Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife
Chapter 86: The captive

Chapter 86: The captive

When Ave stepped out of the eatery, she was surprised to find the sun missing from the sky, as everywhere had turned dark with only the twinkling stars above. The town was now illuminated with lanterns and torches. Despite it being nighttime, people were still moving about as the night was young. The mansion lights on the sides of the roads were still on, and Ave could see and hear faint activities going on in most of the mansions they passed by.

Ave was walking alongside Zane, whose hands were full with bags. She had managed to carry four of the bags, while the prince walked ahead of them, not holding anything. Ave could barely see his shadow as he walked quickly. She couldn’t believe he could get mad at her again for talking with Zane when he had been rude enough to yell at her while eating.

"For how long have you known the prince?" Ave asked Zane, who was walking beside her, curious. They had been walking in silence the whole time since they’d left the eatery. Though the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, she couldn’t stay quiet for that long, as her mind would keep wandering back to Lucian and how hurt she felt by his actions in the eatery.

Zane didn’t immediately answer her, casting his eyes upward as if trying to count the years before he parted his lips and said, "18 years, Milady."

Ave’s eyes widened at that. "You’ve known him for that long? How did you two meet?" she asked again. She was curious, as she had come to notice that Lucian didn’t have any friends and was only ever seen around Zane. He treated Zane better than the rest of his guards, and she could tell their relationship was more than that of a master and his bodyguard.

Though Zane didn’t like the real Selene and would never be caught talking with her, he had come to know this woman wasn’t her. For some reason, he didn’t dislike her, and though he rarely spoke about how he met Lucian, he didn’t hide it from her.

"I was brought here along with Princess Selene and the other children from Gina, Milady. While Princess Selene was assigned to the Empress, I was assigned to the late Consort Lyria as her errand boy. But she never treated me as an errand boy and took me as her son. That’s how I met His Highness."

Ave was astonished by this piece of information. She had never known Zane was from the same land as Selene or that he had been brought in as a child slave as well. No wonder he was close with Lucian. "I’ve heard so much about Gina. How was the kingdom before it was conquered?" she asked curiously.

Zane fell silent for a moment. He hated being reminded of the life he once had with his family before they were killed in Gina, and he was taken here. He had watched his elder brothers be killed for having powers after the test, and he had narrowly been spared for not having any. Talking about the kingdom only brought back memories he didn’t want to revisit. When he answered her, his reply was curt.

"It was a beautiful kingdom."

Ave could tell from his reply that he didn’t want to speak more about Gina, even though she was curious about the kingdom, as Selene had come from there, and so had Lucian’s mother. She knew Zane wasn’t the right person to ask. She now had a power said to come from there, and knowing more about the land would help her. To know more, she could only ask the one person who knew about her powers: Lucian.

However, she wasn’t going to face him anytime soon until her hurt was gone and she could no longer be affected by it. Perhaps he found her disgusting, just like everyone else had before, and didn’t even want to walk beside her.

Ave’s heart sank at that, as for some reason, the thought that he found her disgusting didn’t sit well with her. Why was she even getting affected by what he thought of her? Since when had she cared what anyone thought of her? She had lived her entire life in the modern world not giving a damn about anyone, but now, all of a sudden, she cared about what Lucian thought of her and how he saw her.

Ave scoffed internally. ’This is crazy.’ She didn’t like this one bit. Perhaps it would be best to help him without getting close enough to be affected by his actions and words toward her. Healing his darkened heart was her top priority because only when he healed would he be able to see the people’s pain and take the throne for the right reasons.

She had no business with him after she was done with her mission, and she would leave this world behind like it was a dream she’d woken up from. She didn’t want to get emotionally attached to any of the people, nor get herself involved in things that were beyond what she was brought here to do.

Her mission was to make him love his wife genuinely and heal his heart so that he would want the throne for the right reasons. That was all. She must not do more than that. Ave assured herself firmly and walked the rest of the distance with Zane in complete silence.

When they arrived where their horses were, a guard was sitting under a tree with a lamp in hand but stood up when Lucian came to stand in front of him to talk. Ave stopped as her eyes fell on a man, who looked no more than forty, tied to a rope that was attached to a horse. The man looked so exhausted that he was sitting on the bare ground, his head down as though he were asleep, but she doubted it, as he coughed and looked up towards them with unfocused eyes.

