The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Although Williams had suspected that this was the reason the queen had asked to see him, hearing her ask the question caused his heart to skip a beat. The last thing he wanted was to cause trouble for either himself or Paulina. He knew that Susan had been right. Both their father and the Queen could be really ruthless, and they wouldn't mind getting rid of Paulina if they so much as suspected that he had something to do with the girl.

"Nothing is going on between us, my queen," Williams said, and the queen raised a brow.

"Nothing?" She asked, sounding rather disappointed.

"Yes, my queen."

"But that's not what the others around the palace are thinking. You know that, right?"

"Yes, your majesty. I only let her serve me while I paint because she seemed to have little knowledge about it, unlike the other maids," Williams explained.

"That's such a shame," the queen said as she leaned back in her seat, and Williams did not bother to ask him what she meant.

He waited for her to dismiss him, but when she didn't, he remained standing where he was trying to endure the uncomfortable silence.

He raised his head when he heard Ivan join them. "What took you so long?" The Queen asked as Ivan sat down.

Ivan apologized, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting,"

"He says she is only there to serve him while he paints," she said to Ivan, who, like her, had been hoping that something was going on between Williams and Paulina.

"That doesn't change a thing. We are family, you know that, don't you?" Ivan asked Williams, who met his gaze.

Why was he being asked such a question when they all knew the answer? As if he could say no. "Yes, we are," Williams finally answered after a short pause.

"And as a family, we all look out for each other. You are our person," Ivan said, and Williams sighed inwardly. What did these people want from him? He really did not want any of this.

"We want you to seduce Paulina..."

"What?" Williams asked without thinking, his eyes round with surprise.

"Ivan..." The Queen called, turning to look at her son, who had just said something unexpected. Yes, she had been hoping to take advantage of whatever Williams had going with Paulina, and it was also true that she had been waiting for Ivan to join them before dismissing Williams, since they had both planned to talk to him together. Still, she was as surprised as Williams by what Ivan was asking him to do so blatantly.

"Trust me on this, Mother," Ivan said to his mother before turning his attention back to Williams.

"You don't have to marry her or do anything so serious. The rumours are going around the palace already, so you might as well just do it. Don't worry, when all of this is over, we will fix it. All we want you to do is get her to trust you to the point that she can tell you anything. Get all the information you can get from her concerning Harold and his wife," Ivan explained.

Williams' brows creased in a frown. He didn't like this. It disgusted him that these people wanted to use him in this manner, and what he found even more annoying was the fact that he couldn't directly turn them down.

"Do you understand what your cousin is saying, Williams?" The Queen asked, leaning forward in her seat.

"Yes, your majesty."

"Can you do that for us? Your father would want you to help me achieve my goals within the palace," the queen said, and Williams gave her a nod.

"I will try my best to get her to open up to me, your majesty," Williams promised, and the queen gave him a smile of approval.

"Good. I'm relieved to know that I can count on you. You can leave us now," she said, and Williams bowed to them both as he left.

Immediately Williams disappeared from view, the queen turned to look at Ivan with disapproval. "Why did you ask him to do something like that without discussing it with me first?"

"I'm sorry, mother. We were counting on the rumours being true, but now that he has explained the reason she is always in there with him, I didn't think there was any reason to give up the plan. I thought it would help if he seduced the girl. We could still make her our person without their knowledge."

"Harold isn't that stupid. The moment he sees Williams hanging around her a lot, he is bound to become suspicious," the Queen said.

"Yet she has been spending a lot of time in the painting room with Williams, and he hasn't become suspicious or done anything to stop it. Maybe he is too distracted by his wife to be on his guard like before," Ivan pointed out.

"Still, what if she becomes a problem to us?"

"Then we get rid of her."

*************

An earth-shattering scream was heard the next morning, waking up everyone who was probably still sleeping by this time, and that included Harold, whose eyes opened to find Alicia running away from the bed like she had just found a python in bed with her.

Harold panicked as he flew from the bed to go lock her door before he returned and stood on the other side of the bed. He saw Alicia looking all over her body as if she was looking for evidence of whatever had happened last night, and for some reason, he was glad the bed was in-between them because even if nothing had happened, he couldn't trust her to relate with him in a sane manner.

"Why are you up at this time?" He broke the silence and asked her before he realized that the question didn't sound right. He guessed she would think he had actually done something to her.

She hurried to look out the window, noting it was dawn before she turned to look at him. At this point, she was no longer surprised whenever she suddenly opened her eyes to find herself on another day entirely.

"All this while... why didn't I think that you were actually a wolf?" She asked angrily.

Harold's heart stopped beating at that moment when he heard her.

'How... does she know?' His wolf asked the same question he was asking himself. Did something perhaps happen in her sleep? Did he accidentally shift and she saw him? What was she going to think about it?

"Uh... how... did you... know that?" He asked hesitantly, stuttering. Stuttering was something he had never done before in his life. Why was he even nervous because of this tiny little thing?

"Oh! I can see you even know. You are indeed a wolf in sheep's clothing. Wait a minute, you even have white hair to really hide who you truly are. Ha! You drugged me to have your way with me?" She accused before throwing a pillow at him. When he dodged, she picked another one, throwing it at him immediately.

A confused Harold was looking at his clothes, wondering if he wore anything that resembled a sheep when the second pillow smacked his head, annoying him. Now that he was looking at her, he suddenly recalled that she had said something about drugging him.

"Who the hell do you think you are glaring at like that?" Alicia asked, looking around to throw something else at him.

"You drugged me, didn't you?" She asked accusingly when she found nothing else around her, and shook her head when she felt like blacking out. She still felt very sleepy, but the nightmare she had about several wolves chasing her had forced her awake, only to find herself cuddling someone in the bed, and that person just happened to have white hair. Who else would it be if it wasn't Harold? Her brain concluded that he had drugged her and taken advantage of her.

"You drank my wine and collapsed. I do not appreciate you accusing me of something so despicable."

"Despicable? You were on my bed!" She raised her voice.

"You think you are the only one to get angry? You touched me, hugged me, and twisted my hair in a weird way before collapsing, leaving me to take care of your mess and you are raising your voice at me?" He asked angrily before picking up one pillow to throw at her.

She gasped loudly. "You! You... didn't just do that!" She exclaimed as she picked up the pillow to throw back at him while he threw it back at her. It wasn't until he heard his wolf's disgusted and exasperated voice asking, 'What are you doing?' did he realize what he was actually doing.

Not only had he been quarrelling with her just now, but he was also busy throwing pillows with her?

He was about to throw another pillow before he heard his wolf's voice. As if he was holding a hot potato, he dropped it on the floor immediately and adjusted himself, returning to his usual aloof self as he said,

"You should rest. You still look tired. Breakfast would be brought here."

"Ha! Look at him acting all dignified. I can't believe this," she said incredulously as she watched him hurry out of her room.