Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 236: Caring for her

In the bedroom, Lucian pleased his wife on the stool in front of the vanity table and dried her hair for her. He combed it and applied what was necessary after getting the instructions from her. He even managed to style it for her in a way that would feel comfortable for bedtime. He didn’t stop there; he rubbed the body oils for her on her skin while using the opportunity to touch and explore every part of her body—her breasts, inner thighs, and hips. By the time he was done, Ave felt like he had seduced her because her skin was burning and her breathing had turned uneven.

She saw his teasing reflection in the mirror and knew he had done it on purpose. Pursing her lips, she stood up and grabbed him by the neck before she kissed him open-mouthed while she rubbed her body against his front, where she could feel he was getting aroused again from the bulge in his robe. He roughly grabbed her buttocks and crushed her against his hardness while he groaned into the kiss as he deepened it.

Ave arched against him desperately and moaned as he backed her against the vanity table, crushing away a few of the bottles on it as he kissed her hungrily like he would devour her.

A ravenous hunger and desire to be one with her consumed Lucian. His body ached to claim her; the beast within him urged him to take her to bed and take what was his. He grabbed a handful of her hair and tilted her head to go with his hungry, savage movement, and to his surprise, she matched his intense kiss. His hand roamed restlessly over her body as he pulled her closer to him until there was no space between them and he could feel her frantic heartbeat humming against his chest. She rubbed herself against him, and his control snapped like a fragile twig.

He grabbed her robe and tore it away from her body. He wanted her naked, her bare skin against him. Lucian could feel the rising in his chest that came when he began to lose himself, but he ignored it this time until he heard her sharp intake of breath and jerked away so quickly he’d almost lost his balance. She tried to smile at him and move closer to him, but if it wasn’t for the scent of her blood that filled his nostrils, he wouldn’t have known what had happened. He looked down and saw her arm was bleeding.

Looking down at his hand, he saw his claw marred with her blood. He’d reopened the wound on her arm with his claw. If the sight of her bleeding hand wasn’t enough to snap him back to his senses, the wound itself was enough to remind him just why he wasn’t supposed to go to such lengths with his wife. She had just woken up from five days of being unconscious. He hadn’t even let her recover fully, and he’d gone and hurt her again.

What sin had he committed for the Moon Goddess to curse him with such a fate? He had a wife, but he couldn’t take her to bed because he might end up killing her because she wasn’t his mate. In the past, he’d thought she was, but he’d realized just recently that she couldn’t be. His so-called mate was said to be like him, but Ave wasn’t.

Ave was more human than she could ever be. She had healed him because of her Rosa powers and not because she was his mate or anything, and the only way he could know was by taking her to bed, but that he could never risk. And now, staring at her bleeding hand, he felt self-loathing and despair consume him until his throat clenched and he couldn’t form a word.

Without a word, he turned away and went to get her another robe and the box of medicine.

"Lucian, it’s not a big deal. I’m fine; it’s just a little scratch," Ave assured him when she noticed the remorseful look in his eyes as he helped her back into another robe and pushed her down to sit on the stool to attend to her injured arm. He didn’t reply to her and cleaned the blood on her arm with his head bent down.

Reaching out her hand, she stroked his thick, damp hair and trailed her hand down to caress his cheek and then lifted his chin up to make him look at her. Ave gently cupped his face, her touch soft and comforting as she tried to meet his gaze. "Lucian, you didn’t hurt me intentionally," she said, her voice steady yet tender. "I know you’d never do that. It’s just a scratch, nothing more. Please, don’t blame yourself."

Her words hung in the air, but they seemed to have no effect on her husband, who was filled with self-loathing and hated his fate and what he had to suffer for what wasn’t his fault. His amber eyes still glimmered with guilt and remorse, darkened by a storm of emotions she couldn’t quite grasp. He didn’t respond, his lips pressed into a thin, unyielding line as he finished bandaging her bleeding arm.

"Lucian—" she began again, but before she could finish, he stood abruptly and swept her up into his arms.

"Enough, you need to eat," he said quietly, his voice strained but resolute. He carried her across the room with careful strength and placed her gently on the bed, where their food awaited before he brought a chair close to the bed and sat down facing her. Without another word, he arranged the tray before her, his swift, shaky actions speaking louder than anything he could have said; he was never going to touch her, she could feel it.

