Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 147: Night creature

Chapter 147: Night creature

"I’ve missed you," he whispered against her neck, and she found herself relaxing into his warm embrace, basking in his familiar scent that enveloped her like his strong arms did.

Lucian, who felt her relax into him tightened his hold around Ave’s body like he wanted to merge their bodies into one; he would if he could. As he held her and inhaled her soothing scent, he couldn’t help but realize he’d missed her more than he thought was possible to miss someone you didn’t even love. He had kept his eyes on her the whole time in the hall, knowing the Empress’ plans for her tonight, all thanks to the annoying bastard who had told him about it last night.

Lucian couldn’t imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t been told and Ave had ended up with the ambassador of Banzai, whom Lucian would have taken care of himself, but someone else had volunteered to do it. He had left the hall at the same moment she finished dancing and came here to wait, knowing that if she were to go to the ambassador’s chamber, she would pass through here.

Now, however, as he held her, she relaxed into his embrace at first, her head resting against his chest and her hands hanging at her sides. Then, suddenly, he heard her giggle in his arms before she attempted to push at his chest with her hands as she said,

"Move away from me, you jerk! I don’t want to be close to you because you are so annoying," she said, her giggling turning into a sob that alarmed Lucian and made him release her and move away to look at her face, which looked unnaturally flushed under the corridor’s lamplights. Her large blue eyes glistened with unshed tears as she glared at him from beneath long, spiky thick lashes that cast delicate shadows over her cheeks.

Unable to help himself, Lucian raised his hand in an attempt to caress her cheeks, but Ave moved so quickly and swatted at his hand before stepping away from him, her lips trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Ave didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she felt emotionally vulnerable and sensitive to everything around her at this moment. She wasn’t feeling like herself not in any way, it was like she had been intoxicated. Even Lucian’s vision in front of her seemed slightly blurry. Not to mention his presence reminded her of his words in the hall she’d overheard.

’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.’

"Don’t touch me. I do not like you or any man. All of you are the same: annoying and liars!" she cried as she turned to walk away, but she staggered and swayed on her feet. Before she could fall to the floor, Lucian swiftly reached out, wrapped his arms around her waist, and steadied her. She looked up at him with unfocused eyes, her brows pulling together into a deep frown before she said,

"I...I haven’t gotten my present! The tyrant Empress has arranged a present for me. I have to go and see what it is. I have to follow the..." she trailed off, moving away from Lucian and standing on her feet, looking from left to right with a confused frown on her face before turning back to Lucian and glaring at him. "Where is the maid? She was following me—I mean, I was following her before you...what happened? Why am I here?" she muttered more to herself than to Lucian.

Lucian, on the other hand, watched her closely. He took note of her flushed skin, how her forehead was covered with sweat, and how she was muttering words to herself. Then realization dawned on him. She wasn’t all right.

Grabbing both her shoulders with his hands, he looked down at her and questioned, "Did you drink something from the Empress when you met with her?"

Ave looked thoughtful for a while before she smiled up at his face and nodded her head like a child. She then poked his chest with her index finger as she pursed her lips and said, "Yep! I drank a cold sweet wine. Isn’t that considerate of her, giving me a refreshing drink after my dance?" She giggled with a shake of her head like she found it amusing.

Lucian stared at her without uttering a word; he couldn’t believe that despite knowing the Empress, she had gone and drank something from the woman. The Empress was an expert when it came to concoctions and poison, and Ave knew that herself. He didn’t know whether to chide her or knock her head for being so stupid, but then, judging from how she was giggling like a fool to herself, he bet she wouldn’t even know why she was being scolded at this point.

Leaning down towards her mouth, he took a whiff of her breath to know what kind of wine she had drunk, but Ave’s hand flew up and covered his mouth as she moved her head back and glared at him. "You pervert! You want to kiss me again and touch me! I will never allow that again. You should go to your Maddie and kiss her; I do not want you," she muttered with displeasure.

Lucian arched a brow as he looked down at her, where her hand was still pressing against his mouth. Lifting up his hand, he wrapped his fingers around her delicate wrist to pry it away from his mouth, but she winced in pain and jerked her hand away before glancing down at the scratches that still marred her forearm and wrist.

He followed her line of sight and noticed the injury he had seen when they had danced, his eyes darkening dangerously before he grabbed her arm to examine the cut closely. She tried to jerk away. "Leave me...!" she cried out, but Lucian ignored her as he looked down at the wound, then back up at her teary eyes.

