Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 202: The exacution center

Chapter 202: The exacution center

After her bath, Ave went to the dining hall where the long table was filled with different kinds of dishes; everything she liked to eat since she’d come to this era was there. Though due to her worries about the execution, the food didn’t entice her like it usually did before. She was a foodie, but lately, she had been neglecting her mealtimes.

However, recalling what Zane told her Lucian had said, she sighed and sat down at the table. She called Lydia, who came over to pour her tea, to join her, and the girl gladly did without hesitation as it had become a habit for Ave to call her for meals. She sat opposite her and began to serve herself, while passing some to Ave with a smile on her face—a smile that looked so much like her mother’s, Juliet, who had served Anne before they were killed.

No wonder she had liked Lydia immediately when they met. "Are you coming to the execution ceremony as well, Lydia?" Ave asked as she began to eat for Lucian’s sake, not because she felt like eating anything here.

Lydia shook her head, "No, Milady. I cannot come, remember? I have to stay away from the Empress as she seemed to believe I have been killed by the poison," she reminded her mistress of the reasons she couldn’t dare step into the main palace nor witness this year’s witch execution ceremony—not that there was anything for her to even miss when it was always hard for her to watch people getting beheaded.

"Oh, that’s right. You can’t come. Lucky you," Ave muttered with a sigh as she wasn’t looking forward to going either. She ate quickly without tasting, as she was too tense to enjoy what she was eating; however, she made sure to eat a lot before she got up and rubbed her bloated stomach before she walked out to meet Zane, who she found standing beside a brown carriage parked outside.

Ave rode in the carriage while Zane on his horse followed behind. To her surprise, they didn’t go to the main palace. The coachman rode out of the gates, and she peeked out the window to ask Zane, who was riding on his horse beside the window, "Where are we going?"

He turned his head to her and answered, "To the execution center in the town square, Milady. This year, after all the desertions happening, His Majesty decided this morning for the execution to take place in town where everyone, including the commoners, would witness it," he explained to her.

Ave nodded in understanding as she settled back properly in her seat. She had thought all this while that the execution was going to take place on the palace grounds, but it turned out it was outside. However, it wasn’t far from the palace walls, as they reached there within a few minutes of leaving the gates. They arrived at a place. Even from the distance, Ave could already see the many people gathering in the town square, with many nobles’ and royals’ carriages parking on one side.

When their carriage came to a stop, she took a deep breath and stepped down the carriage steps. Looking around, she saw how the crowd gathered around a platform she knew without a doubt that it would be where the witches would be beheaded. Without dwelling on it, she proceeded toward where the nobles and royals were walking on Zane’s signal. He didn’t follow her and stopped behind where the commoners were.

There was a two-story building at the side of the clearing where the commoners were, and as Ave looked up, she caught sight of the Emperor and the Empress, along with the fourth consort, on the first-floor balcony, where Orion and Caelan also sat to the side. On the second-floor balcony, the Pendragon princesses and other guests were seated, and she decided to walk up to join them and sit by their side.

She was walking up the stairs that were in shadows when she heard the approaching footsteps of another person descending the stairs. Even before she looked up, she knew who it was, and a small smile tugged at the side of her lips as she looked up and saw it was indeed her husband.

He was coming down with two guards following behind him, and when he looked at her, his face showed no emotions and was cold, but his amber eyes held a faint warmth that she didn’t miss, and that made her heart miss a beat. She had come to realize that he only ignored her in public for her own good, and though it always pricked at her when he did that, it didn’t this time.

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever but was just a few seconds, and in those few seconds, she realized he didn’t look any better from how he looked last night; instead, he looked more tired and worn out than he had been yesterday when he returned. His black hair seemed like he had run his fingers into it to get it into that disheveled state it currently was, and the obvious dark circles around his eyes made her wish she could grab him right now and take him back home to get some rest. They were working him out, and she didn’t like that!

"Your Highness?" one of the guards by his left called as he noticed him momentarily pause at the stairs. They were in a hurry as the witches were already being dragged here, and he needed to be down there to inspect the process.

Lucian’s jaw momentarily clenched in annoyance as the guard urged him to go down. He could strangle the fool at this moment for breaking his concentration from his wife, who he noticed looked tense and appealing as she stared up at him from there. He wouldn’t have brought her here if he wasn’t afraid that someone would notice she didn’t come and begin to point accusing fingers at her when everyone was already suspecting each other to be witches after the disappearance of the few guests.

He couldn’t believe that at a time where his Ave had accepted him as her husband and seemed to care for him as much as he did for her, he couldn’t be with her for long. If only that fool of an elder brother of his didn’t get himself into a witch trap, all the work would have been less for him. And if only Caelan was any useful as a prince.

Sighing silently, he broke their eye contact and turned to glare at the guard who was looking at him impatiently and reminding him to hurry.

"Your Highness—"

"If another word comes out of that damn mouth of yours, I will throw you down the balcony and break your useless neck." Lucian warned through clenched teeth as he glared murderously at the annoying guard who shuddered and stepped back before bowing his head.

