Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife

Ave sighed as she watched Lucian disappear and then turned back to enter the carriage with the frightened Lydia by her side. At first, Lydia had hesitated to follow Ave into the carriage, but before they could close the door, a voice called out from the palace entrance.

"And where do you think you are going with that maid?!" came Catherine’s stern voice. She walked down a few steps to approach the carriage with three maids following behind her, one of them carrying a bundle of clothes on her head, looking frightened and pale.

Ave paused mid-action, her hand still on the carriage door. She looked at Catherine, feeling a headache already rising.

She had hoped to slip away with Lydia without this little witch—who she had just realized this morning was Selene’s stepsister—coming after her. Ave had planned to keep Lydia with her and then meet the Empress when she was ready to execute the secret plan she had devised last night before falling asleep.

’Stepsisters,’ Ave thought with a small shake of her head. ’They’re the same in every place.’ She had never gotten along with hers in the modern world, and from what she’d seen last night, Selene didn’t get along with this one either.

Ave stepped out of the carriage, gesturing with her hand for Lydia to stay inside when the maid hurriedly tried to climb down the steps. With hands on her hips, Ave looked at Catherine with bored impatience.

"What do you want? I don’t have time to waste speaking with an insolent maid like you, Catherine. You’d better make sure whatever you stopped me for is worth my time or I swear I will take my anger out on you this morning," Ave said, remembering how the maid had still managed to smile last night when Ave had almost lost her life. Did she think it was funny or okay to watch someone die in front of her? No matter how much Ave hated someone, she would never wish them dead.

"I can see you’ve recovered quickly after last night, Your Highness," Catherine said with a small, smug look in her eyes as she came to a stop right in front of Ave, her arms crossed over her chest. "But I’m not here for you; I’m here to take Lydia away and replace her with Jana right here." She glanced past Ave towards the carriage door at the maid sitting inside, looking frightened and ready to step out, but Ave blocked the entrance.

"Lydia," Catherine continued, "Come down if you know what’s best for you. I already told you that you are not to go back with the princess, yet you disobeyed me. You know what happens to lower maids who disrespect a head maid."

Of course, Lydia knew—the punishment was so severe that a maid had once lost her arm a year ago. Thinking about it made her quickly try to push the carriage door open, but Ave didn’t budge from the entrance to give her a chance to step out. "Your Highness..." Lydia cried, looking from Catherine to her mistress’s back.

Ave looked at Catherine with her brows raised in amused disbelief. "And what happens to head maids who think they can disrespect a princess?" she asked, unwilling to back down or let a maid talk to her like that. If she was going to stay in Selene’s body, then she would make sure she got the respect she deserved as a princess. Not to mention, she didn’t like this Catherine who thought she could do as she pleased because she had the tyrant Empress backing her.

Even though Ave feared the Empress, it wasn’t to the point where she would become a pushover.

Catherine looked taken aback for a moment, but then she laughed out loud, covering her mouth with her hand. "I can’t believe you consider yourself a princess," she said, her laughter dying down as she moved to stand in Ave’s personal space.

"You are a princess in name and nothing more. Furthermore, you’re a disgraceful whore who sleeps with her brother’s husband behind his back. You can only be respected if you have your husband’s love, but too bad you’ve lost it—just like you’ve lost the servants’ respect in the palace." She whispered the last words and stepped back with a mocking smile playing on her lips.

"If you know what’s good for you, Princess, move aside and let the maid come with me. Unless you want her head to be the next one lying on the floor, you can keep—"

Ave didn’t allow her to finish before she raised her hand and landed a resounding slap on Catherine’s cheek, forcefully jerking her head to the side. The maids behind Catherine gasped in disbelief and shock.

Catherine was one of the most feared head maids favored by the Empress. All the maids feared her and none had ever seen anyone dare to raise a hand against her until now.

At the entrance of the palace, Princess Thaila who had walked out to take a morning stroll with Prince Orion—who had been pestering her to teach him how to court a lady—stopped at the sound of the slap.

"Isn’t that Princess Selene and her sister, the maid?" Orion asked as he came to stand beside his elder half-sister casually resting his hand on her shoulder. He was taller than her now and liked to show it at every opportunity he got. She stepped aside, causing his hand to fall away, but he still followed her to the side and placed it back on her shoulder saying,

"I think a fight is about to break out between the siblings. What do you say we go and see what’s going on up close?" His eyes shone brightly at the thought of watching a fight between women.

Princess Thaila sent a small glare at her half-brother, who despite not sharing the same mother was still close to her, and they had a good relationship. "Why do you always seem to get interested when it comes to women fighting?" she asked, not interested in having anything to do with whatever was going on between the sisters who everyone knew had never gotten along since they were brought to the palace.

"What’s not to get interested in? It’s not every day that we see women fighting in the palace. Believe me, women fighting is one of the most interesting things to watch. I told you about the one I witnessed in the village when I sneaked out that day—the fight was so intense they stripped each other’s clothes—wait, where are you going?" he called out to her when she shook her head and walked away heading towards the carriage where the siblings seemed ready to get into a physical fight now.

Princess Thaila was someone who hated violence, especially among siblings, and she always tried her best to ensure her own half-siblings got along with each other. However, she had failed many times to do that with Lucian.

Ave, who had slapped Catherine and warned her to back off if she knew what was best, was now trying to stop the maid from opening the carriage door and dragging Lydia out. Though she knew Selene hadn’t done anything to earn respect in the palace after her disgraceful act, which was known among a few people, Ave wouldn’t stand for such treatment.

When Catherine reached for the carriage, Ave moved swiftly, grabbed her arm, and twisted it behind her back. "You stubborn bitch! Back off already and go tell the Empress that I said I will meet her in a few days to explain why I need to keep Lydia." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Catherine gritted her teeth trying to free her arm from Ave’s grip. Though she wanted desperately to slap Ave back, she knew her place and didn’t dare cross the line to that extent. However, she was surprised that her little half-sister who usually feared her and did whatever she said was now fighting back and had dared to slap her in front of the palace maids.

Catherine could accept her fate as a lowly maid, but she wouldn’t let such disrespect slide. She tried to wiggle her arm free, but the more she struggled, the more Ave tightened her grip and twisted her arm further.

"You are playing with fire, Selene," Catherine gritted out furiously. "Let go of me and let that maid out of the carriage if you don’t want to die." She warned.

Ave, having had enough decided to beat the maid into submission. She released Catherine’s arm and took up a boxing stance, her hands positioned in front of her. "If you want to take Lydia, you have to get through me, bitch!" she said, jabbing her fists back and forth towards Catherine’s face.

Everyone around the palace grounds stopped what they were doing to watch the scene the Second Prince’s wife was creating.

"What is the princess doing standing in such disgraceful stance?"

"I think it’s true what the rumors says, she’d lost her sanity after the accident or else why would a lady, a princess at that hop like that?" Murmured a gardener, referring to Ave’s boxing stance.

From the top floor of a window where Prince Caelan was talking to his mother, trying to give excuses for why he hadn’t come to see her last night—so she wouldn’t realize he had been knocked out by a woman—he noticed the stance Ave took, and his eyes momentarily filled with horror. His hand subconsciously flew to his throat where she had kicked him with that same stance last night.

"What does she think she’s doing standing like that?" Prince Orion, who was following his elder sister, asked as they walked towards the carriage.

"I have no idea," Princess Thaila muttered softly, trying to figure out what Princess Selene intended to do.

As Ave was about to deliver a kick to Catherine to teach her a lesson, she heard a soft voice speak, "What’s going on here?"