The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

As Alicia returned to her chamber, she realized that changing out of her now ruined clothes and even having her bath was going to be impossible without first finding either Paulina or Luciana. She had no idea where the maids that usually prepared her bath were, so she needed them to help her get the maids.

She tried not to concern herself with the curious stares she was getting from some of the maids and guards as she walked past them.

"Milady, what happened to you?" Alvin asked as he suddenly approached her from nowhere, startling her.

"I'm alright. Nothing happened. Could you help me get Princess Luciana? Or maybe you could help me find Paulina and come with her?" She asked instead, thinking that Luciana already had a lot on her mind, and she didn't want to be a bother.

"Who did this to you?" Alvin asked as he took in her appearance. He knew that Prince Harold was going to be livid if he heard that someone had poured pig blood on his bride.

"That is not important right now. Help me get Paulina and come back with her, please. I might need your help too," she instructed before heading for her chamber.

Once she walked inside and shut the door behind her, she took off the soiled dress and just stood there in her undergarments as she waited for Paulina to join her.

She didn't have to wait for too long, as a knock sounded on the door a moment later, and Paulina walked into the chamber, "Milady, is everything okay?" Paulina asked fearfully as her eyes fell on the bloodstained dress that was on the floor, and Alicia gave her a nod.

"There is no time, and I need to prepare for dinner. Ask Alvin to help me draw water for my bath while you help me dress up," Alicia instructed, and Paulina looked at her like she had lost her mind.

"What?" She asked impatiently.

"That is the duty of a maid, not a guard, milady. It is not right for a man to draw water," Paulina explained, and Alicia felt like rolling her eyes, but she didn't.

"I will be late for dinner if I wait much longer for you to find the maids. Let's just go to the lakeside instead. I will just take my bath over there and dress up," Alicia said, and Paulina's eyes bulged.

Paulina's surprise was for several reasons. First of all, Princess Amber wasn't a good swimmer, so she usually avoided going close to large bodies of water close to the mountain. Secondly, princesses didn't bathe in such public places.

Alicia ignored her as she put on a different set of clothes to go to the lake and then asked Paulina to get her something else that she would change into after bathing.

She walked over to the door where Alvin was still standing, waiting for her to give him another instruction or dismiss him. "Can you lead me to the lake?" She asked Alvin hopefully.

"Lake?" Alvin asked, looking at her with surprise. He had been able to hear their conversation, but he didn't think she was serious.

"Yes. I need to wash up. You can keep watch while I bathe, and Paulina will help me to dress up," she said, and without waiting for him to say anything, she walked past him, expecting both him and Paulina to follow her.

As three of them walked out of the palace and towards the lake, the guards and maids followed them with their curious gaze, wondering where they were going, especially because Paulina was carrying some clothes with her.

Once they got to the lake, Alicia looked around for the part of the lake where she could get maximum privacy. "Okay, you can stand over there and keep watch while I bathe," she instructed Alvin, pointing to the side that faced the palace, since she suspected that if anyone was going to come that way, they would be coming from that direction.

Seeing the calm water, she felt very excited as she stripped off her clothes beside the pavilion, and Paulina helped her to take off her undergarments and carefully set them on the pavilion. "Milady, shouldn't you at least wear underwear?" Paulina asked when she noticed that Alicia was taking off everything.

"No. I want to skinny dip. I've missed doing that," Alicia said with a wide smile, and without waiting for Paulina to speak further, she picked up the bar of soap before jumping into the lake.

"Woohoo!" She exclaimed as her body hit the cold water. Why hadn't she thought of coming to bathe here sooner? She wondered as she spread soap lather over her body. As the thought hit her, it also occurred to her that maybe she didn't need to go to the other river to drown. What if she tried drowning herself here? Maybe Amber would return to her body if she felt that her life was in danger.

Deciding to give it a try, she stopped swimming and held her breath as she went under the water. Water filled her lungs, and she started to drown without struggling.

