Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 136: The Birthday Ceremony

Chapter 136: The Birthday Ceremony

The next morning, there was no sun in the sky, even though it was well past dawn. The Empire’s sky was as gloomy and grey as it had been when it rained yesterday evening, and due to that, everyone came to believe there was indeed a witch in the land or in the palace.

Today was the Emperor’s birthday ceremony, and nothing was supposed to go wrong. However, the rain and the weather this morning made every single person worried, it had become a belief to everyone that witches and their powers bring nothing but bad luck.

The Emperor sent out men to search all the villages for any suspected witch. To avoid alarming the guests in the palace, he ordered the search for a witch among them to be held off until the ceremony was over. This ceremony was important to the Empire, and he wouldn’t want anything to ruin the guests’ mood.

Meanwhile, the Empress had ordered her brother to place the smoke used to identify witches inside the hall where the ceremony would take place. To ensure the witch couldn’t avoid the smoke, they had placed it in the form of incense in every corner.

Despite the gloomy weather, it didn’t stop the ceremony from flourishing as planned. Expensive carriages rolled through the palace gates, noble guests exiting them and making their way into the large halls where the annual birthday and any other ceremony took place.

Only high-ranking nobles and officials had the privilege to be invited to such an occasion, and each one dressed their part as they would be mingling with royals from other kingdoms.

While the newly arrived guests were walking inside the halls, the royal guests already in the palace were also making their way in, while others were still hurrying to prepare so they wouldn’t miss the morning feast.

"You have to make sure you present yourself properly so Prince Ravi’s parents will approve of your marriage as soon as the ceremony is over. Understood?" Seraphina said to her daughter, Celeste, who was looking toward the door where her twin had gone to get their elder sister so they could check on Selene, who they hadn’t seen at dinner last night and was nowhere in sight this morning, while everyone else was already moving around and heading to the halls.

Seraphina noticed how her daughter looked absent-minded and didn’t seem to have heard her. Her lips fell into a thin line, and she tugged at the corset strings she was tying to gain her attention. Celeste grimaced as she felt the tightness around her ribs.

"Mother, that’s too tight!" she cried out, looking at the mirror in front of her, where her mother’s displeased eyes met hers in the reflection.

"I have been talking to you. Where is that head of yours lost? If you think I will let you two remain unmarried after this ceremony, then you are wrong. You better present yourself well and make sure you impress your future in-laws with your performance today. With how everything is turning out and the weather misbehaving and showing signs of bad luck, we don’t know what might befall our lands," Seraphina said with a worried expression.

She had always been the least favored after Lyria, and to secure her position in the palace, she wanted her son to take the throne. Even though the odds didn’t seem to be in their favor, she wanted to try every possible way. If Lucian or Caelan were to take the throne, then she and her children might be thrown out of the palace and sent away, so before that, she wanted to secure her position in other kingdoms through advantageous marriages.

Celeste pursed her lips in displeasure. "But I don’t like Prince Ravi. He is too arrogant and doesn’t even care how I feel about many things. Do you know what he did yesterday? He forced me to eat cooked fish, even though I told him they upset my stomach. He looked very amused when I felt sick, and his friends were all laughing at me. He is—"

"It doesn’t matter, Celeste. It is in every man’s nature to have fun with the person they will be marrying. He is still young, just like you. After your marriage, he will learn to take care of you and love you. So make sure you don’t say no to him, no matter what he asks of you. Understand?" she demanded.

Celeste’s eyes moistened, and her throat tightened with emotion as she nodded. Though she had looked forward to this ceremony because she wanted attention and people to notice her beauty, she didn’t want to marry a man she didn’t like. Her mother’s lack of concern about him forcing her to eat something that could make her sick hurt her, but she kept that to herself and swallowed her hurt.

"Where is Isolde? Why isn’t she back yet from fetching the pins from her room?" Seraphina grumbled in frustration. "Let me go check on her. You, come take over here for me and make sure she is ready by the time I return." She ordered Celeste’s maidservant, who had been standing at the side, before she left the room in search of her other daughter.

Meanwhile, Isolde had gone to Thalia’s chamber to ask her about Selene. But upon hearing Prince Alden’s voice inside, she hadn’t dared to knock and backed away, as he was scolding Thalia about something. The last thing she needed now was to get scolded along with Thalia.

Isolde walked back toward the hall, where she noticed many guests were entering and handing their cards to the herald, who announced their names. Though she still had to fix her hair and put in some pins, she didn’t care and approached the hall to check if Selene had already gone inside instead of coming to Thalia’s room as they had planned the last time they adjusted their dance moves.

They had planned to meet and go inside the hall together before their performance. They would wear their formal dress and later change into their dancing attire, but perhaps Selene had forgotten and gone ahead, or perhaps she had come here as well and heard Prince Alden’s voice in the chamber. Isolde thought as she walked up to the hall to see.

As she approached the entrance, the herald announced her name, and many eyes turned toward her from inside the hall before everyone resumed mingling. The hall was fully decorated, with all the chandeliers lit up. Soft instrumental music played in the background.

