The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Despite the assurance Lady Victoria had received from him, she was still nervous, as she explained quietly, "Since that incident, the Moon Kingdom has been in fear of retaliation from witches."

Fear of retaliation? That could only mean the Moon Kingdom had kidnapped and burnt a witch alive to use as a potion for their king, his grandfather.

It repulsed him just thinking about it.

"At one time, there was tension in the Moon Kingdom. This was many years ago when I was still a little girl. But... I heard my father talking about it with my mother. It seemed the witch clan found out what the Moon Kingdom had done to their kind."

"Even if our kind is strong for war, there are so many ways we cannot beat the witch clan. Especially a witch clan prepared for war even though they were smaller in number and not as organised as our kind."

"To make peace, the late king called them for a meeting to apologize and reach a truce. I believe the condition agreed on was that the king would provide a home for them within the Moon Kingdom."

"However, the king went back on his word and attacked them before they got to the Moon Kingdom. A serious fight ensued between both sides, which spread into the villages, killing more humans than our kind. It was believed that the witches also laid a curse that has been affecting the kingdom, especially the noblemen and rulers of the Moon Kingdom, since then."

"A curse? Is that real?" He asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed by this information. He thought he used to be the only one moving around with a curse! So now his kingdom was cursed, while he also faced a personal curse.

Just perfect!

"I... don't know." She said it with a sad look in her eyes. "Maybe it is. We are meant to live long lives. Are you not surprised that there aren't many older elders in the kingdom or people who ruled together with the former King?"

"They all died." He said, looking deep in thought.

"Yes."

"It wasn't made known because they did not want the younger ones of our kind to be troubled by it. But that was also why it became taboo to talk about witches in the Moon Kingdom after all that happened only some years ago. Remembering it causes people great fear. And even after years had passed, the fear didn't stop among those of us who were alive then. Because we still believe the witch clan is going to show up one day."

"That... and the curse was what Sir Zealot tried to stop."

"The queen's father."

"Yes." She nodded. "He was among those who were fortunate to survive that period. But it made him go crazy, and he was hunting for the witches until he found their dwelling place. He was able to convince the present king to wipe out the witch clan for fear of them striking first."

And that was how they got to Amber's family.

So it had always been the Moon Kingdom's fault when the other party simply cared about having a home.

"So... it was all Moon Kingdom's fault." Harold closed his eyes, feeling very guilty, even though he was not sure why he felt that way.

No wonder some of them had been quick to condemn Alicia to death as soon as they heard she was a witch. But he could not understand why Alicia had made it to this kingdom in the first place. The only person who would have the answer to that question was the king. He needed to know why he was allowed to still be married to Alicia after finding out who she truly was. And also, why was Princess Amber spared from the bloodbath?

"What about the former physician? Was he killed by the witches too?" Harold asked even though he already knew some information about how the man had died. He just wanted to get any information out of her.

"I... do not think so. He just... disappeared."

Harold recalled that Harvey and Alvin had been able to get information about the man dying at the hands of royal guards. Then... what must have killed him?

"Did anyone from the royal family have any reason to kill him?" He asked her.

She shook her head slowly as she thought about it. "He was an important person to the Kingdom. And he cared about the health of the members of the royal family. If he had been in the palace, the queen wouldn't have given birth to Princess Tyra before her due date and suffered so much. Princess Tyra would have been very healthy too."

He wanted to know how much had happened with Prince Harry and the Beta's nightmare. How it got to the palace and how Prince Harry got his hands on it. But he had been told by the twins that it was their father who knew that part because even their mother seemed oblivious to it.

"That... is everything I know." She said, giving him a look that he could interpret as "I hope this information is worth your promise."

Harold gave her a small smile and hesitated before he reached for her hand on the table. The woman almost flinched, and even her hands shook when he held her.

"Thank you, aunt. This will help me investigate this properly. You do not have to worry about your children."

She looked down at his hand that was covering hers and hesitated before she removed one hand and placed it on top of his.

"I will also help you in any way I can. I... am your aunt." She said with an awkward laugh that almost made him laugh, but he just nodded.

He believed that with this information, he would be able to find out more if he asked Harvey to dig into it because he doubted Harvey knew about all this too.

Since they had concluded that, he decided to stop beating around the bush now and go straight to the point.

"I would like to get a potion."