Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 164: Adorable? Not to Zane.

Chapter 164: Adorable? Not to Zane.

[ Long Chapter.]

---

After Ave quietened down, Lucian continued to say, "No one will take you away for as long as I am here, and nothing shall happen to you. Understand?" He locked his eyes with hers.

Ave blinked twice as her heart missed double beats from his words of assurance that stirred something more than desire inside her. That something bloomed inside of her, making her feel a sense of protection and someone to rely on, which she’d never felt in all her life.

She had never relied on anyone since the day she was born as there was no one to rely on but herself. She had shouldered every single decision and action of her life alone to the point that his reassurance felt like a safe haven and strange. Would he be able to protect her from the woman if she wanted to take her away? ’Nothing shall happen to you,’ he had told her, Ave thought with her eyes looking at Lucian.

"I will get you milk, and tell me whatever else you’ll need to replace those missing ingredients and I’ll send men to get them all for you tomorrow. Will that do?" he questioned as he moved his finger away from her lips to allow her to reply, but he didn’t drop his hand and used it to move a few stray strands of hair away from her beautiful eyes and delicately tucked them behind her ears.

Ave was at a loss for words at first. How was he going to get the milk when he said it was something valuable and one needed permission from the Emperor to use? She wondered, however, she didn’t voice those thoughts out, she believed he had his ways to get them as he was also a royal, but she still doubted he would be able to get them due to his reputation as an unfavored prince.

She nodded at his question. "Yes. That will do. But I would like to go to the market myself if possible to get the substitute ingredients. I need to see what I can find and what I can use as a replacement," she said, finding herself getting used to sitting on his lap without feeling uncomfortable, she was surprised that she had not even tried to stand up now that she realized where she was sitting, and her frantic mind had calmed down.

Ave watched as a deep frown settled on Lucian’s face as he stared at her and then sternly replied, "No."

She pursed her lips. "No, what?" she asked.

"I am not going to allow you to go to the markets by yourself," he declared with a voice that left no room for argument. "If you need anything, I will send men to get them for you." He couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t get in trouble or even end up being assassinated on the way.

However, it wouldn’t be Ave if she didn’t argue with him. "And who said I was asking your permission to go to the market?" she scoffed with a glare in her defiant, sparkling eyes. "You are not my husband or anything for me to need your permission. You are not the boss of me and you have no control over anything I do," she said as she tried to stand up from his lap, but his hands on her waist kept her still.

Ave wasn’t used to following anybody’s orders when it came to things she knew she ought to do herself. She had been ordered around enough at the Eamon estate and didn’t want Lucian to also take on that habit of thinking he could control her. It wasn’t like she was going there to be killed or something; she knew her way around the market after they had gone the first time.

Lucian, who was about to use an authoritative voice on her to command her to do as he said, noticed the look of displeasure on her face and knew that even if he were to use such a tone, it wasn’t going to work on Ave who had come from the future and had a different mindset from the women of their lands. Women here were taught to respect every man and heed his command. In this era, men were superior to women, regardless of whether he was your husband or not.

And though Lucian knew she couldn’t have that mindset, having come from a world with loose rules, he tried to tone down his authority toward her. He had grown up in this world and also believed that a woman should abide by a man’s words, but he liked Ave for who she was and knew he would only cause her to argue even more with him if he treated her like the men here treated women.

"This world is more dangerous than you think it to be. A woman from the palace cannot just wander off into the market. If you are not robbed, you will be assassinated on the way. So listen to what I say and write me the list to send someone to get them," he insisted, trying to keep calm and wishing she would, for once, do as he said.

"Yeah, just like we were robbed and assassinated the last time we went to the village, right?" she said sarcastically as she pushed away from his lap and stood on her feet in front of him, her hands on her hips as she looked down at him. "Don’t get too paranoid; nothing is going to happen to me when I am no longer a royal. And besides, who said I was going alone?" She arched her brows at him.

"Then who is going with you?" Lucian asked, curious to know whom she wanted to take with her to the market, even though he knew he wasn’t going to allow her to go, not unless she wanted him to come.

But before she could reply, a knock came from the door and got their attention with the knob turning. It was Zane, Lucian thought. Because he’d used his powers to lock the door, Zane couldn’t come in, and he would have allowed him to keep knocking if Ave hadn’t looked at the door with a frown, approached it, and opened the lock on it before he could stop her.