Isolde was looking around when she heard the second prince’s name announced at the entrance. She turned toward it and saw Prince Lucian walking into the hall with Princess Madeline, who looked as beautiful and delicate as a flower by his side. She wore a dark-colored dress that highlighted her fair, unblemished skin, and everyone in the hall was now looking at her enviously as she looked so beautiful, even Isolde couldn’t help but admire her.

"Oh Lord, I wish I could be as beautiful as Princess Madeline," murmured someone among the guests, admiring the new arrivals.

"Not only is she beautiful, she is intelligent and talented. I can’t wait to watch her dance today!!"

"Yes, her dance is always something to behold and look forward to every year." Said another young lady.

"Goodness gracious, look at the second prince walking beside her. He is one of the most handsome men I have ever seen in all of Pendragon. If only he wasn’t cursed, I would have told my mother to introduce me to him," gushed a young princess from among the guests who were watching the couple.

"Che, you don’t stand a chance with him. He’s Madeline’s; she would gouge out your eyes if you so much as thought of approaching him. Didn’t you see how he beat up Mordred yesterday for her sake? I heard the two are madly in love now, so you’d better not entertain any of those thoughts," remarked another princess.

"It’s not like I said I wanted him," scoffed the other.

Isolde, who overheard them, couldn’t help but notice that, despite Madeline’s beauty, she didn’t look good together with the second prince. To Isolde, her new friend Selene would always be the person she would want for this particular brother of hers. She didn’t know when or how she started liking Selene, but she had.

Lucian didn’t seem to want to be around Madeline, given how hardened his expression was. She noticed how his gaze was occasionally drifting around the hall. Quickening her steps, she mustered the courage to approach him and called out, "Brother Lucian!"

He stopped in his tracks immediately and turned to look at her so quickly that it startled Isolde for a moment; she thought she had angered him. She saw his eyes drift behind her, and she also turned to see what he was looking at, but there was nothing special there.

Lucian had thought she had been with Ave, who he hadn’t seen since last night. He couldn’t go to check on her, not because he’d said he would no longer bother her, but because many guards had been placed on palace grounds last night to ensure nothing went wrong for today’s ceremony after the strange rain. He had a feeling that it had something to do with Ave, and he’d looked forward to having a word or more with her.

Now that he saw she wasn’t with this foul-mouthed half-sibling of his, he couldn’t help but wonder where she was. Not to mention he needed to keep an eye on her today.

"What is it?" he asked Isolde, who now stood in front of him, looking nervous.

"I...I wanted to ask if you’d seen Selene. We have to prepare for our dance before evening, and I haven’t seen her since last night..." she said.

A frown settled on Lucian’s face, but before he could speak, Madeline, who had been standing beside him and had been clinging to him since this morning, chuckled in amusement.

"She must have quit after my advice last night. She is a coward after all; she couldn’t compete with me and must have hidden herself in her room. Take my advice, Princess Isolde, don’t bother looking for her and go hide in your chamber before the performance, or you’ll be a laughingstock for being a loser." She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand fan, then reached out to place her other hand on Lucian’s shoulder, but the dark look he shot her way was enough to make her stop laughing immediately and remove her hand.

"Selene would never quit on us; she doesn’t look like a person who would quit," Isolde said in Ave’s defense, and Lucian couldn’t help but agree with her.

Ave didn’t look or seem like someone who would quit because of Madeline. If it were Selene, he would have had no doubt about it. Even though Lucian wanted to check up on her right now and see why she wasn’t here yet, he held himself back, at least for the moment. He couldn’t reveal any of his thoughts or emotions toward Ave in public, especially when he knew the Empress had people watching his movements right now in the hall.

"I don’t know where she is, and if you are looking for Selene, I’m not the right person to ask. She’s not my concern, and don’t bother me with anything that has to do with her again," he said indifferently as he turned to leave. But he stopped in his tracks as the noisy hall suddenly went silent, as if everyone had heard his words. But it wasn’t what he said that quieted them—it was the people now entering the hall. When his eyes fell on one of the three women, who happened to be his half-siblings, his breath faltered, and a tingling sensation went through his heart as he stared into her light blue eyes.

Lucian couldn’t bring himself to look away from her. He wasn’t just relieved at the sight of her; he was glad, and he fought down the strong urge to walk forward and pull her into his embrace. He hadn’t realized it was possible to miss someone this much until now. His eyes roamed over her. She looked breathtaking in the red dress she wore, with long sleeves that stylishly fell off her shoulders and emphasized her long, slender neck, where she had gathered her hair up into a bun.

He briefly noticed she wasn’t wearing any jewelry around her neck to adorn them, and he made a mental note to adorn her with many more jewelries than she could ever asked for when the time comes.

However, something about her seemed different, but Lucian couldn’t pinpoint it as their eyes met from where she stood at the entrance. But then she looked away from him as if she hadn’t seen him and proceeded into the hall, ignoring him completely.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.