The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Back in the palace, the Queen was still seated in the same position where the messenger had met her the previous night. She didn't sleep a wink throughout the night as she tried to process everything that she had been told. One by one, she tried to process them.

First of all, Princess Amber wasn't a real princess. Her real mother was the infamous Anne, and not the current queen. She had been brought from exile to marry Prince Harold, which was a big slap to their faces.

How dare those filthy humans deceive them? She didn't exactly care if Harold had married a princess or a queen or even a slave. The thing that annoyed her was that those people had intentionally deceived them.

Back to the main issue. Before the queen's father died, with the permission of her husband, the King, he had aided in the alienation of Queen Anne's family, after they were discovered to be witches in hiding. And as fate would have it, Princess Amber was not only married into the same family who had helped in the destruction of hers, but she was from a line of witches!

Did it mean Tyra had been telling the truth about her? Did Amber, by chance, know about this and had come for revenge? Was that why she almost killed Tyra? Was she aiding Harold to get rid of them?

The most important question was: was she also a witch? Was she the reason Harold's curse was broken?

It made sense that she was a witch. No wonder she was easily able to bewitch almost everyone in the palace, if only she wasn't immune to it. Thankfully, even her useless son was immune to her.

Was Harold aware that his wife was a witch? Surely, Harold would abhor witches too, right?

Now that she thought about it, she wondered if Amber was the one responsible for those letters. If she was, then who was responsible for the attacks on Harold?

It still didn't entirely make sense. There had to be someone else.

She wasn't sure whether to be excited or wary about this piece of information.

She was excited because this would be a good way to punish Princess Amber and Harold, but wary because she wasn't sure what the outcome would be.

She didn't want to underestimate them and end up in a bad position again like the last time.

Should she call an assembly to tell them about this? Or should she dig more into this first? She didn't want to act rashly. At this point, she was beginning to get paranoid again.

That witch... the woman had sworn her life to her and had been her strongest support after she saved her. But she has suddenly disappeared. Did Princess Amber have a hand in all this?

Were they, by chance, holding her hostage and waiting for the right time to ruin her life?

If she wasn't already paranoid before, she was now.

What was she supposed to do with this new piece of information? She didn't want to make any rash decisions that would end up backfiring, but even after staying up the entire night to think, she wasn't able to come to a conclusion, and at this point, she could not rely on anybody.

A knock sounded on the door before Damian entered and bowed to her.

"You should return to your chamber and get some rest, My Queen. You have been up the entire night." He said with concern.

Rest? That was the least of her problems at the moment, she mused as she rose from her seat and walked out of the royal library, and Damian followed behind her quietly.

She was surprised when she stepped out and observed that it was dawn already. She hadn't realized that she had spent so much time thinking about what to do.

Perhaps she could gather the assembly but leave out the part about Princess Amber being a witch and instead punish Princess Amber's father for deceiving them.

That way, the issue of witchcraft wouldn't be exposed by her and she would be safe, right?

Besides, no good daughter would be okay with watching her father being punished. Maybe she could reach an agreement with Princess Amber and let her father live if she agreed to go far away with Prince Harold? She sighed as she thought about that. Princess Amber didn't seem like a very good daughter.

"My Queen, is everything alright?" Damian called, causing the Queen to stop as she turned to look at Damian. That was when she realized that she had walked past her chamber.

She sighed once more and returned to her chamber, still deep in thought.

Although it was risky, if she gathered the assembly in the absence of Harold and Princess Amber and told them about Princess Amber's true identity, that would clear every doubt that anyone had that she was innocent.

Everyone would see her for the witch she was, and even those who were supporting her would withdraw their support when they realized that they had been bewitched by her.

Perhaps Harold too would become wary of her if he found out the truth about her. Although she would have to do something to convince Harold and turn his heart against her, if that didn't work, she would have to rely on the aristocrats and trust them not to make Harold king.

No one would crown an alpha who was married to a witch.

She would take this risk and expose Princess Amber, and if for any reason they brought in the witch to testify against her, she would do her best to deny ever being associated with the witch.

Once she got to her chamber, she turned to Damian and said, "Ask Sir Damon to meet me in the royal garden immediately, then gather the assembly. Tell them I have an important announcement to make," she instructed, and Damian bowed before walking away.

Soon a knock sounded on the doors of all the aristocrats as they were summoned to the assembly, and although they were displeased by it, they made haste and left their chambers to find out what was happening.

Immediately after Damon was informed of the queen's summons, he left his chamber and went to the royal garden to meet with her.

"What is this I hear about an assembly?" He asked with displeasure as he joined her.

"That is no way to greet the Queen," she scolded, and he tried to rein in his temper as he bowed to her.

"I received an interesting visitor last night," she started, but Damon said nothing as he merely looked at her and waited for her to get to the point.

"Before the banquet, I had asked Ivan to send some people to find out more about Princess Amber," the queen said, and even though curiosity briefly flickered in Damon's eyes, he said nothing as he continued to look at her, patiently waiting for her to tell him what she learned.

"You were present at Prince Harold's wedding. Did you not notice anything strange about her?" The Queen asked, and Damon narrowed his eyes as he recalled all that had happened that day at the wedding, and he scowled when he remembered how she had challenged him in the presence of everyone.

"If you have something important to say, get to it," he said, not willing to indulge in small talk by giving details of a past event.

"We were fooled. Princess Amber is not a princess," the queen announced, and Damon's eyes widened slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"She is the daughter of the late Queen who was executed by the king. She was exiled and was only brought in from exile to marry Prince Harold," the Queen said, and Damon frowned.

"You mean she is not a real princess? Her father deceived us?" He asked as his insides boiled with anger at not only being disrespected by a human who wasn't even exactly royalty, but also being fooled by a foolish king.

"He did. And even more surprising is the fact that she's from a line of witches," the Queen said, and this time shock registered on Damon's face.

"A witch?" He asked in dismay, and then his eyes narrowed when he recalled what had happened on the day Paulina was to be executed.

"Do you think she might have been responsible for the strange cloud and wind that swept over the palace a few days ago?" Damon asked, and the queen's eyes narrowed.

Why hadn't she thought of it? It made sense that she could have been behind it. But was she that powerful?

"I'm not sure. But it wouldn't hurt if we said that to the aristocrats. That would make them believe she is dangerous," the Queen said, and Damon looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Is that why you called for the assembly?" He asked, and she gave him a nod.

"Yes. Let's expose Harold's witch bride. But first, I want you to send for her parents. They need to be punished," the queen said, but Damon shook his head.

"Prince Harold said no one must leave...."

"Isn't it clear that he had been bewitched? Once we exposed that, no one would take his words seriously anymore! Believe me and do as I have said."