The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Harold sat on the bed beside Alicia's sleeping form as he spoonfed her the medicine that the royal physician had prepared specially for her.

Seeing how gentle he was with her, no one would guess that it was the same person who had just killed more than a dozen people earlier.

He had washed off the filthy blood from his body and changed into a loose white garment and had his hair, which had grown a bit longer while he was unconscious, neatly combed out. He looked ethereal, except for his eyes, which were now a mixture of the usual blue and red as he tried to calm down and take care of Alicia.

'I need to rest. Wake me up if you want us to rip more people apart,' Harold's wolf said in his head before disappearing.

Alvin stood away from him, not knowing if it was okay to speak yet. He had never seen Harold this way before, so he didn't want to overstep his boundary. A lot of things had changed about him and he was curious to know how he was.

"Tell me," Harold said when he was done spoon-feeding her the medicine, and he moved away from the bed to look out the window, as he usually did when he had a lot on his mind.

Alvin knew Harold was asking about everything that had happened. Harold only knew a bit of what had happened but not in detail, so now, Alvin explained the best way he could, starting from how he had been wounded during the hunt and how he had stayed beside him without knowing what was going on with Princess Amber until Susan had come to see him.

"You were in here with me for days without keeping an eye on her?" Harold cut in with a growl as he turned around to glare at Alvin.

Alvin cautiously took a step back as he explained, "I couldn't leave you alone. I didn't know what to do. I had to watch over you even though I also wanted to make sure she was okay. What could I have done? I couldn't trust anyone. There is a limit to what I can do for her as a guard."

Harold looked at him, eyes blazing with anger. As angry as he was, he knew that Alvin was right. Alvin had done what he could. Only he could have saved Alicia. He couldn't bear to think about what would have happened had he arrived even a second late.

"Did you see the person who shot you?" Alvin asked him. Maybe if Harold knew, that would give them a hint.

Harold shook his head a bit. "Something didn't feel right about that night. I sensed it." He said as though he was talking to himself, but Alvin clearly heard him.

"Did you find anything?" Harold asked, and Alvin told him about his visit to the village and his conversation with the maid.

"Where is she now?" Harold asked, hoping that Alvin had not let her get away.

"I helped her to hide somewhere safe. I told her she has to stay there until you are awake and decide what to do with her," Alvin said, and Harold gave him a curt nod.

The king was ill. He was shot, and even though his wounds healed a long time ago, he hadn't recovered his consciousness until now. Beth was killed, Tyra stabbed, and Alicia framed for it.

"Should I start looking into the person who tried to kill you?" Alvin asked. He could have done so earlier if he had had the time for that.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, the royal court had not taken it seriously and simply tried to make Princess Amber the culprit for that as well.

"The target was not me," Harold said thoughtfully.

"What?" Alvin asked in confusion.

"If they wanted to kill me, the person would have succeeded when he shot the first arrow," Harold shook his head. "It doesn't make sense that he missed a vital point three times. The plan was to hurt me, not kill me."

"How were you not able to take note of the person's presence until it happened?" Alvin asked curiously. That was one question that had been on his mind the whole time he sat there looking after him.

It still didn't make sense that he had been shot just like that, especially on a full moon night when he was supposed to be at his strongest with all his senses alert. Harold wasn't the type to let down his guard, especially not on an important night like that.

"I don't know," Harold said again, more to himself than to Alvin.

"Something must have happened." He said as he snapped his head up to look at Alvin.

"For now, let's focus on her," His gaze softened as he looked at Alicia. "I believe whoever shot me has a hand in this too."

"If they didn't plan to kill you? Why did they shoot you?" Alvin asked, still confused.

With his gaze still on Alicia, he said, "Most likely to get rid of her. They must have thought it would be easier to get rid of her if I'm not there."

"The Queen?" Alvin asked even though he thought it didn't make much sense. The queen hated him. And if she had a chance, she would kill him and not mess around with him or his wife.

"The three last attacks on me were not meant to kill me," Harold thought out loud as he remembered the attack on the first night he met Alicia. The second was when they were returning from the marketplace, and then this last one.

They hadn't tried to kill him. There was something else he didn't know for now. But he could assume that the attack this time was to kill Alicia.

"Every single person who knows something about this... make them gather at the pavilion. Double up the night guards. Anyone caught trying to escape... must die." Harold ordered, and Alvin looked at him hesitantly, wondering whether or not he should speak freely.

"Say it!" Harold ordered, knowing that Alvin had something to say.

"Princess Tyra... she said Princess Amber did it. What if this is similar to what happened the last time? I mean, on our way from the village? What if she did it but doesn't remember it?" Alvin asked, hoping that Harold would explain to him what was going on with his wife, as he had promised to last time.

He could tell that there was something off about Princess Amber, but he couldn't tell what it was and from the bits of the conversation he had heard her having with Paulina and also with Harold and Harvey, he could not make sense of it.