The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 361: Conspiracies

Time passed, and Nikolai went along with the motions as he ruled his kingdom with his wife Mineah. Of course, that also meant constant bouts of babymaking as both he and his queen seemed insatiable with their love and lust for one another. It was a simple life. Well, as simple as one could be as both king and queen of their own kingdom.

"And with that, another day seems to have come and gone without much incident," Nikolai muttered aloud as he adjourned the court.

"You almost sound bored, Lai," Mineah chuckled beside him as she sat beside him. "Isn’t it good that there’s nothing going on?"

"It is, but knowing that we still have enemies out there, it wouldn’t be good for us to let our guards down," he pointed out.

It was simply the truth of the matter. Nothing would ever be this easy, especially whenever it came to running a kingdom. There was still the issue with his brother Raul as well. They had lost consistent contact with him some time ago, and while his brother reassured him that all was well, the lapse in consistency was starting to tip him off that something was wrong. It was also why he had tasked Abel to look into it, just to make sure that things were still going according to plan in regards to this random cult that popped up.

"I suppose so," Mineah shrugged as she leaned into her seat. "There’s some talk about a plague as well. It’s currently contained in the upper provinces, but I have a feeling that we haven’t seen the end of that thing."

"I see," Nikolai worriedly hummed. "Do we have any reports on the matter?"

Mineah narrowed her eyes in thought as she replied, "I’ve seen some of them. Nothing much in terms of substance though." She let out a troubled sigh as she added, "I’ve been compiling them for a few days now, and while it’s still developing, again, I think this might need a personal touch."

"You’re planning to go out to see it?" he asked.

"I would if I could, but I’m currently tied up on my own obligations," his wife shrugged in defeat. "Seeing as it’s still developing, it’s also not high on the priority list, so we can probably leave it for now."

Nikolai nodded even as his mind began to think of the situation. Somehow, Mineah’s words regarding its potential as a problem stuck to him. It wasn’t much now, but perhaps there was something here.

"You feel it too?"

He blinked at Mineah’s sudden words. "Feel what, Mine?"

"That there’s something off about... all of this," she elaborated with a frown. "It’s been quiet so far. A bit too quiet... There haven’t been any problems, and it almost feels like there’s no problems to be had ever."

Nikolai sagely hummed in agreement at that. "It’s simply unnatural, isn’t it? There should be problems popping up every once in a while, and yet it almost feels like we’re about to reach a golden age of rule without even so much as putting in enough effort into it," he pointed out. "You said that you wanted to see the situation about this plague, correct?"

"It’s just for a cursory glance," she nodded. "Nothing too fancy, but it’s to make sure that it doesn’t spread too quickly to the neighboring provinces. We can enact checkpoints as well, but by the time word gets out, it might be too late."

Closing his eyes, Nikolai took in a deep breath at everything that was happening. So far, it would seem that this plague was the one thing that he could take a look at if only to assuage the lurking fears within the two of them. Perhaps they were simply being paranoid and it was just the normal disease that got lucky. Perhaps there was nothing to worry about and business was going to go on as usual...

Then again, when has life ever been that easy?

"I’ll go ahead and check on the situation up north then," Nikolai decided with a nod.

"Are you sure? Maybe there’s something out there we just don’t know yet," Mineah worriedly asked.

"If there is, then we’ll deal with it in the same way we dealt with our other problems," he chuckled as he gave Mineah a reassuring smile. "We’ve been through worse stuff before. If this is a problem, then we might as well nip it in the bud before it gets any worse."

"I know. I just can’t worry sometimes," she chuckled back. "Still, maybe we’re getting a bit too paranoid between the two of us. Maybe we can go on a vacation once you’re back? It’s been a while, after all."

"What? So we can focus on baby making more thoroughly?" Nikolai cheekily asked. "We still have responsibilities, you know."

"I know, but again, I can’t help it, alright?" she weakly retorted, her cheeks blushing red at the teasing. "We can schedule it around the time when I’m most fertile. Just a few days or a week should be enough, right? We don’t have to be gone for longer than we can help it."

"We should start clearing our schedules for it then," he shrugged with a small smirk. "For now, we should focus on our duties to the kingdom. I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning for the northern provinces. I’m trusting you can handle things here while I’m away?"

"Of course," Mineah scoffed. "This isn’t the first time I’ve covered for you. We don’t have to hide your disappearance this time, correct?"

"I won’t be gone for too long anyway," Nikolai nodded. "Depending on the situation, I should be back later this week."

"Don’t be too long," she smiled at him with a seductive tone. "I’ll be eagerly waiting for your return."

"You talk like I’m already about to leave," he smirked as he moved to stand in front of her. "Why not have the night to ourselves?"

"Honestly, I thought you’d never ask."

As the two of them gave each other seductive smiles, the world turned as conspiracies began to take effect. Nikolai didn’t know it, but it was the last night he would have with Mineah for a long while.