Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 287: Secrets

He would need to make her change her mind before that time, and the day was approaching faster than he wanted it to.

The guests would start arriving tomorrow, and the palace would be filled with people again, something he wasn’t looking forward to. Crowded places made him feel suffocated, and his coronation would bring that much of a crowd. He was angry—so angry he wanted to numb it before returning to their chamber.

He would make his presence around her less obvious so she wouldn’t feel like he was suffocating her with his clinginess.

But God, how would he survive without talking to her and laughing or touching her? She wanted her own space, whatever the hell that implied he didn’t know. And he had been thinking hard about what that implied the whole time in the dining hall.

When they arrived at the winter frozen garden, Lucian angrily kicked a boulder before he took one of the goblets from Zane and began to gulp it down his throat.

"Women!" He gritted through clenched teeth. "One never knows what they truly want. What in goddamned hell did she mean by her own space? Did she find me impossible to share a room with forever, or am I starting to disgust her like I disgust every human who sees my true form?" He cursed at the thought of it as he complained to no one in particular.

"I can’t also seem to know what she thinks about me now." Came Zane’s quiet words that made Lucian swirl around to glare at him.

"What does my wife wanting space have to do with you?" He narrowed his eyes down at his friend. Why would Ave think any different of him when the problem was between them?

"Not your wife, the princess. I don’t know what she thinks of me now..." Zane said absentmindedly before he realized he’d also voiced out what had been bothering him this whole time. He and Lucian had no secret between them since their childhood, but he didn’t think he wanted to share what had happened between him and the princess with him.

Lucian regarded Zane in a silent moment before he asked, "What happened between you two? Did you do or say something to break her heart?" He arched a brow in curiosity.

Though he had been the one to tell Ave not to meddle, he was the one getting curious now as he’d noticed how strange Zane was acting since he’d come back this morning.

"It’s not something I wish to speak of," Zane said, looking away from Lucian and avoiding his gaze in shame. He felt ashamed of how he had taken her—and worse, how he had done it again even after realizing who was beneath him that night. Lucian had trusted him to bring her back safe, but he hadn’t brought her back safe; he had brought her back broken and used.

Even though she had been married to the minister, if it had been known that the minister hadn’t touched her, she might have had a chance at finding a husband. But now it was a different case—he had taken her innocence in such a manner. How could he bring himself to tell Lucian about it? Where would he even start? Would his friend believe him if he said he’d used the excuse of it being a dream to thrust into her warmth and take her?

Lucian, however, was curious. Perhaps his wife had rubbed her curious nature off on him, making it impossible for him to mind his own business as he usually did after sensing the other’s reluctance to share something with him.

"But I wish to hear it. Tell me, even just a little of it," Lucian urged, turning to face his friend completely and putting the wine aside for a moment. Perhaps if he heard whatever had happened between them, he could share it with his wife to bring her closer to him. She would be pleased to know what had went wrong between the two.

"I did something unforgivable to her..." Zane said, running his fingers through his hair in disgust and frustration as he recalled what had happened and how he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if she didn’t forgive him for it.

"Something like?" Lucian pushed further as his eyes narrowed down even more.

"I can’t tell you, I am sorry. All I know is that I need to speak to her to get this weight off my head. I need to make her understand, or it will haunt me forever, and please, Lucian, don’t ask me anymore questions about it now, or I will gut myself out." Zane said pleadingly when he noticed Lucian was going to push the topic.

Lucian swallowed his curiosity, but Lord help him, he was getting to what might have happened between them, only that he hoped, for Zane’s sake, that it wasn’t what he was thinking because Alden wouldn’t take this lightly if he found out. Thalia was only his half-sister and he would not mind for a bit if the two wanted to be together after this, but Alden would never agree to it.

"Zane, I have something for you." Lucian said, and when Zane looked at him in question, Lucian told him to come with him.

Back in Thalia’s chamber, where Ave had finally been allowed into it after coaxing the princess, she now sat on the edge of the bed with Thalia standing at the window with her back to Ave without saying a word.

"Your brother is worried about you," Ave said quietly as she had already tried to explain to Thalia about how they had come to leave that day without her, however, she still didn’t say anything.

After a prolonged moment of silence when Ave realized the princess would get sick if she kept standing by the window, she stood up and went to close the window but was shocked to see that the princess had been silently crying as she stared at the retreating backs of Zane and Lucian from the frozen garden.

"How could he treat me like this..." Thalia cried as she turned red-rimmed and swollen eyes to Ave, her cheeks flushed. Without waiting for Ave to reply, she threw herself at her and hugged her as broken sobs tore out of her throat like they were wrenched out. The sound of it made Ave realize things were more severe than she had thought.

Leading her away from the window, Ave coaxed her for a long time before her sobs subsided, but her breathing was still hard as she couldn’t seem to stop crying.

