Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 112: The marks he left

Chapter 112: The marks he left

Ave didn’t stop running down the quiet corridors until she ran out to the open halls where the windows were opened, with natural light spilling in and illuminating the high ceilings and polished floors. A few guests who hadn’t gone for their afternoon stroll in the garden were walking around with their maidservants carrying dresses, as most of the princesses were preparing beforehand for the ceremony, which was only the day after tomorrow.

Ave slowed her pace as not to draw attention to herself, where everyone was busy doing their own thing without noticing her. Placing her hand against her racing heart, she calmed herself and told herself that her mind must have made up the eerie breezy voice she’d heard in the corridor and the feeling of being watched. It had almost felt like something out of this world had been there, and the thought of experiencing that feeling again sent a cold shiver down her spine.

She made a mental note to never walk down any quiet corridors again until she could leave here. Taking one last deep breath, she made her way up the stairs and headed towards Thalia’s chamber, recalling they were to meet there to see the rest of the dresses that had just arrived today, hers included.

Even before Ave arrived at the chamber, she could hear the faint laughing voices of the three princesses coming from the room. When she reached the golden door, she knocked, and the laughter immediately ceased. She heard frantic movement and the rustling of clothes inside the room, followed by a thud, as if someone had fallen to the floor. With the thud came muffled laughter before the door slowly cracked open, and a young girl, Thalia’s maidservant, peeked her head out to see who it was.

Seeing that it was Ave, she quickly moved back and welcomed her in. As Ave stepped inside the room, she found only Thalia, who looked relieved to see her, before she called out to her sisters hiding in the adjoining room. A frown settled on Ave’s face as she couldn’t help but wonder what the princesses were doing before she arrived. But it became obvious when the twins walked out, blushing as they emerged in jogger pants and crop tops that the dressmaker had made and delivered this morning.

Ave’s eyes widened in surprise as she took in their attire on their petite, slender, beautiful bodies. Though the dressmaker didn’t get the joggers completely right, they still looked good on the twins, making them resemble girls from Ave’s time in their purple joggers, made from a material usually used for breeches.

"Wow, you guys look gorgeous!" she complimented with a beaming smile, causing them to blush even more.

"Well, even though we can’t wear this out, we’ve decided to wear them at night in our chambers," Thalia smiled, and Ave turned to her with a questioning look, "Where’s yours, Thalia?" she asked, wiggling her brows.

"I took it off just now," she informed her with a slight blush. She had hurriedly taken off hers when they heard the knock, thinking it was her brother who had come, and in the process, she had lost her balance and fallen to the floor with a loud thud that made her sisters laugh.

"I’ve never worn anything as comfortable and free as this," Celeste remarked as she moved to the mirror, admiring herself. If their mother knew, they would both be given away for marriage to the first man who asked for their hand, regardless of his looks or age. They had been brought up to wear dresses and trained never to raise their skirts as they walked to expose their legs, but now they were wearing trousers.

As the twins stood before the mirror, adjusting their hair with the help of their maidservants, Thalia and Ave sat on the edge of the bed, and the princess held another set of joggers and a crop top out to Ave. "Here’s yours," she smiled.

Ave took them from her hand and thanked her. She was about to speak again when she heard Isolde say something to her twin that caught her interest.

"...I don’t know why no one has taken the body down yet. It sent shivers down my spine when I saw it hanging outside the palace this morning," said Celeste to her twin, who had asked if she’d seen the body hanging outside the palace walls, which made Ave frown as she turned to ask,

"What body?"

The two turned to her at the same time, their expressions identical, but their hairstyles were what always set them apart from each other. "The courtesan’s body Brother Lucian killed this morning, didn’t you see it?" Celeste asked, as almost everyone in the palace had seen the body there.

Because Ave’s room was in the inner palace, she hadn’t heard about it, and since she didn’t step out to the front of the palace but to the garden, she didn’t see the body. But she had sensed the strange atmosphere in the palace this morning.

"Why did he kill her?" Ave couldn’t help but ask, a mix of curiosity and dread filling her at the thought that he had killed someone but had looked so natural and unaffected this morning when he met her in the corridors.

"I heard she went into his bedchamber on the Empress’s orders without his permission to serve him for the night. He got angry and then killed her for it. That’s why we were taught to stay clear of the cursed prince. He’s known for his bad temper and cruelty..." Isolde was saying but immediately shut her mouth when her twin nudged her on the side, warning her not to speak ill of the second prince when Thalia had cautioned them against it.

