Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 140: Eating on the balcony

Chapter 140: Eating on the balcony

Ave switched back to Aaron without looking back at Lucian, who didn’t bother to go back to Madeline and stormed away from the dance floor, disappearing among the crowd of guests who had resumed whatever they were doing. When she returned to Aaron’s side, he looked down at her with his brows drawn together.

"What happened? Why did the second prince look so angry? Did he hurt you?" he questioned as his eyes fell on the hand she was trying to hide behind her back. When he tried to reach for her hand to see, Ave took three steps away from him and looked up at him in disapproval. Just because she had been friendly to him didn’t mean she would allow him to cross the boundaries Lucian had in her life.

"He didn’t hurt me. It’s nothing. If you’ll excuse me, Your Highness." She curtseyed before turning away from the dance floor and returning to the Pendragon sisters, who were waiting for her on the sidelines and hadn’t been dancing like everyone else, except for Thalia, who had also just returned after dancing with the prince Ave had learned she would be marrying after the war was over.

"What happened back there, Selene? Brother Lucian looked angry with you; did you say something to upset him?" asked Celeste in curiosity, just like everyone in the hall, she had noticed how Lucian’s expression had turned murderous and how the air around him had chilled everything. Though everyone knew that he no longer loved or cared about his former wife, seeing him dance with her had surprised them until he lost his cool and looked mad all of a sudden.

Ave shrugged. "I didn’t do anything to him," she muttered as her eyes drifted around the hall to see if she could catch sight of the two-faced jerk, but he was nowhere in sight, and his future wife also seemed to be looking around for him. She hadn’t known why he looked so mad when he’d seen her injuries, but regardless, he had no right to get angry at her—or was he not? No matter how much she tried, Lucian was a complicated man she would never understand.

She didn’t only not understand what creature he was but also how his mood worked. But then, thinking about it more rationally, it was best she didn’t understand him or get too curious about him or his life. There were times she wanted to ask him about himself, but she always held back, as it was for the best. Not to mention, now that he seemed not to care about Selene anymore, she wasn’t going to rely on what the shadow woman had told her and would make her own path back home.

Love was something she had never believed in, and she would never consider falling into it, nor was she ever going to let anyone fall for her. She had been foolish to even think she could make Lucian love his wife. And now it wasn’t love he felt for her, but lust. Love and lust were two different things.

Thinking about that, Ave removed thoughts of Lucian from her mind and looked at the princesses with a beaming smile. "How about we go find something to eat and watch the next performance I heard would start soon?"

The sisters nodded and went to find a front seat to watch the performance without being blocked. Ave, who now watched as men and women in costumes walked out onto a platform set in the hall, couldn’t help but frown as she noticed something strange about the performance that seemed to be a play.

"Why is that woman tied up like that, and what is the performance about?" she asked Thalia, who was sitting next to her.

"Have you forgotten? It’s about the year the witches became the enemies of mankind. It all started on the day of our father’s coronation day, so that is why it became a tradition to reenact the day on every birthday ceremony or father’s coronation anniversary. It’s quite scary, but everyone likes to watch and get reminded of why we should never trust those dark-hearted beings. It’s about to start; let’s enjoy the show."

Ave fell silent, and her eyes went to the stage where the show was indeed about to start.

She’d heard the excitement from the guests as they talked about the performance, which happened to be the Pendragon traditional play of when the humans defeated the witches many years ago. It was said that before the rise of Emperor Alaric, the current ruler, the land had been in harmony with the witches, but the night creatures and the dark witches had been the enemies to everyone and were killed with the help of the white witches.

But then the year the current Emperor had taken the throne, everything had changed. A white witch had performed some magic inside the palace that ruined many things and killed a lot of innocent people, including the Emperor’s birth mother, whom it was said he cared about dearly. When the witch was caught, she had said she wouldn’t stop until she and her other sisters ruined all of the Pendragon family and killed them all. She had no ounce of remorse for her actions and even attempted to do another spell to kill the Emperor. It was said the weather had changed then, and rain had fallen in the dry season until she was beheaded by Edward, who came to the Emperor’s rescue.

Now Ave watched as they reenacted the show, and as the man portraying Edward raised his sword, Ave had expected the beheading part to be like a fake one, but to her utter surprise, the woman’s head was beheaded in reality, and her head rolled off the platform with blood pooling up everywhere as her body fell limp to the floor.

Ave’s stomach tightened into a knot and her eyes rounded as she watched, horrified and in disbelief, but to her surprise, the people inside the hall didn’t seem one bit affected by the fact that someone had been beheaded on the stage. Instead, they cheered and clapped excitedly, chanting, "All hail Emperor Alaric!"

Ave felt sick to her stomach as she watched servants begin to walk up to clean the blood-covered platform. Was the woman a witch to get beheaded like that? That thought sent chills down her spine as she knew Selene was one as well. She wondered as she turned to the Pendragon sisters, who looked disgusted rather than horrified, and asked Isolde, "Is she a witch?"

