Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 181: Realization

Chapter 181: Realization

Even before the sun rose completely over the horizon in the morning, the Pendragon soldiers had departed for the war. The first and second princes had been the ones to go, while the rest stayed back at the Empress’s suggestion to the Emperor. Many had woken up early to bid them farewell as they marched away, and the entire village had lined the roadsides to watch them depart.

But earlier before the departure from the imperial palace, they had taken the Emperor’s blessings and went through the necessary traditions.

There was a tradition in the Empire that when a man goes to battle, a lover’s or a close relative’s handkerchief tied to his sword or spear brings him good luck and protection. Just as Princess Thalia had woken up early that dawn to tie a piece of her handkerchief around her brother’s sword before he departed, Princess Madeline had also trotted toward Lucian to do the same. But the dark look he gave her was enough to make her stand back a few feet away from him.

Unable to approach him, she nervously held out her handkerchief, "Since we are getting married upon your return, I want to bestow upon you my good luck charm," she muttered shyly and anxiously. She had hoped to meet him yesterday, but no matter how much she’d looked around for him in the palace, she hadn’t been able to find him and had been told he was at the training camps. She would have gone there if she wasn’t so horrified at the sight of anything that has to do with fighting and blood.

Lucian hadn’t allowed her to tie the handkerchief. He would have outright rejected her if many of the royals and guests weren’t watching from the balconies and windows, including Madeline’s mother. He reached out and took the handkerchief from her; however, when the princess turned back and happily trotted back toward the palace, Lucian dropped the handkerchief and stepped on it before retrieving his wife’s handkerchief, which he had taken from her at dawn when he went to check on her and give Zane some instructions and orders to follow in his absence to protect her from those who wish her harm. He then tied it around his sword, making everyone watching believe it was Madeline’s handkerchief.

They departed from the palace after that, with the guests chanting the good luck song for them.

Everyone who watched had their own thoughts in mind. The Empress was pleased, thinking that if her plans worked out and the men she had placed among the soldiers succeeded in killing Alden, then Lucian’s fate would be sealed for good, and her son would get the chance to be the next Emperor without any hindrance.

Meanwhile, Edward, who had been responsible for the assassination attempt last night without informing his sister as he knew she was against killing Selene for Caelan’s sake, was not pleased as he hadn’t received any message from the men he sent. He wanted, as much as possible, to get rid of Selene before their uncle found a way out of that spell and met Caelan.

Right beside Edward’s balcony was Caelan, grinning on his room’s balcony. He watched as his brothers departed in the distance from the balcony. He then whistled and sighed loudly to himself as he tied his sleeping robe’s belt,

"It’s a good thing I am not included in that war. Hell’s teeth, I can’t imagine myself marching with them to fight those damned creatures." He shook his head in mock pity as he turned away and walked back into the chamber, too happy at the fact that with his brothers gone from the palace, he could do as he pleased as he was the eldest prince with Alden and Lucian absent.

Without Alden, there was no one to bark orders at him and treat him like he was a lad instead of a man. He hoped that those two would die on the battlefield; only their death could bring him success. He would be able to have Selene along with the wife he was to marry after the war. Lately, he had been dreaming constantly about Selene and her beautiful body. He had been longing for her so badly he wanted to jump at her at any given opportunity, but he had to remind himself every time to calm down and wait until he was Emperor.

He needed to teach her many lessons for the kicks she had given him. She was going to be his sex slave and crawl at his feet every day and night. He would make her beg and cry for the life he had wanted to give her, but she had senselessly refused and disgraced him time and again.

Caelan walked out of his chamber in a happy mood to pay his mother a visit, but he happened to see Orion walking back toward his room after returning from bidding farewell to their so-called brothers, whom Caelan hoped would die in the war and never return. As Orion’s chamber balcony wasn’t facing the front where the soldiers were marching off earlier, he had gone outside to bid them farewell.

Leaning against the wall, Caelan called his younger brother, "Orion, my dear little brother."

Orion, who would have been happy to go with his brothers to the war and was sulking after the announcement this morning that he and Caelan wouldn’t be going, was startled at the sound of his voice as he wasn’t expecting anyone to be standing in the hallway of their chambers. Orion’s blue eyes didn’t hide his nervousness when he noticed Caelan leaning casually against the wall.

When Caelan beckoned him forward, he was tempted to ignore him and walk to his own chamber, but he knew better than to do that with Alden and Lucian now absent. With those two gone, he was at the mercy of his cruel second elder brother, who was a big bully and would not fail to make him pay for all the disrespectful remarks he had made in the past days in Alden’s presence.

He walked meekly toward Caelan and tried not to glare at him. "You called?" Orion asked.

Caelan smirked as he regarded his younger brother in dark amusement. "You and I have a lot of brotherly bonds to mend. Don’t you think?" He arched a brow as he wrapped his arm roughly around Orion’s shoulder and unkindly pulled him along down the corridors as he leaned sideways to whisper into his ear. ""How about we start with you cleaning my chamber today?" He grinned wickedly as Orion grumbled.