"Tell me about everything. Speaking of it will make you feel better." Ave coaxed after she stopped crying and was now laying her head on Ave’s lap, staring blankly at the ceiling with swollen eyes.

She didn’t look away from the ceiling as she began to recount everything that had happened to Ave without missing any details. She told her everything from when she was dragged to marry the minister down to what had happened between she and Zane that day. Her tears came back again when she told Ave how he hadn’t bothered to check on her not even once and how she had been terrified to see the blood between her thighs after he left her there.

"I wouldn’t have asked him to take responsibility because I wanted it. I just wanted him to show that he cared. He could have at least pretended to care and come back to check on me, but he never did. He left me...and now I am ashamed to meet anyone because I fear they would see through me for letting a man that isn’t my husband do that to me..."

Since this morning, Thalia hadn’t been able to meet her brother’s gaze when he spoke to her or tried to persuade her to tell him how the minister had treated her. He had promised to sentence the man to death when he saw her tears, assuming the minister had hurt her. What he didn’t know was that she was heartbroken.

She couldn’t even bring herself to face her sisters or the others when they tried to talk to her earlier. All she wanted was to be alone and cry away her feelings.

Ave remained quiet the entire time Thalia recounted her story, but she couldn’t help feeling angry at Zane for the way he had treated her.

In the modern world, Thalia wouldn’t have been judged for losing her virginity to a man she wasn’t married to, especially if she had willingly shared a moment of pleasure with him. But here, her image would be ruined. And now the princess was silently punishing herself for it, torn between shame and resentment over how he had ignored her afterward.

If Ave were in Thalia’s position, she wouldn’t have accepted such treatment either. What Zane had done was completely unacceptable, and it infuriated her that Thalia had to bear the weight of it alone.

"Please don’t tell my brother about this; he will kill him if he knows about it." Thalia pleaded after she was done telling her everything.

Though he’d hurt her, Ave could tell she still cared about Zane’s safety and still didn’t wish any harm on him. And she totally understood that because no matter what Lucian would do to her, she would never wish him harm in this world, and nothing could make her love him less.

Ave promised not to tell Alden or anyone else about it and then she managed to coax her to eat her meal.

"Talking about it makes me feel better..." Thalia remarked as she ate her food. She had thought she would never bring herself to tell anyone about this and would die of the shame of allowing another soul to hear about it, but Ave’s reaction to it made it seem less shameful. She didn’t make her feel like a woman with no discipline, but rather like it was a normal thing to happen between a man and a woman without any marriage bond.

Ave smiled gently. "Don’t beat yourself up over it. If you want, I can even talk to Zane and make him—"

"No, don’t talk to him," Thalia interjected quickly. "Let him be. I never want to see him again. I just need some time to completely forget about him and move on with my life. Because, honestly, I’m never giving my heart to any man again. I plan to embrace the life of a spinster to the fullest—and enjoy it."

She forced a smile, her voice turning lighter as she added, "Let’s talk about something else, something less depressing. Tell me about your time in Nazia. How was it?"

Ave could see Thalia was trying hard to appear cheerful, determined to convince herself that she’d be fine from now on. It was clear she wanted to move forward, to leave Zane and whatever had happened between them in the past. He had made it clear he didn’t want her, and Thalia was resolute in her decision to move on.

Ave talked to her about their time in Nazia and how the war had happened afterwards and the many villages that were affected and how Lucian was still working on fixing the damage until now. They talked for a long time until Ave drank the cup of tea a maid had brought for her and suddenly felt nauseous. She ran to the chamber pot and began to throw up her guts, causing Thalia to panic and rush to her.

"Oh, Lord, are you all right? Should I call brother Lucian?" She asked as she moved to go and get him, but Ave reached out and grabbed her dress to stop her. She shook her head no.

Thalia handed her a cup of water after she finished throwing up and wiped her mouth. Ave took the water and took a sip before putting it away. Many things seemed to be triggering her nausea, and it seemed to hit her without warning.

"Are you all right, or should I call the physician?" Thalia asked in concern.

"There is no need for the physician. I have seen him this morning, and he told me...that I am pregnant." Ave said with a sigh. She wanted to tell someone about it to share the joy, and since she couldn’t tell Lucian, she told his sister and watched as her eyes widened then brightened in delight. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"Congratulations! Does brother know about it?"

Ave shook her head. "Not yet. Please don’t let anyone hear about it yet, I want to surprise him when I tell him." She pleaded and watched as Thalia nodded immediately.

"Of course, I won’t tell anyone. We both have each other’s secrets to hold." She smiled as she helped her up from the chamber pot and to her feet. "No wonder you look different, in a good way." Thalia remarked, smiling like her old self again, her gray eyes shining with kindness and innocence.