Ave could only watch him, her heart aching. However, despite his silence and hardened eyes, his expression turned soft and gentle when he began to feed her the food. Perhaps she should allow him to cool down completely before she brought up the topic of why he always stopped instead of proceeding to take her completely as his wife. Now that she knew about the secret he was hiding, why hesitate and stop again? They needed to discuss it to make their relationship work and be a healthy one.

She hated misunderstandings that caused unnecessary fights in many marriages, and she didn’t want her marriage to be like that. If he was battling with something that made him always hesitate to allow them to do the deed as married couples, he needed to tell her rather than abruptly end it.

Apart from her injured arm, she could tell another thing had made him stop. When they’d done that in the tub, she had thought there would be nothing to stop them from consummating their marriage tonight, and she’d naturally assumed the red moon had been why he hesitated before doing it, but it seemed it wasn’t only about the moon; there was more to his hesitation. Was it because of the mate thing?

"Lucian," she called his name to get his attention as he arranged their food on the tray. When he looked up at her with a question in his eyes, she hesitated a bit before she asked, "That day when you were in that dungeon, the royals mentioned something about your mate..." She began to say, but as if knowing she wanted to know more about that, Lucian placed his large hand on her lap and gave it a gentle squeeze as he told her,

"I don’t have a mate, and I don’t give a damn. She was cursed to never meet me, and I hope it remains like that because I have you now in my life." He cupped her cheeks as he said, "To me, you are my soulmate and would forever be."

Ave felt warmth swell in her heart at his words of assurance, and she raised her hand to place it against his on her cheek. "That’s reassuring, but what I want to know is how I was able to take away your torment when they said only your mate could do so?" she asked curiously as she recalled when she was in that mirror, Anne had said something about her and Lucian not being destined to ever meet. It was part of the reason she was sent away to the future. The words hadn’t made sense to her then, but now that she thought about it, she was beginning to suspect it must be because of the mate thing, or wasn’t it?

Lucian looked at her thoughtfully before he said, "Because you are a powerful witch?" He wasn’t certain as well, but he would have thought she was his mate had she not been the Rosa witch, who also turned out to be the reincarnation of Rosette. Rosette had lived her life with Roland in another lifetime before she sacrificed her life to save the world from the greed of the night creatures. And he couldn’t be Roland because his curse was older than the time Roland and Rosette had lived.

"Why didn’t you tell me you were that beast I once met in the forest?" she asked quietly when she realized she had to do more research about the mate thing to get more information that could prove if she was or not. She’d occasionally worried about Beasty when she didn’t see him again after that night in the forest, not knowing her Lucian was the same as the creature she had saved.

"Because I didn’t want you to hate me," he muttered as he fed her another spoon of food.

Ave swallowed her food before she slapped his shoulder, "You idiot, I’d never hate you for being that. Did you have any idea how women from my time fantasize about meeting a Lycan or werewolf and falling in love? Your kind are a hot thing among women, and you think I’d hate you for it?!"

Lucian couldn’t help his smile as he stared at her almost in disbelief. "You know about my kind in your time? Do you also fantasize about falling in love with one?" he asked in amusement as he fed her another spoon, and she leaned in and took it into her mouth.

She didn’t answer his question right away. Instead, she reached out, her fingers grazing his hand as she took the spoon from him. Her gaze softened as leaned closer to feed him in return. He opened his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers, and when a small trail of soup slid down the corner of his lips, she reached out instinctively. Her thumb brushed his skin gently as she wiped it away, and without hesitation, she brought the finger to her mouth, her lips curving into a playful smile as she licked it. Only then did she finally reply,

"No. I have no such fantasy. Actually, I’ll be honest. The thought of humans shifting to wolves and all terrified me somehow," she told him as she watched the amusement dim from his eyes. He then said, "Then I’ll make sure nobody transforms in your presence until we leave here."

Ave hurriedly waved her hands, "That’s not it. I am not terrified now. I even rode on Prince Kale’s back when I went into that dungeon to meet you, and..."

