Luck’s descent (BL)

Nielle sat beside the bed disgruntled, watching Elyan at work. The doctor looked as usual, calm, as if he wasn't saving the life of someone on whom other lives depended. Brelle was standing right next to him, bringing Elyan the herbs and aids he kept asking for, while Nielle was remarkably silent.

He watched the blood dripping from Shane's hand into the prepared bowl, watched Elyan inject something into his other hand and force open Lacrisan's eyes, assessing his pupils. Then he told Brelle what to bring next. Nielle wanted to ask how he was doing and if Elyan knew what the poison was, but it was clear to him that he would only get in the way...and that was clearly not what he planned.

Practically as soon as he brought Shane, Elyan started healing his Lacrisan. He didn't ask how he got out of the dungeons, he didn't ask who hurt Shane...he wasn't even surprised by the fact that he came with him hours after being shot with an arrow. 

 Nielle liked their castle doctor precisely because of his professionalism. However, he knew that when they were done, Brelle would start his angry speech.

He didn't know how long Elyan's practice had taken, but when he was done,Nielle was slowly falling asleep. The six-hour journey on horseback without a single break had exhausted him considerably.

"Prince Nielle," Elyan's voice startled him a bit and made him look up, "I did what I could, he seems to be out of danger, but only time will tell if I'm right...he'll be sleeping for a while, it will be good if you find a quiet place for him, where there won't be twenty people." he clarified, making it clear to Nielle that Shane shouldn't be thrown into the room with his remaining Lacrisans.

Nielle knew, "Do you know what poison this is?" he asked. 

"Nothing special... it's used by bandits, the nobility, the church, common criminals, you. If you didn't stop the spread, within a few hours he woul be..." Elyan sighed, "but he was more or less lucky."  

Nielle laughed softly, "Lucky," he stood up and looked at Shan, "That's why I'm screwed, you jerk." dissatisfied, he pinched his hand, which was dripping with blood a moment ago.

"Nielle!" Brelle finished washing his hands and got to scolding his brother.

"Yes, yes," Nielle didn't feel like listening to.

"How did it happen to him? What did you do to him? Why don't you ever learn? How many Lacrisans will you destroy before you realize that they are also only fragile humans?" he folded his hands on his chest in displeasure and glared at Nielle who, as always, didn't deal with him.

"Believe it or not, this time it wasn't my fault that he got hurt," he clarified.

"If you had been in the dungeon as the king ordered, nothing would have happened to him," Brelle disagreed, "why did you escaped? When father finds out, he will be angry." he clarified.

"Angry...what a nice word you used," Nielle laughed.

"Nielle," Brelle frowned.

"Anyway, not a word to the king about this...when he finds out he's injured," Nielle nodded to Shane, "I'll have to kill our father in self-defense, and you don't want that."

Brelle knew that he didn't mean the words seriously, but he said anyway, "Nielle, don't say such things...Louis will be angry, you know how he can be when it comes to the king and the laws," he clarified.

"Just kidding," Nielle added and headed for the door, "thanks for the help, I'll ask someone to take him away later," he looked at Shane, "if you don't want to end up in the dungeon, just stay quiet, I'll take him soon," he threatened, though he was clearly aware that he wouldn't harm them.

Nielle made his way to the palace, as it was clear to him that it wasn't over for him. He really wanted to kill the king rather than be punished like he knew would happen. Sometimes Nielle thought about taking his men, and going to live somewhere the hell out of this weird family, where he wouldn't have to follow the petty rules every day. But he couldn't.

In king's paranoia, he would come to the conclusion that somewhere behind his back he was making plans to take over the throne so he wouldn't leave him alone.

His father was one big mixture of uncertainty and complexes, stemming from the days when he wasn't sure of his position on the throne. As the eldest, he had many conflicts with his younger siblings in the past, so Nielle wasn't surprised by his suspicions. But that didn't change the fact that he was exaggerating.

When the king was still a prince, it was his youngest brother who almost robbed him of the position of crown prince through intrigues. However, his father completely made up for it by having him killed. He let his second brother live only because he couldn't have children and therefore didn't represent a threat as a candidate for king. Anyway, his father experienced his own and passed it all on to his children.

Louis was his only favorite, he left Brelle alone as he wasn't an obstacle for Louis and Nielle was his only source of insecurity. Nielle knew he could say as many times as he wants that he didn't want to be king. His father will never believe him.