Isolde, who didn’t care if witches were killed but would rather not see the blood, turned to Ave and shook her head. "Of course not; she’s not a witch but a prisoner. Every year, the prisoners play the witch part and get beheaded for it. Nobody can play a witch part and remain alive; it’s a way of showing that we do not welcome those filthy creatures in our land, and anyone who dares to pose as one shall not be spared."

Ave felt her stomach knotted even more at that knowledge. Someone who wasn’t a witch had been killed like that, not to mention the real witches. It seemed she must have committed a grave sin in her previous life to end up in the body of a woman with witch powers.

Ave didn’t know when she began to stuff her mouth with the food in front of her to avoid looking towards the stage, where the head was being carried away and the guests resumed what they were doing as if nothing had happened.

Just like Ave, Princess Thalia looked a bit sickened; however, like the rest, she wasn’t against the witches being killed, as it was said one had been responsible for her mother’s death. She just didn’t like the gore and the sight of so much blood. Standing up from where she sat beside Ave, she excused herself and walked out of the hall while avoiding passing by where her brother or Prince Lance, whom she was set to marry, would notice her.

Thalia walked out to the open balcony to get some fresh air to stop the sickening feeling in her stomach; however, she hadn’t expected to find someone being served food on the balcony away from the rest in the hall, and she stopped short when she realized who it was.

He was sitting alone at a single table and chair kept on the balcony, with a maid serving him his meal.

Zane, who didn’t have the privilege to be among the royals and the noble guests, couldn’t enter the hall and sit with them—not that he even wanted to sit there. But Lucian had ordered him to keep an eye on Ave and watch her every movement, then report it to him. Though he had no idea what the sudden order was for, as it wasn’t like the woman would run away or get harmed, Zane had obeyed and had sat here on the balcony, where he could see the activities inside the hall and could see the entrance door if Ave were to leave the hall.

He hadn’t even expected Lucian to send a maid to bring him food, and seeing it, he couldn’t help but salivate at the sight and aroma as he was starving and couldn’t recall the last time he’d eaten anything as good as this. He was always busy going around doing this and that, rarely having time for a good meal or himself.

Zane couldn’t wait for the maid to leave so he could enjoy his meal alone before resuming his guard work. However, when the maid bowed and turned to leave, he looked up to see the Princess standing at the entrance to the balcony, staring at him. She looked a bit pale and disoriented, but then he had never cared about any of the princesses, especially this particular one, who happened to be the sister of the prince who never failed to punish him for a little mistake.

Not wanting to be disrespectful, Zane offered her a curt bow and decided to ignore her presence and focus on his meal.

"May I... sit with you?" came her small, timid voice that caused him to look up at her again, this time with a frown on his face. He wouldn’t want anyone to sit with him while he ate, not to mention he was sitting at a single-chair table. What was she even doing here? He wondered, as he knew he wouldn’t dare say no to a princess, even though that would have been his answer if he wasn’t just a mere manservant, who was treated like a friend by the second prince.

Glancing at his meal, he sighed and nodded his head. Zane knew he would have to stand up for her to sit down, thus, he stood up and was about to give her the chance to come and sit, but to his surprise, he saw her gray eyes brighten up just before she turned around and returned inside the hall, leaving him standing there confused and astonished.

"Did she change her mind about sitting here?" he thought for a moment and then shrugged. Better for her to change her mind. However, before he could sit back down, the princess had returned, dragging a chair along with her. And if it weren’t for the activities going on inside the hall, he knew the way she was dragging the chair would have drawn all the people’s attention to the balcony.

Zane watched as she struggled with the iron chair adorned with soft cushion to make it comfortable for the royls like it was the heaviest weight in the world. She was biting hard on her bottom lip as she pulled it, and for a moment, he couldn’t help but notice how childish and innocent she looked while doing that. As a princess, she could order even him to get her a chair, but she had gone and done it herself.

Even though he didn’t like any of the Pendragon royals apart from Lucian, Zane felt compelled to help her with the chair she was struggling to drag.

Thalia, who was over the moon that she was going to sit on the balcony with him, even though it would be just for today as she would be getting married soon, was determined to drag the chair to his table. She hadn’t expected it to be this heavy when she went to pull it out from behind a man who had stood up to clap in the hall, without caring that he would most likely fall if he attempted to sit back down.

It wasn’t every day that one got the opportunity to sit with a man who looked like the fictional men she read about in her favorite novels, Thalia thought as she continued to drag the chair behind her, only for her to step on the hem of her front dress and lose her balance. But instead of falling forward, she fell into his arms, and he automatically reached out and grabbed her in a way that seemed like a hug, with his hand spread at her back and her head resting on his chest.