Ave went on talking about things she found cute about the wolf. She asked him questions about his transformation and how it felt, and he answered her questions honestly. He watched how she was almost brought to tears when he described his pain when transforming to her. He couldn’t believe he was having this conversation with her, but it was better than dwelling on his regrets of hurting her and the topic of a lost soulmate.

Just like he’d promised to feed her into eating more, Lucian fed her with the same spoon he was using to eat. They ate together until the plates were completely empty and Ave’s stomach was filled to the brim.

Ave watched as he stood up and brought the little bottles of her herbal medicine. He poured them into a small cup of water and gently held it to her. "Time to take your medicine," he said quietly.

Ave wrinkled her nose the moment the smell of the medicine hit her. The color was black inside the cup, and it reminded her of a dirty puddle that had turned dark.

"No way. That smells like rotten vegetables." She could never imagine herself drinking this disgusting thing!

"You need it to recover completely. It will help with the dizziness you feel when standing."

"Lucian, listen," she said, pushing the cup away lightly from her mouth. "I’ve never been good with bitter medicines and injections, not even in the future. Take that thing away from me, and I’ll make sure to recover naturally without it."

His brows furrowed in curiosity. "What is injection?" he asked, not making any attempt to take the cup away like she said.

Ave waved her hand, her eyes never leaving the black thing he called medicine. "It’s a medical care." She explained it to him, and he told her, "Just like acupuncture needles," as he inched the cup to her lips, but she moved her head back.

"Take that thing away from me, I mean it," she warned.

Lucian smirked faintly, leaning closer with an amused glint in his eyes. "Then be a good girl and drink it."

Ave shook her head stubbornly. "But it smells horrible!"

Lucian sighed, clearly unimpressed that she was refusing to take the medicine that would help her regain some balance in her blood. Without warning, he grabbed the cup, moved closer, and cupped her chin with one hand. "Fine. We’ll do this the old-fashioned way."

Her eyes widened. "The old-fashioned—mmph!"

Before she could protest, Lucian tipped the medicine into his mouth and pressed his lips to hers, forcing her to swallow as he kissed her. When he pulled away, she glared at him, her cheeks flushed.

"You are unbelievable!" she sputtered, coughing slightly as the bitter, unpleasant taste lingered on her tongue.

"And you," he replied with a triumphant smile as he covered the medicine bottles, "are impossible to reason with, my love."

Ave huffed, glaring at him. "You’re lucky you’re my husband. I’d have punched you for that."

Lucian’s eyes softened as he sat back. "And you’re lucky I love you. I wouldn’t have forced you to drink it," he said as he reached out to wipe the side of her mouth and also watched as she blushed at his words.

He’d said the words so casually, but yet it had an effect on Ave because her heart quickened its pace. It wasn’t the first time he’d told her he loved her, but it felt like it was.

"What did you discuss with the king?" Ave asked a few minutes later after they laid in bed in each other’s embrace. She lay facing him with his leg and arm draped over hers under the blanket.

Lucian didn’t immediately reply to her as he recalled what he’d discussed with the court members. She was still recovering, and the last thing he needed was to make her as restless as he was about where they would go next if they were sent away. Knowing his wife, she might even encourage him to marry the princess to get their support if he were to tell her about it, and he would hate to see her pushing him to another woman when she was the only one he wanted.

"They are still thinking about their decision," he lied as he stroked her hair.

"Aren’t they taking too long thinking about it? We’ve been here for a week now. What if the Empress knows where we are? I’m kind of worried about what life Princess Thalia is living there as well. Isolde and Celeste are also concerned about their mother. Many lives are at stake, and yet the Nazias are delaying us. What if they finally decided after taking this long not to help us?" Ave couldn’t help but worry about many things that could go wrong if the people here didn’t support them.

Though she tried not to think about it, she worried about the princess they had left behind and also worried that if Elara knew where to find them, she would come after them by any means possible.

Lucian was more concerned than he appeared, and he knew many things were at stake if he didn’t take the Nazias’ help, but he just couldn’t see himself taking another woman. That was a big sacrifice he couldn’t make regardless of what happened. He would rather look for another way.

"Let’s not worry about that for now," he sighed as he hugged her head to his chest more and then began to stroke her hair to coax her to sleep so she wouldn’t worry too much. Tomorrow, he thought as he closed his eyes, he’d try to convince them more without them forcing him into marrying their princess.