The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Inside Harold's chamber, Alicia was fuming with anger as she paced back and forth from one end of the room to the other. She could only admit to herself that in her moment of anger she had absolutely forgotten that they were both in his chamber and not hers. And it was only after asking him to get out that she realized where she was. Still, she had been too mad to care, so she had pushed him out regardless.

Their conversation had been going on well earlier (maybe not well, but they had been having a conversation together) until he suddenly said something that didn't make sense.

The first thing he said was that he had thought about it and felt Paulina would be better off living outside the palace.

"Why?" She had asked apprehensively because it didn't make sense that he was suddenly suggesting having Paulina leave the palace.

"It would be good for her," he said in a dismissive tone that left her unconvinced.

"That won't happen!" She replied defiantly.

"It is going to happen. And it will happen," he said in a dismissive tone, letting her know there was no room for argument.

"You can't do that!" She yelled at his back. "Paulina came here with me. For me. Because of me. You can not just move her out of this place. She has been with Amb—me since we were kids, and you expect her to suddenly find a way to live alone in a strange kingdom?" She asked in disbelief.

Harold didn't pay her any attention. He had already made up his mind on this. He knew it was petty of him, but he felt like he would be killing several birds with one stone by sending Paulina away. She seemed to be a weakness for his bride since it seemed she had given up running away because of her. Also, he wasn't sure what was happening between Paulina and Williams. If anyone wanted to harm his princess, then all they had to do was convince or threaten Paulina to do it, and since his bride trusted her, she wouldn't suspect a thing. Lastly, his bride seemed to only care about Paulina and had gone to see her first after she woke up! How could he continue to let her stay here?

Ordinarily, he would have sent Paulina away already and wouldn't have wasted his time trying to explain to her that he had made up his mind to send her maid away, but he didn't know just how far she could go when she was angry, and he wasn't looking forward to finding out, hence he had decided to let her know first before sending Paulina away.

"If you are very worried about her survival outside, I can assure you by marrying her off to a wealthy merchant."

"HELL NO!" She refused immediately while glaring at him. "Did you start taking some cheap weed while I was sleeping?" she asked, perplexed.

Harold didn't understand what she was saying, but he could tell that it was some kind of insult, and it made him frown.

"I won't agree to that. Paulina stays here. If she leaves, then I'll leave with her," she said firmly.

"That is not going to happen," he responded quietly. For some reason, seeing how angry she was gave him a sense of satisfaction since he had been feeling awful because of her. At the same time, it made him angrier because of how she was ready to keep Paulina regardless of the cost.

He decided to leave that topic for now. They were going to discuss it more after he finished drafting out a suitable plan to send Paulina away. For now, however, he had something else more pressing that he wanted to discuss.

Alicia looked at his face curiously. Although he kept a straight, unreadable face, she could tell he was planning something, and whatever that was, it wasn't good. "I hope you are not thinking about sending her away when I am asleep or—"

"Spend the night here," he interrupted.

She was in the middle of her ramble when he said that, so she spat out a firm "NO," even before she pondered what he had just asked her because she assumed he was going to talk about Paulina leaving. But who would have expected such a request out of the blue?

"Wait... WHAT?!" She asked, shocked.

Maybe she wasn't supposed to be shocked since they were 'married' and it made sense for them to spend the night together, but they didn't have that kind of relationship. She wasn't even 'Amber'. And she was relieved that he didn't appear to be interested in her and that they were in separate rooms. So why the sudden change of attitude?

"You heard me," he said with his piercing gaze not leaving her face.

Shit was about to get real now. This was why she should have planned a good escape a long time ago. She decided to handle this maturely so he would unthink that thought, but when she politely turned him down, he uttered the words she hated to hear most.

"It is an order from your lord and husband."

That was how she blew up at him until she threw him out of his own bedroom.

An order? Who did he think he was to order her? How dare he order her? She was only just recovering after being unconscious for three days, and all he cared about was sleeping with her? That was not just annoying, it was also disgusting and despicable. How dare that inconsiderate prick? That damn horny bastard! The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Now she wished that she had hit him, or even kicked him or pulled out his hair so he would be bald and look as ugly as his thoughts were.

Outside the chamber, Harold was just as pissed at his wife as he was at his wolf. Why was she overreacting? He had only said they should spend the night together. What was so difficult or insulting about that? He was her husband, after all, and he had every right to demand that she spend the night with him in his chamber. Why did she have to make him feel that she felt disgusted with the thought of sleeping side by side with him? Did she hate him that much?

'I don't think she hates us,' his wolf chipped in, in an effort to calm him down.

'Shut up! I don't want to hear anything from you. You caused this!' He hissed at his wolf.

'How? What did I do?' his wolf asked defensively.

'I wouldn't have asked her to spend the night, and just would have found my way around it, but you kept making so much noise in my head until I blurted it out. Now see how disdainfully she treated me,' Harold said, feeling both annoyed and insulted. She had even called him a "horny goat." What did that even mean?

'...'

'Why are you not saying anything?' Harold asked his wolf when he didn't get any response.

'You said you didn't want to hear anything from me, so BYE!'

Harold had never wished so much to see his wolf in front of him in its visible form so he could strangle him to death with his own hands.

While Harold stood outside his chamber, wondering what was wrong with his bride and why she had chased him out of his own chamber, the news was already spreading all over the palace that the difficult prince was being bullied by his bride, and different speculations were going around the palace.

Was it possible that Princess Amber was angry because it was her husband that put her in her unconscious state and she was confronting him about it now? Or what could he have done to warrant her throwing caution in the wind and treating her lord in that manner? A man like Prince Harold, for that matter!

In the palace garden, where the Queen was seated with Prince Ivan having a conversation, Prince Ivan's guard came forward, and Ivan gestured to him to speak. He briefly relayed the information that was going around the palace to Ivan and the Queen, and they both exchanged an amused smile before dismissing him.

"I wonder what he must have done or said to deserve that," the queen said, amused.

"Don't you think it's as they said? Perhaps he was the one that tried to get her killed. He had been upset all morning when one would have thought that he would be relieved to see that his wife was awake," Ivan pointed out, but the Queen shook her head.

"He wouldn't have made it so obvious that he was annoyed if that was the reason he was annoyed," the queen said thoughtfully.

"You think so? This is Harold we are talking about. He doesn't care what anyone thinks about what he thinks," Ivan reminded the queen.

"He doesn't act as rashly as you think, and if he truly doesn't care what anyone thinks, he won't attempt to murder his wife outside the palace when he can just as well do it within the palace," the Queen said confidently. Although she didn't like Harold much, and she didn't care for him either, she believed that knew what he was capable of.

Ivan sighed. He had to admit that his mother had a point. He wished there was a way he could find out exactly what was happening between Harold and his wife.

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