Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 48: Terrible experience

Chapter 48: Terrible experience

It was almost midnight, and while many of the royal family had retired to their chambers, with the maids now moving around turning off each of the lamps in the halls and chandeliers, someone wandered aimlessly around the corridors in panic and fear of what was going on.

She glanced down at her hands and saw that they were transparent like that of a ghost, and she was wearing a red modern dress, a dress she remembered clearly as she’d worn it the day she was supposed to be given the award.

Ave could feel her breathing coming out in rasps as she moved around the dim corridors, passing by the few servants turning off the lamps and chandeliers without being seen, despite the fact that she was walking in front of them. Was she dreaming? How was she walking around like a ghost in the ancient era while wearing a modern dress?

She recognized the main palace, and she started to run around. Any candles she ran past would flicker. Ave didn’t like that she was being played with in this era. First, she had transmigrated into the body of the cursed prince’s wife, and now she was invisible in her original body. What the hell was going on?

She ran back down the corridor to the room where she had slept with Lucian, and to her horror, she could not hold the doorknob. Instead, her body passed through it, just like that of a ghost. She walked towards the bed slowly, and a startled gasp left her lips when she saw Selene lying there on the bed close to Lucian, who had now turned towards her in his sleep, his right hand laying close to her face.

What was the meaning of this? How was she standing here while Selene was there? This couldn’t be real, could it? She thought as she walked up to Selene, who lay there as if she were dead. Ave would rather be in Selene’s body than be a ghost, an invisible bystander, so she moved to touch Selene, only to get burned.

She quickly retrieved her hand with a gasp, and it almost felt like Lucian heard her gasp. He stirred in his sleep but didn’t wake up.

Ave could feel the panic rising in her heart at the thought that she would now live in this era as a ghost. She didn’t want it. She moved around the room for some minutes before she made her way out again, not even sure what she was doing.

Ave walked down the quiet corridors aimlessly until she caught sight of a cloaked person holding a lamp and hurrying down the halls. Since she didn’t know what she was doing, she simply followed the person to see where they were going and who it was at this time of night.

She followed the person to what seemed to be a library, with high racks that reached the ceilings and were filled with books. The person walked around a few racks before he came to a stop, where someone else was seated at a desk facing a glass window that overlooked the palace grounds and the starry night, sipping tea in an elegant way Ave recognized all too well as the Empress.

What was she doing here at this time of night when everyone was already asleep? Ave thought, a frown settling on her forehead.

"Are you still having one of your sleepless nights?" the cloaked person asked as he dropped his lamp on the table and sat down opposite her.

The Empress gently nodded her head and glanced towards the person with a faint bitter smile. "Isn’t it ironic that I made the Emperor kill every witch on earth to find just one particular one that would help me cure my insomnia and grant me the powers I longed for, but no matter what I do, I never succeeded and only end up being the one to suffer every night with the thoughts of what if I never achieve my goals."

"You are overthinking it again, Elara," the person said. "Your hard work shall not go in vain when you have our backing. Caelan will sit on the throne next, and our kind will rule the world soon enough. If only we could find the witch with the Rosa powers, we would have the world dancing at our feet, including the Emperor."

Ave stood there listening with a deep frown on her face. What was this Empress up to now? She didn’t only want to rule the Empire but the world. What wishful thinking.

"The witch with the Rosa powers is something even we are not sure of, so we shouldn’t rely on finding it when there is no trace of who might possess the powers," the Empress said, her head now turned towards the window as she gazed at the bats flying overhead the palace. "We should focus on making Caelan the next Emperor. Once he becomes Emperor, it will be easier for us."

"Then what are you doing to make him the next Emperor? Time is running out, and you haven’t killed the two princes who might stand in our way in the future," the person said, tapping his darkened fingers, which Ave just noticed now, on the table. Even his face was dark under the cloak over his head.

"I do intend to kill them both, but you know good things don’t happen quickly. The first prince is under my control. He does almost everything I tell him to do after I made him believe Lyria was behind his mother’s death. While the second prince..." She trailed off as her eyes hardened. "He is a hard nut to crack. Every assassination attempt on him fails, and the poisons don’t seem to be doing anything—"

"Impossible. The poison I gave you last time is made from serpent venom. It will kill anything that moves. Has the girl fed it to him?" the man asked, displeased.

"She hasn’t. Selene is having a hard time after what happened at that inn; she needs to win his trust and heart again, which I’m allowing her. If she fails us again, I won’t hesitate to kill her."

Ave felt a shiver run down her spine. It seemed everything about this Empress in history wasn’t a lie. She was indeed a cold-hearted witch who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anybody to get what she wanted.

"However, before she can succeed in gaining his trust, I have found another way to prompt the Emperor to execute the second prince. I’ve heard some whispers that he is secretly planning treason," she said. "If I can prove to the Emperor and the officials that he is a traitor, everything will go well. So I gave her the task of teaching the Princesses the butterfly dance in the second prince’s palace while I send the other girl to spy on Lucian and get her hands on any useful documents."

The other girl? Ave thought, who could that be?

"If we succeed, we won’t be needing Selene anymore. I will kill her myself," said the man with a small chuckle, but as if sensing her there, his chuckle ceased, and his head snapped towards her. A gasp of horror escaped Ave’s lips as she saw his invincible face under the cloak. He had no face but two gleaming red eyes staring right at her.

The man stood up and began to approach her with his red eyes locked on her. Ave began to back away. And before she could make a run for it, she felt an invisible force pulling her away with a familiar voice calling for her to wake up.

"Wake up, it’s just a nightmare," said the deep voice. "You’re having a nightmare; open your eyes."

Ave’s eyes snapped open and were met with golden, burning eyes that gleamed beneath dark lashes, a blend of fire and warmth that flickered like sunlight through autumn leaves. He was gazing down at her with slight concern on his face.

Ave’s heart was beating so hard she could hear it in her ears. She stared at Lucian’s face leaning down towards her, and to make sure he was real and that she wasn’t a ghost, she reached her hands up and cupped his face in both her palms. She beamed widely when she realized her hands didn’t pass through his face. It had been a nightmare after all.

Ave felt reassured by the thought that her experience a moment ago was just a nightmare. As she gazed up at the man hovering over her on the bed with his brows drawn together in what seemed to be concern and confusion, she felt herself being pulled back into a slumber she couldn’t resist.

She yawned and then muttered as she retrieved her hands from his face, "I want to sleep now. I’ve been running around all night..." Then she closed her eyes.

Lucian didn’t know if he should sigh in relief or strangle her for startling him out of his peaceful sleep with her muffled cries a while ago, only to go back to sleep. He had been sleeping when he felt her hand grab his and then heard her cries. When he opened his eyes, he’d found her turning her head from side to side as if trying to wake up from a nightmare.

Lucian had quickly sat up without thinking and reached out to her. He had shaken her shoulders repeatedly while assuring her that what she was experiencing was a nightmare. It had taken a few minutes before her eyes snapped open, and she gazed at him with confusion before she reached out to touch his face.