Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 166: Heaven

Chapter 166: Heaven

Ave didn’t waste her time again in her room and hurriedly changed her dress into a more suitable one to walk out with, as this one didn’t only hold the scent of Lucian but also didn’t seem appropriate to be worn out in public. She didn’t have time to look through her wardrobe and wore the magic dress, then changed it into a simple dress before she picked up the bowl and walked to leave the room, where Madeline had not successfully arranged it in the way it was supposed to be after she had messed with it, Ave thought with a shake of her head as she left the room.

Her mind was too clouded with thoughts of the spell book to care about anything else as she walked down the polished halls of the palace until she heard her name being called collectively by the Pendragon Princesses, who she hadn’t set eyes on since their dance at the ceremony. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to see the three coming towards her together.

"Selene, where have you been?" Celeste asked with a small frown on her face as they came to stand before Ave. "We looked for you yesterday in the hall, but we couldn’t find you, and this morning, you didn’t come down for breakfast. Is everything all right?"

Ave put on a reassuring smile that came out a bit hesitant as she was in a hurry to leave but had to answer their questions. "I wasn’t feeling well last night after we danced, so I returned to my chamber and fell asleep before I knew it. I slept until this afternoon, you see," she said, then added, "Where you guys off to?" she asked when she noticed they had been coming to the entrance door before they noticed her.

"We were looking for you, and a servant told us they saw you coming this way," replied Isolde with a clear of her throat. Then her eyes turned hopeful as she asked, "Are you by any chance going to the Doomed Palace?" She had hoped she’d catch her going there so she could come along and get to spend time with the stable boy again, as Ave had promised to let them meet again.

Ave could already tell what the princess was hinting at with her question and the look in her eyes; she would rather go alone to the Doomed Palace to do whatever she wanted and also check on Lydia and Heaven without taking anyone with her. But knowing the princesses, they would want to come with her regardless of what she told them.

Nodding her head, she asked, "Do you want to come?"

Isolde was quick to nod her head in excitement, while Celeste shrugged as if it didn’t matter. Thalia, who Ave had just noticed was quiet the whole time, looked deep and lost in thought, and didn’t say anything, remaining silent. Frowning, Ave touched her shoulder, "Are you all right?" she questioned in concern.

Thalia, who was faintly aware they were talking with Selene, raised her head to glance at her and put on a forced smile that didn’t reach her gray eyes. "I am fine..." she muttered, but Ave could tell she wasn’t. However, she didn’t push her to speak more.

Isolde sighed heavily, "Sister Thalia has been this way since this morning, when it was announced that Prince Lancelot was missing. You see, they were to be married after the war as well, and now that he is missing, no other prince has seemed interested in her. If she loses this opportunity, she will remain a spinster forever. And..." Isolde trailed off as her twin sister nudged her in the side to keep quiet, seeing that Thalia’s gray eyes were now filling with tears at Isolde’s words.

Ave noticed the tears and couldn’t help but pity the poor girl. She was just twenty and still young, not to mention her beauty. If someone like this were in her time, men would swarm over her like flies. One thing Ave didn’t like was how the people here always thought a girl had to marry at a certain age when she still had her youthful life ahead of her.

Thalia was a hopeless romantic, and though Ave was far from that, she could understand how the girl must feel when she wasn’t even allowed to dream, not to mention choose a man of her choice to marry. Her husband would have to be picked for her, and now that the prince had gone missing to who knows where, the girl must be going through mixed feelings and disappointment.

Like a big sister, Ave raised her hand and stroked her hair to console her, "Don’t let that get to you, someone else who will love you for who you are and not care about your age will find you someday. It seems Prince Lance or whatever his name is, isn’t meant for you."

Ave had seen the prince and had even been the center of his mockery once; she hadn’t liked him when they met. She had even thought he didn’t deserve this princess.

Thalia wiped away her tears and composed herself. Though her sisters believed she was sad because Lance was missing, that wasn’t the truth. She was only feeling guilty because after Lance had made a bargain with her for Zane’s sake, she had prayed to the Heavens last night as she walked to where he had asked them to meet up that something should happen to prevent what she was about to do from happening. She had reached there and saw that he wasn’t there. Even though she waited for him for some time, he hadn’t shown up. She had then returned to her chamber feeling happy, only to wake up this morning with the news of him missing.

He might have gone missing because the Heavens answered her desperate prayers for something to happen so she would never have to marry him. She felt guilty for that.

Smiling at Ave, who was trying to console her, she replied with a cheerful voice, "I am fine now. Let’s go before someone sees us leaving together."

Ave nodded, grateful somehow that she had come across the princesses, because with them, she would be able to ride in a carriage to the Doomed Palace rather than walk all that distance as she’d intended to do before they called her name.

