The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Just as Harold was about to dismiss Alvin, he remembered what he had heard from the physician and turned to Alvin to give him further instructions.

"I want you to also look into Damian. He seemed to have met with Princess Tyra a couple of times privately. Let me know why," Harold ordered, and although Alvin seemed a little confused about the instruction, he gave him a nod.

"What about Sir Rager?" Harold asked him.

Although he had been very tempted to kill Sir Rager when he heard that he had been in charge of Alicia's torture the previous day, he had decided to exercise patience on it because, for some reason, Sir Rager had not been present at the torture hall when Alicia was about to be executed. Hence, he asked Alvin to find out why.

"He is deeply affected by his daughter's death. I heard from Paulina that he visited them in the dungeon," Alvin said and relayed what Paulina had said to him.

Although Harold didn't really care about Beth, he had great respect for Sir Rager as a warrior, and he wished things didn't have to be this way. Regardless of how angry he was at Sir Rager, he couldn't bring himself to kill the man for reacting that way to his daughter's death. Knowing Alicia, he knew that she would be very angry if she woke up and heard that he did something like that to Beth's father, regardless of whether or not she had been on good terms with Beth.

"He would want to see you. I think you should let him pay you a visit," Alvin said when Harold didn't say anything for some time.

"I can't do that until I have found the person responsible for his daughter's death," Harold said and Alvin nodded in understanding.

"I think it would make him feel better if he knew you were trying to find the person behind it. He has refused to bury her until her killer is executed," Alvin explained, and Harold sighed.

"Alright. I will meet him. Arrange for us to meet at the royal garden," Harold said, and Alvin bowed to him before turning to leave.

He hesitated for a moment when he remembered that there was something else he needed to speak with Harold about.

"What is it?" Harold asked, and Alvin looked at him hesitantly.

"Say it!" Harold ordered, and Alvin squared his shoulders as he summoned the courage to speak.

"Does everyone have to starve?" Alvin asked cautiously.

Harold turned to him as his brow arched. "You are excluded if that is what you are asking me."

Alvin didn't move nor say anything, so Harold kept his questioning gaze on him.

"It wasn't about you, was it?" Harold asked as he narrowed his gaze to look at him.

"I was just saying—"

"Lady Susan?" Harold interrupted, causing Alvin's head to shoot up to look at him in confusion.

"What?" Alvin asked, wondering why Harold was talking about Lady Susan all of a sudden.

"If you are not asking for food for yourself, then is it for her?" Harold asked patiently, and Alvin's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"What? No! Why would I? I was only talking about those who had joined us this morning. Since they have been trying so hard, I just think—"

"She was there too. So what are you trying to say? Do you want to get some food for her?" Harold asked, ignoring his frantic rambling.

Alvin looked like he was about to explode in anger, much to Harold's surprise.

"I said it's not her!' Alvin snapped at him, and then took a deep breath to calm himself when he remembered he was talking to Harold.

"I just think you shouldn't starve those that are on your side," Alvin added through gritted teeth while glaring at Harold, and Harold looked at him for a moment, almost amused.

"Alright. Find a way to get some food and water across to them. Just enough food for them, not their family," Harold said with a blank face, resisting the urge to mention Susan's name once again, lest Alvin decides to attack him.

"And if you want..."

Alvin paused and waited for Harold to complete his sentence.

With a serious face, Harold said, "I could lend you back your book."

Alvin looked obviously confused, not sure what Harold was talking about so Harold waved him off.

He wasn't sure what to make of Alvin's behaviour. He had noticed how Alvin was beginning to show preferential treatment to Susan, and he didn't know how to interpret it.

Did he really not fancy Lady Susan, or was he just too dumb to know that he was beginning to fancy her?

The Alvin he grew up with wasn't the type to care about any person aside from him. Alvin could watch an entire village getting slaughtered and wouldn't do a thing about it if it didn't concern him, so seeing him suddenly giving Lady Susan a small cut and asking for food for the "group" was quite suspicious.

Harold's head snapped around in Alicia's direction when she let out a soft moan, and tried to adjust, and immediately he sat up.

"Harold?" She called to him sleepily.

"I'm still here," he assured her softly, hoping she was going to wake up now, but unfortunately, she sighed contentedly when she heard his voice and went back to sleep, causing him to sigh in disappointment.

As much as he wanted her to sleep peacefully, knowing she hadn't been able to do so in days in that dungeon, he also wanted her to at least wake up and eat something. She had lost too much weight.

He felt so bad. He wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. They had given her the best medicine, and he had also fed her his blood just like he had done the first time she came to this kingdom to help her wounds heal faster. And even though her wounds seemed to be healing faster, she was still not waking up and that bothered him.