The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Once Harold got to his chamber, it didn't take long for Alvin to join him. Alvin almost turned back when he saw an angry-looking Harold. He had heard shouts coming from Princess Amber's chamber but could not exactly hear what they were arguing about since he had been watching from far away. Seeing him now, he knew that Harold was in a bad mood, and as such, he had to be careful of whatever he said.

As usual, Harold looked out the window as he waited for Alvin to give him any information he was here for.

So Alvin started, "I wanted to tell you this yesterday when I met you in the garden. I looked into all the people who left the palace 2 days before we were attacked on our way back to the palace."

"The royal chef, kitchen servants, and guards?" Harold asked, remembering what Alvin had told him the other day.

"Yes. There were 7 of them. 2 guards, 4 kitchen servants, and the royal chef. I have been observing them for days. They all seem rather normal... except for one."

That got Harold's attention, making him turn to look at Alvin.

"She is a kitchen servant, but she only cleans. The past few days I took notice of her, I noticed her smell changed."

"Her smell?"

"Yes. I can't exactly tell what it is, but there is something strange about her. Here, I made a description of her," Alvin said, handing him a folded piece of paper.

If Alvin said her smell changed, then Harold believed. Alvin had a very sensitive nose, even more than him and probably more than anyone else in the entire kingdom. So others may not have noticed it, but he did.

"And the others? Nothing at all?" Harold asked as he opened the paper to read the details.

"Nothing else."

"Was this girl among the group that followed me to my wedding?"

Alvin shook his head. "She isn't."

"What about Princess Amber? Has she had any direct contact with her?"

"No."

"Good. If that ever happens..." Harold turned to look out the window as he said, "Kill her."

Alvin almost sighed in frustration. "Wouldn't it be better to interrogate her to know what exactly is wrong with her?" He asked. The same thing would have happened with the assassin they had caught, but Harold was not the type to ask people unnecessary questions since he already had his suspicions of who had sent them. All he had to do was cut off these unfortunate obstacles, but the more he cut them off, the more they grew. It was as if they were everywhere. Maybe they were.

"No need for unnecessary questioning."

'Yeah, just like I thought.' Alvin thought to himself.

"Keep your eyes on her. For now."

"I will."

"What else?"

"Uhm... the queen met with Williams and Susan before dinner. Then after dinner, the queen and Prince Ivan met with Williams privately."

He turned around again and looked at Alvin, raising a brow.

"I don't know the details. But it sounded serious. I think they were asking Williams to do something."

"It's Paulina," Harold said with certainty. It seemed like these people wanted to make their moves now using Paulina. Interesting.

"What should I do about it? Should I bring Paulina—"

"NO!" Harold said immediately. "No. Don't go close to that girl. For now, at least." He almost added, "Please."

If Alicia so much as heard they had called her precious maid out, he didn't want to know what kind of thing she would do this time.

"What about telling Princess Amber to advise her maid against—" Alvin paused when he remembered how happy she had been when he told her of the rumours about the two. If she could, she would lock those two up together.

Looking at Harold's face, he could tell that it was also a bad idea. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Harold was scared of his wife. Judging by his actions lately, maybe he was.

"Keep an eye out for Susan and Williams. Especially Susan."

Alvin wanted to ask why 'Susan' instead of Williams, but Harold asked, "All these aren't too much for you, right?"

"I can do it," Alvin assured him.

"Anything else?"

Alvin hesitated before he asked, "My head... how... were you able to get in yesterday?"

"I just tried it out." He said in a carefree tone, but seeing how serious and curious Alvin looked, he wondered if he was surprised since he hadn't linked with him before.

"That's not what I meant. You... got in without permission. Normally, I should have let you in first."

It was Harold's turn to be confused. "Isn't that how you've all been communicating with each other?" He asked, curious.

"No. Does this mean... you can get into people's heads?" Alvin inquired, his face filled with curiosity and excitement.

