章 4: Way back

Ave rocked back and forth on the floor, her legs crossed in an Indian style. She stared blankly at the flickering lamp on the ancient dressing table filled with several beauty oils and elixirs. She was staring at the lamp, but she wasn't seeing it.

Everything she'd just learned from Lydia swirled around her brain and replayed like a broken record. She hadn't just transmigrated into a strange world but was also the wife of a prince rumored to be cursed and doomed to suffer for the rest of his life!

A prince Lydia had described in a vivid way that made her believe every single word of the rumors from her experience with him an hour ago.

She'd given Lydia permission to describe the second prince exactly as everyone did, and the girl had surprised her when she stood up from her kneeling position and began gesturing with her hands while saying,

"Some say the second prince was cursed at birth by a vengeful sorcerer. Others whisper that he was born under a blood moon, marking him as a harbinger of doom to the empire. It was said he would have been executed the day he was born, but the emperor had shown him mercy because of the royal blood that flows in him..."

Lydia had not stopped there. She'd told her that because of his skills on the battlefield, the emperor had given him a position in the military and allowed him to stay in the palace. However, he had his own separate building in the palace, which was named the "Dooming Palace of the Cursed Prince" and which was where she was currently in right now as she was married to him.

"...Witnesses claim his eyes glow red with an unholy light during battle. Soldiers also report seeing him tear through enemies with supernatural strength, leaving no survivors. Rumors also has it that he tried to kill the first prince in battle because he secretly wants to be the next emperor, but a monster like him can never rule the empire..."

"If he's this terrifying, why in hell did I marry him?" Ave had asked with a lost expression, cutting the girl from her immersive narration of the prince.

It seemed Lydia was so eager to continue talking about the Cursed Prince that she'd answered her unhesitatingly without a second thought. "Because despite the terrifying rumors about him, he cares about Your Highness so much until recently..."

"What happened recently?" Ave had asked in a murmur, but Lydia was lost in her description of the cursed prince to hear.

Lydia went on and on about the prince to the extent Ave had blocked her off and was lost in deep thoughts, while she looked on with deep misery. Not only was she in a body that looked exactly like Victoria, she had to deal with being married to a man feared by all and seemed to be after her head despite what the girl said about him caring.

A Cursed Prince, who had looked ready to strangle her, was her husband. No, not her husband, but Princess Selene's, who she'd just learned was a nineteen-year-old girl.

If the so-called rumors about the prince hadn't terrified her, then she'd be lying to herself. It terrified her because her eighteen senses told her that he didn't like his wife, nor did the wife like him, which meant she was doomed!

After a few minutes of digesting everything, Ave finally looked at the maidservant who had now fallen silent after her long description of the prince. She sat quietly with her head down as if she wasn't the eager girl talking a moment ago.

Ave almost felt sorry for the maidservant as she seemed to be an interesting person to be around but was scared to cross the boundaries with her mistress and was forced into being tamed.

"Now that I know that he is Selene's husband, and you claimed he cares about her, can you tell me why he seemed to hate her now and how Selene ended up in an accident that almost cost her life?" She asked calmly, her mind still not coming to terms with her now being this so-called Princess Selene.

Lydia looked taken aback and frightened at the same time as she said, "Your Highness, you are scaring me again. Why are you referring to yourself like that? You are Princess Selene..."

"Oh, yeah. I am Selene, an ancient Victoria who is unfortunate enough to marry that creepy man. I would have laughed my ass off and told her, 'serves you right,' but I'm in her body now and I have to suffer in her place before I find my way back home. Home, I never thought I'd miss you this much..." She muttered in dismay, clutching her aching heart and dramatically slamming her clenched fist against it as if that would stop her misery and misfortune.

Lydia looked on in confusion. She could barely understand what her mistress was saying to give a reply. Though she found it strange that her mistress, who hated sitting on the bare floor, was now sitting there, asking her questions about the second prince, whom the mere mention of his name ruined her mood, she kept her silence for fear of getting scolded.

"Your Highness...!" Lydia called in worry when Ave suddenly stood up from the floor like a possessed human and yanked at her hair wildly in frustration while cursing Victoria and her entire generation.

"Start telling me now, Lydia. How the hell did Selene—or I mean me—end up in an accident? I need answers, and I want them now!"

"You fell off the window of an inn while talking to Prince Lucian, the second prince and hit your head on a rock." She cried. "The royal physician had announced you dead, but your heart suddenly started beating again. I thought I'd lost you because of my foolishness! Forgive me, Your Highness, I deserve to be killed!"

Here we go again with the crying and apologies! Though she'd come to the conclusion that the girl was nice and interesting, she was starting to piss Ave off with her crying and apologies!

Ignoring the pleading girl, Ave focused on her own thoughts and conclusions. Since Princess Selene had fallen down a window, like the maidservant had said, then it means they'd fallen down at the same time!

If she'd ended up here because of a fall, it was possible she'd go back when she fell off the same spot Selene had!

She couldn't possibly stay here when her life in 2024 was way better than this! She still had an unfinished C-drama series she was yet to finish, not to mention she had Victoria to get back at! That little witch!

And she was starving like someone who hadn't eaten for ages! She could eat a mountain of food right now. But first, she hadn't fed all of her curiosity yet. Food could wait a few more minutes. She was a princess anyway, and a feast must have been prepared for her by now.

"You said I fell off a window of an inn while speaking to Prince Lucian. How is that? Did he by any chance push me off? Because from what I see, he didn't like me and looked ready to break my poor arm. Why did he even hate me when you said he cared about me?" Ave asked, wiggling her brows as her curiosity about those questions got the best of her.

Lydia immediately bowed her head again, looking panicked. "Your Highness, I... I am not permitted to speak of that!" She cried.

Raising an eyebrow, Ave inquired, "Not permitted? By whom? I'm your mistress, aren't I? Shouldn't you be telling me what I ask?"

"It was your command, Your Highness. Before... before the accident, you told me to keep quiet about certain matters, no matter if you were the one who asked me to talk about them..."

Feigning shock, she said, "Did I now? How interesting. And what exactly were these matters?"

"I dare not speak of them, Your Highness! I would rather you kill me than for me to speak of them to you again!" She wept.

Even though she found it stupid that Selene had given such orders, Ave shrugged casually and unconcernedly. Well, whatever this Victoria had done to make her husband hate her, or whatever happened between them, was none of her business. She would be going back home once she fell off the window anyway.

Flinging herself onto the large bed without a care in the world now that she'd known a way out, she smiled and said, "I'm starving. Go get me food. I want a feast fit for a queen. I see in many movies how these ancient royals serve enticing foods. Bring me everything, and then we can talk about you taking me to the inn to take a good look at that window where I fell off."