Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 45: Why didn’t you tell the others?

Chapter 45: Why didn’t you tell the others?

After the Empress left the dining hall, dragging her son away so he wouldn’t have time to indulge with Selene and end up ruining her plans to get the girl to focus on making Lucian trust her again, Ave was left with the three princesses and the fourth prince in the dining hall.

"We are not only going to be taught a dance by a lowly slave, but we also have to go to the doomed palace of the second prince to learn the dance? Is Her Majesty trying to kill us or ruin our reputation?" remarked Celeste in distress, looking every bit terrified at the thought of going to the second prince’s palace where she had never set foot.

"My skin will not be able to stand any harsh or cursed atmosphere," Isolde cried out in distress as well. "Mother has told us that Selene is going mad, and we must not be around her. She’s a lowly slave and a disgraceful wench. How will I learn a dance from her?"

Ave, who had been sitting quietly in the dining hall after the announcement of her teaching these spoiled brats a dance she’d never heard of, raised a brow. "Ahem, princess, I am sitting right here. Watch your mouth if you don’t want to kiss the floor," Ave warned with a tight smile. She also didn’t want to be around them as much as they didn’t want to be around her. What was that tyrant Empress thinking, setting her up like this?

Isolde huffed smugly, but a hint of tears could be seen in her light blue eyes as she was genuinely terrified of being in the doomed palace. "I know you’re sitting there, that’s why I’m speaking. You’re a lowly slave who doesn’t even deserve to be sitting here with us. I don’t want to learn anything from you," she said, beckoning her maid forward to fan her face as she could already feel her eyes filling up with tears and fear.

Before Ave could retort, the elder princess spoke reassuringly, "Calm down, Isolde. Her Majesty wants to give Father a big surprise, and Selene is the right person to teach us the dance. Haven’t you and Celeste always wanted to show your grace and beauty? This is going to be the opportunity to shine at Father’s birthday. There will be many princes from various kingdoms who will watch you perform on that day. Your beauty is all they will see."

The twins’ eyes glimmered at the mention of having the spotlight and being seen by various handsome princes. Celeste’s face turned dreamy for just a moment before she composed herself and cleared her throat. "I shall learn the dance then," she declared, standing up from her seat and trotting to the dining exit. "I will see you all tomorrow."

Isolde quickly followed behind her sister, saying, "If Celeste is willing to learn, then I shall too." But before she could walk past their elder brother Orion, she pulled his hand along with her and said as they exited the hall, "You will come with us tomorrow to protect us from the Cursed Prince and his palace."

After their footsteps and voices died down in the hall, Ave, who had been observing the sisters and how quickly they changed their minds about learning the dance, turned to look at Princess Thalia. "You keep amusing me with your ways of getting people to do things," she muttered.

Thalia smiled, a smile that reached her eyes and made her gray eyes shimmer. "When it comes to my twin sisters, it’s always easy to convince them," she said. "And besides, I’ve always wanted to step out of these palace walls for a very long time and try something new, and this seems to be a great opportunity for me to venture into my second older brother’s domain."

Ave noted that the princess addressed Lucian as her brother when the rest had been addressing him as the Cursed Prince, especially those twins. "Are you close to Lucian?" she asked before she could rephrase the way she addressed him.

Thalia quickly shook her head as she waved her hands. "No, we’ve never been close. He’s never given me the chance to be a sister to him, you know. He’s always had a look on his face that’s unapproachable and scary."

Ave gave the princess a knowing look. "You mean he’s always grumpy and blank. I get it." Whenever she saw his face, it startled her as well, and she often wondered what he’d look like with a smile on that hardened face. It was like a smile had never graced his sinfully handsome face.

"Grumpy?" Thalia asked with curiosity. "That’s a strange word," she muttered, finding it amusing that Selene had been using many words she’d never heard before.

Ave smiled and corrected herself in terms the young lady would understand, as it seemed many words from the modern world hadn’t been discovered in this time. "I mean irritable."

"Oh, irritable." She chuckled softly. "He’s always been like that ever since I’ve known him. I have never seen him smile or laugh." Her smiling face fell as she looked into the distance. "Sometimes I wish he could be welcomed into the main palace and treated like the rest of us, but he’s put a huge wall around his heart, where he seems to take every one of us as his enemy and won’t hesitate to kill his own brothers if he senses any hint of threat."

From the way the princess spoke and her expression, Ave could tell she meant well for Lucian. From the short time Ave had gotten to know him, she could tell he had no sibling bond with the others. She had thought it was because they didn’t care about him, but it seemed not all of them were uncaring. If he would only give them a chance and open his heart to those who wanted to care for him, he wouldn’t have developed a dark heart that would make him want to take the throne for all the wrong reasons, like the shadow woman had said.

Though Ave herself had never known what it was like to feel the love of a family, she had always secretly wished they cared—even if just one of them. She had lived in a house where she was treated worse than a servant was supposed to be treated.

Her upbringing had made her indifferent to anything that had to do with love or bonds. She had never known the feeling of being loved by one’s family or anybody—not even friends. But hearing the longing in the princess’s voice and words, she felt like she could do something to bring the siblings together. Perhaps having them practice in the second prince’s palace might be a great way of achieving that.

Earlier, Prince Orion had looked ready to stand up for Lucian as well when he thought she had disrespected him. Having them in the palace perhaps wasn’t all too bad, and as for those twins, she’d have to make them come around as well.

After Ave exchanged goodnight with the princess, who looked all too excited about learning the dance, she made her way towards the late third consort’s quarters, looking deep in thought.

Now that she was supposed to teach them the dance, and they believed Selene was an expert in it, wouldn’t it be suspicious if she went around asking how to dance it?

In all her life, she had never heard of a dance called the Butterfly Dance, not to mention knowing how to perform it. Was she supposed to flap her hands like a butterfly or wear fake wings and ridiculously move around mimicking a flying gesture?

If it were any other dance, she was an expert in all those TikTok dance challenges, or so she thought. If only the Empress hadn’t given a specific dance name, she could have picked one of her TikTok favorites and taught the princesses, then made history as the first person ever to invent the dance. But then...

Wait a minute!

She could really pick her favorite TikTok dance and teach the princesses with the excuse of doing something new, since the Empress had said Selene danced the Butterfly Dance every year! She could simply say she wanted to give the Emperor another surprise. But then, which of the dances would she pick?

Perhaps she should pick—

"Ouch!" Her thoughts were cut short as she collided with someone along the long, dim corridor leading to the quarters she was heading to. The impact was so hard, as the person looked to be in a hurry, that she stumbled backward and quickly steadied herself before she could fall on her butt.

Her chest had hit the person’s in a way that made her feel pain. Placing her hand on her chest, she looked up, ready to scold whoever it was, when she saw that it was none other than Lucian. He looked to be in such a hurry that he didn’t even wait to say anything to her and was turning to continue walking away, but she impulsively reached out and grabbed the side of his shirt.

"Wait," she said, and his feet automatically came to a stop. He turned his head to the side and glanced at her hand holding his shirt, and Ave immediately released him and walked to stand in front of him.

He raised a brow at her impatiently. "What do you want?" His voice was low and deep, sending a thrilling shiver down her spine and making her heart momentarily skip a beat.

Ave didn’t know why she was nervous standing this close to him where she could perceive his intoxicating scent that had almost made her lose her mind the last time and even relax in his embrace. He had a scent she’d never perceived before, a masculine and unique scent that made her feel dizzy and lightheaded whenever she was close to him.

Ave had to clear her throat to get the fog out of her voice before she could speak. "Why didn’t you tell the others about me?"

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