Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 79: Meet at the stables

Chapter 79: Meet at the stables

After Lucian left the courtesan in the pool of steaming water, she quickly climbed out and wrapped a robe around her shaky body, having narrowly escaped death at the hands of the cursed prince. She tied the robe’s belt and made her way out, coming across Madam Elena, who had seen the second prince leave in a hurry and drag his bodyguard, who had been having fun downstairs with him.

He hadn’t even stayed to spare her or anyone else a look before stomping out after throwing a gold bar on a table, as if to pay for the service.

"What happened, Lucette?" Madam Elena questioned the courtesan, whom she was certain no man could resist in this building. She had hoped to trap the second prince like the other princes and make him visit often. Not to mention, if word got out that he’d finally come to find pleasure in the courtesan house, the Emperor—who rumors said was trying to please the second prince in any way possible after the false accusations of him planning treason—might even promote them to serve permanently inside the main palace walls.

Madam Elena had hoped to secure her place when the guests of other kingdoms would arrive and demand courtesans.

Lucette hesitated for just a bit before smiling her confident, sweet smile. "Nothing. The second prince was a fast kind. He came quickly before I even did. We finished in no time, and he put his trousers back on and left, promising that he will send for me again next time," she lied, hoping to get the boost she desperately wanted and the jewelry from Madam Elena for doing a great job. The woman wasn’t going to know anyway, and no one was going to tell her, as Lucette knew the second prince would not return and break her lies.

Madam Elena smiled at the news. "That’s good. If word of this spreads, we might be sent to the main palace when the guests arrive." She patted the young woman’s face, who now looked slightly nervous but masked it with a smile. "Come to my room later and take the jewelry."

"Thank you, Madam Elena, for spoiling me this much," she blushed earnestly, not knowing she had just sealed her own fate.

That same night, the word reached the Empress, who, as usual, couldn’t sleep and was sitting in the shadows of her chamber’s balcony sipping a scented tea that soothed her mind, though it didn’t bring her sleep as It was a curse she had carried ever since the day she made a blood oath to her clan to put her son on the throne and allow their kind to move freely in the Empire.

The balcony was shadowy, causing the Empress’ brown eyes to now hold an unnatural white ring around the iris as she looked at Edward.

Her brother had just reported that Lucian had gone to the courtesan house and had taken a fancy to the well-known courtesan, who even the first prince couldn’t resist.

"Are you certain he slept with her?" she questioned her brother, who now sat across from her on the balcony, sipping wine.

"Yes, Your Majesty," he replied. "I’m confident he did because he left a gold bar behind before he left, and Lucette has no reason to lie if he didn’t."

Elara hummed softly, her eyes distant for a moment before turning back to her brother. "If that’s the case, Edward, then it’s time we approve a few courtesans to stay on the upper floor of the main palace when the guests arrive, and also approve of Lucian staying in the main palace until the birthday ceremony and its preparations are done." She ran her finger along the edge of the teacup as she spoke, a cunning smile on her lips.

"What do you intend to do, sister?" Edward asked curiously.

"I plan to use Lucette to get to Lucian. Selene is not fast enough. We need someone else. And since you said the second prince couldn’t resist her charm, he will seek her out again, just like the others. The elders are already impatient with the lack of progress. We can’t keep delaying this further. Since the Rosa witch turned out to be just a myth, we need to act fast before the prophecy of the shaman comes true..." She muttered, her grip tightening around the teacup as she recalled what the shaman she had secretly summoned to her quarters yesterday had said.

"You haven’t told me what the shaman said yet, Your Majesty?" Edward asked, as he hadn’t had time to come and see his sister until this late night.

Elara gritted her teeth in annoyance. The mere thought of it didn’t sit well with her. "He said there will be a rise of a great Emperor, but it won’t be the third prince."

"Did he say who this great Emperor will be?" Edward asked, already determined to kill whoever it was, as that would not only ruin their lives but also the lives of their people in the underworld, who were desperate to live among the humans and feed freely on the souls of the white witches.

"Did you think I wouldn’t have sent out men to hunt him down if he had given me a name?" She glared at him in irritation. "He didn’t give a name, as he couldn’t tell himself. The fact that the person isn’t Caelan is enough to worry me. We have to get rid of the two potential candidates before the time comes: the first and the second prince."

