Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife

After Ave’s voice faded completely down the corridor, Lucian was left alone with Zane. Without a word, Lucian strode toward the curtains and pulled them shut, plunging the room back into darkness. He hated that he was angry—that Selene had ruined his morning with her presence to the point that he hadn’t even thought to extract the poison’s pain from his body as he usually did. But then... he hadn’t felt the pain.

That realization stopped Lucian in his tracks as he was about to close his chamber door which she had left open on her way out. Apart from the poison, he usually suffered from the moonlight pain that was so unbearable it made him wish for death. Not once had he ever slept through it, but last night...

Last night, he had slept like a baby, without waking up even once until morning. Although he had a fast healing ability, when it came to the poison and the moonlight pain, his healing was like that of a normal human. But last night, everything had been different. Why was that?

Could it be because... No! It wasn’t because of her.

Zane noticed the conflicting expression on Lucian’s face and couldn’t help but ask, "What’s wrong?"

"I feel strange. I mean, I don’t have my usual morning pains. Usually, when I get up, I feel like I’ve been beaten and roasted alive, but now... I feel nothing." He muttered, turning to Zane, who seemed to come to the same conclusion.

"Do you think it has something to do with your wife?" Zane asked, frowning. He knew better than anyone how much Lucian suffered from the moonlight pain which had no cure, not to mention the poison. Lucian would wake up each morning looking sick and close to death, but now Zane noticed that Lucian’s face and skin looked healthier, no dark circles or hollow eyes.

"I don’t think it’s because of her," Lucian said after a while. "I’ve shared a bed with her before on a full moon night." His thoughts drifted back to that night.

It had been the fourth night after their wedding when Selene had locked her chamber door to keep him out. At that time, Lucian had thought nothing of her behavior, assuming she was simply scared like most women who had never been intimate with a man. He hadn’t forced her to consummate the marriage and had left her alone, but that night, he had wanted to be close to her for once and had sneaked into her room through the window.

She had been fast asleep, unaware of his presence. Lucian had been in pain, but he had kept it to himself as he lay beside her, gazing at her peaceful, sleeping face. He had suffered in silence all night, secretly wishing his wife would wake up, hold him, and comfort him. But she hadn’t, and he had left at dawn.

"Then, does that mean you’ve been cured of the pain?" Zane asked, his hazel eyes brightening at the thought. "Did you find the village yesterday and get a cure?"

"The villagers didn’t want me in their town," Lucian replied indifferently. "I didn’t get any cure from them. I don’t know why last night was different from all the other nights I’ve suffered for twenty-four years." He began to take off his shirt, ridding himself of the scent of a certain someone still lingering on his body.

"Then why not try sharing a bed with her on another full moon night? That way, we’ll know if she has anything to do with it. You—"

"I won’t," Lucian cut him off sharply. "Last night was the first and last time she will ever lay in my bed. Or I in hers." He left no room for argument. Though he hated the pain and would do anything to rid himself of it, he couldn’t stand to have Selene in his presence. Her strange behavior was suspicious enough, and allowing her near him would only give her another chance to stab him in the back.

Not to mention his discovery days ago where she’d injured his face with her nails in the pool.

Keep your enemies at arm’s length, not close to your heart.

Though Zane didn’t like the princess, as long as she could cure Lucian of his pain, he would be willing to give her another chance. But he didn’t push the topic further, knowing Lucian’s hatred for her was justified by her betrayal.

Zane changed the subject as Lucian wrapped a robe around his body after stripping off his clothes. They had grown up together, even sharing a bathtub in their childhood days, so neither was shy in each other’s presence.

"The Emperor’s birthday is just a few weeks away, and like every year, there will be a competition among the princes of Pendragon and the neighboring kingdoms and lands. Are you going to participate this time? It could help you gain alliances with other kingdoms that might assist you with their armies when the time comes. And many princesses will be present. You could choose a wife, as you said."

Lucian paused as he tied his robe. Although many despised him without having met him, some kingdoms secretly admired him. He knew this because he had received countless requests to join their armies. But that didn’t mean they would support his rise as Emperor, especially after his own father had removed him from power.

Joining the competition wasn’t going to change anything for him. It would only waste his time. "I won’t be joining, as usual. But I will be choosing another wife." He began heading toward his bathing room but stopped just long enough to add, "Make sure Selene never gets into my chamber again. Place two guards in the corridor outside the south wing to keep her out. And if you have nothing else to do, change my bedsheets and burn the ones currently on the bed."

But to Lucian’s displeasure, for the rest of the day, not even the guards could keep Ave’s presence away from him. It was as if she had nothing better to do than bother him every second of the day. If she wasn’t disturbing his peaceful palace by trying to order his servants to draw all the curtains of every window, which they’d all refused because they feared him, she was running around the grounds barefoot, chasing her maidservant.

