia asked with a frown.
Oh, right. He almost forgot about his own laboratory where he employed the best alchemists he could find. Their main goal was to produce synthetic blood that had the same scent and taste as Dahlia's, and last he checked, they were still doing just that.
"It's been a while since I last saw their progress, but seeing as no reports have been coming to me, I guess there's still no good progress to be had," Nikolai shrugged as he then got up from bed. "Actually, it's a good thing you remind me about it since I might have to tell them to revise the experiment based on my new craving."
"Are you leaving already?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," he smiled. "I do have a wife waiting for me."
"What good is a wife when you can't even share your problems with her, Your Majesty?" Lucrezia scoffed. "If that's the case, then she might as well just be a trophy to decorate your throne room."
Mirthfully ignoring his former master, Nikolai turned to Taro and amusingly said, "Come now Taro. Let's leave so that Lucrezia can stop her nagging. Ah, she's worse than my mother at times."
"You...!"
"Your Majesty, don't forget to delay the Coupling Rites," Magnus reminded him once more. "At least not until you can control your own urges against her blood."
"Yes, Magnus. I perfectly understand," Nikolai answered before he vanished before their eyes. He would never harm his dear wife, and controlling himself this time wouldn't be a problem so long as there wasn't a full moon out in the sky.