The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"ALICIA!"

She hadn't expected him to shout her name like that, so she was taken aback by the aggression and broke into a sob. But instead of letting him go, she held on tightly to his hair, making Harold wince in pain as he tried to release himself from her grip. His hair was a precious asset to him. In fact, every part of his body was precious to him, so no one dared touch him. But this little girl had touched him a lot of times. As if that was not enough, his hair, which was a no-go area, was also gripped like this in public.

The guards, and some of the maids who had served them and were still waiting on them, almost fled when they heard his voice. They didn't want to be the unfortunate person that he would transfer their wrath to. But they were curious about one thing. Who was Alicia?

They took a peek to see what was happening and almost died of a heart attack when they saw his bride crying behind him with her hand gripping his hair. Prince Harold, on the other hand, looked like he was going to kill someone, but he just sat there, trying to look at her through his peripheral view.

What manner of person was she? How could she not have had any iota of fear of this scary man who was her husband? A man that even the bravest of men in the Moon Kingdom preferred to avoid? What was even more surprising was that Harold let her get away with everything she did. They were not over her pushing him out of his chamber the previous day, and that rumor was yet to die down, yet here they were again witnessing another mouth-dropping scene.

"Can you stop doing that?" Harold pleaded when she held on to his hair no matter how much he tried to stop her.

"You called my name. I don't remember the last time anyone called me that. I miss... my name," Alicia cried even louder as her grip on his hair tightened, causing Harold to grit his teeth.

He didn't know what annoyed him most: her hold on his hair or the sound of her endless bawling behind him. She was beginning to sound like her maid, whom he had heard cry more than he had heard her talk.

"Stop crying. I will call you Alicia," he reasoned with her so she could let go of his hair.

She stopped crying and tried to look at his face from that angle, bringing herself closer to him.

"You will?" She asked with a sniffle.

"Yes. Now let go of my hair and go sit down," he pleaded, and she reluctantly withdrew her hand as Harold turned in his seat to look at her.

She had tears on her face, and for some reason, it made him feel bad as he looked at her. Harold let out a sigh. "Why are you crying so often these days?" He wondered aloud as he stood up to face her.

He had wanted them to eat so that he could find a way to convince her to stay, but once again, she had thrown a tantrum about not wanting to stay here and drank his alcohol instead of eating the food they were served, and he was sure she hadn't eaten anything today. Drinking on an empty stomach was never a good thing. Now the purpose of the whole lunch has been defeated. The only good thing about it was that at least now he knew what her new escape plan was, even though it didn't make sense to him and he was sure as hell that it wasn't going to work.

"I want to go home," Alicia cried, her lips wobbling like a baby's, "I... I know... my life... is not perfect there, but... I... want to go back." She cried, and without thinking about it, she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist as she embraced him.

Panic flashed through his eyes as his first reaction was to push her off, but it seemed she had borrowed strength from an avenger and refused to let go, lost in her own emotions.

The guards and maids all turned around, thinking if it was best to stay or just flee, because at this rate, they could not guarantee her safety, much less theirs.

"Let... me hug you," she pleaded in a voice filled with sadness as she continued to cry.

Harold was certain of one thing: he would never allow her to come into contact with alcohol again in her entire life.

Although he knew that he shouldn't allow her to do this, especially in public, he didn't know any other way to comfort her, and if this was what she wanted, he was just going to swallow his discomfort and let her do as she pleased.

Maybe if he showed her that he cared for her a little, she would reconsider her decision to leave. It wasn't like she had anyone else to go to in the future. He knew he was being selfish with his thoughts, but he couldn't exactly help it.

He had never comforted someone in this manner before, so he simply stood there awkwardly with his hands beside him. Was he supposed to hug her back? Tell her things like, "This is your home now, so don't cry?"

He didn't think so. He suspected that if he said so, even the moon goddess would be shocked at what she would do to him. So he said nothing and awkwardly raised his hands to hug her back, but he kept dropping them beside him.

The Queen and the King, who were going into the garden to have lunch, stopped by the entrance when they saw the scene before them.

Their first facial expression was SHOCK. She was hugging him and crying in his embrace while he looked like he was struggling with the decision of whether to embrace her or not. And what more? His hair looked like chickens had fought in it, which was so unlike him.

The corners of the queen's lips twitched when she saw that the usually cold and aloof Harold was beginning to bend for his wife and didn't mind doing so openly.

She was glad to know that they had been right about him. Harold cared about his wife. She wondered how he would feel and react if something really bad happened to her now. She wasn't sure if he was all the way there yet. She would patiently wait until he was completely crazy about her. Then, he would give up any thought he had about the throne when his wife's life was placed on the line.

The king, on the other hand, watched the scene before him with interest. He felt relieved to know that he had made the right decision by making sure Harold got married. The moment he first encountered Harold's unruly human bride, he had gotten the feeling that she was exactly what his cold-hearted son needed, and he was glad to see that he was right. Maybe what they needed was more time to get to know each other outside the palace and bond more.

"Let's leave them alone. The maids can serve us in my chamber," the king suggested as he turned to leave, not wanting Harold to know that they had seen them. He signaled for the maids to leave with them to give them more privacy, but two guards stayed back.

The queen turned to follow her husband, who she was aware had a soft spot for his bastard. She knew without a doubt that deep down, he hoped that his bastard son would be redeemed and take over the throne from him. She had no intention of letting that happen.

Meanwhile, Harold internally cringed and almost sighed in relief when they left. Even though he couldn't exactly smell his father's presence, it wasn't so for the queen. He knew when they entered and immediately gave up all thought of hugging Alicia back. But they had already seen enough to know that he had a tiny soft spot for this little devil.

"Alright, enough!" He said sternly and tried to push her away angrily but the oblivious Alicia shook her head stubbornly.

"Fine!" He said, trying to control his anger.

When the guards, who had pretty good hearing, heard him speak in that tone, they thought he was going to unleash some Alpha power on her to make her let go, but what he said next made them almost facepalm and ask themselves if this was truly Prince Harold.

"What do you want me to do to make you feel better?" He asked, coaxing her.

That seemed to get her attention, and she raised her head to look up at him with her red, teary eyes.

"You... will do any-thing?" She asked hopefully.

He was sure she was going to tell him to help her escape, and that was one thing he wasn't going to do, but he nodded. He would do anything for her to let him go right now.

With her innocent look that could melt hearts, she blinked at him as she asked, "Then... can I... braid your hair?"

WHAT!

THE!!

HELL!!!

"NO!" He yelled, pushing her away.

Does she even know who he is?