"How..." Lucian trailed off when he heard hurried footsteps approaching their direction and a voice that called out. "Lady Selene, can you hear me? Where are you?!" The voice belonged to the maid who had been leading Ave to the ambassador’s chamber, only to turn around and find her gone when she’d reached the door of the chamber.

Lucian noticed how Ave parted her lips to reply to the maid’s calling and swiftly clasped his palm over her mouth to shut her up. She attempted to pry his hand away, but before she could do anything that would alert the maid to their presence, Lucian picked her up and carried her into the unoccupied guest chamber nearby and locked the door behind him.

The chamber was pitch dark, so Lucian snapped his fingers and the lights came on, brightening up the whole room, which was neat with a large-sized bed. He walked towards the bed with Ave struggling in his hold where he carried her in a fireman carry, with his forearms beneath her buttocks and around her thighs, while she hit his shoulders and cried for him to let her go.

Lucian walked to the bed, sat down on it, and brought Ave down onto his lap, making her sit straddling his thighs with his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her from running away.

"Let go of me, you asshole!" she hit his chest as she attempted to stand up, but Lucian’s grip was as tight as steel.

"Aveline," he called her name in a voice that made her stop struggling and glance at his face with tears rolling down her cheeks.

He watched as her pale pink lips quivered before she parted them to speak. "Why do you always call my name like that? It makes my heart beat go crazy...and it makes me think that you care about me... When you do not care." She muttered the last part under her breath as she lowered her gaze from his eyes, staring down at his chest where the top button of his black shirt was open, and she reached out to begin trying to button it as if to hide her true emotions by distracting herself with something else.

Lucian gripped one of her wrists and brought her hand towards his lips, pressing a kiss on the back of her hand while his eyes remained on her. "Who said I do not care, Aveline? I care about you more than I care about anything else, even though I don’t know why." He whispered softly. It was true; he had never cared about anyone as much as he was beginning to care for her. Every one of his actions lately was made with the thought of keeping her safe. If he didn’t care, he would have openly showed his affection for her in public.

Ave gazed at him as if trying to gauge his expression before she said, "Then why do you act indifferent towards me whenever you see me in public? I heard you say to Isolde that you don’t care..." She pulled her hand away and tried to stand up from his lap, but Lucian’s hands found her hips, his ten fingers spread over her hips as he pinned her down on his lap to keep her there.

"I said that because I cared about you." He whispered softly as he traced one of his hands from her hip to her waist, then brought it up to the side of her breast and then to her neck before moving a few strands of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead to the back of her ear. "Now tell me, Aveline. How did you get those cuts on your hand and why didn’t you come down for dinner last night? Did someone hurt you? Tell me who it is; don’t lie to me fierce kitten." He coaxed gently, as if speaking to a little girl, as he cupped her cheek and used his thumb to caress the side of her mouth.

Ave blinked repeatedly with her chin tipped down, subconsciously leaning into his caressing hand before bringing her injured hand up to her face and pouting childishly. "It was a night creature..."

Lucian’s hand stilled its caressing on her cheek. A night creature? he wondered with silent foreboding. Where had she encountered one when it was said there were none left in existence after they were all killed a century ago with the help of the witches? He had never seen one himself or heard of any person who had come in close proximity with one.

Alarmed by her words, he grabbed her hand and looked at the deep cut and fading red mark around her delicate wrist. "Where did you encounter a night creature?" he questioned with the same coaxing voice he had been using, even though deep down he was gripped by a feeling of dread.

Ave giggled and then her head fell forward until her forehead leaned against his, her gaze playful, which could only be the effect of whatever she had been given by the Empress. "I met him in a casket inside a dense forest in my sleep. Did you know why I found myself in that forest?" She wiggled her brows and then wrapped her arms around his neck, beginning to use her fingers to caress the hair at his nape.

Lucian tried to ignore what her warm breath falling on his face and her arms around his neck were doing to him, focusing instead on the matter at hand. She seemed to be intoxicated. He shook his head to her question. "Why were you in the forest?" he asked.

She laughed and then leaned her head to the side, whispering into his ear, her lips grazing his earlobe as she spoke. But the words she spoke made him go rigid like stone, the ringing in his ears overtaking everything else, including her soft lips. "I used magic to cure Lydia..." she said with a giggle.

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