The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

While Alicia was in her chamber thinking of the best way to make Harold believe that she had changed her mind, Harold was busy thinking about the best way to change her mind and make her stop trying so hard to leave.

He paced around the room thoughtfully. Although he should be worried that once again he had shifted to his wolf form, that was the least of his worries. He didn't want Alicia to leave.

While trying to come up with a way to convince her not to leave, he reasoned that it was also important to keep his eyes on her and make sure she didn't succeed in running away before he succeeded in changing her mind.

Knowing her, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she would come up with another escape plan, which was why, after leaving her chamber last night, he had ignored the curfew and met with Alvin to instruct him to be even more vigilant now. He was to follow Alicia with his eyes, nose, and ears every second of the day. If she so much as stepped out through the palace door, he shouldn't be unaware.

"How will I serve you if I'm always following her around?" Alvin had asked, thinking that what Harold was asking him to do was ridiculous. There was no way he could run other errands for Harold and still watch her.

"I will be with her whenever I need you to do something else for me," Harold assured him.

"If I may ask, why are you doing this?" Alvin had asked, looking at Harold curiously. Werewolves were naturally very possessive of their partners, but he had never thought of Harold as being one of such. Also, Princess Amber was not his mate. She was someone he had been pushed to marry. But it seemed like with every passing day, his possessiveness was increasing.

"She is my bride, and I have to make sure that she is safe," Harold said matter of factly, but even though Alvin had the feeling that there was more to this instruction than that, he kept it to himself and had bowed before leaving Harold for the night.

A knock sounded on his door, pulling him out of his thoughts. The door opened and Alvin walked in, "Good morning, your... Harold," Alvin caught himself when Harold turned to look at him with disapproval.

"Good morning," Harold said as he walked over to the window and looked outside.

"You shifted last night," Alvin observed, noting that Harold looked tired, as he often did in the morning whenever he shifted. "What happened?"

He had thought that Harold's curse had been broken since he hadn't shifted for two nights. Why did he suddenly shift again then? He had suspected it had something to do with spending the night with his bride, but that didn't seem to make much sense to him.

Harold pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about it. Perhaps he should wait until he found a way to bring Alicia into his bedroom to pass the night before sharing the information with Alvin. He needed to be sure of it.

If it happened to be true, then this was another reason why he would need her to stay back since she seemed to be the one who would break the curse. He couldn't trust that it was Amber, who he had never met.

Harold paused when another thought occurred to him: after everything Alicia had said, she had little or no idea how to handle weapons. Did it mean that her ability to throw daggers and fight was Amber's ability? Was that why her hands had seemed so rough, and she had looked so shocked after throwing that dagger at him? That could also explain why she couldn't remember what happened after killing some of the men that attacked them? Was it possible that Amber was still inside that body? The thought exhausted him.

Why did things have to be so complicated? He would have to directly ask Alicia whether or not she could handle weapons. If she couldn't, he would find a way to teach her secretly. That way, he would know just how much of her was Alicia and how much was Amber.

He wasn't going to have any use for Amber if fighting was the only thing she was good at. Besides, if it was really Amber who had shown up during that attack and had killed those men, he suspected that there was more to Amber. There was a difference between learning how to handle weapons to protect oneself and learning how to handle weapons to kill, and he had a feeling that Amber had learned how to handle weapons for the latter. Perhaps she had trained herself to seek vengeance? He didn't want a wife with a different plan from his. He would prefer a bride who was trying to run away and thinking up useless plans to one who was living to take revenge. He already had a lot going on with him. He didn't want to add more.

Alvin watched Harold, and from his posture, he could tell that Harold was thinking about many things. He wouldn't be getting any answers from Harold at this rate, so he called for his attention.

"Your highness?" He called out to remind Harold that he was still with him.

"Inform Ali— Princess Amber that I will be having breakfast with her at the royal garden. Instruct the maids to prepare our meal," Harold instructed Alvin.

He knew how much she liked to eat, and she had complained about not being able to eat when she wanted to. She hadn't eaten well last night either, so she was likely going to be hungry and throw a tantrum later. So maybe he could start with food.

Alvin sighed. It seemed like he was not going to get any useful information out of him. All he had to do was support the couple so they could continue to get along and just maybe, it would be possible to have a child with her without anything happening to the princess.

Alvin bowed and was about to leave when Harold stopped him.

"There is something else you should do for me," Harold said with a serious look on his face.

**********

It was funny how a rumour would be going around a place with everyone aware, but the people involved would know nothing about it. It was the exact same case for Paulina and Williams.

Every maid knew she had been suddenly assigned to take care of the painting room. But now that she was always meeting Sir Williams there, they suspected he had been the one to use his influence to appoint her there. They all wanted to know what was happening between them, but they could not ask either Paulina or Williams. Not only because Paulina was a human and they didn't want to relate to her, but also because they knew how much her mistress valued her and had even slapped Beth because of her!

The two said people were in the painting room with Williams, sitting on a bench, looking at Paulina, who looked like she would rather be anywhere else but in front of him.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asked her in a gentle voice, snapping her back to her senses.

She didn't look at him as she hurried to get the painting materials. She laid them on the floor across from him and knelt before looking at Sir Williams, whose brows were raised.

"You aren't planning to paint like that, are you?" He asked her.

She shook her head and began to stammer, "No... my lord. I... I will draw you first b-before I... paint,"

He let out a short laugh, startling her. "That wasn't what I meant. You shouldn't kneel on the floor. Your neck is going to hurt if you keep looking up from there."

She shook her head again, telling him she preferred painting on the floor like this. It had taken quite an effort for her to get the words out. He didn't push for her to do as he had said because he knew she was telling the truth. She had also preferred staying on the floor while doing the other portrait paintings for her mistress.

"In that case..." He let his words trail off as he got down from the bench and sat down cross-legged on the floor in front of her, making her fall back in shock.

"My... my lord!" She said in a panic as she stood up and didn't know whether to help him up from the floor or not.

"Relax," he said in a soothing voice.

"But... my lord... you are..." She pointed at the floor, but he interrupted her speech.

"Go ahead. Make sure you get a good portrait of me. I don't want you to miss a single thing," he said, and gestured at where she had been sitting directly opposite him.