Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 168: Entertainment

Chapter 168: Entertainment

Ave stood in the library, dumbfounded and in disbelief. She looked around the library again, but no matter what, none of the books she had seen here the last time were there; everything was cleared away. Did someone take them? But who would know about the one in her chamber to take it along with the ones here? That wasn’t possible; she hadn’t told a soul, not even Lucian, about the spell book. He couldn’t have known, or did he? Could he be the one to take it? Ave pondered in frustration as she stomped her feet on the ground and yanked at her hair.

Perhaps it would be good to ask Lucian first and know if he’d taken it. If he hadn’t, then it meant everything had magically disappeared. But then, she was certain she hadn’t told him about this, thus, he couldn’t have been the one.

She needed a spell book more than ever now. She wanted to find answers and learn things from it. If she knew the book was going to disappear, she would have stayed up all night to study everything in it.

Ave left the library in frustration, biting on her index finger nail as she walked toward the servants’ quarters in deep thought. But the familiar dimness of the doomed palace and how peaceful and quiet it seemed made her miss it. She preferred it here to the main palace, where everything was chaotic and noisy with the guests. She had thought this doomed palace was gloomy and boring, but now she would gladly come back to it if she had a choice. But she didn’t; she was a disposed woman now, a thinking and confused mess!

If only she’d find Selene’s diary and look into it for any clue she could find. But the diary was nowhere to be found. She had no memories of Selene, not even a little in her; all the memories she had were her own. Normally, one was supposed to have the memories of the body they possessed, but she had none. Selene was a complete mystery to her.

But then, if she were Selene, where would she have kept her diary in this palace? She wondered as she continued to walk toward the room the servants slept in to see Lydia. The diary might be able to give her a better understanding of everything. She wanted to know if Selene had written anything about her being Rosette and if she knew the name Roland. These people were not related to Ave; she was certain. She was from the future, and she couldn’t have been Rosette, nor was she supposed to feel the way she felt whenever she thought about the name Roland. Who was he? And why did she feel this way?

When Ave couldn’t find any answers or think about where Selene’s diary might be, she decided to remove those thoughts from her mind for now. She needed to remove the thoughts, or else she might go crazy with how questions kept popping into her head and giving her a headache.

Ave walked around and couldn’t decide which way led to Lydia’s room, as she’d not been there before since she’d lived in the doomed palace. She stopped and noticed a maid passing on the other side of the hallway and called, "Hey there! Come here. Do you know where I can find Lydia?" she asked as the maid hurried toward her.

The maid stopped in front of her and frantically bowed as if in fear, something the servants here never did before and would instead ignore or pretend they hadn’t heard her. But now, this one was literally shaking for no reason at all, and it made Ave arch her brows in suspicion as she pursed her lips.

"Milady, Lydia is in the room ahead of you. She...she has just been taken out from—" the maid didn’t get to finish her words before Lydia’s voice came from behind.

"Milady? Is that you?!" she cried as Ave swirled around to find the girl standing at the door of a room, her palms covering her mouth as she sobbed. She looked healthier, but she’d lost weight, Ave noted. And before she knew it, Lydia had run up to her and hugged her tightly as she cried, her shoulders trembling.

Ave smiled as she hugged the girl in her arms and patted her back. "I have almost forgotten what a crybaby you are, Lydia. Hush now; I am glad you are healthy enough to cry and hug me." Ave said with a chuckle, but her chuckling slowly fell as she perceived a strange smell on Lydia’s body and how slightly damp her dress was.

Ave pushed away from the hug to gauge her body when she noticed her dress was covered in muddy stains. "Did you roll in the mud? How come your dress has mud and dirt?" she asked, concerned. But before Lydia could even form a reply, Ave’s eyes had narrowed as she asked, "Did the servants here make you work when you are not well?" She gasped, "Come and show me who dares to give you work when you are not well!" She pulled Lydia’s hand toward the servants’ quarters, but Lydia hurriedly stopped her.

"Milady, nobody made me work. I am fine," she assured quickly to stop her from confronting the rest of the servants, who might tell her that the next day after she was brought here, she had spent her day and night in the dungeon until this afternoon when Lord Zane came to release her with the warning not to let Ave ever find out about her being in the dungeon, or else she’d bid farewell to her throat.

