The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"I'm scared..." Paulina said to Alicia fearfully. It was one thing to walk down a dark, eerie hallway. It was another thing to be in a hidden room with a coffin that housed the dead body of someone they didn't know.

The entire time, Paulina's eyes kept going to the stone door, fearing it would shut and leave them stranded here. That would be a nightmare.

Alicia tried to understand what the king was thinking. Why would he hide Wilder's body here?

She walked around the sarcophagus, too scared to even touch it, much less open it to look inside to confirm whether there was indeed a body there.

A year ago, if someone had told her she would willingly be in a place like this, she would have frightfully laughed it off. But after everything she had experienced since she arrived here, this was probably the least scary thing.

She paused and brought the fire torch forward when she saw something that looked like a small pouch.

She quickly shut her eyes and apologized for the invasion of privacy before she picked up the pouch and handed the torch back to Paulina, who stood closely behind her.

She opened the small pouch and pulled out the piece of paper her fingers touched first.

It was neatly folded, so she carefully unfolded it while Paulina peered closer with the torch to see what it was.

It was a portrait of a girl's side profile with a hood covering her head, painted with red ink. On the free side beside the painting were the words, "Tiny Stubborn Witch."

Alicia could tell at first glance who the girl was. And also the person who painted it.

If someone like Wilder could spare his time to do this, he must have truly had her in his heart.

Alicia figured there was still something in the pouch and reached for it. It was a brown, handmade bead bracelet.

"Uh..." Paulina exclaimed as she brought her head closer to look at it.

"What is it?" Alicia turned to ask Paulina, who was looking at it with interest.

"Queen Anne used to wear something like this. It looks the same." Paulina informed her before adding, "It must be very common." She said thoughtfully.

"I doubt it is," Alicia muttered while looking at the painting again.

Both ladies suddenly jumped and let out frightened gasps when someone entered the room.

But it soon turned to sighs of relief when they realized it was Harvey; he looked worried and held a fire torch in his hand too.

"You... scared us," Alicia said, trying to catch her breath, with Paulina tightly holding her arm, also trying to catch her breath.

Harvey sounded urgent, and even his breathing was fast.

"What are you doing—what is this place?" Harvey fixed his eyes on the tombstone and stony coffin.

When he read the words on the stone, his brows furrowed.

"Prince Wilder?" He muttered in confusion.

"Could there be a reason why he is being hidden here, if I'm guessing correctly, by the king?" Alicia asked curiously, while Paulima just stared at the two of them, lost.

"That should be the least of our concerns right now, Alicia," Harvey spoke in an urgent tone.

How had he immediately guessed it was her and not Amber? Alicia wondered, but she didn't ask since Harvey looked like there was trouble.

"We need to get back into the palace right now." He said it with the same urgency in his voice.

"What is wrong?" She asked in worry as she began to return the items to the pouch.

"Princess Tyra..." Those were the only words he could utter before he said impatiently, "We need to hurry." And then began to lead the way.

Alicia didn't ask any more. It seemed very urgent right now, and the most important thing was to leave here. She quickly returned the pouch to the place she picked it up before she hurried out, holding Paulina's hand tightly.

By the time they were out, Alicia could tell why Harvey's tone had been filled with urgency. Not just that, but Lance had also shown up just before they left the dungeon gate. Apparently, he was the one who informed Harvey about where Alicia was, and now that things had turned this way, he decided to find them and let them know before it was too late.

When Alicia first came to the Moon Kingdom, she admired their bravery in not setting up a gate to guard the palace. And after living here for a while, she was able to understand why no one in their right senses would attempt to attack the palace.

But maybe someone who wasn't in their right mind would do that. Because why was a group of wild-looking men trooping toward the direction of the palace?

The surprising or not-so-surprising thing was the girl on a horse who was slowly approaching their direction as though to welcome them.

Alicia recognized that back. It was Tyra.

What the hell was happening?

Tyra had gotten rid of the hat and veil. Whatever she was intending to do right now was more important than the scar on her face. She could always fix that later. This was giving her much joy.

"What... is going on?" Paulina asked in fear. The men were many, and they looked like the ones who had been guarding the dungeon gate earlier. They were big, carrying crude weapons, and walking slowly with nasty smirks on their faces.

They could hear frightened screams as the women around the palace ran inside, scampering about to get away from these wild men. They weren't sure what Princess Tyra was hoping to do, but they didn't want to wait there to find out either.

"We need to hurry in. The noblemen are planning to lock all the doors." Lance spoke in a rush as he led the way. It seemed like Tyra hadn't been smart enough to think about that probability when she stepped out of the main door. But at least, they were now taking actions against the one with the 'royal seal' or whatever they called it. Alicia figured.

As they began to head towards the main doors, guards trooped out of the palace with weapons in their hands.

The rogues weren't exactly few. They were up to sixty of them, if Alicia's eyes served her correctly. However, the palace guards were less than 30.

Alicia and the others kept their eyes there as they hurried towards the palace doors, trying not to miss a single thing.

It seemed the palace guards were against whatever Tyra was up to and were really challenging her this time. Alicia could not hear the conversation, but the next thing that happened made her stop in her tracks while many others who had been watching from windows facing that direction screamed in shock.

A big, burly rouge swung his rusty sword, cutting off the head of one of the guards.

Tyra looked at the rolling head of the guard and burst into laughter. She began to cackle so loudly that even Alicia could hear it from where they stood.

"Get... rid of them," Tyra said in between her amused laughter as she wiped tears from her eyes.