Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 118: Jealous wench!

Chapter 118: Jealous wench!

After Lydia’s tears and crying stopped, she began to tell Ave everything she knew about the Empress and the things she had reported, which in Ave’s mind weren’t even enough to get Selene into any trouble. Despite the fact that she was betraying her, Lydia was still trying to protect her. It was Lucian’s movements that she mostly reported to the Empress, and if Lucian were to find out about this, Ave knew without a doubt he would kill the girl.

He had killed a courtesan for entering his room without permission, not to mention a spy who reported his every movement to his enemy. Ave couldn’t imagine seeing the poor girl’s dead body, and she shuddered at the thought.

Lydia also told her about the dress which she had given to Catherine and then taken back, and that revelation made Ave’s breath hitch for a moment. "What were you thinking?!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself, startling the girl and causing her to cry even more.

Ave couldn’t believe what would have happened if anyone had found out that Lucian’s mother’s dress had magic, and here she thought she had been protecting the dress.

"I...I am sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight when Catherine threatened to get rid of me if I didn’t report to her something about you that was worth her attention. Then I thought about the dress you seemed to be hiding, so I went to get it, only to see it glimmer between two colors, so I took it to her. But later that night, I couldn’t sleep at the thought of putting you in trouble, so I went to get it back..." she cried.

Though Ave had forgiven the girl, she couldn’t help but feel more wary of everyone around her now, because she had never doubted or suspected Lydia’s intentions and character even once. Anyone would do anything to survive, and now that she was listening to all this, it made her recall Lucian’s warning about not trusting anyone and being careful of the words she spoke.

"What else do you think I need to hear again?" Ave asked patiently, wanting to know everything before deciding what to do with Lydia. If she hadn’t done anything that would expose her as an imposter, then perhaps Ave would try to help her find a cure for this poison.

"Her Majesty never shares her plans with me. All I did was report any messages I received to Lord Edward, and she passed me the antidote through him. But recently, I overheard something when the Empress sent for me yesterday evening..." she said, looking cautious and frightened.

"What did you hear?"

Lydia lowered her voice to a whisper, not wanting to risk being overheard. "Her Majesty summoned me to report anything I had gathered, but when I told her I hadn’t been able to gather anything since I am no longer your maidservant, she got so angry and dismissed me from her sight with the words that I will soon die for my uselessness. But as I stepped out, before I finished closing the door, I heard her say something to Lord Edward about getting rid of the first prince through this war and blaming it on the second prince to ruin his chances of ever getting close to the throne. She ordered Lord Edward to add a hundred assassins among the Pendragon soldiers when they leave for the war and—cough!"

Lydia’s words were cut off by a fit of coughing that shook her shoulders uncontrollably. She covered her mouth with her palm, and when she brought it down, bloodstains were on it, and Ave’s eyes didn’t miss them before Lydia clenched her fists to hide the stains.

Ave could tell the girl was holding back another cough, and before Ave could say more, Lydia stood up and bowed. "That was all I heard, Milady. I will take my leav—" She began to cough violently again and swayed on her feet, but Ave was quick to reach her and grabbed her before she could hit the floor.

"Your body is losing itself to the poison," Ave remarked worriedly. "Do you know what the antidote she gave you is made of? Perhaps I can remake—"

"You can’t. It’s a nameless antidote," came Lydia’s weakened voice. "I should get going, Milady. Please take care of yourself and be careful of who you trust in the palace..." Her tear-filled eyes met Ave’s worried ones, a bitter smile graced her lips as she knew this might be the last time she would ever see her mistress.

"It was my greatest pleasure to serve you, and I will forever cherish these past few days, in which you have been extremely nice to me. Thank you for finding it in your heart to forgive me, even though I don’t deserve it..." Saying this, she didn’t wait for Ave to try to stop her and ran out of the room.

Ave ran after her, but Lydia had run around the corner of a corridor, leaving Ave standing at the door in confusion, unsure of what to do. First of all, she had to make sure she warned Lucian of the Empress’s plan to frame him on the battlefield, but the only time she could speak to him alone would be when he came to her tonight. Hopefully, he would come again this night.

But she also couldn’t allow Lydia to die without doing anything to help her. However, she had no idea what to do. Then an idea hit her. She had wanted to go to the doomed palace library to see if she could find any spell books that might assist her in making a spell to take her back home. Perhaps she should go today and look for something to help cure Lydia’s poison as well.

With that thought in mind, Ave went on to prepare for the day and got dressed.

