The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Unedited.

After leaving Harold, Alicia returned to her chamber. The first thing that hit her nose was the damp smell of the place. She could not help but wonder if it was normal that no one had made any effort to sun dry her bed all through the day. The whole place had an unpleasant smell yet nothing was being done about it, and unfortunately she couldn't report it to the king as the servants who had been involved in the so-called accident might be punished for it.

Since she was going to be sleeping in Harold's chamber for the next seven days, she decided to not let the state of her chamber bother her for the time being. She was going to talk to Harold about it later.

Having made up her mind, she went to sit beside the window where Luciana had been seated earlier. Her brows furrowed as she thought about Luciana and what she had said about the queen trying to get prince Ivan a second wife. What could she do to help the poor girl?

Her thoughts drifted to her and Harold, and she wondered if the queen would dare to suggest the same thing to Harold. Of course she wouldn't dare. And even if she did, he wouldn't dare or else she was going to scratch out his eyes and see how he would be able to see the second wife in the first place.

She paused when she realized what she was thinking about and then she frowned. Why did she care whether or not he decided to marry a second wife? It wasn't like she was really his wife in the first place anyway. That was something for Amber to worry about when she returned to her body not her. And it would be better for her if he even married a second wife, at least that way he wouldn't think of making any sexual advances at her.

Her thoughts moved from there to Susan, and she felt sad when she thought of the heartbroken Alvin. She wondered how she could help him feel better. She wished that things didn't have to be so complicated and people could be with whoever they wanted regardless of the class. Paulina could be with Williams, and Alvin with Susan. But she knew that was just a pipe dream, since even in her era there were still people still considered class when choosing a partner.

She smiled when she thought of the calm and soft-spoken princess Tyra. She found it weird that Tyra who was always busy reading romance novels was yet to fall in love with anyone.

The royal ladies were all like regular teenage girls to her, and she liked everyone of them. It was funny that now that she thought about it, she had actually enjoyed her day with them. She paused when she realized that she had actually enjoyed her day today, and had not even spent much time thinking about her escape plan anymore. That was strange.

She stood up once she remembered that she she was yet to write out the items she needed the kitchen staff to get for her from the market. She looked around for writing items, and then wrote down the list of the items she would love the kitchen staff to buy for her.

For now, she completed her list and went to find the head chef in the kitchen. Thanks to her little tour with Luciana the other day, it didn't take long for her to find the kitchen.

As soon as she walked into the kitchen, every conversation and activity ceased. Everyone in the kitchen were surprised to see her and stood up immediately, wondering why was here.

"Milady," the head chef greeted with a bow as he stood in front of her.

"You all can continue with what you were doing. I came to hand this over," She said to the man. The others however, were not sure they could continue doing what they had been doing earlier with her standing there. They were even afraid to breathe for fear of annoying her.

"Milady... what... are these?" The head chef asked curiously as he pointed at 9 ingredients out of the 13 she had listed.

Once again she had forgotten that the universe had chosen to send her to an era where she had to explain almost everything she said. Well, tonight was going to be a long night.

For the next hour, she sat outside the kitchen with the older man as she tried to explain what the items were used for and also find an alternative ingredient for each item since the chef said those were not available.

By the time she finished, it was almost dinner time and she was exhausted. She stretched with her entire muscles popping, and the man watched her unladylike behaviour with disapproval but he dared not utter a word.

"Let me know when you get back tomorrow so I can check them."

"I will, Milady."

"And you do not need to trouble yourself too much. If it's difficult to find some, I could go with you to—"

"That won't be necessary, Milady. We can handle this. We will surely find everything you need." He cut in immediately. He didn't want to imagine what Prince Harold would do to them if they failed to find everything his wife needed.

She nodded. "Thank you. And I'm sorry for taking much of your time. Let me know whenever you need assistance here. I will be sure to help."

The man looked at her in surprise, wondering why she was polite to him. Of course, he was one of those people who looked down on her. She was not just a human, but a woman. And he had heard of how mannerless she was. While he on the other hand was a man. A Beta wolf and the best chef in the whole of the kingdom. Despite that, he didn't receive much respect from the royal family. But the one he had expected to be more disrespectful and arrogant was was being so polite to him.

"Are you okay?" Alicia asked him.

"Yes, Milady. I'm fine. You should head back now. We will get dinner ready soon."

"Okay. Thank you again. And see you tomorrow!" She said, waving at him as she turned to leave.

He wanted to tell her to be careful but it was too late because immediately she turned around, she bumped into a maid behind her and before she knew it, she felt something wet hit her skin and clothes, causing both her and the maid to gasp loudly.

Alicia looked at the girl with her mouth hanging low and then looked at her body, and the floor. The smell of what had just hit her made her want to throw up. It looked and smelled like blood. Blood! What were she even doing with blood?

"I'm... I'm sorry, Milady. I deserve to die." The girl said in a rush as she fell on her knees her whole body shaking in fear of what manner of punishment would befall her if Harold so much as got wind of this.

Every other maid within the area took the opportunity to flee. Once upon a time, a maid had accidentally spilled water on the queen's hand had disappeared with no one knowing where she was until this day. The one who had accidentally bumped into Luciana had faced her husband's wrath who ordered for her to be beaten until all her bones were breaking.

Now, not only had she bumped and spilled pig's blood on a royal, that royal just happened to be Prince Harold's bride. Wasn't this what they meant when people said one was courting death?

Alicia just kept looking at her body, not sure what she was supposed to do. Alicia's eyes went to the girl, who had her head bowed.

The chef bowed his head, "Have mercy on her, milady," he apologized with a deep bow.

"You don't have to apologize. It was also my mistake. I should have been more careful," Alicia said while looking at the girl, wondering why she looked familiar.

Everyone around them looked at Alicia in disbelief, including the maid who had been expecting to be scolded and disciplined for her error.

"Milady... Your dress," the girl called in a fearful whisper and Alicia smiled at her.

"Stand up my dear. Don't worry about it. I can always wear something else," She assured the maid as she reached for the maid's hand to help her up.

Once the maid raised her head to look at her, Alicia had the feeling once again that she knew her. She wanted to ask if they had met each other before, but she figured it was possible since she was a maid in the palace. But why did it feel as though she hadn't met this girl in the palace?

"Be careful next time. I should hurry and get cleaned up before dinner," Alicia said as she walked away, and the maids stared at themselves wondering what kind of person she was.

She didn't seem as bad as they had heard. Who even carried those rumors about her in the first place? They all murmured amongst themselves as she disappeared from view.