"I am not your manservant."

Slapping the back of his head—not lightly—Caelan smirked. "You will be from now on, little brother. This is your punishment for always siding with a loser like the cursed prince."

---

Back in the doomed palace, Ave didn’t wake up until it was almost afternoon, when the soldiers were long gone. She stirred in her sleep before her eyes slowly began to open, but once they opened, she shot out of bed and sat up, startled and scared out of her wits at the terrible memories of blood and bodies lying before her feet that swirled in her head.

Her heart throbbed fiercely against her chest as she felt her stomach tighten into a knot at the thought that she had killed a life. But those terrible images were replaced by another terrifying one in her mind.

She panickingly jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room, yelling Lucian’s name as she ran down the hallways leading to his chambers. Her mind wasn’t working properly, and she wasn’t even thinking of anything at this point but Lucian; she wanted to make certain he was fine and that whatever image she had seen in her head wasn’t real. She wanted to believe she hadn’t killed him or anyone and that it was a terrible nightmare that only seemed real.

She was shaking all over as she ran toward his chamber, calling his name, that she didn’t realize Lydia and Zane were running after her after she had run past them outside her room, where they were both contemplating whether to wake her or allow her to sleep more, until they caught up to her and Zane pulled her hand, which she tried to jerk away while saying, "I need to see Lucian! Let go of my hand!" She cried as she looked toward his chamber.

"My lady, please calm down. You—"

"I SAID LET GO OF MY HAND!!" She yelled furiously when he didn’t listen to her. She was scared and panicked sick. She was terrified that something had happened to Lucian; she had dreamt of it, she had seen him fall dead before her after she had killed all those men. She needed to see him first before she could calm down and allow her mind to process any thoughts.

"LUCIAN!" She called out his name as she looked toward his chamber, expecting him to come out and tell his friend to let go of her hand before she’d knock him unconscious. She gritted her teeth when there was no response and glared savagely at Zane; she would have knocked him unconscious if Zane hadn’t decided to break the news to her then.

"His Highness left for the war this morning! He is not here at the moment," he yelled out so his words could sink into her head and quiet her down, as her loud voice was drawing the attention of the other maids and the guards peeking through the entrance door to see what was going on. Not to mention, she wasn’t dressed properly to be standing out here; she was wearing only her chemise.

At first, Ave didn’t hear what he said, as she was too emotional to listen to him, but slowly it sank in and she immediately stopped struggling to yank her hand away from his grip. Everything began to return to her slowly.

She remembered their outing yesterday and how she had wanted to make it one of the best experiences for him as he would be going away today. She recalled how he had tricked her into marrying him and his love confession, but whatever happened afterward was a blur in her mind; she knew something had happened, but now that she tried to think about it, nothing came to her mind.

She had woken up shaken by a nightmare of killing people and Lucian dying in front of her, but whatever had happened after they left Lucian’s mother’s grave yesterday wasn’t clear in her mind. But the thought that Lucian had left for that dangerous war without her waking up to bid him farewell, even though she had mixed feelings about his confession last night, made her heart twist into an unbearable knot that made her clutch her chest as she sank to the floor and crouched down.

"He left and I didn’t even get to see him off..." she muttered as her vision blurred with tears and her throat burned with emotions she couldn’t pinpoint. Why was she feeling this way toward him? Shouldn’t she be happy that he was away and that by the time he returned, she would have gotten over whatever feelings she had for him in this body? She should be happy that she wouldn’t get to see his face, but she wasn’t—she was sad and depressingly hurting...

Ave glanced down at her wrist where he had given her his mother’s purple bracelet and where the cut of their "marriage" bond was still there, and she broke down in tears, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably as she bit down hard on her bottom lip to hold back her painful sobs.

"My lady..." Lydia came to crouch down beside her, crying as well as she patted Ave’s shoulders. Seeking someone’s comforting hold, Ave fell into Lydia’s arms and began to cry her heart out on the girl’s shoulder. "I shouldn’t care about that jerk, but I can’t help it... I will miss him..." She sobbed loudly, not caring about her image and the servants gathering in the halls watching her and whispering among themselves.

Zane glanced around helplessly as he didn’t know what to do to make the two stop crying, at least not where everyone was staring. He had given Lucian his word to take care of her in his absence and not allow her to get into trouble; he had promised to be her protector in the prince’s absence, but now, as he watched, he was at a loss for words or what to do.

Deciding that perhaps Lucian’s letter, which he had given him to hand over to the lady when she regained consciousness, was going to help, Zane retrieved it from his pocket and dropped it on her lap. "Stop crying, My Lady, His Highness left that letter for you."

His words worked like magic, and she hurriedly pushed away from the crying Lydia and grabbed the letter to read. She was going to open the letter when she realized the servants, who were standing at a distance, were now boldly moving closer as if to risk their lives to get a glimpse of what was in the letter. She glared at them and clutched it to her chest as she hurried back to her room to read it, as she had a feeling it was going to be something private.