The Cursed Prince

Maxim looked at Emmelyn with a big smirk on his face. He shook his head to show his disbelief. "You're joking, right?"

Emmelyn rolled her eyes when she heard his question, doubting her.

She grumbled something while trying to free her leg from the rope. Maxim felt pity to see her struggle with the trap and quickly crouched down and helped her.

He took out a small knife from his belt to cut the rope and free her leg.

"There..." he said with a smile. "Sorry for the trap. I was bored and wanted to catch a rabbit or two."

"Rabbit?" Emmelyn unknowingly licked her lips. She had not eaten her favorite meat for months now. Just thinking about the juicy fat dripping from grilled rabbit made her feel so hungry.

Maxim noticed that. So he got up and patted her on the shoulder. "Wait here. Let me check my other traps."

Before Emmelyn could say anything, the man had disappeared behind the trees. He returned in ten minutes with one fat rabbit in his hand. A broad smile curved up on his lips. "I got one."

"Whoaa...!" Emmelyn got up in excitement. She almost jumped in joy. "I just bought two fish from a fisherman. They are very fresh. You can have my fish in exchange for the rabbit meat."

Maxim chuckled when he saw her reaction. "You are acting like you haven't eaten good food for a long time. Didn't you say you are a princess? Shouldn't you be eating expensive food every day?"

He wanted to tease her because he was in a really good mood. But apparently, his words just brought back the pain that Emmelyn was trying to shove deep in her heart.

Ah.. that's right. She was a real princess and some woman claimed her identity and now she was chased after by many knights for hire because the king of Summeria wanted that woman.

She was a real princess, but her life was far from rainbows and butterflies.

"Actually, I have lost my kingdom and all my family..." Emmelyn replied with pursed lips. "I am now homeless and an orphan."

"Oh..." Maxim was just joking earlier to lighten up the mood. He didn't expect Emmelyn to become sad. He instantly regretted his words. "I am very sorry to hear what happened."

He dropped the rabbit and walked forward to hug Emmelyn. The woman suddenly felt her knees turn weak and she broke down and cry.

She felt so alone all this time. She wanted to vent and share... but she had got no one.? All her previous travel companions were not people from her level who could understand her and gave her the consolation she needed.

Finally, she met a friend with whom she felt close. Someone who knew her well enough to understand how she felt. And so, Emmelyn let out all the frustration and hurt she had experienced after she left Maxim and traveled on her own.

She sobbed uncontrollably for a good half hour, during which Maxim kept rubbing her back and listened to her cries. His heart felt so much pain when he realized Emmelyn had suffered so much during their separation.

He felt guilty because he couldn't find her soon enough and help her.

"I am very sorry..." he whispered softly. "I was looking for you... but then I had to go home. My father passed away and my mother needed me."

Emmelyn finally felt some relief after venting her sadness for a long time. She stepped back and let go of herself from Maxim's embrace. Her face was wet with tears and she wiped it with her sleeves.

She looked so pitiful and made the man feel more guilty.

"Tell me who have wronged you and I will make them pay," Maxim spoke firmly. "I will not let anyone hurt you and get away with it."

Emmelyn bit her lip and shook her head. She wiped her tears with her sleeves again that they now had become so damp.

"I am done venting. Let's not talk about it. Now, I just want to go and find this kingdom called Myreen. I need to meet the royal family of Myreen and ask them to lift their curse from me."

"Myreen?" Maxim furrowed his brows. "What does this have to do with Myreen?"

"They cursed me to have bad luck. I think all my problems started here in Atlantea. My teacher went missing, my family is killed, my kingdom fell, and I am framed by wicked people for the crimes that I didn't do," Emmelyn explained. "I think the only way for me to get my life back is by going to Myreen and addressing the root cause of the problem."

"How did you know you are cursed by the royal family of Myreen?" Maxim asked again. "Please explain it to me so I will know how to help you."

"It's a long story..."

Emmelyn really didn't want to tell Maxim about her wretched life. She would feel embarrassed to receive his pity. She was an easygoing woman who lived a carefree life and they got along so well in the past.

If he found out how she was now full of baggage, he might feel pity for her. And even though she was sure Maxim wouldn't mind being burdened by her, she didn't want that.

