The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

As much as everyone hated Ivan, right now they felt pity for him. Even though he acted like an idiot most of the time, they knew Luciana was important to him, and he had hurt her with his hands... literally. He already had a lot of regrets, so they didn't want to try to punish him or blame him for this. But the twins obviously had different thoughts.

"I will take her with me," Ivan insisted as he tried to go and carry her, but to his surprise, before Alvin could push him back, an angry Susan stood up and slapped him hard on his face, surprising them all.

"This is all your fault!" She cried.

"If anything happens to Princess Luciana, I will kill you myself." She glared at him before asking in a harsh tone, "How do you intend to take her to the palace yourself?"

The others looked at Alicia and Luciana, who was unconscious—not counting Paulina, who was inside the inn unconscious too.

"Ride with Princess Luciana in the carriage to the palace. Do your best to keep her safe. We will find our way to the palace." Harold instructed Williams and Susan before turning to Alvin. "You should also return to the palace and get treated."

"They can go without me. I can't leave you," Alvin said without hesitation, even though the pain was getting to him terribly.

It was no ordinary wound that would simply cover itself and heal. It was a deep cut, and he still had blood pouring out of his back. But how could he leave for the palace when Harold was here with two unconscious ladies and soldiers who were not willing to budge?

"You are no use here in that state!" Harold insisted, but Alvin didn't budge.

"I can take the medicine I brought with me. I will heal. I can't leave you alone," Alvin repeated stubbornly, but before Harold could respond, Susan looked at him angrily.

"You need to be treated! You cannot remain here. What... is wrong with everyone today?" She asked, bursting into tears.

Usually, Susan was a very collected lady. Even Williams could count the number of times he had seen her cry with one hand. But everything that had happened today seemed to be too much for her to handle, and he could understand why because he felt the same way, especially because of the uncertainty they all felt about Luciana's recovery.

Williams wasn't sure how to tell them, but they would need a miracle for Luciana to survive this.

How had the day, which had started so well, turned out to be this way? They had enjoyed the food fight, regardless of how annoying it had been at first, and then the water fight. Who would have thought the day would end this way?

Alvin just stared at Susan with an unreadable gaze before he turned and began to approach a frightened soldier who kept stepping back, preparing to flee, as he wondered what he had done to suddenly be facing Alvin's wrath. However, before he could flee, Alvin held onto him and pulled off his cloak wordlessly before returning to drape it around Susan, who was only just realizing that part of her body was exposed.

"She is running a fever! We have to leave." Williams said in panic when he felt Luciana's burning temperature and cold sweat forming all over her body.

All arguments ceased as Harvey helped him carefully lift Luciana from the ground, ignoring Ivan, who was trying to do so himself while panicking.

Harvey looked down at his banter partner with pity, almost cursing her for trying to protect her idiot of a husband.

Thankfully, the carriage riders had come in earlier to ride them back to the palace, so they were nearby and rushed in to open the carriage door.

"You should leave with them," Harold said to Lance, and he gave Harold a nod as he joined Williams and Harvey, who were carefully trying to place Luciana into the carriage while Susan was seated inside so Luciana's head and shoulders would rest on her thighs.

Because of the situation of things, no one there remembered that Susan and Luciana were still dressed in masculine clothes, and even if anyone did, that was the least of Susan's concerns as she clutched dearly onto the cloak around her and prayed for Luciana's life, while Luciana, on the other hand, was too busy fighting for her life to care.

"You should come with us," Susan called out to Alvin through the window of the carriage.

"We will join you shortly," Alvin said with a polite nod, then turned away from her.

Ivan was still staring at the carriage dumbly with tears in his eyes until Harold's voice snapped him to his senses: "Are you just going to stand there like an idiot or leave for the palace?"

Ivan turned to look at him and still seemed muddleheaded for a brief moment until the carriage began to move, with Lance following behind on his horse while Williams was riding inside with the girls with his eyes on Luciana, but even he was beginning to feel an unpleasantness within him that he couldn't place yet.

Ivan quickly adjusted and properly, wrapped the robe around him before mounting his horse.

Harold stood there with Alicia in his arms and watched until the carriage and horses had disappeared from view.

For today, he would let Ivan be.

He tried to put himself in Ivan's shoes, imagining he had done that to Alicia instead. So he could understand how Ivan felt. He hated Ivan, but he didn't want to punish him today because he knew how much Ivan cared about her and could still remember how excited Ivan had been after he met Luciana up until their marriage. He had surprisingly not made trouble with anyone then and just took everything with a smile, which had been very weird for Harold to see.

Now, however, he had something more important to think about.

Harold's blood boiled and his heart ached at the same time as he looked down at Alicia's pale face now.

He couldn't imagine how shocked and scared she must have been to see him in that form, and it was all their fault.