Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 62: Unhealed wound

Chapter 62: Unhealed wound

Ave shook her head as she couldn’t believe Selene could even allow such girls to bully her. However, she smiled and didn’t say anything, giving everyone a break time as the servants brought in their lunch.

The girls demanded to sit in the dining hall, but Ave convinced them to sit here on the floor and eat, as the hall was brighter with all the windows opened.

The twins sat together while Ave and Thalia also sat on one side. As they ate, the Princess said, "I have never sat on the floor in all of my life, nor have I ever learned a dance like this before. But, thanks to you, I am experiencing what to me is the best days of my entire life." She smiled softly. She’d grown up being raised by her brother, who also thought everything was dangerous and that she had to remain in the palace to be safe.

She wasn’t allowed to dream of anything other than a royal lifestyle where even the man she’d marry would have to agree to stay in the Pendragon royal palace. The man had to be a prince, which was impossible since a prince wouldn’t leave his kingdom to stay in another just for a wife. Those were her brother’s conditions for marrying her off, which was why she had passed the age of marriage and was now twenty without a husband.

Many were married at the age of sixteen and even fifteen, but because of her brother, she had reached the age of a spinster. Thalia never really wanted the life he’d painted for her, but she’d never had the courage to go against him, nor did she want to break his heart.

Ave noticed the lost look on the Princess’s face and spoke, "The best day of your entire life?" She muttered, "Then before this, what else do you do in the main palace?" She couldn’t imagine living such a boring life to the point where learning a dance and sitting on the floor would be considered one of her greatest moments.

"I read all day long whenever my brother is not around. As you noticed the last time, he is against me reading and becoming... what did you call it again the last time?" She said, tapping her chin to recall the word Ave had used.

"Hopeless romantic?" Ave provided with a small chuckle as the Princess’s eyes grew wide.

"Yes, that. He doesn’t want me to have any illusions of marrying someone outside our circle nor make friends who would have any negative influence on me. My greatest dream is to experience a love story like those in the novels I read, but I could only imagine those in my dreams."

Ave couldn’t help but scoff. "And why do you have to do everything your brother says? It’s not like he would be the one to live your life for you. If you want to experience romance and new things, go for it," Ave said, as she could never imagine herself living the life someone else wanted for her.

Thalia’s expression softened as she looked down, a wistful smile playing on her lips. "You see, Selene, when you care deeply for someone, their happiness becomes your own. My brother may seem strict, but I know he only wants the best for me. He fears that the world beyond these walls could bring more harm than good, especially since we lost our mother at a very young age. I do wish to experience love, but perhaps it’s safer to keep my heart where it won’t be broken."

She glanced at Ave, her eyes reflecting a quiet longing. "But... I believe that love isn’t just about following your heart blindly. It’s about understanding and caring for someone enough to protect them, even if it means making sacrifices. That’s why I don’t mind listening to him. Maybe one day, someone will come along who sees past all these walls and makes me believe in something more."

Ave could never relate to that, as she’d never loved any of her family members enough to make that kind of sacrifice. She didn’t think she’d ever love someone enough to make any sacrifice or give up her own life and dreams for that person. She could never even imagine giving up her modern life for this one for anybody else. Never.

Looking at Thalia, she couldn’t help but feel pity for the poor girl who was just twenty but was told all the time that she was old and couldn’t do as she pleased. However, from what she’d noticed, the girl was a romantic, and if she could give her some advice on how to make someone fall for her quickly, that would make Ave’s quest easier with Lucian while also helping the girl break away from the clutches holding her back from doing what she wanted.

Clearing her throat, Ave said, "You seem to be a bookworm. I’d like if you’d help me with something for the few days we have to finish learning this dance, and I will also help you experience more fun than you’d ever imagined. I heard princesses aren’t allowed to ride horses. I can teach you, and I heard you guys weren’t allowed outside the palace walls. We can go on a tour someday in the town." Ave tried to negotiate, making Thalia’s eyes widen.

"Really?" She asked with a smile, but then, realizing that would put them into trouble, she said, "We can do everything else but go outside the palace walls. We are not allowed. There are so many dangers lying outside. I don’t want to go."

"What kind of danger?" Ave asked curiously, and Princess Thalia told her.

When the second prince was born and rumored to be cursed, the people of Pendragon requested his execution, but when the Emperor did not listen and made Lucian a soldier instead, they began to blame him for all their misfortunes.

With the commoners in the Pendragon Empire blaming the royal family for their misfortunes, going out was not something any of the royal women would want to do. The Emperor had forbidden his daughters from doing so after a royal carriage from the palace was attacked a few years ago, resulting in the deaths of two maids.

Ave listened to all of this and felt sickened. "Why would they blame an innocent child for their own misfortune and even want him dead? That makes no sense at all."

"Well, you see, it was said that the day Brother Lucian was born, it rained so heavily that the entire town and villages were flooded, and many lives were lost. After hearing that a prince with The Devil tarot card was born and had eyes like flames, all the blame fell on him. A lot of families who had lost their loved ones wanted him killed for justice."

Ave fell silent for a moment, as she couldn’t believe people would be cruel enough to blame a child for their own misfortune. No wonder Lucian wasn’t liked by many of his family. It seemed she had a lot yet to learn about Lucian, and the thought that he’d had to go through all of this made her feel angry for some reason.