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

After Harold left, Alicia kept touching her body to ensure that everything was in place and that she hadn't done anything in her state. Once she was certain that all her clothes were in place exactly as they had been the previous day, she felt relieved.

Why then did Harold choose to sleep with her? And what exactly happened? This wasn't the first time she had taken alcohol in her life, and she knew that she hadn't even drunk enough for her to be intoxicated, so what happened? What did she do in her drunken state? She hoped she hadn't said anything about her plans. She doubted that. She trusted herself to keep her lips shut even in the face of death.

She paced around the room as she tried to remember what had transpired between them during their lunch date in the garden. The only thing that she could remember was Harold's laughter when she told him that she had decided to stay back. From there on, everything else was a blur.

Where was Paulina? She really hoped that Paulina would come to see her before Princess Luciana showed up with the other maids. There were a lot of things that she needed to talk to Paulina about in private. First, it was about Princess Amber's mother. She needed to find out whatever she could about the lady who happened to look like her. And then, she also needed to talk to Paulina about her relationship with Williams. She had to know how serious things were between them and if the rumours were true. Then, most importantly, she needed to know if Paulina had any idea of what she must have done or said when she was drunk.

She needed to do all of these before the ever-zealous Princess Luciana showed up. These days, it seems like from the moment she wakes up and steps into the bathroom, the rest of the day goes in a blur, and she barely has time to talk with Paulina anymore.

She turned to the door when a knock sounded on it, and once she gave the go-ahead, Paulina walked inside. "Good morning, Milady. How are you feeling?" Paulina asked as she hurried to Alicia's side. She was relieved that Alicia was awake and looking fine.

For a brief moment, Alicia looked at Paulina, relieved that she had arrived before Princess Luciana."Good morning, Paulina. I'm feeling well. Come here. There is something I need to ask you before princess Luciana shows up," Alicia said as she went to sit on the bed and tapped on the space beside her for Paulina to join her.

"My lady, what happened to you yesterday?" Paulina asked, wondering why she had drank the alcohol."

That is what I want to ask you. What happened to me? Did I do anything unusual?" She asked curiously, and Paulina looked at her with a puzzled frown.

"Prince Harold said you were drunk," Paulina explained.

"Yes, I know that I was drunk. But did I do anything when I was drunk?" She asked, hopefully, and then her eyes narrowed when she noticed the amusement on Paulina's face, as though she wanted to laugh about something.

"What did I do?"

"Everyone has been whispering about what happened in the garden, but no one likes to talk about you when I'm around. I think they're scared after what happened to Beth," Paulina said, and Alicia's face fell.

Great! Just great! She had done something worth gossiping and whispering about, yet the only person she could hear about it from, didn't even know what it was that she had done.

"But you did something I know of," Paulina said, and Alicia looked at her curiously once again.

"Go on," she urged her.

Paulina leaned forward and whispered in Alicia's ears, "You made Prince Harold's hair like that of a little girl." Paulina giggled as she said it, letting out the laughter she had been holding back since the previous day.

Alicia's eyes widened in disbelief. Harold's hair? She touched Harold's hair? He let her touch his hair? "Me? How did you know that?" Alicia asked, unable to believe what Paulina was saying.

"He called me into your chamber and showed me his hair. He wanted me to tell him how to undo it," Paulina explained, her eyes dancing with laughter, and even though Alicia knew that she shouldn't laugh, she couldn't stop herself from bursting into a peal of laughter, and Paulina joined her. She realized that was what he had been talking about before they started the pillow fight.

"What did he look like?" Alicia asked amidst her laughter.

"Like an angry but pretty little girl," Paulina said in a very low voice, and Alicia howled with laughter.

Oh, well! It was a miracle that she was still alive after doing something as awful as that to the almighty Prince Harold. Yet she had accused him of being a wolf and had even thrown pillows at him. The guy must have thought that she was a lunatic. Poor guy.