When the hell did he lock the door? Ave wondered as she opened the door to find Zane standing outside, holding a covered basket in hand. Seeing him, her eyes brightened, and she grabbed his hand and hooked her arm with his before she pulled him inside and closed the door.

"You came just in time," she exclaimed as she turned to Lucian, who was scowling down at the hand she had around Zane’s arm, but she was oblivious to the fact that it was inappropriate to hold a man like that.

Zane felt the deadly scowl of the prince and his dark glares and attempted to pull away from her. Though Lucian might have not told him about his feelings for the soul in Selene’s body, Zane was smart enough to know he was possessive over her and wouldn’t hesitate to strangle him for her if care wasn’t taken.

However, the more he tried to pull away from the woman, the more she clutched to his arm. He could pull away with his strength but he feared he might harm her and end up facing Lucian for causing her hurt. Thus, he looked at Lucian with a pitiful expression that conveyed how helpless he was here.

"Zane, darling," he heard Ave call him, and the endearment she used almost made him wish he hadn’t come in now as Lucian’s eyes were burning flames as he glared at him as if it were his fault. Why was he the one being glared at when the woman was the one harassing him? Zane thought as he glanced at the woman, who was now looking at him with a wild smile that made him wish she would stop.

"Are you free tomorrow?" she asked him.

"Free?" He repeated, not understanding what she meant by that. Was he held captive or bound to be free? He wondered confusingly as he looked at Lucian for explanation, but Lucian still had a dark scowl on his face and was only staring at her hooked arm around his.

Ave, noticing his confusion, sighed as she rephrased her question. "I mean have you time on the morrow?"

A look of understanding crossed Zane’s face. He had a free time tomorrow because he had been warned against going to the training grounds by the first prince after the incident last time, and tomorrow many of the soldiers and even Lucian himself would be reporting to train as the war was in a day. However, Zane wouldn’t be going.

Swallowing hard, he nodded his head, "Yes, Milady. Why do you ask?" he questioned, hoping she hadn’t asked because she planned on getting him into more trouble with the scowling devil boring holes into him from the bed.

Ave’s eyes brightened at the thought that he was free. She didn’t answer his question and turned to Lucian with a smile, "See, Zane is free. It is decided then, he will come with me to the market tomorrow!" She announced happily as she unhooked her arm from his and clapped.

Before any of them could react, she looked down at the basket Zane was still holding as she could perceive the delicious aroma of the chicken dish she liked. She hadn’t eaten since this morning and she salivated at the scent.

Without wasting time, she took the basket from him and opened it to find two bowls of the meal in a food box. Taking one of them, she turned and beamed at Lucian.

"I will take my leave. Bye-bye," she blew him a playful airy kiss that made him almost smile, but then she turned to Zane and did the same, and his scowl grew even deeper and darker. "See you tomorrow at the doomed palace, Zane." She patted his shoulder and trotted out of the chamber. She wouldn’t want Zane to leave before she did and leave her behind to Lucian’s mercy where just a kiss from him would make her turn senseless.

When the door closed behind Ave, Lucian got off the bed and immediately said to Zane, "The next time you allow her to hold you like that, make sure you are ready to bid farewell to your arm." Lucian glared at him in displeasure.

"But she was—" he began to defend himself, however the prince cut him off with, "Reject her tomorrow. You are not to go anywhere with her, and don’t even appear anywhere she might spot you until my training is over." He gave his instructions. Knowing Ave’s personality, she would drag Zane with her if she had to, if she were to spot him.

Zane sighed in relief; he would be more than happy to avoid her tomorrow. Not only did she not know that the way she was being nice to him was probably making a certain someone jealous and angry, but that he wasn’t comfortable with her being nice to him. Lucian and his late mother were the only ones he was used to receiving kindness from; when another person did it, it made him uncomfortable.

"Then how is she going to get to the market?" Zane inquired curiously. "What if she ends up going alone?"

Lucian’s brows drew into a thoughtful frown. Zane was right, she might end up going alone if she didn’t find him. However, one thing made him feel reassured. "She won’t," he remarked with confident certainty.

"How do you know she won’t?" Zane asked.

"Because she doesn’t have enough coins with her to purchase everything she needs," he replied with a small smile on his face, but the smile quickly fell when his sharp nose caught a whiff of the chicken dish in the basket.

