Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 260: At his mercy

The Pendragon majestic palace stood tall amidst the white snow background as snowflakes fell from the night sky. Winter was in full bloom in the capital, unlike in Nazia and most of the other kingdoms located in the east of the Empire. Many guards were stationed in every nook of the premises, most of them being dark witches who had been brought by the Empress to guard the palace from the invasion of the second prince were he ever to decide to attack unexpectedly.

Now that she had gotten the most important person she needed, she couldn’t risk letting her guard down before what she planned to do was completed. The Rosa witch was everything she wanted to solve many of her problems and make things easier for her. She might have put her son on the throne, but his position wasn’t completely secure for as long as his half-brothers were still alive. Not if the brothers willingly agreed for Caelan to be on the throne; they could kill him to take it back.

And that, Elara could never allow to happen. She had paid a huge price to finally get the witch who had lived under the same roof with her for ages and had grown under her wings, but not once had she ever suspected her to be the Rosa witch. Selene, a girl she had watched grow into a woman, happened to be the witch they had searched the entire Empire for ages. The irony was, she had lived under her roof all along.

Elara’s red lips pulled up into a mocking smile as she gazed out the window of her room, watching the descending snow from above with a glass of blood wine suspended in her hand as she remained in deep thought.

With the Rosa now, she could finally free her people and kill Lucian. Who would have thought he was the ancient cursed beast and had finally found his mate, and she happened to be Selene? The girl bore his mark now on her neck, and she’d smelled him on her the moment the witch brothers brought her in. She smelled like that bastard, Lucian!

Her uncle had been thrilled and, for the very first time, proud of her when she told him about this. He could finally have his long-lost revenge on Lucian, even though Lucian had no recollection of their ancient enmity when he was Roland. Now, everything would eventually fall into place if she had her way with Selene.

Elara smirked as she sipped her wine, knowing that at this very moment, Lucian must be on his way, only to come and meet his death.

"You think you could run away from me, but you’re mistaken. I’ve always known where you were," she muttered to herself as she laughed.

---

Ave’s head was hurting so badly she couldn’t force her heavy eyelids open. At first, her brain was blank, and memories were foggy. She couldn’t, for the life of her, remember what had happened or where she was. She slowly opened her eyes. They were blurry at first, but they gradually began to clear, and she took in the sight of her unfamiliar surroundings. She wasn’t in Nazia; she was sure of that because of the room decor. The ceilings were brown, and a bright chandelier illuminated the room. She was lying face-up on a bed.

She tried to move her hand to massage her aching temple, but something was restraining her movements. No matter how hard she tried to yank her hands from whatever was restraining her, it was useless. Turning her head up, she realized dreadfully that her hands were chained to the bedpost, and her legs as well. She laid face-up on the bed like a person about to get sacrificed in a cult. She wanted to sit up, but the chains made it impossible.

Ave looked around her panickingly. She was alone in the spacious regal chamber that reminded her of the Pendragon chamber decor. It was then that she began to recall everything that had happened before now. She had been tricked out of the palace and into the forest, and before she could fight back, she had been knocked unconscious with a spell by a bulky man who smelled like someone who’d never seen a bath in his life. The other tall man had smugly informed her that he was taking her to the imperial palace...

Ave’s eyes widened as she realized the decor didn’t just look similar to the chambers in the Pendragon palace, but she was there itself!

The imperial palace was the last place she wanted to be after the tyrant Empress was in full control of it. She needed to leave this place somehow, but then the damned chain tightened and pulled at her hands the more she tried to get away from it. It pulled her hands up so tightly and spread her legs apart like it would sever her limbs from her body.

Ave stopped struggling as her limbs had pulled tight to an unbearable degree. She needed to think rationally without allowing her panic to ruin or get her killed before she’d find a way out of this nightmare. She had no idea for how long she had been chained up to the bed, but from the looks of things, it was nighttime, and everything seemed eerily silent outside. The room was unbearably cold as there was no fire in the fireplace, and the windows were left wide open with sheer curtains as if they intended for her to freeze to death. She could see the soft descent of the snowflakes outside the window, and now that she realized it, she was shivering. The cold had awakened her from her slumber.

This was worse than being locked up in a dungeon! She lay on a bed with nothing on but a thin chemise while her legs and hands were chained. There was no warmth in the room, and as the cold went through her being, she recalled and missed the nights she lay under thick blankets and when her husband’s warm arms would embrace her at night to keep her warm. Oh, Lord, Lucian...

