Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 139: Beasty

Chapter 139: Beasty

Ave had never waltzed in all of her entire life, and she had never known it to be this stressful and nerve-wracking.

Though Aaron had tried to guide her through the steps and movements, when she had been passed to three other men to switch couples, they hadn’t been as careful and helpful as Prince Aaron. They treated her like she was supposed to know the moves, and the last man had been annoyed when she stepped on his foot. When the idiot had swirled her away to change partners, he hadn’t been careful. She’d felt dizzy and closed her eyes, expecting to fall face-flat and embarrass herself before everyone.

She would have fallen to the floor if the next person she fell into hadn’t held her. Not caring who the man was, the way he held her waist and allowed her to catch her breath was reassuring. Ave didn’t move away, and as she began to calm down and his scent swirled around her, she realized who it was and relaxed even more in his arms—until she snapped back to reality, and she realized she was angry at him and they weren’t supposed to even be close again.

Ave had seen Lucian dancing with his future wife, and though the sight had sent a needle-like prick to her heart, she hadn’t allowed it to bother her and pretended she hadn’t even noticed them as she continued to dance. But now that she had fallen into his arms, and he was holding her to himself in such a way she thought was inappropriate for their current relationship, she quickly tried to push away from him.

Lucian allowed her to move away but not completely away from him, as he began to move with her to dance like the rest. Ave had no choice but to dance along with him, even though she wanted to be anywhere but here, with this annoying two-faced jerk. He was a complete hypocrite who would act like he cared one moment and then treat her like a stranger and a nobody the next.

Even though she had pushed him away yesterday, couldn’t he at least try to come back to her and try harder if he really wanted her over Madeline like he claimed he did? If only he had picked another princess instead of Madeline, Ave wouldn’t have been this affected by him spending more time with his future wife and being indifferent to her.

Glancing up at his face, she was met with his indifferent expression that held no warmth nor emotion. He just looked down at her blankly as he guided her through the steps of the dance. It was almost like he didn’t want to dance with her, if it weren’t for the way he was holding her waist and his other hand gripping hers in a way that sent an electric jolt into her nerves. Otherwise, she would have pulled away from him.

"You don’t have to dance with me if you don’t want to, you know? There are many more men who would like to be in your position right now, Your Highness," she grumbled under her breath as she looked away from his indifferent eyes with a snort.

Lucian narrowed his eyes down at her in silent amusement. "Many more men? Point them out to me, and I’ll pay them a visit after the ceremony," he remarked under his breath, his face remaining impassive. The only reason he was trying to act indifferent was because they were in public. He would rather continue to move with her like this than see her dance with someone else, and if she continued to insist on dancing with the others instead of him, it seemed he would indeed pay a few of them a visit that would forever leave a mark on them.

Ave shot him a glare and then looked away with a scoff. She wasn’t going to fall for his words; he was a jerk, and she didn’t want anything to do with him again. From now on, she would keep herself closed off until the day she figured out what that soul-swapping spell meant, and then she would disappear from his world while he’d enjoy it with that Madeline, who she didn’t even have to look at to feel her glares directed at her from the distance as she danced with another prince. Jealous bitch! Ave thought.

As they moved along with the music, Ave tried her best not to allow her body to touch Lucian’s by keeping some space between them. But the dance required them to move closer occasionally, and whenever she moved a step closer to him, she would feel his strong thighs graze hers, and her breasts pressed against his solid torso in a way she thought was too intimate and could be avoided but the pervert she was dancing with seemed to be doing it purposely.

Those little contacts seemed to affect her more than she wanted, and when he released her waist and swirled her around, only to have her fall back into his arms, Ave thought she caught a glimpse of a small, amused smile on his face.

Frowning and looking up at him to see if she had imagined the smile, she felt his hand go back around her waist. Only this time, he didn’t rest his hand where he had earlier; his hand was resting just below the side of her breast, where she felt the heat of his palm penetrate through her dress and to her skin, almost as if he were touching her without the hindrance of the fabric. She felt her traitorous heart begin to pick up its pace, pounding forcefully against her ribs, and her breathing turned shallow for no reason.

Ave had to fight to steady herself as he moved with her. She looked around to see if it was time to switch partners again, as she wanted to bolt away from here. Lucian was a danger to her body and her heart—or more accurately, Selene’s heart, which had been malfunctioning recently, especially when he was near her. Whatever disease Selene’s body had caught, Ave wouldn’t want to suffer it, and it seemed only Lucian’s presence was triggering these symptoms.

