Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 155: Punished to death

Chapter 155: Punished to death

[Long Chapter.]

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Hearing her words and the longing in them for whoever that bastard Roland was, Lucian’s strong hand gripped her hips with possessive strength, his fingers digging into her skin—not enough to cause her pain but just enough to remind her that he had taken a claim over her without her knowledge. She was his, and he wasn’t letting go nor allowing an unknown Roland to come between them.

"Have you ever been bitten by a night creature before?" came Lucian’s question, meant to distract her from this Roland. The fear in her eyes, and how she had used a night creature’s spell on him, could only mean that she had been bitten by one before and was defensive about being bitten again.

"No... I have never even seen one until the night when I..." She stopped short as she realized she hadn’t told him about what had happened to her that night because he had annoyed her when she heard his words to Isolde. Pursing her lips, she tried to push away from him as he looked to be fine now, but he tightened his hold around her.

"Did the night creature you met that night bite you?" he asked in a dangerously calm voice.

Ave went still. How did he know about this when she hadn’t told him about her experience that night? She wondered in disbelief. But as if sensing her disbelief, she heard him say, "You told me about it last night in your intoxicated state." He then questioned again, "Did he bite you?"

Ave didn’t know whether to be worried that she had been drugged to the extent she couldn’t recall anything she had done the night before. What kind of drug did the Empress give her, and what else had she told Lucian last night?

"He didn’t bite me because I used a spell I learned from..." She stopped short again, realizing she had almost blurted out about the spell book. She could never allow him to know about that spell book until she had learned every single thing in it. "I used a spell I didn’t know I knew on him, just like now."

Lucian’s mouth pulled up into a smirk as he realized she was trying to hide the fact that she had taken a spell book right from under his nose, but unknown to her, she had told him everything herself last night.

He didn’t know how she had encountered a night creature, but the more he began to learn about the things Ave could do, the more he started to see that she was much more than a mere witch, and perhaps the mark of Rosa he didn’t find on her could have been on her real body and not this one. There was more to her than even the both of them knew, more than even the ancient books he’d asked Zane to bring to his library had.

"Aveline, you..." Lucian began to say but trailed off when his sensitive ears picked up approaching footsteps and voices he recognized from the distant corridors. He heard what they were saying and cursed under his breath as he pushed away from Ave, even though he would have wanted to remain like this with her until he could no longer feel the pain, or even stay like this for the whole day.

Ave, who was taken aback by how Lucian hurriedly pushed away from her and began to attempt to stand up, saw him sway on his feet. She impulsively reached out to support him and then asked, "What’s wrong?"

"My brothers are coming this way; they’re looking for the ambassador. They can’t come in and find us like this," he said through clenched teeth, annoyed that they just had to come looking for the ambassador now. From their conversation, he’d heard from the distance, they were questioning where he was and why he wasn’t here to look around with them.

He couldn’t allow Caelan or any of his brothers to see him with Ave, not to mention Caelan must have known about the arrangement of Ave being with the ambassador. Seeing her here would not only get her in trouble but killed and accused of the man’s sudden disappearance if the third prince were to tell his mother.

Grabbing her shoulders, he looked down at her and instructed, "Listen to me, Aveline. The Ambassador’s chamber is a few walks from this one. It’s the first one you come across if you take the right-side corridor from here. My brothers are still a few hallways away from here. You have to head there now, and I will distract them when they get here to give you time to prepare. Stay right there until they come to search. You can pretend to be sleeping or anything, but don’t leave the chamber until you’re seen there. And if anyone questions you about the Ambassador, you are to tell them that you didn’t know how you even got there, not to mention when he left. The Empress who fed you the drugs would believe you. Understand?" He asked in a hurry, as he could hear their footsteps getting closer.

Ave, overwhelmed by everything that was happening and his words, could only nod her head as she stared at him in panic. "Where is the Ambassador?" She asked, afraid that if she were to lie and the man came back to expose the truth—that she hadn’t slept with him—she might end up getting into more trouble. She watched as Lucian’s eyes darkened at the mention of the Ambassador.

"He has been taken care of," was all he told her before he looked down at her and said, "Whatever happens, don’t let them put any blame on you. You are good at acting. I trust you to make them believe you didn’t know anything that happened. Can you do that?" He asked, using his fingers to tuck a few loose strands behind her ears.

Ave nodded. Though she didn’t know in what way the Ambassador had been taken care of or what this might get her into if anyone were to know she had been with Lucian and not the man, she had to trust and do as he told her to do. However, she couldn’t help the panic in her heart. "I can do it," she assured with a nervous smile. "I should better get going before they get here then," she said as she turned to leave, but Lucian gripped her arm to stop her.

She turned to look at him with a frown but saw his eyes trail down her body as he said, "You can’t go out like that. You have to put your dress back on." He allowed himself to admire how his coat looked big on her feminine body. It hung way below her knees, with only three buttons keeping it in place. He didn’t know why, but he liked his coat on her and could watch her walk in it all day. But knowing they had no time, he looked back to her face.

Ave looked down and realized she was still wearing his coat. "Oh my, I need to change," she said and then glanced at him with narrowed eyes. "When we meet next time, you have a lot of explaining to do to me. You have to tell me how you took off my clothes without my permission!" She glared at him and hurried into the bathing room after picking up her dress on the sofa along with her chemise.

By the time she came out all dressed, Lucian was already dressed as well and was buttoning up his coat, which she handed to him from the bathroom with swift movements, though he grimaced as if he was still feeling some discomfort in his chest. As if sensing her presence, he turned around and informed, "You have to leave now; they will get here soon."

