The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Lance looked at Harvey in horror. It seemed like the guy wanted to throw him into this whether he liked it or not.

"She is going to die in a moment if you don't speak!" Harvey pressed as Alicia took the bowl from the guard.

Her hand was shaking so much that she almost dropped it. It was obvious that she was scared, even though she looked resigned now.

Everyone was watching. Patiently waiting for her to die. Some were impatient.

The queen looked down at her from the podium where she stood, trying hard to hide her condescending sneer. This was her first payback to Harold. As much as she wanted him to never wake up from his unconscious state, she also wanted him to live for a long time in misery after finding out that the woman he fancied so much was no more.

Ivan, however, didn't bother to hide his delight as he watched from the balcony, where he had forced Luciana to watch with him. He had covered her properly with a cloak that had a hood and held her in place so she would witness the entire thing. Luciana's body shook and a bead of tears streamed down her face. Ivan could force her to stay, but he couldn't force her to watch, so she closed her eyes tightly.

Another person who could not hide their delight was Benedicta. She was so excited that anyone would have thought they were having a celebration right now and not an execution.

No matter how hard Harvey pressed, he could see the hesitation in Lance's eyes. He didn't want to get involved, and he could understand why. This was no minor issue. Harvey noticed Lance was looking at his father. Sir Gregory kept his gaze on what was happening in front of him. He seemed disappointed at what was happening ahead of him. That was his planned money bag that was about to get executed.

"Speak! Stop being a coward and save her life! This is my last warning to you!" Harvey said in a dangerous tone. Normally, Lance would have been seriously angry, but seeing how Princess Amber was about to die made him a little less stupid.

Lance's heart began to beat heavily as he watched Alicia raise the bowl to her lips. If he didn't speak in a moment, she was going to die, and they were all going to hate him for it because he had had a chance to help but had refused to help.

Everyone hated him already and barely talked to him, but since this whole incident, they have all spoken to him. And seeing how they were jointly trying to help despite their parents, while he, who could actually save Princess Amber's life by telling them what he knew was hesitating because he feared what his father might do, he agreed with Harvey that he was a coward.

Just as the bowl touched Alicia's lips, Lance shut his eyes tightly and weighed the pros and cons of delaying this execution.

"STOP!" Lance yelled with all his might.

The shock caused Alicia to flinch and drop the bowl in her hand, and look up.

There was a sudden, loud silence everywhere as all eyes turned towards Lance, who knew at this point that he was screwed.

He couldn't look at anyone. He didn't want to look at anyone, especially his father.

But before anyone could concern themselves with him, the atmosphere changed, making it difficult for most of them to breathe. Before they could wonder what was happening, there was a whizzing sound of an arrow that pierced through the neck of the guard who had served Alicia the poison. His eyes widened just before he fell to his death. In less than a minute, he had gone from looking at Lance, who had interrupted the execution, to having an arrow pierce through his neck.

With his heart beating fast and thinking that everyone had gone deadly silent because of his yell, Lance opened his eyes, expecting to see all eyes on him, but instead, everyone was looking in a different direction.

He followed their gaze, and the first thing he saw was a man who had from his nose down, covered with a handkerchief that was tied to the back of his neck. He held a bow and arrow in hand. From his build, even Lance was able to identify him. It was Alvin. And just behind him, Harold slowly approached, and with each step he took, the air was less breathable for every single person present there.

He looked... different.

His natural blue eyes were pure red. His white hair rode behind him with the wind, and as crazy as it sounded, he seemed to have grown bigger... wilder. Scarier.

Everyone stared in fear. Ivan and the Queen tensed at the sight of Harold. At this point, Ivan didn't know whether to be grateful that the guards had refused to let him go into the chamber or not.

As Ivan's hold on her weakened, Luciana fell to the floor and cried in relief when she saw Harold. Even if breathing was difficult at this point because of his wild pheromones that had polluted the air, she could not help but be relieved.

Harvey felt the same way as Luciana. He could only close his eyes and sigh in relief, while Lance was more than grateful at this point. As much as he hated Harold, he had perfect timing.

Alicia, however, didn't realise what was happening. She was still reeling from the fact that she had almost drank the poison and also the fact that a person had been killed in front of her.

As she looked at the blood all over the guard, who had his eyes wide open even in death, she began to have some flashes that made her head throb.

"Did you think you were going to live forever?" She heard a voice in her head that she recognized as Beth's. Beth was mocking her.

"You are just a mere human compared to me,"

Alicia began to get flashes of seeing a bloodied body on the floor.

The body belonged to Beth.

"Now... your turn..." Someone whispered in her ear.

She tried to stop thinking about it. Because the more she thought about it, the more her head throbbed and the more frightened she felt for some reason.

It wasn't her. She didn't kill Beth.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and snapped back to her senses, also flinching from the touch.

"Princess..." Harold called calmly. His already deep voice sounded even deeper.

Alicia raised her teary eyes in disbelief and looked at the face of the person crouching down in front of her. He looked familiar yet unfamiliar.

"H-Harold?" She asked in disbelief and prayed her mind wasn't playing tricks on her.

"Go to sleep," he said softly and knowing she was safe now, she fainted immediately.