The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

"It's not morning yet, is it?" Alicia asked, wanting to distract herself from everything.

"Not yet," Harold said, judging by the silence all around them and the night sounds he could hear outside.

Alicia sighed. "I don't think I can go back to sleep," Alicia said as she lay face up, while Harold adjusted so he could look down at her face.

"What do you want us to do?" Harold asked, and she propped herself up on one elbow and looked at him curiously.

"I've been curious about something..."

"As long as it's a pleasant subject, I don't mind," Harold said, not wanting her to talk about the torture or Beth's death. All he wanted was to enjoy this moment with her without worrying about what lay ahead of them.

"What were you thinking when you agreed to the wedding? I also want to know what you thought about me when you first saw me," Alicia asked.

Well, he was beginning to wish she had talked about Beth instead because he wasn't sure how he was supposed to explain the entire thing to her.

"Hmm," Harold tried to draft out a better first meeting between them since he could not exactly tell her they had first met when he was in his wolf form yet. He was going to leave that for later.

"When I first met you..." He began to remember the wedding day and how confused and anxious she had looked as she walked down the hall in mismatched steps. Now that he was remembering that day, he could understand why she had looked so awkward. From showing up in a strange world to getting married to a cursed prince. It was a miracle how she was able to hold out.

"Hmm?" Alicia urged him impatiently to continue.

"I knew immediately that you didn't know what you were doing." He said in amusement, and she laughed out loud before nodding in agreement.

"I had no idea what I was doing!"

"And I also thought that it wasn't possible to have a more terrible actor in the world. You were bad at acting."

"Hey! I was a renowned actress!" She said, sitting up and glaring at him in disbelief.

He just continued to look at her in amusement, with his hand propping up his chin as he lay on the side.

"Maybe you are when you have to pretend to be who you are not for money. But when it becomes something real that affects you, your confusion always shows on your face."

"Really?" She asked with a frown, and he nodded.

"I'm glad I was able to survive until now. I thought Damon was going to strike me dead with how angry he was that day."

"He wouldn't have dared," Harold said calmly.

She snorted. "I'm sure you didn't like me. It wouldn't have mattered if he had killed me."

"The queen wanted you to come to the Moon Kingdom. So I'm sure Damian would have also stopped him from doing anything rash even without me."

"Damian? Do you mean the queen's guard?" She asked thoughtfully.

"Yes," Harold said with a nod.

"He was there too?" She asked curiously, not remembering seeing him. Or maybe it was because she didn't take note of the others except for Tyra, Damon and Harold.

"He was. Sir Oscar was also there." Harold informed her.

"Sir Oscar? Who is that?"

"He is the king's most trusted guard."

"I see... What about Alvin? He wasn't there, right? I don't remember seeing him."

Harold shook his head. "He had things to take care of here."

"Things more important than his best friend's wedding?" Alicia wiggled her brows playfully.

"Back then... yes," Harold said sheepishly.

"Ouch!" Alicia placed a hand on her chest.

"That hurts." She said, faking heartbreak and making him chuckle.

"So why did you stay in an inn? When I traveled back with you we didn't stop anywhere. Or were you just trying to punish me?" She asked.

"Tyra was very sick. Thankfully, we were just passing by an inn, so I let her rest there and went to say my greetings to Sir Richard. Even though he offered me a place to stay, I didn't want to, so I let the others stay there and returned to the inn that evening to take Tyra there."

Although he said Tyra was sick, she had actually fallen into her heat all of a sudden, which was bad. Thankfully, she had a lot of medication with her that suppressed it. However, it took them 2 more days to complete their journey. He wasn't sure if she was so weak because all Omegas were like that or because she was born before the stipulated time.

Now that he thought about it, Damian had been there guarding her too.

"Wait... Sir Richard? Harvey's father?"

Harold nodded. "Does that mean you were in the same village where I– I mean, Amber drowned?"

He gave her a nod.

"Wow! That's such a surprising coincidence," Alicia said thoughtfully as she thought about the dream she had of Amber. Or was it a vision or a memory? Was all of it really a coincidence that Harold happened to be there at the same time?

"Indeed." He said with a thoughtful look of his own as he wondered if what Susan had said was true and how long Tyra had been in a relationship with Damian. Something didn't seem right. Was the queen perhaps trying to use Damian against her daughter?

That didn't make sense. The Queen would never do that.

He was going to have to find out more about Damian. But for now, since they were out, he was going to look into the previous royal physician.

***********

It was grey before dawn and still foggy, but someone was sitting on a wooden bench outside despite the cold, looking at the sky.

Williams was a little startled when he came out of the inn and found her sitting outside with a quilt all around her.

"What are you doing outside at this time?" Williams asked Paulina, who was startled by the sound and turned to look at him. When she saw it was him, she visibly relaxed and stood up immediately.

"Sit," Williams said as he went to sit down on the same bench but made sure there was enough space for her to sit. However, Paulina stood there and just looked at the bench reluctantly.

"Sit," he repeated, and this time, she slowly sat down like a statue and looked straight ahead.

"How do you feel?" Williams asked, and she gave him a nod.

"I feel better. My wounds..."

"Why did you drink so much last night?" He cut in, and she immediately looked at him with wide eyes, wondering how he had known that, but Williams was not ready to go into details.

"I... only had half of the cup," she said in embarrassment and avoided eye contact.

"Half?" Williams asked, amused.

Seeing how she was embarrassed, he asked instead, "Why are you awake at this time?"

"I... always wake up early."

"By this time? Why?" He asked curiously.

"To... clean?" Her answer came out more as a question.

Realization dawned on Williams, and he nodded before looking away from her, a little embarrassed.

"That must be tough, right?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"I... don't know. It's normal," Paulina said, unable to imagine it being any other way.

Normal? How could that kind of life be normal? Williams mused.

"Do you see yourself doing something else? Something entirely different?" He asked, and when she nodded hesitantly, he guessed, "Painting?"

That brought a smile to her face, and she nodded again. "Milady said she would make sure I get my own business and paint as much as I like." She said with glee.

He raised a brow at her as he asked, "You believe she can do that?"

"She promised to bring me with her to this kingdom. She promised to show me outside the palace. She also promised to make me dress up like this and take me to the village. She also promised that she would not let me die. She made everything happen." Paulina said, smiling hopefully. "Mayhaps, she can also make that happen."

"I hope so too," Williams said with a smile.

With Princess Amber, he had come to find out that a lot of things were possible. Only she could have made a person like Prince Harold act the way he did around her.

Only she could have made all of them leave the palace like that and also let the ladies dress in such a different way.

He had to admit that since she came to the Moon Kingdom, a lot of things had changed in their lives.

The two were quiet for a while and just looked up at the sky before Paulina asked hesitantly.

"Why... are you up this early, My Lord."

"Williams," he corrected before turning to look at her.

"Sir... Williams." She corrected.

"Different reasons." He said before sighing heavily.

Usually, he was an early riser. He also found it difficult to sleep in a strange environment, and also, he could not stop worrying about Susan.