Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 25: Dug her own grave

But her awe was cut short when a cold voice pierced the air.

"It seems you and Caelan will never learn to obey me until the day you both find yourselves in the gallows of shame," the Empress said, her tone laced with quiet menace as she watched the princess from her highchair with a displeased expression.

Ave’s gaze snapped toward the source of the voice, only to realize that she had been too engrossed in her surroundings to notice the figure seated on the high chair, partially hidden in the shadows. The Empress tipped a delicate teacup to her lips, her face obscured except for the glitter of her eyes in the dim light.

Panic surged through Ave as she realized the Empress knew she had been with Caelan. What if she found out she had knocked him out? Gallows of shame? Like the ones in history where immoral individuals were shamed by being stoned and hanged to death in the center of town?!

Oh no, she definitely wasn’t going to get hanged for Selene’s crime. She quickly tried to recall the protocols she had seen in many historical dramas when someone wanted to ask for forgiveness. She dropped to her knees in a dramatic flourish, bowing her head low to the floor.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, for keeping you waiting so long! I lost track of time admiring the beauty of your hallways, but I definitely wasn’t with His Highness, Prince Caelan."

At a silent command from the Empress, Catherine moved to light the candles and lamps around the room.

The increased light revealed more of the Empress’s figure, but her face remained in the shadows, adding to the ominous aura that surrounded her. When she stood up from her high chair, Ave bowed her head even lower.

She could hear the soft, measured footsteps of the Empress as she approached her. Tension coiled in Ave’s gut, and she bit her lip, fighting back the urge to look up or bolt for the door as the Empress stopped directly in front of her. Did she realize she’d lied about being with the third prince?

Ave’s hands were pressed flat against the floor, her head bowed so low that the scent of the rich carpet filled her nostrils.

The Empress’s foot, which was in front of her eyes, landed heavily on her hand, sending a jolt of pain shooting up her arm as the woman was wearing a shoe that looked like an elegant trunk with a hardened sole.

Ave gritted her teeth, holding back a cry and the urge to push the Empress’s foot away from her hand, instinctively knowing that any show of rebellion would only worsen her situation. She knew Selene wasn’t the type to disrespect the Empress. She could feel the weight of the Empress’s foot crushing her fingers, but she held in the pain.

"You lowly creature I picked up from the gutters," the Empress hissed. "How dare you disobey my orders and side with the second prince, my enemy?" With a rough yank, she grabbed a fistful of Ave’s hair, forcing her head up. Ave gasped as she finally saw the Empress’s face, her eyes widening in horror.

’Oh no, she’s not the blonde woman from the dining hall—she’s the one with the black hair!’

Panic set in as she realized the grave mistake she had made hours ago in the dining hall. She had not only disrespected this woman, but she had also glared at her, thinking she was the fourth, unfavored consort. No wonder she had looked ready to kill Ave in the dining hall when she’d dared talk back to her!

How could she have been so stupid not to notice that, despite the beauty and elegant grace this woman carried herself with, she had an evil glimmer in her eyes that couldn’t hide her dark, wicked soul that had made it into history?

History had talked about her more than any other person in the Pendragon Dynasty. It was said she had killed the entire royal family just to put her son on the throne; her son died from a rare disease five years after taking the throne.

Consumed by rage and grief over his death, she destroyed the entire Pendragon Dynasty with dark magic, which then ceased to exist in the modern world and was lost from the map before the Victorian era.

Ave swallowed hard, knowing without a doubt that she had dug her own grave. She should have simply remained silent in the dining hall when Lucian was being talked down upon.

"Um, Your Majesty..." Ave began with a nervous smile, trying to ease the tension. "Maybe if you let go of my hair and take your foot off my hand, we can... talk this out?"

But the Empress’s expression twisted with rage, and before Ave could react, she was struck with two resounding slaps that echoed through the chamber.

The force of the blows sent her sprawling backward, her vision momentarily blanking as the sharp sting radiated across her face. Her ears rang, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. She had dug her own grave, and now she was lying in it.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ave noticed Catherine, who stood silently in the corner, her head bowed. But there was no mistaking the small, satisfied smile that tugged at the corners of the maid’s lips as she watched Ave’s punishment unfold.

The Empress straightened, the cold detachment returning to her face as she turned away and walked back to her high chair, her purple robe sweeping gracefully across the floor behind her.

When she sat down, a smile of cruel satisfaction played on her lips as she looked down upon the lowly being she’d picked up and trained from a very young age. "I have warned you time and again, Selene. Your only mission is to feed Lucian the poison. Yet, to this day, there have been no results. Even our assassination attempt failed thanks to your incompetence."

She sipped her tea with deliberate calm, her other hand tapping rhythmically on the arm of her chair. The sound was both soothing and sinister. Getting rid of the Emperor’s other sons wasn’t going to be as challenging as getting rid of Lucian whom she had failed time and again to kill since his childhood.

Though she had the full backing of her family’s kingdom to secure Caelan’s enthronement when the time came, she didn’t want anyone standing in the way of it and would rather get rid of them before time.

Selene had been her hope in killing him, but because of her foolish feelings for Caelan—and Caelan’s constant disobedience in refusing to listen to her, sneaking out with Selene to the inn—Lucian had found out Selene was her pawn.

However, the fact that Lucian hadn’t killed Selene or reported her for her immortality meant he still loved her enough to want her beside him as his wife. As long as he kept Selene close, Elara’s use for her would never cease, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t kill her if the girl kept ruining things for her.

After a moment of thought, Elara called out to someone outside the room. "Bring her in."

Ave, still reeling from the blows and the realization of her big mistake, looked up in shock as the doors opened once more.

Two men entered, dragging a young girl between them. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen, with red hair just like Selene’s. Her wide, tear-filled blue eyes found Ave’s, and she cried out in a trembling voice, "Sister Selene, help me!"

Ave’s heart dropped. Selene had a younger sister? The revelation sent a new wave of dread washing over her. What were they going to do to the poor girl?

Ave felt panic rising inside her as she looked at the Empress, who glanced back at her with an evil glimmer in her eyes and said, "I warned you the last time we met: the more you fail in your mission, the more I will take away the people most precious to you before I take your life."

With those words, the Empress flicked her fingers toward the men holding the screaming girl down. The girl’s haunting, animalistic voice calling out to her sister to save her filled the room, and before Ave could do anything, she watched in pure horror as they severed the girl’s head, the blood splashing onto Ave’s face and body.