The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"HOW DARE YOU? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET THE ARISTOCRATS ON YOUR SIDE! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE NICE TO BENEDICTA! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT HAS COME OVER YOU?" She shrieked. Although she was tempted to hit him again, she didn't.

"What is wrong with me?" Ivan asked with a dry chuckle.

"LUCIANA IS OUT THERE!" He pointed in the direction of the palace gate.

"And so what? What business of yours is that?" The Queen asked, struggling to control her temper.

"She is my wife and she is out there with Harold! It's going to get dark soon and I have no idea where she is or what Harold has done with her—"

"COME TO YOUR SENSES!" She yelled in frustration, shutting him up.

She was beginning to lose patience with her stupid, incompetent son, who only knew how to stir trouble. If only he was half the man Harold was, things wouldn't have been this way.

"It is over between you and her no matter how hard you try. You should move your affection onto Benedicta and not hit her! Do you know what hitting her could cause? Do you know how hard it was to appease her?"

"Appease her? Why? You said it yourself, mother. There is nothing wrong in a husband trying to discipline his wife," he reminded her, leaving her flustered.

She remembered. She had said that in his defense during his fight with Princess Amber concerning Luciana.

"She is not just anyone! Benedicta is not just any maiden. She is going to be the queen!"

"Benedicta?" Ivan asked, laughing.

"I have no intention of making her my queen, dear mother," he said, causing his mother to look at him in horror.

"It is enough for her to provide heirs. You are the one expecting too much."

"What... what has come over you?" She asked in a broken voice.

She looked like she was going to cry at any moment, but she swallowed it and straightened her shoulders.

"I'm not going to let you ruin everything because of your foolishness," she said before turning to the door.

"Seize him!" She commanded loudly.

Ivan looked around him in confusion as four burly guards marched inside the chamber and seized him from both sides.

"He must not step out of his chamber no matter what." The queen ordered them.

"What? What do you think you are doing? I am the prince! You cannot do this to me. Get your hands off me before I rip you apart!"

"Make sure he doesn't try to unseal his windows either."

Ivan's head snapped up to look at his mother. "What windows? What did you do?"

"When you return to your senses, you will be let out." She said in a serious tone.

"And remember what I told you earlier... if you continue this way with Luciana, I will have no choice but to make sure she doesn't live one more day. If you think I cannot do it, try to disobey me one more time." She said in a dark voice.

"I WILL KILL YOU! IF YOU DARE TOUCH LUCIANA, I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!" Ivan threatened and kept shouting even as he was dragged out by the guards and taken to his chamber.

"Such devotion." The queen mocked him as she watched them drag him out of her chamber.

Once they had left, she took a deep breath and clasped both hands in front of her.

Why was everything going wrong? She mused before remembering that she wanted to speak with Tyra one more time privately. She needed to find out what was going on from Tyra and confirm if it was truly Harold's bride who had hurt her and killed Beth.

If it was Harold's wife, that meant she still needed to find out who had hurt Harold since she was sure that whoever had hurt him was also the one messing with her.

********

Meanwhile, away from there on the path to the village, Harold was busy reminding Alicia of all that happened between them that day, while the rest of the group was wondering what they had been talking about and Harvey's involvement in all of it.

"You must know what they are talking about. What is it?" Luciana asked Harvey in a whisper, and the rest turned to look at him.

He simply shrugged and kept mum while he continued using his dagger to carve shapes from sticks.

"It feels nice to be out here like this," Lance said as he looked up at the evening sky. "I have never been out like this before," Lance said.

"Do you mean you don't go out?" Luciana asked him.

"I do. But not always. As an important part of this kingdom, I have to be protected at all times," he said matter-of-factly.

Susan tried not to react, but she couldn't stop herself from snorting out loud.

"You don't believe me?" Lance asked, facing her.

"Whenever I go out, people respect me so much. I cause so much distraction. They always move out of the way and show me much reverence," he said with a smug smile.

"I would move out of your way too if I saw you," Susan muttered under her breath.

"I think they were actually trying to get away from you, but well..." Luciana said, and let her words trail off as she shrugged.

"They do that because they cannot stand in the same presence as me. They see me as a god," He proudly, completing the sentence for her.

"Let me guess... you go about with guards, heavily armed guards, and dresses that make you stand out like a peacock, and you think anyone would want to approach you?" Susan asked incredulously.

Lance blinked at her and frowned. "Pea– what?"

"It wasn't me. Someone else said you looked like a peacock."

"Who dared to address me with such a vile term?" He asked in anger before he noticed how they were all looking at him and tried to keep calm.

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