The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alicia struggled between the amusement she was feeling at his jealous reaction and the surprise that she was actually feeling the need to explain to him in the first place.

"You don't have to worry though. It wasn't this body. So rest assured—"

"It's not the body that matters," Harold muttered irritably. For a moment, he considered just leaving the room to go sleep outside. He had the feeling that after having his entire bones broken just for his wolf to take over, he would feel better.

"Then what matters? It wasn't even in this era. I believe Princess Amber is still untouched," Alicia assured him with the best smile she could muster.

Even her smiles were beginning to piss him off. To Harold, seeing her smile like that was as if she was proud of what she had done. Couldn't she see that he was angry?

"I'm married to you, not Amber. And even if her body is untouched, you are not untouched. You let them hold you and hug you, and you held them back. Disgusting," he said irritably.

Hold? He thought the 'touch' she was referring to was simply holding and touching, yet he was angry like this? Alicia almost wanted to laugh at the hilarity of the situation. Normally, she would have corrected him and reminded him she had mentioned something about kisses and other stuff, but she had a feeling that he was going to throw her out through the window if she dared to mention that.

She would never have imagined that dating guys would become an issue. Who would have thought she would end up transmigrating to another era where a woman's chastity was important?

"Harold, we both know that this doesn't make any sense," she said, and he turned his back to her. He was in a foul mood already, and he didn't want to talk about this anymore and get even angrier.

"Why are you overreacting? Haven't you been with a woman in the past?" Alicia asked, and almost as soon as the words left her lips, she realized that it was actually possible that he had never been with a woman. He had told her before in passing that he didn't have any women prior to her arrival here, and the rumours had said no families were willing to grant their daughters to him even though the Moon kingdom was very rich. Otherwise, why would the king send for Amber in exile when he had other daughters?

And especially with this temper of his, what woman would willingly want to be with him when they all seem to fear him so much? And he didn't seem like he enjoyed the company of others either. But then... there was Beth.

Harold said nothing to her as he shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep. There was no need to respond to her question, nor was there any need for him to get worked up any further because he would never be able to get his hands on the useless men who had touched her.

"I can't believe you are angry with me over something that happened when you didn't even know of my existence," Alicia said incredulously, and with a shake of her head, she turned her back to him too when her words were greeted with silence.

They both remained on their sides of the bed in silence until she drifted off to sleep. As soon as Harold noticed she had slept off, he sat up on the bed and glared at her.

How dare she sleep peacefully after annoying him like this? In anger, he picked up his pillow and hit her with it, but she giggled and adjusted in her sleep.

Resigned, he used his hands to massage his temples as he began to think deeply. If Alicia could come from the future... was there a chance that he could go to the future? He thought about it seriously until he eventually fell asleep.

Like the previous day, by the time Alicia woke up from her sleep, Harold was nowhere in sight. She left the bed and yawned while stretching as she looked around the room.

Why did he keep leaving? Why didn't he want them to know that they spent the night together? She wondered as she looked closely at the dressing table, expecting to find a dress there just like yesterday, but there was nothing.

She frowned slightly and remembered the conversation they had both had just before she drifted off to sleep.

"Is he, by chance, still angry?" She asked herself as she made her way to her chamber, once again, ignoring the looks she was getting from the maids as she passed by.

When she raised her head, she saw Luciana walking ahead of her, and she quickened her pace to catch up with her. "Princess Luciana," she called, and when Luciana heard Alicia's voice, she quickened her pace to avoid her.

The previous evening, her husband had warned her that he never wanted to see her in Princess Amber's company. And he had told her that if she ever defied him again or disrespected him in any way, he was going to kick her out of the palace.

As much as she liked Princess Amber, and as much as she despised her husband and the Queen right now, she couldn't dare defy her husband. Her parents would never take it easy on her if she were to be thrown out of the palace. They would never accept her with open arms. It didn't help matters that her parents were going to be arriving today. If the queen or prince Ivan mentioned her recent attitude to them, she would be in trouble.

Alicia frowned when she noticed that Luciana was deliberately avoiding her and quickened her pace. Once she caught up with Luciana, she grabbed her arm to stop her. "What is wrong?" She asked, sounding worried.

Of course, she had promised not to get involved, and she wouldn't. But she just wanted to be sure that she was alright and go on her way.

Luciana looked around to ensure Ivan wasn't anywhere in sight before she spoke quietly, "Nothing is wrong. Please stay away from me, Princess Amber. I don't want to have any more trouble with my husband because of you," Luciana said, making Alicia frown as she wondered what trouble she had caused exactly. Was it because she had intervened last night?

"Because of me? Am I the reason you usually have trouble with him?" Alicia asked, not understanding why Luciana would say that, especially as she had only been trying to help.

"Yes. I didn't ask for your help last night. You shouldn't have gotten involved. Please don't get involved in my marriage next time. Focus on yours, and I will focus on mine." Luciana said harshly and tugged her arm free from Alicia's grip, then walked away while Alicia stared at her in disbelief.

Despite that, she could not help but be worried about Princess Luciana. Wasn't this the exact behaviour of how those who were suffering from domestic violence behaved?

She guessed Prince Ivan or the queen must have threatened her. Although Alicia was tempted to go after her and find out exactly what the Queen or Ivan must have said to her to make her act this way, she decided not to do it. Maybe this was for the best. She had promised Harold that she wouldn't get involved with them again and that she would stay out of trouble. That was exactly what she was going to do. She was going to mind her business. If that was the only way she could help Luciana, then she would do it.

When Luciana had her privacy, she sat down on the floor and hugged her legs to herself as she cried, feeling bad for how she had spoken to Princess Amber just now. But that was the only thing she could do to save herself and also save Princess Amber because if she continued in her stubbornness like this, her husband and the queen were going to blame it on Amber and probably do something to her.

It was quite funny how she had disliked Amber from the beginning just because her husband wanted her to do so. But the same person had stood up for her, putting herself in danger. The same person had consoled her when she realized her husband was taking a second wife. The same person had shared her food with her and advised her to be strong and try to focus on herself instead of living for her husband, something she wouldn't have dared do. And even though she regretted doing that now, that little moment of stubbornness had shown her what freedom felt like.

Living for yourself, having friends, sharing moments.

She broke down in sobs, wondering what her life was going to be like now. What was she going to do?