Ave nodded as she looked at him in wonderment at how he could hear them from a distance. But then she didn’t dwell on that and turned to leave.

However, before she could reach the door, Lucian had reached her side and his hand seized her waist, pulling her against him with a muscled intensity that spoke of possession before he crushed his lips against hers in a swift, hungry kiss that only lasted for a second before he released her. She didn’t even get to process anything before he pushed her out the door and toward the Ambassador’s corridor.

"I’ll see you again," he called out to her in a voice loud enough for her to hear. Unable to help it, Ave raised her hand to trace her lips that still held the warmth of his kiss as she walked away quickly. Before she turned the corner of the Ambassador’s corridor, she looked back to see Lucian walking away in a hurry and disappearing behind another hallway.

Ave didn’t waste time dwelling on everything that had happened and hurried away. When she reached the chamber Lucian had spoken of, she entered and closed the door behind her. The room was as fancy as the royals’ with a table in front of a sofa where there was half-drunk wine in a goblet. It seemed the Ambassador had been here last night, she thought as she crawled up into the bed and covered herself with a blanket while she closed her eyes and began counting down until they would arrive and she’d put on her act.

She couldn’t help the swell of happiness that bubbled inside her when she recalled how Lucian had said she was good at acting. He had never even seen her act, and yet he believed she was good. Even though she still wanted to stay with him until she was sure he wasn’t going to die from the spell she had cast on him, she had to make sure this drama that was about to happen was finished. Ave thought as she sighed and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling of the chamber.

Just as she was getting bored, she heard the footsteps and arguing voices coming from the corridor.

"...What does he take us for, his servants? Where was he when we have been searching the whole palace since the morning? Brother Alden, you shouldn’t have allowed him to come with us when we are almost done with the search!" complained Caelan through clenched teeth as he didn’t like that Lucian had appeared out of nowhere to join them in their search for that fat pig Ambassador, who they couldn’t find along with Prince Lance.

"Enough of your yapping and open the door, Caelan. We have to recheck the Ambassador’s chamber to be sure he isn’t there," Alden said sternly, not in the mood to join in their fight or side with anyone. They could beat each other up for all he cared at this point, where he was worried that the man betrothed to his sister was missing and that she might never get another prince who would willingly marry her at her age of twenty and even agree to stay in the palace after their marriage. His sister was more of his concern than anything here.

Caelan gritted his teeth as he glared from Alden to Lucian, who stood aside with a nonchalant air around him, his hands tucked into his pockets. Caelan wasn’t only mad that he was being ordered to open the door when Orion was the younger one and had been the one doing it since, but also didn’t like how Alden wasn’t in support of him like he usually was.

"Didn’t you hear me?" Alden shot at Caelan with hardened eyes. "I said open the damned door."

Clenching his fists in anger, Caelan kicked the door open, and they entered. However, they all stopped short in their tracks as they found a woman on the bed, sleeping peacefully. But as if sensing their presence, she stirred awake and glanced at them with unfocused eyes, then around her in the room.

"What...what am I doing here?" she muttered out loud as she glanced at them and then clutched the blanket to her chest.

"What are you doing here?!" Alden demanded coolly as he glared murderously at her and then looked around to see if the Ambassador was there.

Caelan, who knew about what she was doing there, cleared his throat and remained silent, while Orion frowned in confusion as he wondered what she was indeed doing there. He leaned toward Lucian, who had a blank expression, and asked, "What is she doing in the Ambassador’s room?" If Lucian heard him, he didn’t react or answer.

"Where is the Ambassador?" Alden demanded as he walked towards the bed and grabbed her wrist before shoving her to the floor, where she fell on her knees. Pulling out his sword, he placed the blade close to her throat and warned, "Don’t make me repeat my question, woman. Where is the Ambassador?"

Ave’s eyes widened as she felt the cold blade close to her throat. She swallowed hard and turned her eyes toward Lucian, where she saw his eyes remain indifferent without showing any emotion. However, if she had looked closely, she would have noticed his hardened jaw and clenched fists.

Deciding to put on her act, she began to cry, "I...I don’t know. I don’t even know how I got here! Please, spare my life!" she cried as she moved back and then bowed her head to the floor, where her forehead touched the ground.

Alden narrowed his eyes down at the woman he had never liked and even despised, since she began to influence his sister in ways he didn’t like. He sheathed his sword and roughly grabbed her by the hair to lift her head up. When he lifted her head, he saw the marks on her neck and chest that seemed to be caused by a man. His eyes narrowed even further before he shoved her head away in a way that caused her to hit her head against the table.

Lucian, who stood at the side, was using every bit of control he had left to stop himself from charging forward and breaking his brother’s arms for the way he treated Ave in front of him. He willed himself to remain rooted to the ground with the thought that if he acted rashly, it might end up causing her death instead.

’Let him be for now, we still have many more opportunities to get back at him for hurting our woman,’ his beast snarled in his head. ’We can allow the Empress’ assassins to kill him in the upcoming war. He deserves it. We should stand there and watch him die.’

"You little whore, you shall be punished to your death if you don’t start telling me where the ambassador is," Alden gritted out in irritation as he glared down at Ave.

Caelan, who stood by the side, spoke up, "We should take her to the Empress before you decide on her punishment, brother." He suggested, as he wouldn’t want his brother killing his Selene. If she were to be taken to his mother, she would let Alden know that it was her who had sent Selene here.

Alden didn’t argue as he bent down and grabbed her arm with the roughness of a warrior before pulling her to her feet. "Get up and walk!"