However, she pushed her emotions aside for now. She would have told the Princess that it wasn’t a good enough reason to stop the princesses from going out. She would have convinced Thalia if she had seen the town with her own eyes and seen its people who had blamed Lucian, to confirm there was nothing to be afraid of. But then, she hadn’t gone on a tour yet and had only seen the market once when she was invisible and had followed the real Selene to that inn, where remembering what she’d gone there to do disgusted her every time.

"Alright, we will ride the horses one of these days in this palace. But first, I need you to lend me some of those romantic novels you read. I need to learn more about love and romance and perhaps even pass the time."

Thalia’s eyes widened in excitement as there was no greater joy for a romance book lover than to finally find someone who wanted to read her favorite books. She’d always wished she had a friend to talk about the great books she’d read, but her sisters were not as interested in novels as she was. Thus, she was quick to nod her head.

"I will bring them tomorrow and also help you with whatever you need my help with."

Ave clapped in excitement and held out her hand to the princess for a handshake to close their deal, and the princess, who was taught that women do not shake hands, hesitated for a moment before she held Ave’s hand.

"Deal!" Ave said.

"Deal!" Thalia laughed.

Soon they finished their practice for the day, and just like the other day, Ave and Lydia walked them to their carriage and waved them goodbye. She stood there until their carriage disappeared through the gates. However, before the gates could close this time, another carriage rolled in and stopped not too far from where Ave stood.

Ave watched in curiosity as a middle-aged man with a brown box in hand stepped out of the carriage. Even before his legs could touch the ground, Zane hurried out of nowhere, grabbed his arm, and ushered him into the palace in a hurry before Ave could ask who that was.

"What is a physician doing here at the Doomed Palace?" Lydia muttered softly, but Ave heard her and turned to the girl.

"That man is a physician?" she asked as she silently wondered why a physician was here when no one was sick. And then it hit her. Lucian. Last night she’d stabbed him.

"Yes, he is a physician, but not a royal physician, as royal physicians wear golden robes while this one wore the plain brown ones," Lydia provided as they both watched the man and Zane hurry away into the palace and disappear from their view. "I have never seen any physician visit the Doomed Palace before."

That made Ave worried. Could it be that she’d really stabbed him so deep the wound wasn’t healing like the first time? Or had he caught some infection?

As Ave stood outside with Lydia worrying, inside the second prince’s chamber where the physician and Zane had arrived, another form of tension was in the chamber. The prince was in a terrible mood that made the air so suffocating that the physician shook all over as he tried to stitch the open wound on the side of Lucian’s stomach that had turned dark and sore overnight as he’d not attended to it on time.

Lucian gritted his teeth in annoyance and pain as instead of stitching the wound properly, the man’s hands were shaking so hard he was poking the side of the wound with the needle instead, causing more pain to the prince, who wasn’t used to all this as his wounds usually healed themselves.

Unable to handle it anymore, Lucian pushed the man away from him and angrily kicked his medicine box away from his bed. "GET LOST!!" he yelled furiously, but his yelling made the wound hurt and open more, where blood began to ooze out again.

The physician fell to his knees and bowed his head while he shakily apologized, "M-my apologies, Your Highness. Please spare my life, I..."

"If you don’t get lost, I will make sure to use your head as my chamber decoration," Lucian warned in irritation.

Zane, who had been standing by the side holding the lamp for the physician to work on the wound earlier, hurriedly grabbed the man, who looked too frightened to even stand properly on his feet, and dragged him out of the room before closing the door and returning to Lucian’s side.

"Your Highness, if the wound is left untreated, it will get infected before tomorrow," Zane said with concern as he watched Lucian put his shirt back on and sit on the edge of the bed, downing a bottle of liquor as if to dull the pain.

Zane had been shocked when he was suddenly summoned after he’d thrown that Catherine out and found Lucian barely able to stand up from his bed this morning, covered in blood and sweat.

"All this wouldn’t have happened if that lousy woman hadn’t stabbed me," Lucian gritted angrily. He had been wondering for a while why his body’s healing ability seemed slower when it came to wounds that woman inflicted or touched. Today, he’d confirmed it: she could take away his pain and could also be the only one to kill him without it healing.

He’d once been stabbed by Selene with a hairpin when she panicked one day after he demanded to know why she’d changed so suddenly. Fearing he would hurt her, she stabbed his hand with the hairpin, but that wound had healed as quickly as any other.

"I think the imposter possesses powers she herself doesn’t even know about, to be able to do all this to your body," Zane remarked, as if reading Lucian’s thoughts. "And I don’t think we should let her or anyone else know about this. If she has no intention of taking your life, someone else might manipulate her into doing it. If it were up to me, I’d suggest we kill her before anybody finds out about this."

Lucian didn’t like the sound of that. Though he had lived his life fearing nothing, believing he could heal from any injuries caused by swords and arrows, now suddenly a crazy woman could take his life. He knew killing her could solve everything, but for some reason, he didn’t want that.

He hadn’t only suffered through the pain of her stab last night but also the poison’s reaction, and he wanted nothing but to kill her, but then he also didn’t want to kill her.

"We can’t kill her for now, that is why no matter what, you must never take your eyes off her. She’s a danger to my existence."

Zane nodded in understanding, but looking at the blood staining the shirt Lucian had just put on, he frowned in worry. "Should I get another physician? It’s not good to leave wounds like that untreated."

"No. I don’t need another fool to poke my wounds. I’ll be fine," Lucian said nonchalantly, but Zane doubted that as he could see how much the wound was affecting him right now.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.