The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

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Something very strange happened that morning. Harold woke up to find himself sleeping beside Alicia on the bed. His eyes were as wide as saucers, and he didn't bother to hide the fact that he was surprised.

What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? These three questions ran through his head as he looked around the chamber and then at the girl who was still sleeping peacefully in his arms.

The last time he slept peacefully at night was a very long time ago before his supposed curse so how come he had slept off here and woke up very early the next morning without shifting at all throughout the night?

The previous night, he had only planned to see her for a while and leave through her window. But he noticed she was having some kind of discomfort in her sleep. He guessed she was probably having a nightmare, so after thinking about what to do, he decided to pat her gently and also release some nerve-calming pheromones, even though he wasn't sure it would work on her since she was human. But who would have expected her to suddenly grab onto his hand and refuse to let go?

He was a lot stronger than her and would have easily pulled himself out of her hold, but he didn't do that even though he knew he was running out of time. With conflicted feelings, he decided to suppress the force of his wolf and stay beside her until she was okay, even though he had never done that before and wasn't sure he could push back the time he was supposed to shift. Only for him to jolt awake with her sleeping peacefully in his arms!

He had never slept for more than 2 hours during the day, and it was a light nap since he had to be cautious of his environment at all times, so his body felt rather confused since he had slept for almost 5 hours before he woke up.

'What happened last night?' His wolf asked, also confused.

"I don't know either," Harold responded out loud while looking at the window. In an hour or more, everyone would start coming out, so he carefully separated her from him before he jumped out the window and headed for his room's window before climbing in.

For as long as he could remember, his wolf was the one to take over every night, and it usually spent the time hunting or just chasing fireflies around for fun, which always made Harold angry. But back then, he couldn't communicate with his wolf, so there was nothing he could do. When he eventually started communicating with his wolf that night in the woods, things changed. And since then, his wolf spent the night looking around for anything or anyone suspicious in and outside the palace... Hold on. He was able to communicate with his wolf for the first time the first night he saw her in the woods.

'It's her,' his wolf voiced out the same thing he was thinking about. The same night he met her was when he heard his wolf's voice in his head for the first time. And now, he had slept beside her and didn't have to face the excruciating pain of shifting unwillingly.

Although he was still standing by his window looking outside while he was lost in his thoughts, he knew when Alvin entered the chamber, so he turned to look at him. From the look on Alvin's face, he could tell that Alvin must have suspected something.

"I didn't shift last night," he said before Alvin could ask.

Alvin had suspected it, but he was still surprised by that information. Nothing went past Alvin, so he knew the Prince had visited his bride last night and had seen him jump out of her window into his this morning.

"How... did that h-happen?" He asked, feeling a little lost.

Harold shook his head. For the first time, he looked lost. "I'm not sure," he said before changing the topic and asked, "Any strange movements from within the palace?"

Alvin shook his head. "Nothing," he answered. He could not help but think that the queen and Prince Ivan were very thick-skinned. They plotted evil and yet continued to act like everything was normal. Their facial expressions rarely revealed what they were thinking except their false smiles and ingenuine kindness towards the princess and Harold.

"Keep looking. No matter how insignificant the information is, let me know about it." Harold said as he looked out his window.

"Did anyone leave the palace before us yesterday?"

"No, your highness. But some people left 2 days ago. The royal chef, some kitchen servants, and some guards."

"How many?"

"7 in total."

"Look into all of them. One of them must have delivered the message that we were going to leave the palace yesterday."

"I'm already doing that. How is Princess Amber?" Alvin asked with concern since she had been unconscious the last time he saw her.

"She is still not awake yet." Harold paused before adding, "Ask Paulina to report to Princess Tyra for help. Tyra would order the royal physician to check on Amber," Harold said as he walked away from the window. At least that way, no one would think he had directly sent for the physician.

"I will," Alvin said, and turned to leave, but he hesitated by the door as he turned to look at Harold once again, "So does this mean that the curse has been broken?" Alvin asked hopefully, since he knew just how tiresome shifting was for Harold.

"I don't know," Harold confessed as he went to sit on his bed. He really wanted to believe that the curse was broken. He wished that he knew what was going on. Who exactly was this bride of his? And why did things change whenever she was present?

"Let me know whatever the physician says," Harold called out to Alvin as he left the room.

Down the hallway, Alvin saw Paulina heading for Alicia's bedroom, and he quickened his pace to catch up with her. "You are going to meet your mistress?" He asked once he fell in line with her steps, and Paulina looked at him with a startled expression since she had been lost in her thoughts and didn't know when he joined her.

"Yes, I am."

"If she is not feeling well, ask Princess Tyra to help you get the physician," Alvin said, and Paulina looked at him with a slight frown.

"Did something happen to her?" She asked curiously since he was the closest person to Harold that she could ask.

From her tone, Alvin could tell that she was suspecting Harold of having done something to her mistress, "Prince Harold didn't hurt her. She just fainted. Don't forget to go to Princess Tyra," he reminded her before walking away.

Paulina took a deep breath as she quickened her pace. When she walked into the chamber, she was surprised to see that her mistress was still deeply asleep.

"My lady?" She called softly as she stopped by the bed and tapped Alicia's shoulder, but Alicia didn't move. If not for the fact that Alicia was still breathing, she would have thought that her mistress was dead. Her face looked so pale that Paulina couldn't help feeling worried.

Just then, Beth pushed the door open and walked into the chamber. She scowled when she saw that Alicia was still lying under the blanket. She had seen Harold carrying her into her chamber the previous evening after they returned from their outing, and she was still pissed by the sight, which was engraved in her memory.

"Is she going to pretend to be ill once again?" She asked irritably as she approached the bed.

"She doesn't look like she is fine," Paulina complained, without sparing Beth a glance as she rubbed Alicia's hands. Her body seemed very cool.

"I'm not going to let you skip the class today like I let you do the last time. I will no longer teach Lady Susan separately from you," Beth insisted stubbornly as she went to the bed and pulled off the blanket, expecting Alicia to stand up and challenge her as usual, but Alicia didn't move.

"What are you doing? She is ill," Paulina snapped at her angrily, as she picked up the blanket and rushed to the bed to cover her mistress. Although Paulina was usually scared and timid, she couldn't afford to be that way when her mistress was sick. She needed to be bold like her mistress in order to protect her.

"Ill? You mean like she pretended to be ill the last time?" Beth asked, unwilling to buy Paulina's tale.

"Prince Harold brought her back this way last night. She hasn't opened her eyes since she got back," Paulina tried to explain, but Beth was having none of it. She had allowed them to get away with it the first time, and she had even been scolded. She wasn't going to let them get away with it this time.

"If you don't stand up this minute, I'm going to report you directly to the King!" Beth threatened as she tried to drag Alicia off the bed, but Paulina tried to stop her, and Beth pushed her to the side roughly.

"What are you doing?" Tyra asked in horror as she and Susan rushed over to Alicia's bedside. They had both come in to check on Alicia before breakfast, mainly because they were curious to know what had happened the previous day and why Harold had carried her that way.

"Are you crazy?" Susan snapped at Beth in anger.

"She is pretending to be sick. I swear it! She is pretending!" Beth said indignantly as Paulina, Tyra, and Susan gathered around Alicia, who was still unconscious and oblivious to what was happening around her.

"She isn't awake yet?" Susan asked in concern when she noticed how pale Alicia looked, and Paulina shook her head as she sobbed softly.

"Please call the physician," Paulina pleaded, looking at Tyra, while Beth stared at Alicia's sleeping form in confusion.

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