Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife

Lydia stiffened in astonishment the moment Ave hugged her and even apologized to her, something she had never done in all the years Lydia had been assigned to her since they were just eleven years old.

Though Lydia’s mother had also come from Gina and had worked as a head palace maid, Lydia had been enslaved along with Selene in the Pendragon palace, just like all the young children taken from the kingdom. But when Selene got lucky enough to be taken under the Empress’s wing, Lydia had been picked to serve her. Since then, Lydia had sworn her loyalty to the princess. Despite the fact that Selene could be mean at times, she never let Lydia starve or do hard labor and would instead make the other maids do it, allowing Lydia to stay by her side at all times.

However, not once had the princess hugged her or even so much as touched her, not to mention apologized. But Lydia didn’t think much about it, assuming it must be because of the death of her sister, who, despite not showing that she cared much for her, Lydia knew Selene did.

Recalling how she’d seen the guards drag Jasmine out of the back entrance, Lydia broke down into more tears and hugged the princess back.

Ave cried quietly as she ran her hands up and down Lydia’s back, knowing the death of Selene’s sister would affect Lydia more, as she seemed to know the girl personally—unlike Ave, who had only learned of Selene’s sister last night. But then, she knew nothing about Selene apart from the fact that she had cheated on Lucian and was working for the Empress.

If she wanted to make sure what happened last night didn’t repeat itself, she would have to learn more about Selene and study who her enemies and allies were. However, Ave would play her cards her own way to survive.

The shadow woman had said the only way back home was to make Lucian fall genuinely in love with her and heal his heart so he could take the throne for the right reasons. That might be a challenging thing to do now that Ave knew the reason he hated Selene, but she was willing to give it a try in order to return to her life in 2024.

Her life there was so precious she wouldn’t give it away for anything. If the only way back was to make someone love her, she would try her best, even though she doubted she would succeed. But then, she was an actress; acting was the only thing she knew best apart of eating and fighting. All she had to do was make a man fall in love—how hard could that be?

If she was a hundred percent sure that falling out of a window would take her back and not paralyze or even kill her, she would have risked it and thrown herself out right now. But the last thing she needed was her poor soul dying instead of returning.

Even though she had no idea how to start healing Lucian, she knew she had to do it. But first, she needed to heal her own mind after the horrifying incident last night before thinking of ways to melt a frozen, rigid heart. She also needed to think of a way to play the Empress into believing that she was still Selene and still loyal. Because as long as she remained here, she wouldn’t allow any innocent person to die because of her again.

Ave finally released Lydia after realizing the girl had stopped crying. She moved back and wiped the tears that still lingered on Lydia’s cheeks with her hands.

"Where is Lucian?" Ave asked softly as she looked into Lydia’s eyes. She hadn’t seen him return to the chamber last night before she fell asleep, and from what she realized, this dirty chamber had been his before he was exiled. Apart from this chamber, he wasn’t allowed to stay or sleep in any other one in the main palace. Where had he slept last night? she wondered when Lydia said she had no idea where he was.

"...I haven’t seen him since you told him to allow me to ride with you in the carriage yesterday, Your Highness. Why are you addressing His Highness by his name? You never did that before, and if you continue to do it, you’ll get in trouble with the second prince..."

’I’m already in more trouble than I have ever been in my entire life in the past three days I’ve been here. What could be worse?’ Ave thought to herself as she dismissed the maid’s worry for her. Lucian wasn’t the one she feared more; it was the Empress.

In history, she had done all sorts of things to ruin the lands and kill its people before they made it to the future.

The people of Pendragon had not made it to Ave’s time, and the land was not on the world map. Now that Ave had transmigrated to the past and changed some things, the Empress might not have the chance to take the throne again. From what the shadow woman had said, Lucian could beat everyone to it and take the throne for all the wrong reasons, and then the world Ave had grown up knowing would cease to exist, and she might not be in the world she knew again.

Her wealth and luxurious house, not to mention her fanbase in the future, were a big motivation for her to do whatever was possible to restore the balance so her future wouldn’t cease to exist. Perhaps she could even ensure the Pendragon people lasted to the future, and who knows, their land might be another big country in 2024.