Ave’s expression turned thoughtful. Lucian had spent the night with her last night and left before she woke up, but who would have thought he would return to kill someone for something that wasn’t their fault? But then, it could be that he had killed her for reasons beyond simply entering his room without permission. For some reason, she was grateful she didn’t come across the body.

The twins resumed what they were doing while Ave tried to engage in small talk with Thalia to distract herself from wondering why Lucian killed the woman until the princesses brought up the topic of their dance.

"The Empress hasn’t made any announcements about you not dancing with us, so I think we’ll still be performing at the ceremony. Though I heard Princess Madeline’s performance is the most anticipated dance everyone is looking forward to," Thalia sighed. This would be her first time performing a dance at her father’s birthday, and she was a little nervous if anyone would even like it.

"I don’t think anyone will even clap for us after Madeline’s performance. She’s what we call the dancing goddess and has mastered the skill of the flower dance for ages," Celeste commented from the mirror, looking every bit discouraged.

Ave, who was no longer as interested in dancing at the ceremony as she had been when she thought she would be performing a dance from the future, knew she couldn’t back out now. However, now that she was more familiar with the rules here than she had been before, she made a silent decision.

"Guys, don’t look disheartened just because Princess Madeline’s dance is the most anticipated one. We can make jaws drop and take everyone by surprise on the day. But then... if you guys don’t mind, I’d like to make a few adjustments to our dance before the day," she declared as she stood up from the bed.

It would be completely inappropriate to go in front of all those guests and shake their butts to the Water dance. She doubted she would survive the day with her head intact with how little things could cause someone to lose their life here, not to mention of the news of a courtsan being killed this morning. She would probably be beheaded, considering how they always talked about respect and modesty.

"Adjustments at this time?" Isolde scoffed. "The ceremony is the day after tomorrow. How are we going to master another dance by then?" It had taken them a week to master the Water dance by Tyla, not to mention another one.

Ave sighed, "I didn’t say we’d change the dance. I said I’d make a few adjustments to make it catchier and more entertaining. Don’t you guys want to beat Princess Madeline?" She inquired, looking them each in the face. They seemed reluctant at first before they finally nodded.

"What kind of adjustment?" Isolde asked curiously, and Ave began to explain it to them, demonstrating the parts that needed changes. Once they seemed to understand, she and Thalia changed into their jogger pants and crop tops for a quick practice.

Ave gathered her hair and tied it up in a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in the way of her movements, completely unaware of the mark Lucian had left on her tender, pale neck. That is, until she heard a loud gasp from Thalia, who stood beside her, eyes wide as she hurriedly approached Ave, gesturing towards her neck. Her neck looked red and bruised, like she had been bitten by a large insect.

"What happened to your neck?" Thalia asked worriedly, causing a confused frown to settle on Ave’s face for a moment. She moved towards the mirror, turning her neck to the side, and saw the unholy sight of the hickey a demon in the quiet corridors had left on her neck. She gasped in shock before her face flushed in embarrassment as she recalled the intimate moment they’d shared in the corridor.

The memory of it alone sent a thread of warmth to the pit of her stomach, making her lower abdomen tingle and clench.

"Did something bite you? Maybe an insect in the garden bit you. Let me get you some ointment to apply," Thalia said, oblivious to the fact that the mark was left by a big, shameless human. She sounded concerned as she left to bring the ointment for her.

’Lucian!’ Ave silently gritted her teeth as she looked at the obvious mark marring her skin. She recalled how his eyes had glimmered with amusement as he stared at her neck, but she hadn’t thought he was amused by his handiwork. Thank goodness the princess wasn’t from the future and was innocent enough to believe an insect had bitten her. Otherwise, she would have died of embarrassment today—not to mention, she wasn’t supposed to be doing things like that with him after he’d divorced her.

Not long after, Thalia returned with a small bottle of cream and smiled at Ave through the mirror as she proceeded to help apply it to her neck, since Ave no longer had a maidservant.

Ave schooled the flush on her face and allowed the princess to apply the cream.

"Selene, we never got to ride the horse you promised to teach me on that day, so I’m thinking, how about we do that after the Emperor’s birthday ceremony at Brother Lucian’s palace? Yes?" Thalia asked with a grin after a while. She put the cream away and looked hopefully at Ave through the mirror. She wanted to go to the doomed palace, not for the horse ride, but because she couldn’t help the desire to catch a glimpse of a certain man there, whom she couldn’t remove from her thoughts no matter how much she tried.

Ave didn’t hesitate before she nodded with a smile. "Sure. After all this is over, I’ll teach you." After she impressed the Queen Mother of Chen with her cooking skills, she would have all the free time to spend with the princess and also get to avoid Lucian altogether until she found a spellbook, one way or another.