She felt her heart constrict at the thought of him. Where was he now? Had they returned from their journey? What would be his reaction when he returned and realized she wasn’t in the palace? God, she missed him terribly. Would he know she had been taken to Pendragon? Her husband must be sick with worry by now if he couldn’t find her. If only she could feel him like he could feel her, but their connection was only one-sided, and she couldn’t remain like this, waiting for him to come and rescue her. She had to do something before they realized she was awake and come to her.

She wasn’t just anybody; she was a witch with strong powers. If she could use her powers to release herself, she would...

Ave’s thoughts came to a sudden halt when she heard approaching footsteps outside the room. She held her breath when the doorknob turned and was pushed open. At first, she wanted to pretend she was still asleep, but her curiosity to see her captor made her react too late; he’d seen her awake before she could close her eyes.

Ave’s heart made a thudding sound when her eyes locked with the third prince’s amused brown eyes. He stared at her with emotions she couldn’t quite name in his eyes without moving. Though his presence made her heart tremble in dread, she couldn’t help but notice something about the prince had changed. He looked like someone who had not slept in like forever, and his eyes no longer held the look of youth and smugness. He looked like someone who had gone through hell and back, and something about him seemed to frighten her, especially how he was staring at her like a man who had not eaten in ages and had finally seen his meal presented to him at long last.

She watched him close the door behind him and walk slowly towards her. She followed him with her eyes as he made his way to her side and perched his hip on the side of her head. She wanted to move back and away from him, but the chains restricted her movements. She couldn’t do anything but glare at him while he grinned in amusement as if he found her amusing.

"Long time no see, my love," he purred softly, leaning down to press his lips against her cheek. Ave’s skin prickled with revulsion. The touch of his lips felt like filthy worms crawling over her flesh, and she jerked her head away as far as the chain allowed. That endearment had always been Lucian’s to use—his voice turned it into something sacred. But in Caelan’s mouth, it sounded vile, polluted. She wished she could scrub the words from her ears, erasing the taint of him calling her my love.

He laughed at her reaction as he raised his hand and began to gently caress her hair. Then, leaning down, he whispered, "Did you miss me, Selene? Because I have missed you so badly I couldn’t sleep a night without thinking about those days we spent in each other’s embrace. My cock hurt so much because no woman has been able to make me feel alive again after you. I hope you missed me that much as well." He flicked his tongue against her earlobe, but Ave immediately jerked back, slamming her head into his nose with enough force to push him away.

She turned to glare at him when he moved back, holding his nose, the disgust in her eyes burning brighter than any fear she might have felt. "Miss you?" she spat. "The only thing I’ve missed is the peace of not having to endure your slimy existence!"

Caelan pressed his hand to his nose and then looked down at his hand to see a drop of blood. She had hit him hard enough to make him bleed. But instead of getting angry, as she must have expected, he laughed, a hearty laugh that resounded in his chest. He had not laughed like this since the day he was crowned Emperor, and it felt good to laugh again. He felt somewhat alive, and the pain in his nose brought a thrilling joy to him because it had been inflicted by none other than the only woman he had been dying to be with.

He had been forced to marry Prince Lance’s sister by his mother to rebuild the alliance between them after Lance’s disappearance, but not once had he felt like a man when bedding her as he did with Selene in the past. No woman had been able to satisfy him in bed, and he’d longed for only Selene all this while. He didn’t care that much about being Emperor because he had only agreed to become Emperor if he could have this woman as his sex slave or concubine but she’d ran away with his bastard brother before he could fulfil his desires to have her.

Ave frowned when she noticed how amused he looked after she’d hit him. No doubt the man was going mad, she thought as she watched him lick off his own blood that dripped from his nose to his lips before he reached out to touch her face.

She jerked her face away from his approaching hand.

"You can’t avoid me now, my lovely Selene. You have nowhere to go. Didn’t I tell you in the past that you should rethink your life decisions? I warned you not to avoid me, or the aftermath shall be grave. You remember my promise to you, don’t you?" He grinned as he leaned to whisper into her ear in case she had forgotten his words that day. "I will make you my sex slave. I will bed you every second of the day until you regret choosing my cursed brother over me. But don’t worry, I am a considerate lover; I will make every second worthwhile, Selene." He whispered to her at the same time his hand stroked her neck and then went down to her chest.

Ave tried to shake his hand away from reaching her breast as she glared at his face that was leaning dangerously close to hers. She hated the feeling of being helpless and vulnerable to a bastard like this man. She had dreaded his words of making her his sex slave in the past, but not once had she thought after she had left the imperial palace with Lucian that she would be at his mercy one day. She had never hated any man like she did Caelan. He reminded her so much of James Eamon that she wished she could strike him and bury him a hundred feet underground just like she had buried all the memories of James Eamon in the future.