What could be wrong with the body? Could it be that she hadn’t been handling it with the care it needed, like Selene must have been doing? Whatever it was, she needed to find some cure for it before it got worse. Something that affected the heart and breathing wasn’t something one should take lightly. She’d never experienced any of this in her own body.

Ave noticed how couples had begun to switch and hurriedly looked at Lucian, who just so happened to be staring at her, this time his eyes holding a look she had never seen on his face before—a look like that of someone watching or staring at something precious, or more like looking at an adorable puppy. She always looked at cute puppies like that, and thinking about puppies, Lucian’s amber eyes at this moment reminded her of a certain beast she’d once met in the forest.

Beasty. Poor thing, she wondered if he had survived that night and if she’d ever see the creature again. Since no one had talked about finding a creature’s dead body, it meant he had survived the injury, but she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever see him again...

"What are you thinking?" came Lucian’s question when he noticed her expression fell. He had been staring at her the whole time and saw how she looked like someone who had so much going on in her mind before she looked sad. He bet her mind was one loud place no quiet person would want to be in. She was always loud, and if she wasn’t talking with her mouth, then her mind must be doing all that for her.

"Beasty..." she muttered softly, her eyes absentmindedly staring at the top button of his shirt, and he frowned at the sound of that name.

’That’s me! She remembered me. She must miss me!’ came the voice of his beast in his mind, causing Lucian to scowl in displeasure. If his beast were a person of itself, Lucian was sure stars would be shining in its eyes at the fact that Ave hadn’t forgotten about their encounter that night and seemed to be thinking about him.

’Tell her about me, tell her you are me and I am you. We are one being together. She will be happy to know! I would like to give her a ride on my back and take her to hunt those wild rabbits I never had an opportunity to catch when you’re angry! I can__’

’Enough!’ Lucian cut his lousy beast off before it could get too excited about something that would never happen. The last thing he needed was for Ave to start fearing him and treating him like a monster. His beast form wasn’t something she would want to face again. That night they met, he had been injured and not at his full height. If she were to see him in daylight and in good condition, only heaven knows how scared she would be.

"Who is Beasty?" Lucian questioned as she still looked absent-minded, and his question snapped her head up to look into his eyes. As expected, she glared at him instead of answering, and upon turning to see that the couple-switching was still going on and Aaron was inching closer, she looked up at him.

"It’s time we switch_" Ave was saying as she moved away from him, but she didn’t get to finish before she almost tripped over the hem of her long dress. She felt Lucian’s arm go around her waist to steady her, and his other hand happened to tighten around her wrist, where that man in a casket had injured her. She’d managed to cover it with some mixture of powder and water, but his grip on the spot now made her flinch, and she automatically yanked her hand away.

Lucian saw as she moved away from him and hissed in pain. He hadn’t held her hard enough to cause her pain, and he looked down at her worriedly only to have his eyes fall on her hand, which she now held with her other hand while looking down at it. A long, deep line that looked like something sharp had cut her from the wrist to her forearm marred her skin, and her wrist looked bruised as if someone had gripped her hard enough to leave a mark.

At the sight of that, Lucian didn’t care about the fact that he was in public and had to pretend she didn’t mean anything to him. He reached out and grabbed her hand, his face a mask of fury as he could no longer contain it or hold it in at the thought that someone else had injured her.

His jaw clenched, and his gaze sharpened with an edge of steel as he demanded, "Who did this to you?"

Ave, who felt his grip around her wrist and heard his angry voice as he demanded who had hurt her, looked up at him with a frown and met his darkened eyes that sent chills down her spine. She was at a loss for words for a moment before she yanked her hand away from him and looked around, seeing that people were watching them. Many had stopped dancing, as if sensing the dark energy Lucian was releasing. Why was he angry? She wondered.

As if noticing it as well, Lucian looked around and saw how his momentary loss of control had caused almost everyone to stop what they were doing to look at them. He could see the Empress’s eyes zooming in on them, so he gritted his teeth and decided to question Ave about it later. Once she gave him a name, whoever that person was would suffer double, regardless of their rank.

’Yeah. We shall rip them apart and find satisfaction in hearing them scream,’ said his beast, which had recently turned playful because of Ave’s presence in his life but was now speaking more like itself again. ’It’s been a long time since we’ve ripped off someone’s head. I miss the feeling of touching someone’s heart and squeezing it in their chest.’

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