As he watched her from the window of the armory, he had the urge to remind her that a lady, especially a princess, shouldn’t be running barefoot. But he held back, knowing the moment she noticed him, she might stop chasing the maid and come running to him instead.

She didn’t stop there. When night fell and Lucian was passing to go back to his chamber, he found her in the dining hall of his palace that had never been used before. She was arranging it and lighting candles around the table. Though she was still being punished by having one meal a day, the meal being plain, ordinary grain soup and grain bread, she set them on the table and was trying to get her maidservant to join her.

Lucian almost felt guilty for ordering such punishment, but remembering that she hadn’t done anything to deserve more, he felt assured only for a second before his lousy beast spoke up.

’What do you mean she hasn’t done anything to deserve a good meal?’ he scoffed. ’What about what she did for us last night? She saved our life, and we had a wonderful sleep because of her for the first time.’

’That is not enough to make up for everything she’s done,’ Lucian replied calmly to his beast as he watched her wolf down the food while making sure her maid had enough as well. It was surprising that Selene even cared for the maid this much. It was like she had become a whole new person after her accident.

A whole new person...

"Aveline..." He muttered the name with a frown. Where had that come from? The night after he’d got back to the palace when Selene had treated his wound in the forest, the name had been running in his mind.

As if sensing his gaze, she stopped eating and gazed towards his direction. However, he was standing in the shadows, so he was hidden from her sight. One thing was for sure, it was impossible for her to become a completely new person. Her change in behavior could only mean she had found another way to get to him, and he hated that he was slowly getting curious about this new personality she’d adopted to trick him.

She had become bold and daring, and somehow, she amused and annoyed him more than he cared to admit. And he hoped she wouldn’t dare to cross his path again after last night. He didn’t want to become soft with her ever and let down his guard.

However, those were just his wishful thoughts because the next morning, she was standing outside the entrance of the palace waiting for him, a smile that irked him more than he cared to admit, plastered across her face.

"My hubby is here!" she exclaimed as he hurried toward his horse, having been called for a soldier’s meeting at the camp. "I’ve been waiting all morning for you to come out since you’ve kept guards at your door to keep me out. Look what I made for you with my own hands." She held up an ugly embroidered shawl, and before he could react, she stood on her toes and wrapped it around his neck, grinning.

"I stayed up all night to make this. It will keep you warm, my love. I heard you’re traveling to the borders, and it’s much colder there." she said, wrapping the shawl snugly around his neck before he could push her away or remove the ugly thing she called a shawl from his shoulders.

What she was doing was drawing everyone’s attention to him. The soldiers who had come to fetch him now looked at them with expressions ranging from surprise to disbelief. Lucian had never liked being the center of attention, but lately, Selene had been ensuring that was exactly what he got.

Rumors circulated that his wife feared him more than anyone, and that there was no love between them since their wedding. But what everyone was witnessing now painted a different picture. Slowly, word was spreading that he intended to take another wife because his current one was a loose woman and had gone insane after her accident.

Lucian grabbed her wrist as she continued smiling and adjusting the shawl. He gritted his teeth. "What the hell is wrong with you lately?" he demanded coolly. He had tried ignoring her antics, suspecting she was up to something. But she hadn’t met with the third prince recently, nor had she reported anything to the Empress.

The more he thought he understood her, the more confused he became by her strange behavior. He hadn’t had someone care for him since his mother passed away, and he didn’t like the idea of her pretending to care, just as she had pretended in their childhood, only to betray him.

Ave looked up at him as his fingers tightened around her wrist, her expression turning to one of pain as his grip burned against her skin. "You’re hurting me..." she muttered, trying to pull her hand free, but he only tightened his hold.

"I intend to hurt you more than this if you don’t tell me what you’re up to," he growled in a low voice.

She swallowed hard as she nervously met his burning gaze. She had been trying her best to make him fall in love with her by force lately, but nothing had been working. The hatred in his eyes hadn’t diminished, and the fact that all her efforts seemed to be in vain was beginning to both irritate and scare her.

What if she never succeeded? If everything she did was futile, her life would be over, and she’d be stuck with this bad-tempered, unforgiving man for the rest of her life. The thought of being trapped in this dull world drained the last of her patience.

"Let go of my hand!" she snapped, yanking her wrist from his hold. "You know what, I give up! I don’t care if you freeze to death. Give me back my shawl!" She reached out to pull it from his neck, but he stepped back, avoiding her grasp, and held the shawl to his chest while glaring murderously down at her.

"You gave it to me in the first place, so it’s mine now. Get over it." Then he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Ave standing there with her mouth agape.