As they arrived at the Doomed Palace in the royal carriage, the twin princesses filled Ave in on how their dance last night had made many princes from various kingdoms approach them and also gave them gifts as a token of compliments for their dance. They also told her about how they hadn’t received anything from the Emperor because of the impending war and the missing guests.

"Those evil witches must be behind our Empire’s misfortune; it will be great if they all get killed in this war," remarked Celeste with pure disdain in her voice, making Ave shift uncomfortably in her seat because she was one of them. She couldn’t help but wonder how these princesses would react if they knew she was also a witch. Before they could get too into the topic of talking about the witches, Ave sighed in relief when the carriage stopped at the Doomed Palace and they exited it.

Ave was still trying to think of how to sneak into the stables to meet Heaven first and ask her something without being followed by the princesses, when she felt Isolde tug at her sleeve to gain her attention. She turned to the girl and noticed she was looking toward the armory, where she saw Harry whistling as he cleaned Lucian’s weapons and the other weapons that would be used in the war.

The boy was working under the sun, where his tan skin glistened and his ginger curls fell down his forehead before he raised his hand to move them away from his face. But as if sensing their presence, and probably Isolde’s admiring gaze, he turned to them and was startled to find two of them staring at him.

Ave was staring because she noticed how, despite his tan skin, freckled nose, shabby sleeveless shirt, and loose black trousers, he looked handsome for his age. She also couldn’t help but remember the poor state of the house he came from when she and Lucian stopped at their village that day. If Isolde were to fancy and even come to care about the boy, who knows, she might help him and his family have a good life and a better job.

With that thought, Ave was determined to play matchmaker for them. A princess and a commoner. A perfect match! "Go to him and say hi," Ave whispered to the awestruck princess, who was staring at the boy with dreamy eyes.

Celeste, who noticed her twin sister staring at the servant boy while he stared back, scrunched her nose and remarked, "Is that insolent fool seeking death? Why is he looking at you?"

"He is no fool, and you are not to ever call him that. He is my... my friend," Isolde muttered shyly as she looked at Ave, ignoring her twin’s surprised and disbelieving expression. "Will he talk to me if I go to him now?" she asked, and Ave bobbed her head as she patted her arm. "Of course he would."

Celeste gasped open-mouthed as she seemed to realize what was going on. She couldn’t believe her sister called a servant boy a friend. If their mother or father knew about this, the boy would not only get beheaded but his entire family would be banished from the Empire. "You know better than to like a man lower than our class; what if mother finds—"

"She will not find out," Thalia cut in, eager and happy that she wasn’t the only one who fancied someone lower in class. "Unless you tell her, and I trust you will do no such thing to betray your twin. Let’s escort Isolde to say hi like Selene said," she beamed widely, her gray eyes shimmering as she pulled the reluctant Celeste, while Isolde had already started to walk to the boy.

Grateful that the princesses had found something else to distract them away from her, Ave smiled and turned towards the stables. She would go and look for another spell book after speaking to Heaven about something important that had been eating away at her since this morning. Since the mare was the only one apart from that night creature who had addressed her as Rosette, she believed the mare would have some answers she sought.

Turning in the direction of Harry, where the three princesses circled him, he looked uncomfortable and nervous as he kept his head down. Ave shook her head, knowing with the two, Isolde and Harry wouldn’t get to speak, but she needed them to stay there until she was done here. Thus, she entered the stables and was grateful Hugo wasn’t there.

Walking to the last stall inside the stables, she came to a stop in front of Heaven’s stall and leaned in to see the mare sitting down on the gathered hay with her eyes closed as if she were sleeping, but Ave could tell she wasn’t with how she moved her ears. The way she laid down was like royalty.

"Heaven?" Ave called with a friendly voice, hoping the arrogant creature wouldn’t ignore her like last time when she was here with Lucian.

The mare opened her eyes, and the bright blue, rare color of her eyes met Ave’s. She got up from her lying position with elegant grace, walked to the edge of the stall door, and used her head to push at Ave to move away before she snorted displeasingly.

Ave, who was pushed back a few steps from the stall, looked at the mare in disapproval of her behavior. Putting her hands on her hips, she glared at Heaven. "You can’t keep ignoring me like this when I am sure you spoke to me the last time. What do you want me to do before you’ll speak to me again?" she asked, meeting the mare’s eyes.

"Go back to the world you come from."

Ave’s eyes widened in astonishment as she heard the mare’s voice in her head without her mouth moving. She could indeed speak! Ave rejoiced for a moment before the meaning of the words she spoke sank in.

"Wait, what?" she exclaimed.