Elara’s anger could barely be contained. She had been restless all day because of that prophecy and wouldn’t be able to rest until she had dealt with the second prince, who seemed to be the greatest challenge to kill. She had depended on finding the Rosa witch, whose powers could kill any living being and control the world if she wanted to, and if anyone were to kill her and consumed her blood and heart, they would hold the powers she possessed but that had proven to be just a myth, as there was no signs of the witch anywhere.

"How about we wait until Valarie is conquered, perhaps when the people are brought here for exacution, we might find the Rosa and use it’s powers?" Edward suggested thoughtfully as he could tell his sister was giving up on finding that one particular witch.

"I am not going to depend on the Rosa anymore, we can keep hoping to find the witch someday as it wasn’t stated if it’s a male or female, but before then, we have to continue working on our other plans." She said.

"First thing tomorrow morning, I will have the Emperor approve of Lucian and Selene moving to the main palace for the rest of the week, so we can keep a close eye on him and see how we can use Lucette."

"That is a good idea, Your Majesty." Edward nodded in agreement.

---

Ave woke up the next morning, sat up in bed, and stretched out her arms before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She hadn’t been able to sleep at first last night, but after seeing Lucian leave to have his fun at the courtsans house, it had been easy to remove thoughts of him from her mind, and she had slept peacefully without him haunting her thoughts.

She pushed herself out of bed and was about to stretch again when the door was pushed open and Lydia walked in with a smile.

"Good morning, Your Highness," she bowed.

"Morning, Lydia. What’s that you’re holding?" Ave asked, her eyes falling on the dress in Lydia’s hands. When the girl held it up, Ave’s eyes widened in astonishment as she recognized it. She hurriedly ran forward, snatched the dress from her hands, and hugged the plain blue dress that somehow contained magic and which she’d given back to Lucian the other day.

"His Highness said I should give it to you and that you should get ready and meet him outside at the stable," Lydia relayed the orders she had received from Lucian. He had been walking toward the princess’s chamber, but when he caught sight of Lydia, he handed her the dress and told her to relay his orders to Ave.

Ave, who was hugging the dress and smiling like a fool as it felt like her missing half had suddenly been returned to her, looked up upon hearing Lydia’s words. "He wants me to meet him at the stables? For what?" She arched a brow, not looking forward to seeing his annoying face again this morning.

"I do not know, Your Highness. He said to tell you not to waste his time unless you want him to leave without you," Lydia said, causing Ave to frown but also making her curious about what the second prince was up to this morning.

Knowing she would only find out by going to meet him, she told Lydia to assist her in bathing, did everything else in a hurry, and put on the plain blue dress he’d returned to her. Then she tied her hair up in a ponytail, making her face look younger than it was. She was about to turn away from the mirror when she noticed the color of her eyes and frowned.

When Ave had first found herself in Selene’s body, she noticed that, like Victoria, Selene had deeper blue eyes. But now, they had turned much lighter, almost resembling Ave’s own eyes from the modern world.

"This can’t be good, can it?" she muttered to herself as she looked back at her eyes. What if someone were to notice the difference in shade? It was one thing to be found out for having useless powers, but it would be another if anyone noticed her eyes were changing color before realizing she was an imposter.

Ave didn’t like that, with each passing day, things were changing in ways that could get her in trouble if anyone found out. Taking a deep breath, she looked at herself one last time before heading out of the palace toward the stables, where she had admired the horses before, although Lucian had refused to give her one.

When she arrived at the stables, she found Lucian standing outside beside two horses—a white one and a black one she recognized as his. He was running his long fingers through the white horse’s mane as he looked at it with an expression she’d never seen on his face before—a small smile on his lips.

Ave stopped and admired him from where she stood. He was wearing an outfit different from his usual attire: a brown trouser and a brown coat-like shirt typical of the people here. His hair was tied in a bun at the back of his head, with a few strands falling on the sides of his face. She could see his sharp jawline from the side as he continued to pat the horse.

"Are you going to keep standing there and staring at me wasting my time, or walk forward and see if Heaven is going to like you?" came his calm voice, breaking her daze and causing her to flush slightly in embarrassment at being caught staring, even though he wasn’t looking at her.

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