The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alicia's conversation with Paulina kept replaying in her head as she walked down the hall to join the others for dinner. She hadn't realized how much time they had spent talking until a maid came to ask her to get ready for dinner.

After hearing all that Paulina had said, she was certain now that there was more to Princess Amber than met the eyes. There had to be something.

According to Paulina, Princess Amber always kept to herself and never talked back or reacted whenever Madam Grace was rude to them, not even when Madam Grace hit her. Neither had she ever stood up for Paulina when the woman had decided to vent her rage on the poor maid. She always just stood there, staring at the woman with a stony face.

She usually kept to herself and rarely slept. Paulina had recalled some occasions when she had woken up in the middle of the night and was shocked to find Amber sitting on her bed, staring at nothing in particular. She has also said that oftentimes she saw the princess treating some mysterious wounds. No one knew how she got them. It always worried Paulina, but after accepting that there were things Amber wouldn't tell her, she had stopped asking and always helped her treat her wounds without Madam Grace finding out.

Paulina had also told her how the princess liked to take a walk around the mountain, especially whenever Madam Grace was out. And she never allowed Paulina to come with her because those were her 'private moments'. Out of the three, only Madam Grace was allowed to leave the mountain and head to the village, especially when they were out of items like foodstuffs and toiletries. Paulina told her she had a suspicion that there was something off about Madam Grace, which princess Amber had noticed too.

Paulina said that Amber had only recently started to sneak out of the mountain into the village. Paulina had no idea what she was going there for, and Amber had refused to talk about it. The first time Madam Grace suspected it, all hell broke loose that day. Especially when Madam Grace found something like the head of an arrow hidden among her things, and Amber had claimed she had picked it up in the mountains. Alicia learnt that Amber had always looked forward to returning to their kingdom and meeting the king and the new queen. That was why Paulina had been excited when the king finally sent for her, but who would have guessed that it was to marry her off to a cursed prince?

That aside, the most worrisome thing for Paulina was 'princess Amber's' recent attitude. She had completely changed since the drowning incident. She talked a lot, didn't let anyone bully her, and even stood up for Paulina a couple of times, to the point that she even slapped Beth. Princess Amber wasn't that sort of person, so seeing how she was acting crazy and saying she wasn't Amber, Paulina was beginning to believe her.

"What happened on the day I almost drowned?" Alicia had asked her. Maybe it would give her some clues on how to summon Paulina back to her body and return to hers.

"When the message came from the king, Madam Grace was out, and you had also gone out as usual. By the time she returned and saw the message, you were still not back, so we started searching for you. We were both panicking, so Madam Grace and I searched around the mountains, and when we didn't see you, we went into the village. It was my first time there." A faint smile appeared on Paulina's lips when she recalled the memory. After many years, it was the first time she got to see a village with many people and pretty lanterns around, since she was usually stuck in the mountains with two women, and the other people she bumped into by mistake were hunters.

"I understood why you always went there. It was completely different from the mountains. It was like a different world," She was, smiling faintly.

Alicia almost snorted. 'Different world? Wait until you see Brook's Hill where I come from.'

"Fortunately, we met you. You were surrounded by people besides the wooden bridge on the outskirts of the village. They said you had drowned, and a young man had saved you before you were completely gone." Paulina sniffled. "We didn't know how you got there since you always stayed away from lakes since you were little and don't even know how to swim!"

Alicia wanted to argue with her that she could swim quite well, but she remembered that she was not Amber. Moreover, she had also drowned, so there was no point in trying to prove a point.

"Can you stay for at least an hour without crying?" Alicia asked in frustration as Paulina began to wipe her eyes clean with the back of her hands when she remembered how lifeless her mistress had looked then.

Paulina had also said she thought that Amber had a secret lover who she was always sneaking out to see, but Alicia didn't think it was just that. What had Amber been planning? Was it possible the river incident wasn't as simple as it appeared?

The whole narration made Alicia feel uneasy. She felt there was something up with Amber. Or maybe she was overthinking it because of all the movies she had seen, but the girl wasn't as simple as she made them believe.

The Diary! Yes! That was it. She was going to have to put all her plans on hold until she understood who Princess Amber was and what had led to the river incident. That was the only way she would be able to return to her own body. There was no need to leave the palace where she was being well taken care of to someplace she didn't know. Once she could figure out what the princess's plan was, she would get out of the palace.

"What are you thinking about?" Tyra asked as she joined Alicia, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Hey!" Alicia greeted with a friendly smile, "Where have you been all day?" She asked, realizing that she had not set eyes on the princess since breakfast.

"I was in my chamber, reading. How did your class with Beth go?" Tyra asked curiously.

"Was she the one who trained you too?" Alicia asked, and Tyra shook her head.

"No, someone else did. Why? Did she cause you any trouble?" Tyra asked with concern since she had overheard some of the servants talking about how Alicia had slapped Beth.

Alicia wrinkled her nose in dislike as she thought of Beth. That butterfly considers itself a bird because it can fly. Butterfly? Nah. Scratch that. That was too much of a compliment for someone like Beth. Beth was nothing like a butterfly. She was a common fly.

"I think she is always acting up because she is interested in your brother."

"What do you mean?" Tyra asked in confusion.

Alicia opened her mouth to respond but closed it when we saw Harold coming from the opposite direction. Her eyes widened when she saw him. She had thought he would be healing somewhere but he looked very fine.

"Excuse me," she said as she hurried away to catch up with Harold.

"How are you feeling now? Has the bleeding stopped?" She asked with concern as she looked at the side of his chest where the dagger had injured him.

"I'm fine," Harold assured her as he kept walking while she tried to keep up with his strides.

"Are you sure?" Alicia asked as she tried to touch him, but Harold was quick to grab her hand.

"Do. Not. Touch. Me," he told her in a stern voice, and she dropped her hands to her side reluctantly.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you," Alicia said as she continued to follow him.

"But how come you look okay? Doesn't it hurt?'

Harold looked at her briefly with expressionless eyes and then walked into the dining hall without saying another word to her. As usual, the hall became quiet.

He needed to return to his usual personality of not speaking much. He had spoken enough for one day.

Seeing how he wasn't willing to talk, she followed quietly and sat down beside him as usual, "Hey!" She waved at Susan, who was already seated with her brother, and then looked at Harold when she noticed that he was staring at her, "What?"

"Try to eat quietly. Don't cause any trouble," he warned in a low tone.

Trouble? She thought in amusement. Maybe not tonight, but she intended to cause whatever trouble she could as long as it would make them throw her out of their kingdom when she was ready to leave.

Seeing the glint of mischief in her eyes and how she didn't say anything, Harold could tell that she was cooking something, "If you try anything, I'm going to tell the king that you stabbed me, and tried to kill me," Harold threatened under his breath and felt his wolf cringe at how pathetic he sounded. Not cool Harold, not cool.

"Be my guest. I doubt that your oversized ego would let you do that," Alicia said with a daring smile before turning away from him.

Once again, she beat him.

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