Nielle was aware that he wasn't safe anywhere...which was also the main reason why he built such a network of people and contacts around him, with which he was able to protect himself in time. But the key was that the king couldn't find out...because he wouldn't explain to the king that he didn't collect them to take Louis's place, but to defend himself from his moronic actions.

That's why Nielle sometimes thought about having the king assassinated...but he couldn't. Because Louis, no matter how normally harmless he was, still had power as crown prince in the country, which he didn't want to oppose. Not that he was afraid of losing, but since his goal was a peaceful life, without fights and stressful situations, eternal strife with Louis over the parricide was really not something he wanted. 

Nielle wanted to wait for Louis to become king naturally and then go away somewhere far...which he would do right now if he could.

He wanted to lead a quiet life somewhere where no one from the royal family would find him...and he intended to achieve it, he just had to spend some time in this disgusting environment.

At the moment, however, he had other concerns. He walked and wondered who shot his Lacrisan. He was quite curious if Lacrisan was really the target or if someone wanted to harm him by forcing him to return to the palace. The second possibility made him think, who knew he was away from the city and had a reason to follow him. 

As his list began to form, he heard his name and the footsteps of the guards. He sighed deeply and turned to them.

"Prince Nielle!" several men ran to him, "Where were you? We've been looking for you for an hour."

Nielle looked at them: "Where would I be?" I'm taking a walk." he wasn't surprised how quickly the words about his passage through the palace reached the king.

"The King wants to see you in the dungeons," one added, "if you will be so kind." he nodded forward, signaling for Nielle to go first.

Nielle blinked gently, "Dungeons?" but didn't object and went with them. 

He knew that the longer he delayed, the more dissatisfied the king would become. However, since Nielle didn't want to accept even a gentle punishment and struggled not to let the king be locked up in his dungeons instead of him, he wouldn't like to have to endure a harsher punishment than what the king had planned. 

Nielle was usually able to survive his orders unscathed as he commanded the group that carried out the punishment...but today he knew that wouldn't be the case.

When they arrived at the dungeons, Nielle walked through the familiar corridors to the part where he had waited for Shane another day. When he saw the king sitting in his chair, the deep anger filled him.

"If I sat on your throne, what woud you do? So why aren't you afraid to sit in mine, you piece of shit..." he growled in his mind, but didn't say anything out loud. Nielle walked up to the king, bowed slightly.

"Is something wrong, father?" he asked, as if he didn't know why he wanted to see him.

The king glared at him in anger and said, "Is something wrong?! You're asking me?!" he snapped, "Where were you supposed to be? Where were you supposed to be, Nielle?!" he shouted.

Nielle looked thoughtful before conjuring a look of remembrance, "Oh, you're angry because I got out of the dungeon? My apology, there was a report that there was a problem with today's execution...no one knew what to do with it and they asked me to come. Since you didn't specify which two days I should be in the dungeons, I made it clear to the guards that due to not clarifying the details, it will be fine if we move today to tomorrow... I was sitting here the whole time yesterday." he lied.

The king was silent before he spoke in disbelief, "I didn't explain...which two days," he laughed, "I didn't explain the details...do you think I'm a fool, you ungrateful brat?!" he stood up abruptly and walked over to Nielle, who was looking at him as if he was innocent.

"And did you explaim them?" he asked.

The king gave a loud growl and braced himself to slap Nielle but stopped, took a deep breath and pulled his hand away.

"It's nothing," he declared, "some brat isn't going to piss me off." 

"I'm very glad that your self-control is improving, father...if you allow, I'll just finish my punishment right away." he wanted to take the chance and get locked up rather than accept anything else the king would come up with.

"Stop!" the king shouted, "Where do you think you're going, disobeying the king's order and thinking I'll leave it at that? I spoiled you too much when you were little." he growled.

Nielle laughed with amusement, "Spoiled? Me?" he didn't remember if the king had ever said a nice word to him.

"Ill-mannered, impudent...you deserve more than being locked up in the dungeons," he declared and sat down in Nielle's chair again. He nodded to the guards, who he probably managed to inform about what he had prepared for Nielle.

Nielle glanced over at them, and when he saw the long bench for lying down during whipped, a wave of anger passed through him.

"Ten lashes should teach you how to behave appropriately," the king looked satisfied.

"Father...with all due respect...no king in any country whips his sons," he reminded.

"I don't care what other countries are doing... the kings in them probably have well-behaved sons," he growled.

Nielle knew that he would only be wasting time unnecessarily if he tried to talk logically with the king.

In the situation, nothing at all played in his favor, that's why he didn't object anymore, "If you think so, father." He knew he don't have a choice, so he just sighed deeply and waited.