'Princess Amber' she called in her head as she felt life slowly drain out of her. She hoped that Amber would take over soon, but the more seconds passed, the more scared she became that she might die and Amber might not take over.

Paulina's face flashed in her memory, the same with Tyra, Susan, Luciana, and Alvin. And the last was Harold, remembering his amused face when he looked at her most of the time.

Unable to bear it anymore, she released her breath and swam to the surface of the water, coughing and breathing hard as she fought the urge to cry.

"Milady, are you okay?" Paulina, who had been standing by the edge of the lake and peering into the water, asked in concern since she had been very worried about her mistress, especially after she disappeared under the water for a couple of seconds.

Alicia said nothing to her as she swam out of the water, breathing hard. She dropped the soap on a rock at the edge of the lake and cleaned her hands before taking a piece of cloth from Paulina, which Paulina offered her as a towel to dry her face and body.

Different thoughts filled her head as Paulina hurriedly helped her dress up so she wouldn't be late for dinner. Once Paulina was done, they returned to the palace, and she headed straight for the dining hall.

Inside the hall, everyone was already seated, waiting for the King and Queen, while Harold kept glancing at the door as he waited for Alicia to arrive. Just when he decided to leave and go in search of her, she walked into the hall, and didn't look at him.

He gave her a questioning look as she went to sit beside him, and every one of them noticed her wet hair, which wasn't properly arranged.

"Where were you? Are you okay?" Harold whispered to her, and she gave him a nod.

The other ladies around the table looked at her curiously, especially when they noticed that she was wearing different clothes from what she had worn earlier. "Are you okay? Did something happen to your dress?" Luciana asked curiously since she was in charge of her welfare.

Ivan, who was seated beside his wife as usual and was still seething because of his wife's attitude earlier, scowled at Alicia with displeasure, not liking the concern he heard in his wife's tone, but Alicia wasn't in the mood to give him any attention.

"I'm fine. I ruined my clothes, so I had to change into something else," Alicia explained with a smile. "By the way, did you ladies get to do what I asked you to do?" She asked conversationally as she looked from Luciana to Tyra and then to Susan.

She smiled when all three nodded their heads while Harold, Ivan, and Williams watched them with curiosity, wondering what she could have possibly asked them to do.

"How did it go?" She asked, and Luciana looked slightly embarrassed to talk about it because of the men in their midst.

"Let's talk about it later," Luciana suggested, and the others nodded in agreement.

"..." Alicia opened her mouth to speak again, but shut it when the King and Queen joined them, and they all stood up to acknowledge their presence.

Once everyone was seated and they started eating, Alicia waited for some minutes before clearing her throat to get the king's attention. Everyone looked at her curiously, wondering what she wanted to say this time.

"Uhm, I have a question, my king," she said, and when the king gave her a nod, she continued, "I was just curious about the follow-up meeting with your council." Alicia asked the king with a curious smile.

"Follow-up meeting?" The King asked, and she bobbed her head.

"Concerning the crazy female that chose to wear male clothes," she explained, and the king's gaze moved to Harold before it returned to her.

"We decided to let go of it since it was a one-time offense. But if she is caught next time, she will be punished," the king said, and Alicia sighed inwardly.

"I see," she said with a small smile, feeling sad already since she had actually been looking forward to wearing the clothes again and even encouraging the other royal ladies to do the same when they leave the palace for their hangout.

After that, everyone returned their attention to their meal until Alicia cleared her throat once again to get their attention. Both the queen and Ivan looked at her with irritation, while the others looked at her with curiosity.

"Is there a question you want to ask again?" The queen asked with a forced smile.

"Yes, my queen. My question is for the King," Alicia said, and the king gave her a nod to go ahead.

"The lunch you talked about before, can we have it tomorrow?"

Meanwhile, Harold was already beginning to turn red with anger from the lack of attention as he glared at his father and then at Alicia.