Ave turned to Zane, who was now tying their bags on the sides of the three horses. "Who is this man, and why is he tied up like an animal?" she asked with a frown.

Zane glanced at the man who had dared to throw a stone at the prince and then back at Ave. "He is from Wudville village. He offended His Highness by throwing a stone. However, His Highness has decided to spare him and return him to his family," he said, then resumed his task of tying the bags.

Ave couldn’t believe Lucian had even ordered for the man to be caught. Though she thought he shouldn’t have stoned the prince, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him as the light fell on him, revealing his bleeding feet and dried lips. He had been dragged all the way from that village to this town.

Ave walked towards Lucian’s horse and unhooked the water gourd she had seen tied there in the palace. She didn’t even bother to ask the prince before she walked towards the man, who looked on the verge of passing out.

Lucian, who was standing with the guard talking, noticed Ave’s movement from the corner of his eye. He looked towards her just as she took his water gourd from his horse and walked towards the man tied behind Zane’s horse. A displeased frown settled on his face, and a vein twitched on his forehead, but he didn’t do anything to stop her. He simply stood there and watched.

It seemed she would never understand that the people from those villages were savages until she experienced what they could do to royals with her own eyes. He watched as she crouched beside the man and tapped his shoulder.

The man’s unfocused eyes fell on her. He could barely make out her face, but the lamp beside her allowed him to see she was from noble or royal blood, with her fair, unblemished skin that looked nothing like the tanned faces of the villagers hardened by hardship. He quickly moved away from her.

"...kill me!" he cried out. "Kill me! I’d rather die than serve you heartless royals who refuse to execute the root of our problems. The second prince is cursed and will bring doom to our lands if not killed...!" He coughed dryly, dragging himself away from her. "The second prince is cursed; he should be killed!"

Lucian, who stood watching, clenched his fist. Without thinking twice, he pulled the sword from the guard beside him and strode towards the man,"I’ll grant your wish." His voice came out hard and ruthless, raising the sword when he reached the man, intending to cut his head off when Ave who had noticed him coming hurriedly stood between them with her arms spread apart.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Don’t kill him, Your Highness." She also didn’t like that the man was saying those things about Lucian, but killing him wasn’t the solution. She met Lucian’s burning gaze, which had shifted from black to amber. He glared murderously down at her, as though he were going to cut her down if she didn’t move, but Ave mustered the courage and stayed where she was.

"Don’t," Ave whispered softly, her eyes locking on his in a desperate plea for him to put away his sword. "Please, give me the chance to change the people’s minds about you. I will convince them," she said gently. She watched as the intensity in his eyes calmed down before he glared at the man behind her one last time. He flung the sword aside and turned away, saying,

"What the people think about me won’t change anything about my plans for them." He then strode away into the shadows.

Ave sighed in relief when his figure disappeared. She turned towards the man on the ground, who, despite saying he wanted to be killed, looked terrified after realizing the cursed prince was there and had nearly killed him. So much for having the mouth to curse the prince. She thought.

Ave crouched down, took the water gourd, and handed it to him. "Here, have this."

The man took it from her hand without even realizing it, his eyes still glued to the direction Lucian had taken.

Ave watched as he gulped down the water until the very last drop before he handed it back to her with shaky hands. "W-why did you save me from him...?" he asked, as she took the water gourd from his hand and put it aside.

"I didn’t save you. I’m only trying to save him," Ave muttered under her breath. She was doing everything for Lucian, not because she wanted to protect this man, who she was still angry at for throwing a stone.

"I saved you because every life is worth saving," she told him while patting his shoulder. "What is your name?" she asked.

"My name is Hugo Woodman," he answered.

Ave held back the urge to chuckle at his surname and asked, "Hugo, do you have children?"

Hugo nodded, then bowed his head as if ashamed. "I have four children, I feel guilty and ashamed for having them, I have nothing to feed them...I have to watch them suffer every day to find food in the noble town. If you want to kill me, please don’t involve my family in it and let them live..."

Ave stared at a tear that rolled down the man’s face and fell on his tied hands and said, "Nobody is killing you. In fact, the second prince has decided to release you, give your family food, and offer you a job in his palace."

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