Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 288: Cold hands

(Long Chapter.)

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Since Ave promised to keep Thalia’s secret, she didn’t even share it with Lucian as he was close to Zane, and she was somewhat mad at Zane for what he had done. When she returned to their chamber after she left the princess’s chamber, she didn’t find Lucian in the room. Since she’d seen him leave with Zane through Thalia’s window, she knew he wouldn’t be back anytime soon until he was done giving his friend the surprise he had prepared for him since the day he was sent to bring back the princess.

Ave changed and lay on the bed to wait for him out of habit, but even that was impossible now because she fell asleep before she could help it.

The next morning when she woke up, she felt the shadow looming over her and pretended to still be asleep as she perceived her husband’s scent and knew he was the one. She felt his hand trace her lips and then jaw. He moved down to touch her neck, making lazy circular motions on her skin with his fingers. He trailed his finger to her chest and caressed her hardened nipples through her thin nightdress.

Ave tried hard to remain the way she was so he wouldn’t stop. They hadn’t spoken since yesterday, and she knew if she opened her eyes, he would stop. Thus, she lay there pretending to be asleep. He caressed her breast until her nipples pulled taut against her dress.

Then she felt him lean down and cover one with his mouth over her dress. The warmth of his mouth over her nipple almost made her moan. It was something he did to her every morning after he rained kisses on her face, and though they had argued yesterday, he still didn’t stop himself from doing what he usually did to wake her up in the morning. He did the same with her other breast until her breath hitched in her lungs, and she moaned out his name.

He was away from her when he realized she was awake. By the time Ave opened her eyes, he had disappeared into the bathing room, and the door closed softly behind him.

Pursing her lips, she looked down at the damp area of her dress where he had taken into his mouth and groaned. He was torturing her for the words she had said yesterday. No doubt he thought he would make her take them back before his coronation. But what he didn’t know was that when it came to having their child, she was willing to take any torture and endure it until it was time.

She knew he didn’t want them to be apart, but that was the only way she could come up with to hide it from him. Staring at the bathing room, Ave fought the urge to go after him and bathe with him like they usually did. Instead, she left the chamber and went to use another bathing chamber.

There were many things to do today. They had the guests to welcome, and the people of Nazia would be arriving along with the other kingdoms’ guests. It would be her duty as the crown prince’s wife to welcome them. Apart from welcoming the guests, she had sent for the royal seamstress who would make their dresses for them.

Ave also planned to have a secret appointment with the lady to get her to sew her special dress that would make the changes and her pregnancy less obvious. Thalia had told her that noblewomen who ended up getting pregnant out of marriage by mistake always hid it with the help of the seamstress’s skills in dresses. She had suggested it to her when Ave told her that she wasn’t ready to tell Lucian about it yet and didn’t want him to notice it.

Ave planned to make the appointment today after the seamstress finished taking everyone’s measurements for the banquet.

There was no family breakfast that morning, and Ave ate alone while she looked into some special documents she had requested from her husband a few days ago. It was the documents of Gina.

The kingdom had been destroyed years ago, and she had wanted it to be rebuilt and its people sent back to their land after Lucian took the throne. Many of them were slaves to the nobles of the capital, and all thanks to the previous Emperor, they worked without being paid, which was why the commoners of Pendragon had no way of working to earn because the slaves were doing all the work.

If Lucian sent the people back to Gina to rebuild their kingdom, many commoners would have the opportunity to work and earn, and the greedy nobles would learn to pay to get their work done.

This had been the work keeping Lucian up most of the nights as the court members were against it happening. Ave had volunteered days ago to free him of some of the work by going through the names of those who originally belonged to Gina and would be sent back after the coronation. She was doing that now to pass time until the seamstress or the guests would begin to arrive. freewёbnoνel.com

Many of the nobles would be against Lucian if he did this, but that was the only right way to fix everything the previous Emperor had destroyed.

Ave was still going through the documents and signing names with her freezing hands because she hated wearing the gloves as they were made with weird materials that were quite uncomfortable when a maid came to give her something. She hadn’t asked for anything from the maid, and when she gave her a balm, she frowned.

"His Highness ordered me to bring it. He said your hands were cold last night and to apply it to your palms when it gets that freezing," the maid relayed the crown prince’s message to his wife with a bow before she left the room.

Ave stared at the balm with a smile on her face. He wasn’t speaking to her, but yet he couldn’t ignore her completely. He cared so much for her that there were days she felt like she didn’t deserve that much care and love.

And what made her feel even more guilty was the fact that she was risking her life to go against him. Something could happen in the end, and she would shatter him completely. She was afraid, which was why she needed to learn about spells to keep things from going wrong.

The witch with a Rosa didn’t need any spell to get what she wanted, but her Rosa wasn’t up and would never be. Thus, she had to learn to be a normal witch and get what she wanted. Once she got her own quarters, she would start with her spell lessons with the help of Rylan.

He had promised to teach her some spells that wouldn’t require her using the Rosa. However, she would have to also put him in the dark about her pregnancy as he was almost as overprotective as her husband was. He wouldn’t think twice before telling Lucian and getting her to get rid of the child for her safety.

The day passed away in a blur to Ave as she managed to get everything done on time. She welcomed a few of the arriving guests with all of the royal siblings, including Thalia, who she had brought out of her chamber to mingle with the rest of the family.

It had been tiring work to stand and smile at everyone coming in. Then she’d finally gotten to meet the seamstress in the evening and told her indirectly about the special gown and dresses she needed. That too had gone well, even though it had taken time to make the seamstress understand what she wanted and also to keep it to herself and deliver the dresses to her directly. She told her specifically to bring it herself.

