The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alicia was still shaken by what had just happened in Harold's chamber as she returned to her chamber with wobbly feet. She looked down at her bloodstained hands and wondered what he meant by those words he had muttered to himself.

'The calluses are not from your tough life in the mountains.'

What did that mean? Although she had always known that the princess's hands, which she possessed, were rough and hard, compared to her own hands which were very soft and delicate, thanks to all the beauty products she applied and the manicures she always received, she had never thought much of it.

She remembered that she had also noticed some scars on the girl's body, but she hadn't really paid any attention to it since looking at the girl's body was not her business nor her priority here. All she had concerned herself with since she found herself in this strange body was finding a way back to her body and her life so that Princess Amber would return to her boring life.

Thinking about the scars now, she recalled that the first time she had noticed them, she had assumed that the princess had gotten them due to the tough life she led in the mountains since even Paulina's hands were rough and she seemed to have a few scars herself.

But how had she been able to throw the dagger like that? By chance... was that Amber's subconscious? Until now, she hadn't thought that Amber was anything other than a prim and proper princess who lived in the mountains. Now that she thought about it, she realized that she didn't know much about Amber, and that was because she hadn't shown any interest in learning about her. She was yet to even go through Amber's diary to know the kind of person whose body she was occupying.

When would she have even found the time to read the diary when she had spent all her time thinking of how to leave this place?

Alicia's mind kept moving back and forth as she walked past some guards and maids without sparing them a glance. She would have bumped into a few of them if they hadn't made way for her. They looked at her curiously, wondering why she had blood on her hands, and why she looked so quiet and lost as if she had seen a ghost.

To Alicia, however, she believed that what she had seen was worse than a ghost. She still couldn't believe that Harold had taken the knife out of his chest like it was nothing and had kept the usual smirk on his face when he said, "Interesting."

She had no idea what he found interesting about being stabbed. Was he even human? How come that was his only reaction to the wound?

Earlier, while she was still panicking and crying about the wound, he had simply gone to pick up the key and opened the door for her, telling her to go and get some rest.

She had refused to leave and asked for the direction of the doctor until he began to strip right there before her eyes. Left with no choice, she had left, but only after he firmly told her, "No doctors." She didn't know whether he meant he didn't want doctors or whether they had no doctors here.

If it had been in the 21st century, whoever had been stabbed like that would have been rushed down to the ER. She couldn't stop feeling scared.

After hearing about his temper, she had expected him to be mad at her or do something. So why had he let her go so easily? Was he planning to retaliate later? She needed to leave this place as soon as possible.

Once she opened her door, she found Paulina standing inside her bedroom, pacing around. She felt relieved. For a moment, she had completely forgotten about Paulina and why she had landed in Harold's chamber.

Paulina looked like she had been crying, and she started a new session of sobs when she saw Alicia's tear-stained face and the bloodstains on her hands. "Are you hurt? What happened?" Paulina asked as she hurried to where Alicia was standing and took her hands to inspect it.

"I'm okay. Stop crying," Alicia said as she walked over to the other side of the bedroom where the bathtub was to wash off the blood that had stained her hands when she tried to press down on Harold's wound.

Once she finished washing her hands and returned to the room, she sat on the bed and motioned for Paulina to join her. "Let me see your neck," she said, and Paulina reluctantly untied the neckerchief.

"It's going to leave a scar. We need to treat it," Alicia said, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

"One of Prince Harold's men gave me this," Paulina said, extending the balm to Alicia.

Alicia looked at it, a little surprised. Had it been under Harold's instruction?

"Let's clean the wound first," Alicia said as she went to wet the neckerchief before returning to clean the wound, and then she applied the balm.

Once she was done, she looked at Paulina,

"What kind of person is Amber?" Alicia asked with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I mean, what kind of person was your mistress?" She explained when she noticed the confusion on Paulina's face.

Alicia regretted her question as soon as it left her lips when Paulina began to cry. She had forgotten how upset Paulina always got whenever she spoke like this.

"Did something happen to you, milady? Why are you talking like someone else?" Paulina asked amidst her tears.

Alicia sighed before grabbing Paulina's shoulders firmly to look into her eyes. "Listen carefully to me because this is the last time I will tell you this," she started.

Paulina's wide, teary eyes stared back at her. "This may not make sense, but I am not Amber. My name is Alicia Queen. I am from the future. 2020. The era of technological advancement and civilization; we have spaceships, airplanes, mobile gadgets, AI..." Seeing all the confusion on Paulina's face, she realized she was going off track, so she shook her head to get back on track instead of daydreaming about a world she wasn't sure when, or whether she was ever going to return to.

"My point is, I am someone else in your mistress's body. And I'm not sure where your mistress is, but I'm hoping she's not in my body and living my life because she's going to have it even worse than I do, given that I'm a well-known celebrity in my country—"

Going off track again!

"So tell me... what kind of person is she like?"

Paulina looked at her like she had gone crazy. The grip on her shoulder tightened, and she guessed she was not going to let her go until she told her what she wanted to hear.

"Before... you... drowned?" Paulina asked hesitantly. Because she knew that was when her mistress completely changed.

Alicia smiled and nodded vehemently. It seemed this girl was finally following her. "Before I drowned."

She had a feeling that just maybe... Princess Amber wasn't as simple as she had thought. Perhaps something else happened to cause her to fall into the river?

***********

"What took you so long?" The Queen asked Beth with disapproval when she finally walked into her chambers.

"I'm sorry, my queen, I thought you were at the royal garden," Beth said with an apologetic bow, and kept her head down.

"What are you doing with Harold's bride? Are you not supposed to be training her? Why is she so unruly?" The Queen asked with a glare in her eyes as she looked at Beth.

"I am training her, my queen, but she is... She isn't like other humans," Beth complained.

"I never thought you were one to make excuses. Perhaps this task is too much for you to handle. I should get someone else to take care of her," the queen said, and Beth fell to her knees.

"No, my queen. Please give me one more chance. "

The queen kept the displeased look on her face as she warned, "I'm only going to give you another chance because of your late mother. I don't care how you do it, but make sure you tame her! I don't want her to speak carelessly before the king and cause us any trouble."

"Yes, my queen. Thank you, my queen," Beth said with a bow.

"And what is it I hear about her maid?" The Queen asked, signalling to Beth with her hands to stand up.

"She seems to be very attached to her maid and wants her to serve her. The maid is also attached to her," Beth explained, trying not to grit her teeth. She hated the two with great passion.

"Then let her maid serve her," the Queen said thoughtfully, surprising Beth.

"But..."

"Don't worry. Let's just let her have her way for now, while you train her. Let's make her feel at home," the Queen said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. What better way to tame a person than to give them all they want, and then take it all away later?

"Show me to her chamber. Let's go take care of it," the Queen said as she jerked her head to the door for Beth to show her the way.