The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"Where exactly do you wish to depart?" Harold asked her. Was it possible she wanted to return to the same kingdom where her family treated her badly? Should he mention to her how unstable the kingdom currently is since the Moon Kingdom didn't have their backing? Maybe then, she would stop thinking about going back?

After his wedding, he met Princess Amber's parents to let them know they were going to be punished for deceiving the Moon Kingdom. However, because he married there, he chose to disregard it and let them sign a contract agreeing that the Moon Kingdom would not support them in any way, regardless of the marriage alliance. Having no choice, they signed it. Either they did that, or Prince Harold would go berserk on them. They feared him even more than his father.

Harold had seen the look of confusion on his father's face when he presented the contract. The king had asked why this agreement was signed, but he said nothing about it. and left it with them. Maybe if she knew the state of that kingdom, she wouldn't want to return there? Because it was impossible that she wanted to go back to the mountains.

Alicia looked at him unpleasantly. She didn't think there was any point in denying it again. He had known for a long time about her escape plans and even knew her real name, even though she had no idea how he got to know that.

"I need to leave this place," she said, dropping her cutlery. "I mean... this world. This... is not me," she said, frowning as she wondered if that made sense.

"Do you believe in transmigration?" She asked him, but the look on his face made it obvious he knew nothing of that word.

"What about soul swap?"

"...."

She sighed in frustration. "Look, I know this may sound crazy, but you have to believe me," she pleaded to him. She hoped he would believe her and help her leave so he would get back his real bride. Her dream flashed before her eyes, and she remembered how she was executed for pretending to be someone she wasn't. That would have made her stop this big reveal, but she couldn't stop now. She was running out of options.

"How did you know about Alicia Queen?" She asked.

He only raised his brow but said nothing. He was also curious to know about this 'Alicia' person.

"I guess you aren't going to answer," she muttered.

"I am from the future. The year 2020. I found myself in this body accidentally. I don't know what happened or how it happened. I fell from a bridge and landed in the deep waters below, and could not find my way above the water on time. When I woke up, I found myself occupying this body. I heard she also fell into a river and drowned. And then all these crazy things began to happen, and I don't know how to return to the future and have Amber come back to her body." She stopped talking to catch her breath after the long rambling.

She looked at Harold, whose face was still straight, and asked, "Do you believe me?"

At least he was not looking at her like she was crazy.

"How is there a future when we are in the present?" He asked in a quiet, philosophical voice that almost made her stab him with her fork.

"Seriously? That is all you have to say?" She almost cried out in frustration.

"What do you expect me to say?"

"Help me escape!"

"To where?"

"Back to my body. My life."

"Where is your body?"

"The future!"

"There is no future without living in the present. How can the future coexist with the present?" He asked reasonably.

She wanted to scream and pull out her hair, but seeing the smirk playing on his lips, she had a feeling that he was messing with her.

"You believe me, don't you?" She asked, hopefully.

That was a good question. Did he believe her? Harold knew it was crazy. In fact, it didn't make any sense. But various images and memories began to flash before his eyes. From the first time he saw her and all she had said that night, to the way she spoke and the weird choice of words she used, to the way she behaved and how she was able to dress like a man and make it look beautiful, and to all Paulina had told him.

He would be crazy to believe something as absurd as this, but he would be even crazier if he didn't believe she wasn't from this world. Nothing about her was consistent with this era.

"It is believable," he said with a shrug, making her face light up.

"Really? So you will help me escape?" She asked excitedly.

"You found yourself in this body before our wedding?" He asked after a long pause.

She bobbed her head.

Harold stated matter-of-factly, "Then it means I married you and not Princess Amber."

Now she really had a bad feeling about this. She shook her head in protest, but he continued.

"So why should I let my wife escape to another world, Alicia?" He asked with a sweet smile that gave her goosebumps.

"Alicia is NOT your wife. Princess Amber is," Alicia said through gritted teeth.

Harold shook his head, "I don't think so."

"You don't have to think so. It is a fact," Alicia said, trying to reason with him.

"And why do you think so?" Harold asked reasonably.

"Because you came to marry Princess Amber. And this is her body," Alicia explained as patiently as she could.

"Tell me something: Do you think it is the body of a person that we are married to, or the soul?" Harold asked, and Alicia's frown deepened.

What was he trying to say? What was he driving at? "The body?" She said, but it came out as a question.

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"So if something happens to the person's body and they become disfigured, is it okay to leave them since that wasn't the person we married?" Harold asked again.

"Of course, that is the person you married regardless of what happens to the body! They are still the same person insi..." The rest of her words trailed off when Harold's lips curled into a smile again as he listened to her.

He was smiling so much this night. He was obviously having fun. What was making him smile? She wondered as she replayed what she had just said in her head. Oh, no!

"You see? I'm married to the person inside this body," Harold said as he picked a piece of meat from the plate and chewed on it. He had no idea why he was suddenly feeling so good, but it was a really good feeling.

"I don't want to stay here. I CAN'T stay here. I have to return to my body. To my life. My dog. My career," Alicia pleaded, close to tears.

Seeing how emotional she was, Harold sighed and asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Alicia asked in confusion.

"Why do you so desperately want to go back?"

Alicia frowned, "If you find yourself in a different body, in a different time and place, won't you want to return to your own life?"

Would he? Harold wondered, "I don't think so. I don't think anything happens without reason, so maybe I'm supposed to be wherever I find myself."

"Even when the place is nothing like what you are used to?" Alicia asked, and something occurred to Harold.

"How come when you talked about wanting to return, you only mentioned your dog, but you haven't mentioned your family?" Harold asked, since both times he had heard her talk about her life, she seemed to miss her dog a lot.

"Because Ruby is the only family I have," she explained sadly. Something about the way she said it made him want to know about her and her life even though it all sounded weird to her.

"How did you fall into the water? What were you doing so close to a bridge? What is the bridge like?" Harold asked, surprising himself at how interested he was in this conversation.

Alicia's brows pulled together. Although she liked that he believed her, she didn't understand why he was asking that all of a sudden when they had gone past that point in their conversation.

"Promise me you won't judge me," Alicia said, and Harold simply shrugged, not seeing what there was to judge.

"Don't judge, okay? I was... trying... to take my life..." She said and stopped when Harold's facial expression changed to one she couldn't read.

"You?" Harold asked in disbelief. She just didn't strike him as the sort of person who would do something like that. She was strong, bold, and very confident. What could ever make someone like her take her life?

"I said don't judge," she reminded him.

"I'm not judging. I'm just surprised. If your life is so good that you're risking everything and trying to return to it, why did you want to take your life?" Harold asked curiously, giving Alicia the feeling that this was going to be a really long discussion.