Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 74: Save her

Chapter 74: Save her

Lucian wanted to clear his mind as he made his way back to his palace, so he didn’t ride his horse and walked while holding the reins in hand. When he arrived at the palace, it was already close to sunset with the sky turning orangish pink.

Though the arena was on the same grounds as the main palace and his own, the palace grounds were so large they could house a village and were surrounded by tall walls that protected them from the outside lands. Inside the palace walls, there were forests and many unused buildings with fences, while his palace was one of them, located at the far ends.

Walking all the way from the arena to his palace had helped his anger subside a bit, but it didn’t relieve the irritation eating at him from the inside. More than anything, he wished he had pulled his sword on Alden and hit Caelan’s face to wipe that mocking smirk off.

When Lucian entered his palace gates, he stopped short as his eyes fell on the royal carriage parked at the front. He recognized the carriage as one used by the princesses, whom he had told not to come today as Ave was unwell. He was already in a bad mood and wasn’t ready to get more irritated by their presence in his palace.

Handing the horse’s reins to a guard who walked up and bowed in greeting, Lucian decided to go to his chamber and get some important work done at his desk so he wouldn’t have to hear their usual loud voices whenever they came for their practice. He also didn’t want Ave coming into his room again or being anywhere near her. He didn’t want to experience the strange feeling from last night when he saw her bathing.

He didn’t want to be tempted into wanting to take a woman to bed when that was the last thing on his mind right now. Aveline was a trigger to his temptation, and he had to make sure she was kept at arm’s length until he took another wife—whom he also had no intentions of touching, as his marriage to a princess was only for the sake of gaining power.

Lucian walked into the palace, but before he even made it to his chamber, he stopped. Ever since Ave had taken over Selene’s body, he could mostly sense and feel her presence in the palace even when she wasn’t close. But at this moment, with the corridors so silent and no maids in sight, Lucian was certain she wasn’t in the building or anywhere near.

She was a loud woman, whose presence could never go unnoticed, especially when she was with the princesses.

Lucian muttered a curse and turned on his heel back outside. He was about to call for a guard when he saw Zane’s horse riding through the gates and his eyes fell on the man. Zane looked normal, as if he hadn’t been whipped, but his tattered clothes made it obvious that he had.

Zane dismounted his horse and walked up to Lucian like nothing had happened, though his clothes were covered in blood and his eyes looked a bit red, but when he spoke, his voice sounded normal. "Why do you look so mad? Is it because I’m still alive?" Zane joked when he saw the look on Lucian’s face.

"Since you still have the mouth and strength to joke, the whipping must have been light," Lucian remarked as his eyes briefly scanned Zane’s bruised body before looking back at his face.

Zane shrugged casually. "It’s not the first time I’ve been whipped by your brothers. My body’s used to it already," he said. Then, as if not wanting to talk about his punishment, he asked, "But really, why do you look so mad, Your Highness?"

"Because the wildcat has sneaked out of the palace," Lucian gritted out. He couldn’t believe she had left the palace. He beckoned a guard forward and asked if he knew where she was. The guard hesitated for a moment before telling him, causing Lucian’s eyes to harden before he began to head out.

"I’m coming with you," Zane hurried after him.

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A few hours ago, when Ave had told the princesses she had a place in mind where they could pass the time, none of them had thought she meant to take them to the flowing river where the palace servants did laundry. None of the princesses even knew of the river, as it was hidden deep in the forest part of the palace grounds.

But Ave had somehow learned about it from a maid when she came to take her used dresses for washing this morning. She’d asked the maid where they did laundry, and the maid had described the river, which Ave had been curious to see for herself.

Ave had taken Lydia and the princesses along to search for this river, which had taken them some time to find since even Lydia didn’t know where it was as her own work at the palace had nothing to do with laundry. They had walked in circles in the forest before they heard laughing voices from a certain direction and followed the sound.

The closer they got, the louder the voices, and soon they could also hear the sound of flowing water accompanied by birdsong in the distance.

When they finally arrived, Ave was surprised to see about twenty royal servants, including men, washing clothes and laughing. Some of the men were even swimming in the clean, shimmering water. But as if sensing their presence, the laughter died down, and all heads turned toward them.

The servants’ eyes widened in horror as they saw who had arrived. This place was known only to the servants, as no royal would venture into this part of the palace, despite the beauty of the river.