Minutes later, when Ave stepped into the halls of the palace, servants were busy working and moving around to decorate every corner. No one seemed to pay attention to how distressed she looked. From the looks of it, she was late for breakfast, but because of tomorrow’s celebration, no one cared. When she entered the dining hall, the Emperor and Empress weren’t there, only the guests and their children, including the fourth consort, Seraphina.

She also noticed Lucian was not in the hall, nor were the other Pendragon princes, but the princesses were there and they beckoned her forward to come and sit with them, as today was a day nobody seemed to care about rules.

Ave hesitated for only a moment before she began to walk toward Thalia, who was already pulling a chair next to hers for her to sit. But before she could sit down, a voice stopped her.

"Who gave you the right to sit with us here?" came Princess Madeline’s displeased, mocking voice. "You are no less than a servant here, and as an untitled woman, you should be serving us, not sitting with us." She glared at Ave from across the table, where she was sitting with her friends, who nodded in agreement to what Madeline said.

"I gave her permission to sit here," said Thalia. There were no rules stating a deposed royal woman couldn’t share a table with others if she was given permission, and since the Emperor and Empress weren’t here, Thalia had called her to join them so she wouldn’t have to sit alone behind that curtains.

"It’s fine, if she doesn’t want me here, I will leave," Ave sighed. She was not up for any drama this morning when her thoughts were a jumbled mess. She wasn’t even hungry after what she’d learned from Lydia.

Ave turned to leave when Madeline spoke again, halting her in her tracks. "And where do you think you are going?" she sneered.

Ave rolled her eyes. "I am leaving, of course, Your Highness." Though she didn’t want to add this particular princess to the list of people she disliked in the palace—because they shared the same face—Madeline was doing everything to earn that spot.

"Haven’t you heard the news yet, Selene?" she questioned as she glanced up at Ave from where she sat, the corner of her lips tugging into a smirk. When she saw the questioning look on Ave’s face, she continued,

"Oh, I guess you haven’t. It has been announced this morning that my marriage with the second prince will take place after the war to defeat Valarie is over. As his deposed wife, you are forgetting our Empire’s customs, but since you don’t remember, I’ll gladly remind you since you’re here."

Ave felt her heart squeeze in such a way she couldn’t pinpoint why at the revelation of Lucian’s marriage to Madeline. A muscle in her jaw twitched, but she kept her face carefully neutral, refusing to give away the pain she felt at those words. She had known it would happen one day or another, since Lucian had decided to marry the princess. Though he hadn’t told her about it himself, she knew it was bound to happen. However, hearing it now, she felt a prick in her heart, and her throat constricted.

She blinked repeatedly to get her emotions under control and back on track, but no matter what, as she recalled the way he had held her last night, her heart knotted even more. There was no logical reason for her to feel this way, he wasn’t hers, after all. But the thought of him holding another woman like he’d held her last night sent a wave of anger coursing through her, even if she refused to admit it.

She felt sick to her stomach for no apparent reason and desired to get away from here and be alone. However, she saw Madeline gesture towards a kettle of tea on the table as she said to her,

"Come and pour me my tea as congratulations on my marriage to your former husband," she eyed Ave up and down and added, "Since I can tell you don’t have the gold to gift me as a token of congratulations, pouring tea is more suitable for you. Because the moment our wedding is over, I will talk my husband into putting you right where you belong." She uttered, and all the guest princesses laughed at Ave while the Pendragon princesses looked distressed, especially Isolde, who looked ready to speak. However, a glare from her mother made her shut her mouth and sit back down.

Ave’s hands at her sides clenched into tight fists, and right at this very moment, she no longer cared about the Princess having her face because she had made herself one of the top most hated people on her list. If Ave wasn’t trying not to get herself into any trouble, she would have walked forward and poured the tea on the Princess’ face to wipe that stupid smirk of victory she had on. But because she wanted to leave this world without feeling the pain of losing any of her limbs, she walked forward to pour her the tea.

Ave swallowed the huge lump that had settled in her throat as she picked up the fancy kettle, but as she lifted it up to pour the tea, Madeline purposely took the teacup from the table and instead held it for her to pour. As Ave was pouring it, she let go of the cup, and it fell to the floor, breaking into pieces while the tea ended up pouring all over the floor and splashing on Madeline’s dress.

"You damned clumsy wench! Look at how you messed up the floor and my dress!" she exclaimed in displeased anger directed at Ave, as if she hadn’t been the one to move the cup. "Now go and get the rags and clean this mess up before I report you to my mother and future husband for being a jealous wench!"

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