She didn't want any man helping her out of pity.

"I have all the time in the world to listen to you," said Maxim stubbornly. "Come on. I want to know everything that happened to you after you left. Please tell me."

He added, "I will give you all the rabbit meat and will even catch a rabbit for you every day if you told me what happened."

He said those words in a very serious expression that Emmelyn found funny. So, she laughed with tears still dripping from her eyes. Emmelyn shook her head and grumbled at him. Maxim had managed to lighten up the mood a little.

.

.

*********

From the author:

Hello, everyone, below is a lengthy explanation about Web's upcoming feature, called "Golden Ticket". Feel free to skip this if you are not interested in knowing how you can get up to 30 extra chapters in September.

GOLDEN TICKET

So, starting from August 18, Web will change the book voting system. Readers who spend coins on the app would be given golden tickets that they could use to support the books they love further.

The books with the most golden tickets will get special treatment from Web: i.e, the books will be given features and exposure. So, getting as many golden tickets as possible is extremely important for books.

Most authors will offer mass releases to bribe readers to vote all their golden tickets to their books so the books can go up in golden ticket ranking. Not only it's beneficial for the book to get features from Web, but it could also increase a book's prestige.

I have been contemplating about this. Should I give mass release or not to 'bribe you' to vote your golden tickets for this book? Unfortunately, I am updating many books at the same time, so it's hard to stockpile chapters for mass release.

With that much on my plate, I really have to be careful with promising mass releases. I can do maybe max 5 chapters in one day.

What I can do, however, is offer you AN EXTRA CHAPTER EVERY DAY from 2 per day to 3 per day if we reached a certain ranking. I really want to see this book reach Top 3.

* Top 5 in golden ticket ranking = I will give you a mass release of 5 chapters on Sept 1. Meaning you will get 3 bonus chapters from the usual 2 chapters.

** Top 3 in golden ticket ranking = I will publish 3 chapters per day for two weeks, 1-15 September. Meaning you get 15 extra chapters for the month.

*** No. 1 in Golden Ticket ranking = I will publish 3 chapters per day for the whole of September. Meaning, you will get 30 (THIRTY) extra chapters for the month.

You might wonder why the bottom limit for the target is #5?

The thing is since the golden tickets ranking will be voted by paying readers (readers who spend coins), I believe books with more paying readers will get more tickets.

At the moment, TCP is #5 in the trending ranking for August.

Trending = the coins earned by a book.

So, I believe, if you all just vote the number of golden tickets according to your spending on this book, we can easily get to the #5 golden ticket ranking.

However, if you decided to vote your extra tickets also on this book, I will be very grateful because you choose to boost this book for features.

This is how you will be getting your golden tickets:

1. If you spent >300 coins last month = you will get 1 golden ticket

2. If you have Web Membership = you get another golden ticket

3. Your current coin spending in August will give you 1 golden ticket for every 500 coins spent. So, if you have purchased privilege worth 2000 coins for this book, you will get another 4 tickets.

4. If you spend more coins like gifting books or you unlock other books and buy their privilege, you will also get more tickets for every 500 coins spent.

I know you are reading other books too and must want to support them and the authors. So, I will not demand you vote all your tickets to my book ^^.

I am kindly asking you to vote for The Cursed Prince, the golden tickets that you receive from spending your coins on this book. In return, I will make up for it by giving extra five chapters on Sept 1.

If you are willing to give "The Cursed Prince" more tickets, I would be very grateful and write extra harder in September to publish 3 chapters per day.

I am training myself to do it this week. So, you will see The Cursed Prince will have 3 chapters per day for the next week.

If you read all my books and love them equally, and you cannot decide which book of mine should receive your tickets, please give it to "The Cursed Prince" because this book has the most potential to rise in ranking. My other books sadly are too unpopular for them to be seen by the masses.

Okay, that was a long note, but I had to write it to give you a clear explanation since this golden ticket is a new feature and there will be many questions arise. Feel free to ask me for more details in the comment.

As always, thank you so much for your love and support for this book. <3

PS: The screenshot about Golden Ticket can be found in my comment.