"Your Highnesses!" they all stood to their feet and bowed to show their respect. The ones in the river rushed out in a hurry to bow as well.

The princesses, who had never walked this much in all their lives and were sweating and exhausted, didn’t even bother to acknowledge the servants’ greetings. They each dropped down on the large rocks by the riverbank without a care in the world, causing all the servants to fall to their knees as standing over a Royal was disrespect.

"I can’t believe you made us walk all this way to this filthy place filled with lowly beings," Isolde scoffed, fanning herself in earnest with her hand fan. Though they were taught to use it elegantly, because of the heat, she was using it the wrong way for the first time. She had only come all this way because Ave hadn’t told them they were looking for a river. Ave had said they were looking for something that would surprise them.

Even when they got lost in the forest, Ave hadn’t told them and distracted them with her chatter. Now that they were here, the twins looked around, their noses scrunched at the sight of the servants bowing with their foreheads touching the ground. Some were trembling in fear, as a royal presence here could only mean one of them had committed a crime.

"I never knew a beautiful place like this existed on the palace grounds," Thalia remarked as she looked at the flowing river and listened to the birdsong. "It’s so relaxing." she closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh air around her that carried the faint scent of flowers.

Ave couldn’t agree more with Thaila. She didn’t bother trying to convince the twins to enjoy the beautiful view. Instead, she took off her shoes and walked toward one of the rocks by the riverbank. She sat down and dipped her feet into the water, feeling the coolness flowing past her bare feet.

"It’s more relaxing like this," Ave beamed. As expected, Thalia followed suit, taking off her shoes and dipping her feet into the water. The twins, hearing Thalia moan in pleasure, did the same.

"Oh my, I feel like the water will drag my feet away!" Isolde exclaimed in disbelief, having never been close to a river before.

"It feels so strange to have my feet in moving water. My heart is beating so fast," Celeste said with slight worry, feeling slightly nauseous from watching the water move over her feet and making her feel dizzy.

Ave couldn’t help but laugh at the princesses’ naivety and how much they were missing in life by following orders and living worse than prisoners. To her, who had come from the future, royal life was nothing more than a prison with privileges. Imagine never seeing anything like a river before. What would they do when they go to a modern beach?

Ave shook her head in amusement. Seeing that the servants were still bowing instead of resuming their work, Ave asked, "Why are you all still bowing? Aren’t you tired yet? Go back to your work and don’t mind our presence. We’re not here to disturb you."

The servants hurriedly stood up and resumed their work, some of them colliding with each other in their haste. This time, they worked like robots, not speaking to each other nor laughing like they had been doing before the royals arrival.

Ave doubted they would feel free with them here, so she turned to Thalia and asked, "Do you know how to swim?"

Thalia’s eyes widened. "I dare not. Royal women are not allowed to do things like swimming. It’s for commoners and men."

Ave couldn’t help but scoff at that. "And what if a situation arises where no one is around, and a royal lady falls into a river or something like that? How on earth is she going to save herself?" she asked, finding it absurd that they weren’t taught swimming in case of emergencies.

"We don’t go near places where such accidents could happen," Thalia said, but when she looked back at the flowing river, a worried look crossed her face. "I think we should go back now before something like that happens here." She suggested, with the twins agreeing. However, to their surprise, Ave didn’t argue. She said,

"All right, let’s go back." But they didn’t notice the smirk on her face as she stood up.

Ave gathered her dress in one hand and stood up on the rock. Instead of turning to leave like the other Princesses were about to, she said, "Look at this," and when they looked at her, Ave waved at them before she threw herself into the flowing river and disappeared from the surface, causing everyone to scream in horror.

"Selene!" the Princesses called at the same time.

"Your Highness!" the servants called in alarm as they all came to stand before the river, waiting to see if she would break up to the surface, but when she didn’t, the panic in their heart worsened as if a royal were to die here, they would also be exacuted.

"I-i will save her," One of the male servants said shakily as he stepped forward.

But before he could jump after her, someone had run past them and jumped into the river after Ave—that someone being Lucian, who had just arrived with Zane in time to see Ave fall into the water from the distance.

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[AN: Goals to reach for this book’s mass release! Let’s aim to get 1k powerstones this week before the weekly reset, and I’ll do a mini mass release.

P.S. Character images have been added! Go check them out and vote for your favorites with your points. Big thanks to everyone who motivates me with gifts and powerstones. I always enjoy reading your comments, so keep them coming! ’Smiles.’]