Lydia had sworn not to tell her mistress about it. She had always feared the second prince and thought of him as a monster who would never forgive her crimes, but Lydia had been surprised when he spared her life in exchange for her to confess everything she knew about the Empress and about who the other spies in this palace were. She had gladly told Lord Zane, and he had told her to never show her face in the main palace unless she wanted to be killed by the Empress if they discovered she had betrayed them.

Now, Lydia had her loyalty not only to her mistress but to Lord Zane and the second prince. When she noticed that her mistress didn’t look convinced about her reassurance, she added, "I fell down when I tried to push myself to go in search of you this morning to give my thanks to you, Lord Zane told me you had nursed me to health. That’s how my dress ended up dirty..." she muttered softly. "Lord Zane is really kind-hearted and nice to have brought me here..."

Ave, who had been suspecting that Lydia was hiding something and that she had gotten her dress dirty not because of a fall but something else, noticed the blush that crept up the girl’s cheeks as she mentioned Zane. A knowing smile came to Ave’s face as she asked while wiggling her brows, "Do you have a crush on Zane?" she asked curiously. It would be nice to find a boyfriend for Lydia, a boyfriend who would protect her and stand up for her when she would go back to her world. And even though Ave wouldn’t mind Zane, she somehow hoped Zane would end up with Thalia.

Lydia’s eyes widened, "I shall never crush Lord Zane, Milady. I am grateful for his kindness and will never do such a thing," she said with a bow of her head.

Ave let out a laugh as she shook her head. "That’s not what I meant, darling. But forget it; let’s get you clean first." She led her to the servants’ quarters.

No matter how much Ave insisted on helping Lydia clean up, the girl refused and did it herself as she still seemed to consider Ave a royal. After Lydia was done changing, Ave went out to meet the princesses, who were now being entertained by Harry’s songs, which Isolde had forced him into singing so her sisters could hear his voice.

Ave joined them in the shade under the oak tree in the palace backyard, where they sat on the tables kept there for soldiers to rest. They laughed and cheered the boy up, who was shy at first but soon became free and sang confidently. He had a nice voice that reminded Ave of the young Justin Bieber’s voice, only the lyrics Harry sang and the style of the song were old classic, romantic. However, Ave found herself liking it to the point of closing her eyes to it.

This era wasn’t all too bad, she thought with a smile, only if the royals would let everyone be equal and let them enjoy life as it came. Sitting here with the girls and listening to a boy sing was more relaxing and entertaining than sitting all day glued to your phone and scrolling endlessly through social media and watching things that made you addicted to unhealthy things.

While Ave laughed and listened to the song, at a distance where Lucian had just come in to get something in his palace and return to the training grounds, he stopped short in his tracks as he took note of the little entanglement going on in the backyard. She sat at the top of the table laughing so loud he could hear it despite the distance. Watching her enjoy herself in his palace was more than enough for him, and a smile slowly graced his hardened face.

No matter how much he looked at her, he realized he wasn’t attracted to her body nor her appearance but the soul that resided in there. The soul made the body into who they are. She might have that face, but when he looked, he saw Aveline, not Selene, and just like always, he found himself staring at her. Her sparkling blue eyes were the brightest features in her face and the first thing he always took note of when he looked at her.

She made him feel emotions he had never known were possible to feel for someone. Her presence made him feel complete, and sometimes he wished there was a kind of magic to freeze time whenever she was with him. He watched her for some time until he realized he couldn’t stay long, with so much to do, and left with a smile on his face.

Meanwhile, Ave felt like she was being stared at and turned in the direction to only see someone’s shadow disappearing. She craned her neck and caught a glimpse of Lucian leaving the palace. When did he come? she thought with a frown as she had wanted to talk to him about the books in the library, but he’d left now. She would meet him tonight, Ave thought.

Time passed by quickly and the sun set beyond the horizon. The Pendragon Princesses left Ave in the doomed palace as she told them she would come later, but she had no intentions of going back to the main palace tonight but tomorrow. She decided to spend the night here so tomorrow she would leave for the market with Zane and bring everything they bought back here.