By the time it was night, Ave was exhausted to the point she had no energy to walk back to their chamber after dinner. She sat in the tea parlor with the guests and the others.

The boring conversation about what women do all day, the banquet, and the top gossip of the day they talked about made her yawn repeatedly as she was too exhausted to pretend to give a damn about some noble lady who was caught cheating on her husband with a stable man.

Ave fell asleep on the couch, snoring lightly and causing the rest to look at her in disbelief at the unladylike behavior. She became the topic of their gossip until Thalia and the twins showed their displeasure.

"You should watch the way you speak about our sister-in-law, and unless you don’t want to be thrown out of the palace, I suggest you know how you talk about her," Celeste said after Thalia had voiced her displeasure.

Rumors had already spread of how the crown prince’s wife was the treasure of every single one of the royals’ eyes, but no one had believed it as they all knew how the royals had once believed she was mad.

"We aren’t saying anything bad, Your Highness. As the future wife of the Emperor, isn’t she supposed to conduct herself around important guests? Look at her, snoring and sprawled on the couch in such a fashion. You do not believe this is the behavior of a royal, do you?" scoffed one of the guests who happened to be a friend of Madeline, and had always disliked Ave, and even disliked her even more after rumors said she was responsible for Princess Madeline’s disappearance.

Murmuring broke out among the guests as they all stared at Ave, who was long lost in dreamland. She had one of her legs hanging over the arm of the chair while the other one was sprawled down. Her head was in an uncomfortable position, with her lips parted, and she snored. It wasn’t a sight a lady should be found in, not to mention a royal.

If Lucian hadn’t chosen that moment to enter the women’s parlor room to check on his wife as he’d felt her exhaustion, the guests wouldn’t have known to shut up and mind their business and let his wife be. But his presence, even without him announcing it, made them all quieten down as they turned to see the tall shadow standing at the door, scowling down at them like he would kill them with his eyes.

"Y-your Highness!" they greeted in unison as they stood to their feet and bowed. Lucian’s eyes pinned down the princess who had talked about his wife’s conduct and manner like she was any better than her. To him, they paled in comparison to his Ave, and no matter what they said, she shone the most among them, even when she was sleeping in that manner.

"In case anyone has not heard, I do not tolerate people who find fault in whatever my wife does. The next time I hear something like what you all were saying, I will send you all packing out of my palace and trip you og your titles. Do you understand?" he asked coolly, his eyes going around each and every one of the women who thrived on gossip.

"Y-yes, Your Highness!" they bowed, and when he moved away from the entrance door, they stumbled out of the parlor room in a rush, hurrying so much that they bumped into each other at the entrance.

The three Pendragon sisters chuckled at the sight of the guests, but stopped their laughter as they were left alone with the crown prince.

Isolde and Celeste, who had once witnessed in Nazia how the prince had transformed into a terrifying creature, made sure to avoid being alone in a room with him without his wife. It wasn’t that they liked him any less for it, but their fear had not been overcome and would resurface whenever they saw him. Thus, they bowed to him and pulled their elder sister out with them, leaving him alone with his sleeping wife before he lost his temper on them.

Lucian stared at his wife for a while before he walked up to her and crouched down beside her on the couch. He pulled out his handkerchief from his pocket and slowly reached out to wipe the side of her mouth where she had drooled a little.

He used his index finger to raise her jaw, closing her slightly parted lips. She frowned and swatted at his hand like she was shooing away a burdensome bug, then tried to turn away on the couch, but the couch was too small for her to lay on, so she gave up and continued to sleep in that uncomfortable position.

Lucian shook his head in silent amusement before he stroked her hair tenderly. "I told you not to stress about the coronation banquet and the guests, but you insisted on taking care of everything, and look how you’ve tired yourself, tsk." He clicked his tongue, speaking to her sleeping form.

Last night, he had been disappointed to return to their chamber to find her sleeping. Normally, she would be fighting the sleep to wait for him even though he would tell her not to wait, but because they hadn’t been on speaking terms yesterday, he had hoped to find her waiting so they could talk and fix things.

Unable to wake her, he had slept beside her and pulled her into his arms, where she fit like it was carved for her frame alone. This morning, he had woken up before her, and because he couldn’t put away his habit of seducing her every morning, he had rained kisses on her face and suckled her like he usually did. Not wanting her to find him being clingy again and hovering around her like a pest, he had left the bed the moment she woke up and didn’t seek her out the whole of today to give her all the space she wanted.

He had sent the balm to her because he hadn’t been able to apply it to her himself like he did every morning after her bath. She hated wearing the gloves as she claimed the material was not thick enough to stop the cold and were uncomfortable, so she didn’t see the use of wearing them when the stone walls of the palace and the all-day heat from the hearth and fireplace kept the inside warm.

He had been working while trying to ignore her exhaustion until he could no longer. He had come here to bring her to sleep whether she liked it or not, only for him to walk into a gossip room where his wife was the talk of their gossip.

Now, he stroked her hair gently, watching as she unconsciously leaned closer toward his hand, her sleeping face calm and unguarded. "I don’t know why you feel the need for space, Aveline, or what’s making you think it is necessary. But I know you still care for me, and I can feel your love—that’s all that matters to me. Just promise me one thing: don’t push me away. That’s something I cannot endure," he whispered softly, his voice carrying a quiet desperation.

Rising carefully so as not to wake her, he gathered her sleeping form into his arms, holding her securely. Without another word, he carried her out of the parlor, his steps steady and his hold unwavering, as though she were the most fragile and precious thing in his world, because she was.