Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 84: Blood in the market

Chapter 84: Blood in the market

"That won’t work," was all Lucian said before he turned away from the show and resumed walking, with Ave following behind him again.

"Why do you think it won’t work? Let’s try it and see. No one knows you’re the infamous cursed prince with those eyes. Let’s try to help some of the commoners with your name and see if it works. You can—" she was saying, but he shot her a look that made her seal her mouth immediately before she heard him say,

"This is not your era, and people don’t think the same way as you."

"How would you know if you don’t try?" Ave scoffed. "We’re already here, let’s buy things and take them to the people and see their reactions." She tried to convince him. In her time, politicians would bribe the people to get their votes. All votes counted, and if the people here knew the second prince cared about them, it could improve his status and give him the opportunity to be the next Emperor rather than the treason he wanted to commit.

"It seems you’re no longer interested in looking around. Let’s go back to the palace then," came Lucian’s cold voice as he began to head back in the direction they had come from.

Ave hurriedly stopped him by saying, "I’m not done. I want to buy a few things and take them back to the palace." She came to stand in front of him and held out her hand.

Lucian looked from the hand she held out to him to her face, then frowned. "What?"

"Money, of course." Ave snorted. "You don’t expect me to have my own money when you don’t give me any. I want to buy many things." She glared at the pouch of gold coins he had taken from his horse. She was going to prove him wrong today and show him that people could be swayed through acts of kindness. She had lived on the street once, and when she was in that condition, any little kindness shown towards her would have been enough.

Lucian unhooked the gold coin pouch from the side of his trousers, took three coins from it, and placed them in her palm. "This should be enough for whatever you want to buy. Make it fast so we can return before sunset," he said indifferently.

Ave scoffed as she glanced at the three coins and then at the pouch in his hands, which still held many more. What could she possibly buy with so little? Without even arguing, she snatched the pouch from his hand before he could hook it back.

"This should be enough," she beamed, turning on her heels and hurrying away before he could stop her. Lucian didn’t chase after her. He watched her back from where he stood, letting out a sigh. He had expected this from her. In fact, he would have been surprised if she hadn’t snatched the pouch from his hand and obediently taken the three coins.

Lucian was still standing there, watching as Ave tried to decide what to buy, when Zane walked up to him and bowed slightly. "We’ve captured the man who threw the stone, Your Highness. Shall we take him back with us to the phoney cell for punishment?" he asked. Zane had left the commoner with the other guard and the horses while he came to report.

Lucian was silent for a while before he said with a straight face, "Release him once we reach his village. There’s no need to take him back."

Zane was taken aback. He knew Lucian wasn’t known for forgiveness, especially toward commoners who disrespected him. Lucian had once beheaded a man for spitting on him and made sure the man’s entire family suffered the consequences, even burning down their home. That Lucian had ordered this man’s release surprised Zane so much that he was at a loss for words.

Zane was about to ask if the prince was really sure when Ave’s voice and the man behind the stall she was standing at caught their attention.

"Why won’t you sell them to me when I have the money?" Ave demanded. The sellers here were being rude, with a few she had wanted to buy things from even shooing her away from their stall for no reason at all and calling her names.

The man behind the stall eyed her from head to toe and then scrunched up his nose before making a spitting gesture to the side. "Pah, I shall never take money or sell my goods to a disgraceful woman like you. Have you no shame, standing in front of me in such attire and wanting to buy from me? Get away from here before I call those commoners performing over there to bash you for a coin," he warned, glaring at her.

Ave had no idea her clothes would cause such a reaction. She didn’t like how the man was looking at her or how he had threatened her, as if she would be afraid of him and the people he was going to call on her.

Smirking, she said, "I’d like to see you try. I saw something I like on your stall, and I’m going to buy it, whether you like it or not. My attire has nothing to do with you selling to me." She reached out to pick up the freshly baked potatoes and bread, covered with transparent covers, from his stall with the large fork he used. But the man grabbed her wrist, intending to call the commoners over when his eyes fell on two strange men walking toward his stall from behind.

Their presence alone commanded attention, and from their attire, he could tell they were no commoners or middle-class men—they looked like nobles. Not wanting this disgraceful woman to chase his customers away, he tightened his grip on her hand, preparing to twist it away from his stall, when the black-eyed man among the two spoke, as if knowing his intentions.

"Try that, and see your hand separated from your body. Release her," the man ordered, his tone authoritative. The stall owner frowned in displeasure that a nobleman was interfering in his dealings with this disgraceful woman.

"My Lord, this woman is a disgrace to our society, she needs to be taught a great lesson so she wouldn’t—" Before he could complete his words, Lucian had pulled out the sword from Zane’s waist in the blink of an eye and severed the man’s wrist from the rest of his hand that was holding Ave’s. Everything seemed to stop in the market—from the activities to the people passing— as blood oozed out of the severed hand, staining everything he was selling. The man’s agonizing screams were all that could be heard.

Ave froze in shock as the blood splattered on her clothes, and the man’s hand, still wrapped around her wrist, was severed from the rest of his body. Her stomach churned, and she felt sick, the urge to throw up rising. She shakily glanced at the hand, immediately flinging it off her wrist with a terrified scream before stepping away from the crying man.

"Next time, when I speak, you obey," Lucian warned, turning away from the stall as if he hadn’t just cut someone’s hand off. He pulled the terrified and sickened Ave to another stall across the market, one that sold the same goods as the first.

"Sell her everything she wants," Lucian ordered the terrified man behind the stall, who had witnessed what had transpired. Without hesitation, he looked toward Ave, who was slowly pulling herself together.

"Wh-what do you want, Milady?" he stammered.

Ave could still feel the lingering warmth of the severed wrist around hers. She couldn’t believe Lucian had done that to another human. Though the man had annoyed and insulted her, she would have preferred he had just punished him with a slap or a threat. But cutting off his hand? Wasn’t that too much of a punishment? Worse still, Lucian had looked so nonchalant about it.

Ave had seen worse; she’d watched a girl be beheaded in front of her. But what bothered her now was the fact that she’d insulted Lucian many times and had gone against his orders. Even though he always threatened to cut her neck with his dagger, she had never believed he could actually do it. Well, this proved he could, and she realized she had to be more careful from now on.

Clearing her throat to get her voice back and wiping her hand, which the man had held, on her clothes, she told the seller everything she wanted. In no time, Ave recovered from the horrifying incident, though it still lingered in her mind. She kept trying to avoid meeting Lucian’s eyes after the fear he’d planted in her by cutting off the man’s hand and instead focused on her plans.

When the seller finished packing everything she had ordered, he handed the package to her. But before Ave could reach out to take them, Lucian looked at Zane, who understood immediately what the prince meant and quickly stepped forward to carry the bags of everything she’d bought from the man.

Ave, who hadn’t noticed Zane until now, looked at him with a frown. "When did you get here?" she asked, only to realize he was likely the one following them. As Zane carried the bags for her, she smiled and patted his back. "I didn’t know you were such a gentleman, unlike someone who terrified me this afternoon by letting me see so much blood again." She glared at Lucian from the corner of her eye, who just stood there as if waiting for someone else to defy him so he could punish them.

Zane couldn’t help but think this woman was indeed brave. Not only had she quickly recovered from the shock that would take most women days to overcome, but she could also speak to the prince like that again. Not to mention, Zane was surprised Lucian had lost his cool just because the man had held her hand. Lucian’s eyes had darkened when he saw the man grab her wrist, and from what Zane knew of the prince, he hadn’t cut off the man’s hand merely for not following his orders.