Ave bite back a small smile and proceeded in going up as she realized they were in a hurry, and he proceeded in coming down. When they reached the same level on the stairs, his right hand shot to her side and grabbed her wrist. His fingers traced gently from her wrist to her palm for just a fleeting moment, where he rubbed her palm and sent electric waves pouring into her veins and heart, and it was when he walked down that she realized he had placed a paper in her hand. She frowned as she turned to look at his retreating back, where he didn’t turn to look at her and disappeared around the corner before she looked down at the small paper he had squeezed into her palm.

She unfolded it and read through the few lines written down on it. A smile graced her lips as she read the note. [Good morning, love. I’m sorry I left before you woke up. Stay where I can see you from below the execution center. And one more thing, smile.]

She smiled as she shook her head in disbelief; she couldn’t believe when he’d written this. Did he know that they would come across each other on the stairs? She wondered as she squeezed the paper in her palm and tucked it into the small front pocket in her dress. She was still smiling faintly when she reached where she noticed the Pendragon Princesses and a few other Princesses from the guests were seated on the balcony of the second floor.

When she walked up to them, they all turned their heads to look at her. The guest royals looked displeased at her presence and stared at her in disdain.

"What are you doing here? You should be down there with the commoners," sneered one of the princesses, whom Ave recognized as Madeline’s friend, Senna.

The twin Princesses, who were smiling at the sight of her, turned to glare at Senna. "And who are you to tell her where to be?" demanded Celeste as she made space for Ave to come and sit down between her and her twin.

Senna glared at the twins. "If Princess Madeline was here, you wouldn’t have had the guts to talk to me like that, Princess Celeste, and neither would this lowly life whore come here to sit with us. My best friend is gone..." She broke out into sobs as she leaned against her friend and dabbed at her dry eyes. "She was such a sweet person. She has never hated anyone before; who could have taken her away in the middle of the night in the palace? Only a witch could do that..." she cried as she glared at Ave and the Pendragon Princesses before she turned to her friends who were also forcing fake tears.

"May the heavens let this witch be caught for taking away our lovely friend."

"I think everyone was right when they said the Pendragon Palace is cursed. First, it was Prince Lance and the ambassador, and now it’s our beautiful Madeline and a worthless head maid," said Senna as she buried her face in her handkerchief.

Ave, who was already feeling guilty about taking Madeline’s life, felt a prick in her heart. She was that witch who had killed her. Deciding to ignore the fake cries of the princesses, who were always found with Madeline, she went to sit down where Celeste patted.

When she sat down on the chair, she was able to see the scene below and also caught sight of Lucian ordering men to set the platform.

"Selene," Isolde called her name as she leaned down, and when Ave looked away from Lucian to glance at her, the girl asked curiously, "When did you leave the palace yesterday, when we met?"

Ave didn’t know why she asked that question, but it made her a bit uneasy. Still, she masked it and answered in a calm voice. "Immediately after we finished speaking in the hallway. Why do you ask?"

Isolde pursed her lips as she shrugged. "Because I overheard Catherine with Prince Aaron yesterday when I was on my way from Mother’s quarters to my chamber. She was telling him something about you sneaking into the inner palace and hearing Princess Madeline’s voice. I don’t know, but I immediately thought she was lying and trying to get you into trouble, right?"

Ave swallowed hard as she managed a smile and nodded. "Right. I left the palace after we met," she lied, watching as Isolde looked relieved for some reason before saying, "Thank goodness Catherine has gone missing; she would have lied to Lord Edward when he was questioning all the guests about their whereabouts and who saw Princess Madeline last. That lowly slave."

Celeste turned to ask Ave, "Do you know what they said happened to Princess Madeline and Catherine?"

Yeah, I killed Madeline, Ave thought, but then she shook her head. "No. What happened to them?" She’d heard from Zane that Catherine was missing as well, but she had no idea what had happened to that annoying bitch.

"I knew you wouldn’t have heard about it since you weren’t in the main palace this morning. It was said that a witch snuck into the palace at night and stole her away from her chambers. You know the full moon is approaching, and all sorts of things happen on that night. Princess Madeline must have been taken by a witch for sacrifice. The Banzai Kingdom is demanding their daughter back, or they will cut all ties with Pendragon, and Father is so upset about that news."

Ave felt her throat go dry as she listened to everything Isolde and Celeste were saying, and the more she listened, the more tense she became at the fact that they wouldn’t spare her if they knew what she’d done. Not comfortable with this topic, Ave quickly changed it when Celeste was silent for a moment.

"Where is Thalia?" she asked, as she couldn’t find the girl around.

It was Isolde, who had been listening, who answered. "She’s back in the main palace attending to Brother Alden. Sister Thalia is worried about his condition and asked to stay with him in case he comes around. She has been with Brother Alden since last night and even refused to leave him this morning, thus Father permitted her to stay and take care of him." She sighed. "It’s really sad to see him in such a condition, I wish something could be done to heal him..."

Ave could only imagine how Thalia must be feeling at this point when the brother she cares so much about was in such a condition.