The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Harvey, Susan, Wiliams, Luciana, and Lance knew that as soon as they swore on their lives to be truthful to Harold and work together to make sure the culprit was found, they wouldn't be able to turn back.

"You have the chance to leave now," Harold said as he watched each of them calmly.

Each of them exchanged glances between themselves, but the longest was between Susan and Williams, who knew what this meant for them.

Lance, on the other hand, wanted to leave. He kept looking around for someone who was going to stand up first so he would follow suit, but neither of them did.

Harvey reached to pick up one of the daggers, and as soon as he took it, Alvin appeared beside him and snatched it from his hand, causing Harvey and the others to look at him in confusion.

Alvin ignored their looks and simply pushed the bowl close to them before he opened his palm for Harvey to give him his hand.

Harvey opened his palm, and at once, Alvin drew the tip of his dagger on Harvey's palm, drawing out blood and letting it drop into the bowl before giving the dagger to Harvey as the token of his oath.

Although Harvey didn't flinch, Luciana, Susan, and Lance winced and began to have a double mind about this.

The next was Williams, who opened his palm, and Alvin did the same before he moved to Luciana, who reluctantly opened hers.

Alvin didn't consider that she was a lady and just went on to do the same, causing her to cry out in pain while Susan shifted in her seat and looked pale.

The two people left were Lance and Susan, who were now looking pale.

Seeing as he was supposed to be the man here, Lance opened his hand. It seemed like Alvin had a special dislike for him because his cut was deeper, causing him to also cry out and let out some swear words.

The last was Susan. Alvin went to stand in front of her, and it was very obvious from the look in her eyes that she was scared of doing this.

She turned her attention to Harold as she said in a shaky voice, "You... have to promise you will spare our families."

Everyone else looked at Harold hopefully as they waited for his answer.

"Your parents and siblings," he paused, "I will... try my best."

Even though that was not an assurance, for someone like Harold, it was enough for them.

Alvin opened his palm for her to place hers on top, and she hesitantly reached to place her smaller, delicate hand, which was shaking so much, on top of his large rough one.

"You can close your eyes," Alvin spoke for the first time, and even after she shut her eyes, he still waited for a few seconds before gently stabbing the tip of the dagger to the tip of her thumb, making her wince in pain.

No one had been talking before that, but it seemed as though the place was completely silent.

Alvin looked around and noticed how all eyes were on him. Even Harold was looking at him with a raised brow, and his gaze kept moving between Alvin and Susan in confusion. Williams and Harvey were watching him curiously while Lance had an annoyed frown on his face.

Luciana had her mouth open in disbelief as she looked at her palm and looked at what Alvin had done to Susan.

Susan also seemed to notice the silence, and as soon as she opened her eyes, Alvin seemed to come to his senses, and he quickly drew the cut line on her palm, making her cry out loudly.

"YOU LITTLE--!!!" She couldn't find anything to call him as she looked at her hand, where she now had two cuts.

Alvin moved away from her as soon as he finished adding her blood to the bowl and went to stand beside Harold with a straight face.

Immediately they were done with the meeting and Harold walked out of the pavilion, Susan rose, wanting to speak with Alvin. She understood that he didn't like her. But how could he give her two cuts?!

But before she could catch up with him, Lance appeared in front of her with a wide smile, causing her to halt. Thankfully, she didn't bump into him.

Susan scowled at him and tried to walk past him, but he blocked her path again.

"What?" She barked at him, causing Harvey and Luciana, who had been about to leave, to look at them with interest.

Not minding her cold tone, Lance still smiled at her. "We are on the same team now," he said, and Susan eyed him with displeasure.

"Therefore?" Susan asked irritably, while Williams tried not to chuckle as he enjoyed the scene from his seat.

"So we should be closer, don't you think so?" Lance asked hopefully, and Susan tried not to look too disgusted at the thought of being close to a conceited person like Lance.

"No, thank you," she said with a shake of her head. The last thing she wanted was to be close to someone like him. That he wasn't guilty of Beth's death as she had thought, didn't mean she now thought highly of him. As far as she was concerned, her opinion of him was still the same.

She turned to Williams, using her eyes to tell him to save her, but he turned away as though he didn't see her.

"Why not?" Lance asked, not deterred by her unfriendly tone or attitude.

"Because I don't like you and I don't want to have anything to do with you," Susan said as she walked away from there in quick steps.

"That is impossible! I am very charming!" Lance said as he hurried after her.

Williams chuckled under his breath as he watched Susan hurry away with Lance trying to catch up with her. Ordinarily, he would have stepped in to save her from Lance, but after the attitude she had put up the previous night when he tried to protect her from Alvin, he had no intention of interfering in her business anymore.

She was going to have to sort out her problems with Lance on her own, Williams thought as he stood from his seat and gave Harvey a nod before walking away from there while thinking about going to check on Paulina to see how she was doing. Since she was a maid, he doubted that anyone would be by her side, especially not when Princess Amber was in bed herself.