Zane, who noticed how Lucian’s face scrunched up at the aromatic smell of the food, moved the basket away from his side and put it on the desk. He sighed, "And here I thought, along with your poison, she has cured your sickness that occurs when you eat anything made with chicken. I wonder why you ordered me to bring two, then," he muttered as he set the basket aside, knowing he’d be the one to eat it later.

"She doesn’t know about my illness with chicken, and she likes the chicken dish," Lucian remarked nonchalantly as he looked back at his bed, where the sheet still held the crease of where she had laid, and the side of his mouth pulled up. "She is adorable, isn’t she?"

Zane’s brows flew up in disbelief, "Who? That soul in Selene’s body? She is everything but adorable, Your Highness. She is..." He didn’t dare complete his words when Lucian’s amber eyes shot him a glare that dared him to say anything wrong about her. Zane swallowed his words and nodded his head in agreement, "She is adorable, indeed." Not to him though.

Lucian walked to the window of his chamber and looked out of it to the clear blue sky that reminded him of Ave’s eyes. He watched the birds fly overhead and how the sun shone brightly down on the huge palace grounds when he noticed Edward mounting his horse in a hurry. His eyes narrowed down at the man and saw how he looked to be in a hurry.

"Have you heard of any cases about any night creatures lately?" Lucian asked Zane as his eyes watched the horse gallop away.

"I haven’t heard of any, Your Highness. I thought the night creatures were said to have been killed centuries ago?" he asked.

"Yes. That was what I thought as well until recently," Lucian remarked grimly as he recalled the ugly claw scratch that ran from Ave’s wrist to her forearm. That was no animal or human scratch; he’d seen the drawing of a night creature and could tell it was done by one. "There are night creatures living among us, and my girlfriend has awoken one of the powerful ones by mistake, which is why I have to increase the men watching her movements. I can’t let her step out of the palace alone," he muttered.

Zane was alarmed by that as he’d heard many scary stories about the night creatures and how vicious they were. However, what also took him by surprise was Lucian’s words. His girlfriend? Zane thought as he recalled Ave had once asked him if he had a girlfriend and she’d explained what that meant. Someone special and close to your heart...

Since when did she become his girlfriend? He wondered to himself.

"How did she encounter one of the powerful ones?" Zane inquired, as it was said they had been buried in a world far away from the living and only the witch with Rosa could reach there as the last Rosa had buried them there to sleep forever until eternity. Then how could Ave have gotten there?

Zane’s question got answered by Lucian’s silence, and his eyes rounded. "Oh no, if anybody knows of this, she will be killed and used to unseal the rest of the night creatures..."

Lucian’s hands clenched at his sides, "That is why we need to make the prince of Nazia hurry up and answer the request I made to him before the Emperor dies and we are all left at the mercy of the Empress." He turned to face Zane, his expression looking even more grave and serious. "Prince Talinor is taking so long to collaborate with me after I have allowed him to win that spar," he gritted through clenched teeth.

"I think he must be considering your offer. What you ask of him is no little, Your Highness." Zane assured, knowing Lucian had requested for something more than the Nazia support.

"And what I offered him in return is big enough to make up for what I asked for!" he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "We will be departing for war in a day, and after what happened the last time," Lucian remarked grimly, "You won’t be allowed to fight with us. And I never thought I would be this grateful for it because I need you to keep a close eye on her and assist her with everything she will need while I’m gone."

Apart from the late third consort, Zane had never seen Lucian show concern for another person, not even to Selene as he always kept it to himself. Though Zane would want nothing but to go with Lucian as his loyalty only lies with him, he couldn’t do anything more than protect someone he seemed to care about, even though he didn’t say it In words.

"As you wish, Your Highness." He bowed his head and then asked, "What about the girl in the dungeon, when do you plan to kill her?" he asked, referring to Lydia.

Lucian was silent for some time before he replied, "Didn’t you say she gave you the name of the other spy in my palace?" he asked.

"Yes, she did. And as you ordered, I forced the other spy to drink the poison you gave me," he reported.

Lucian had given Zane the same poison the Empress had sent with that courtesan to kill him that day. He had ordered Zane to make her spy drink it after Lydia revealed the name.

"Should I make Lydia drink it as well?" came Zane’s question.

Lucian’s lips pulled into a straight line as he looked thoughtful before saying, "No. If I kill her, Aveline will be heartbroken..."

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