Nicholas's Secret

"Wolfsbane? That's poisonous, Nick. What do you need it for?" Sophie looked seriously at him. "My mother once told me that if I ever encounter that, I should stay away from it. If you get it on your skin or even ingest it, the effects are life-threatening."

It was one of the few lessons that were heavily ingrained in Sophie's mind. Her mother taught her about plants, herbs, and their effects but was never as strict when it came to poisonous stuff such as that.

Nicholas smiled and nodded at how much Sophie knew. It seemed like the almanac he found at the library was a perfect gift for her once he got it from the inn. More importantly, though, he wanted to trust her with his secret.

"Yes, I know that it's poisonous, but I need it," Nicholas said.

"What are you going to do with it?" Sophie frowned a bit at him.

Nicholas bit on his lip and stared at Sophie. It was actually a bit harder than he expected to tell the truth when only his mother and he knew the entirety of what happened. Would Sophie hate him if she knew his secret?

Either way, Nicholas couldn't let it remain a secret for too long. He wanted Sophie to trust him as much as he trusted her with his life and Sophie was probably smart enough to piece the details together.

"Did I ever tell you why I happened to arrive at your house with such grave injuries? I'm sure you're really curious but you're not asking me what happened."

Sophie nodded slowly. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable, Nicholas. But now that I know that you came from the capital and are highborn, it must be because people are after you, right?"

It was not hard to guess that there were probably some assassins that came after Nicholas and attacked him. What was hard to figure out was why the boy came a long way from the capital… unless the kidnappers took him close to Hauntingen.

Sophie knew that they were at the border of the kingdom here, so those who captured Nicholas were from outside of the kingdom. Or preferred to do it away from the capital.

"Yes, you can say that is the case." Nicholas nodded. "Although I doubt you can even call them people at this point."

"I think they're horrible people for involving children in this kind of situation. They shouldn't have stooped to this kind of level at all," Sophie told him with a frown.

"..." Nicholas stayed silent for a moment and wondered if he should correct her.

Sophie recalled the memory of Nicholas on her bed while she treated him. The gaping wound back then… her eyes widened. "Wait. The bite wasn't made through any conventional weapons at all. It was an animal bite."

Nicholas nodded slowly. "Yes."

"You came running from the forest, I presume… but that's not it either," Sophie pursed her lips and looked at him. "And that's not all of it. It's connected to what you're looking for, isn't it? The wolfsbane."

"That's correct, Sophie."

"Were you bitten by wolves and now you want to kill them with wolfsbane?" Sophie asked. "Crushing them into poison and dipping them into arrowheads make really good weapons for this scenario I think, although… I don't think all wolves are dangerous."

Nicholas blinked at such a controversial statement. He realized that a part of him still struggled with even the mere mention of them. He didn't like the idea of werewolves being put up a pedestal.

"What did you say, Sophie?"

"When my parents were still around, we actually had a white wolf cub staying with us. Before I was born, my parents found it injured outside of our home and took it in. It actually stayed with us until I was eight years old. It was quite friendly and didn't dare hurt or even nip anything at all," Sophie said with a sheepish smile. "It was actually really cute, like a fluffy puppy."

Nicholas looked at her and then shook his head. "Sophie, I'm not talking about ordinary wolves at all. I'm talking about the werewolf tribe. The kingdom's greatest enemies."

"Huh?" Sophie blinked and stared at him. "Werewolves?"

"Yes, I'm sure that the academy at least taught that in history, right?" Nicholas asked. "I think it's a required module that was mandated by even the king himself in order to remain vigilant of our surroundings at all times."

Sophie nodded slowly. "Uhm… yeah, they have taught that briefly. Not often though."

"Sophie, I was kidnapped by the werewolf tribe when I was a kid and then they decided to turn me into one of them as revenge on the king," Nicholas explained.

"What!?" Sophie's eyes widened.

Did Nicholas just say... king? Revenge to the king?

Was Nicholas so important to the king himself that he was kidnapped as a boy?

Nicholas didn't seem to notice her reaction as he continued to explain. "There is an ongoing war still in the background, but people are less concerned as the battles and incidents lessened over time."

"I see…" Sophie nodded slowly at all the information before her. Even though Nicholas just revealed that he was the same boy in the past, now he was providing so much information about lycanthropy that she didn't even need to know.

"That's what I need the wolfsbane for," Nicholas said. "I need to treat my lycanthropy so I can… no longer hide in fear of being killed at all by the people who I consider to be part of the kingdom."

Sophie didn't know the full extent of what Nicholas was fully capable of, but all that she knew was that Nicholas was a good person and she trusted him. The idea that he was now suffering because of disease also made her feel hurt.

"I understand, Nick…" Sophie nodded. "You can stay here so you can find these flowers with me more easily, I'd like to help you out in this search of yours."

"Thank you so much, Sophie."

"It's only because it doesn't seem like you have any bodyguards with you at all. Are you here alone?" Sophie remarked and cleared things up.

Nicholas nodded. "I am. This is something that I need to do alone."