"By any chance, the royal family won’t be inviting me and Lucian for breakfast, will they?" Ave asked as she felt her stomach growl loudly. She had missed lunch and dinner, and now, from the clear weather, she could tell it was about 10 in the morning, and she still hadn’t eaten.

Lydia shook her head. "No. When I was coming here, I saw Lord Zane arrive with the second prince’s carriage. I think you will be going back to the Dooming palace now," she said, her expression turning sad, her hands wringing in front of her.

Ave never thought she would feel this happy at the thought of going back to that ugly palace, but she was. She had admired this main palace, but thanks to the Empress, it had been tainted in her mind now. Not only had she almost lost her head in the dining hall last night, but she had also watched an innocent girl get beheaded. How could the Empress live with herself after what she did last night?

"That’s good. Can you help me get something else to wear before we go..." Ave trailed off as she noticed more tears streaming down Lydia’s face, but the girl quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand and tried to smile through her tears.

"What’s wrong?" Ave asked, concerned.

"I won’t be going back with you to the second prince’s palace..." she whispered softly.

"Why?"

"Catherine has assigned me to work in the palace kitchen. She said the Empress has gotten you another handmaid, and I won’t have to go back with you anymore..." Lydia burst into tears as she knew better than anyone how life in the main palace as a lower kitchen maid could be. She’d lived it before and had thought she would never have to go back to it now that she had a mistress, but Catherine had told her this morning that she wouldn’t be going back with her mistress anymore.

Ave’s brows furrowed upon hearing that. Apart from Lydia, Ave knew no one in this era and could not rely on anybody. Not to mention the Empress assigning her someone else—someone who would probably spy on her and report everything back to the Empress.

"Did that bitch Catherine tell you that the Empress ordered that?" Ave asked, recalling how the maid had smiled in satisfaction when the Empress had hit her last night.

When Lydia nodded, Ave scoffed. "As long as the Empress didn’t say it to me directly, you are going back with me to the second prince’s palace." Ave said firmly as she pulled the girl’s hand, already dragging her along to the door, not caring what Catherine had said or the Empress.

"Your Highness, you can’t go against—"

"I will go against the tyrant Empress if I have to keep you next to me. This palace is nothing less than hell. Don’t worry, I know how to make the Empress dance around my fingers in no time," she assured, pulling Lydia down the dirty corridors of the palace.

"Your Highness, at least you should wear something! You can’t go out in your undergarment!" Lydia hurriedly said as they almost stepped out into the open, making Ave stop. "Oh, I should wear some clothes."

A few minutes later, after Ave had donned a plain blue dress Lydia found in one of the drawers of the late third consort, they stepped out of the palace where a plain-looking brown carriage with two horses instead of four at its front waited for them. The carriage looked so faded that Ave couldn’t help but sigh in dismay.

’You took me away from my luxurious life to fix some damned past that has nothing to do with me, and yet you can’t give me something as good as a better life with a golden carriage,’ Ave complained in her mind to whatever force was behind her transmigration here.

As Ave was about to step into the carriage, she caught sight of Lucian from the corner of her eye and stopped mid-action, placing her foot on the carriage steps. She turned around to look at him, where he stood with Zane and another man who passed him his horse’s reins as he talked to him about something.

Lucian listened to whatever the man was saying with an indifferent expression. Ave found herself staring at him instead of stepping inside the carriage. Despite everything he’d been through and was still enduring, Lucian looked unfazed—cool and authoritative, like a ruler in his own right.

His mere presence outside the palace made all the guards around the grounds tense, their fear so palpable that some were visibly shaking. Even as he spoke to the men around him, his mouth barely moved, yet they appeared thoroughly intimidated.

As if sensing her gaze on him, his eyes flicked in her direction without moving his head. Perhaps she was mistaken, but she thought she saw his eyes narrow briefly at the dress she wore before he looked away from her as if she were air. Then, in one swift motion, he mounted his horse, galloping away without sparing her another glance.

Ave swallowed hard. ’How on earth am I going to make that ice fall in love with me and help him fight against that tyrant bitch?’ she thought as she watched his horse disappear through the gates of the palace. ’My life depends on this, and I have to make it work one way or another—or I’ll be stuck here forever. And that, I can never accept.’