The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alvin didn't know how much of their conversation Harold had heard, but he had a bad feeling about this, especially since Harold was glaring at him like that.

"Your highness," he greeted, guiltily bowing his head, unsure whether to apologize or not.

"You can leave now," Harold said dismissively, and Alvin bowed to him once more before doing the same to Alicia and walking away, leaving them both alone.

Harold looked at her without saying anything. If he hadn't heard her ask Alvin what had happened on their way back, he would have thought that she was lying about not remembering since she seemed to be quite fond of telling lies and acting. Did it mean the trauma had made her forget about it? Because he remembered how sick she had looked before she started throwing up. He also noticed she became sick instantly after that happened. If that was the case, it was best to not remind her since it seemed she didn't have the mental capacity to handle that kind of news in the first place. It was different for werewolves who were used to killing, but she was a human after all, regardless of how well she handled weapons.

Alicia stared right back at Harold, who was looking at her with a stony expression. According to Alvin, he was upset because he had been worried about her. Maybe those weren't Alvin's exact words, but that was what she had deduced from all that Alvin had said. Perhaps she should apologize to him? But how was she supposed to apologize when it wasn't like she had deliberately meant to make him worry? And even if he was worried, weren't there better ways to express his emotions than what he was doing?

She let out a soft sigh as she opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could utter a word, Harold was already walking away, "Wait!" She called to him urgently, and he turned to look at her.

"Nothing happened? I mean... you mean nothing happened on our way back from the village?" She asked, her brows drawn together in confusion since she could swear that something had happened, even though she couldn't remember what it was.

Once again, Harold ignored her and began to walk away. Of course, Alicia wouldn't let him go just like that. She had used what little energy she had to run around, trying to get his attention and also looking for Alvin.

"WHY ARE YOU TREATING ME LIKE THIS? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?" She yelled at his back and began to cry.

Harold's steps faltered, and he immediately stopped walking. Seeing this, Alicia hid her smirk and continued crying pitifully, "WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE SUCH DISDAIN, MY LORD? I ONLY ASK FOR YOUR ATTEN—" She stopped talking when he turned around immediately to look at her.

Some servants felt this scene was worth risking their lives for, so instead of fleeing as usual at the sight of Harold, they hid around, listening in on the emotional outburst of Princess Amber.

"I was... unconscious for days. I... still feel very sick but decided to spend some time with my husband instead of resting even though I still feel weak and feeble. Don't... you pity me, my lord?"

Harold didn't need to look around too hard to see the servants who were eavesdropping on their conversation, but he ignored them and looked at his bride, who was crying, with her hands covering her face. Guilt flashed in his eyes before they quickly disappeared. He only felt guilty because what she had said was the truth. She had been sick for days and had only regained consciousness this morning, yet she had been running around.

That was the only thing he felt guilty about since he was aware that she was faking this outburst. Right from the first interaction he had with her at their wedding, he knew that she was a terrific actor—but only to other people, as he could never fall for her lies. He could always see right through her. Maybe if she hadn't referred to him as 'my lord' just now, he would have fallen for her tears. Who knew? Unless being sick had made her lose her memory or changed her personality, there was no way the lady he had married would call him 'my lord' unless it was a matter of life and death.

"Follow me," he said quietly before he turned around and began to walk away. She did a happy dance in her head before following him quickly.

She followed him as he walked into his chamber, and once she walked through the door, he turned to her and said, "Why did you do that?"

"Why did I do what?" Alicia asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about.

Harold sighed. He wasn't in the mood for such childish games. "You should go and rest in your chamber. Why are you moving all over the place when you have only just woken up?"

"Because you were giving me attitude, and I wanted to find out what I did wrong to deserve it," Alicia said with a yawn. She was indeed feeling tired and needed to rest.

"I never gave you any attitude. Go and get some rest. And do not draw such attention to me next time," Harold warned.

"You are not going to tell me what happened, are you?" She asked, noting that he was diverting from the subject.

"Nothing happened."

"Then how did I become sick? Something had to have happened to make me sick," Alicia insisted.

"You fainted after drinking from your water gourd," Harold said, making Alicia's brows pull together.

It took only a second before she remembered how she had tampered with the water, causing her eyes to widen before she quickly comforted herself.

How could she have consciously drank from a water gourd she poisoned with sleeping medicine? She didn't know much, but she at least knew that she wasn't that clumsy. "I drank from the water gourd?" She asked curiously.

"Why? You don't think you could have drank from it because you know what you put in it?" Harold asked dryly.

"Ha. Haha. What do you mean by that accusation?" She laughed nervously and averted her gaze, puzzled as to how he knew what she had done. Who else knew about it? Was it the physician who had told him?

"Go to your chamber," Harold ordered quietly, and then paused when he remembered something else. "You should be watchful of the way you speak to Damon," Harold warned.

"Damon?" Alicia asked, trying to remember who that was. "The mannerless man that likes to yell a lot?" She asked thoughtfully since he was the only person she had been rude to thus far.

"He is the second-in-command here," Harold informed her, and Alicia briefly remembered what he had said during their wedding about being there to represent the king.

"That doesn't give him the right to be so disrespectful. Even the king isn't as overbearing as he is," Alicia said dismissively.

"So now that we are past that, are you going to tell me why you were avoiding me earlier?" She asked, wanting to get him to admit that he had been worried about her so that she would also find a suitable way to apologize to him.

Unknown to them, there were several maids outside Harold's chamber at that same time. They didn't just stand stupidly outside his door, but they moved to and fro, pretending to be working. Normally, they wouldn't dare to come in this direction, but juicy gossip had been flying around about the Prince and his bride. She had been crying in public about how he was neglecting her. They had also heard that the two went into his room, and after a while inside, it seemed they were arguing, but the princess's voice was louder. That was why they were all around here, trying to find out what was happening. They couldn't help feeling bad for the princess, as they assumed he was probably hurting her inside the room. They wished they could go closer to the door and eavesdrop to know what exactly they were arguing about, but none of them dared to.

"GET OUT!"

They all flinched when they heard a voice that belonged to the princess before the door was pulled wide open and the princess held out the door while looking at him angrily.

When Harold didn't move, she marched to him, held his hand, and began to drag him out. When that didn't work, she went behind him and began to push him from the back out of the room.

The servants watched in disbelief. They wanted to run away and pretend like they hadn't seen anything, but they decided that their eyesight was bad and they needed to be sure that they were seeing things correctly, so they remained there until Alicia pushed him out.

"This is my cham—"

The door was slammed in Harold's face before he said, "ber,"

The servants forgot to run away as they looked at him, slack-jawed.

Wait... so he wasn't the one bullying her?