Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 302: Normal

"You are not poking her to awaken her powers completely but to make her restless and let the beast’s other enemy notice she is there. I want them to be as miserable as possible until the full moon night."

"We need more of her blood then."

Elara took out the bottle of blood that poor Edward had taken from the wench when they captured her. Thanks to the blood, they were now able to cast a spell on her. Even though they couldn’t use it for what they had originally collected it for—because of the bastard child in her that had tainted it—she could still use it for this.

If she hadn’t been pregnant when they took her, Elara’s family would have been freed from their barrier long ago. But her blood was no longer pure enough to break the spell without her using her own words to do so. And Elara would make sure that child never came into this world.

"Make sure we don’t run out before the day." She gave them the bottle and watched as they began to cast another spell.

"Are you going to free his lordship when everything is over?" Diaval, who was Elara’s uncle’s man-bat, had left the barrier before it disappeared again into nothingness, spoke up. He was only being a part of this because he wanted to free his master and be at his side again.

"Diaval," she turned to the man with a smile, "if you want to see your lord out of that locked barrier, you will do everything I say. Keep your eyes on the activities going on in the palace and report them to me. What did you find out yesterday when you flew there?"

"They are planning a banquet," he said gruffly. "I heard them talk about it. It’s a banquet to celebrate the Empress’s pregnancy."

"Now you see, it’s not that hard to report to me, is it?" She smirked. "When is this banquet?"

"If she feels well enough for it, the Emperor had said to the other man I see often around him." Diaval said.

Elara’s eyes turned calculative before she said, "She will feel better for it because it will be the last time she or anyone in that family will ever feel any joy."

---

A month passed without Ave experiencing anything unusual again. Everything seemed to be going right for her, and her nights had never been so peaceful. She slept like a baby most nights and woke up to the special treatment she received from her husband. He treated her like a child learning to walk, and she couldn’t help but begin to feel that she was getting spoiled rotten. She was enjoying it though and getting used to it.

He didn’t only bring her breakfast in bed but insisted on carrying her up and down the stairs to avoid any mischief or accident in her condition. He didn’t allow any maid to bathe her and did it himself, even though she had told him countless times not to. He ignored her refusal and carried her into the tub.

She feared this would ruin his image, as it was completely unheard of for an Emperor to do everything he was doing for her. She didn’t want anyone to respect him less because of it, but if her husband heard or listened to her reasoning, he paid no heed to it or stopped attending to her.

He washed her every morning in a way that made her feel loved. He was always careful and tender, and she couldn’t help but realize the huge difference in how the maids treated her compared to her husband, who did it because he wanted to and because he loved doing it, not because he had to.

He would help her dress and even caress her bump every now and then. Though he tried not to show it, she saw in his eyes how her pregnancy still terrified him more than he let on. The more her belly seemed to grow, the more worried he became.

He had personally cast a repelling spell to counter her nighttime experiences, and though she wasn’t sure if it was his spell that had helped ease away the unease and nightmares, she was grateful they had stopped. However, she still had a sense of foreboding, like something bad awaited her and that the days were counting down to it.

Especially after she had woken up that morning from a dream where she met the Moon Goddess. They had talked about something, and she had made some sort of deal that completely slipped from her memory the moment she woke up. She had been unable to recall it no matter how much she tried. It was as if her memories had locked away those conversations in a safe place until the moment of importance arrived.

Whatever it was, it had obviously scared her to the point where she had been weeping like a child. And though she wanted to forget it now that she was no longer haunted by dreams, she couldn’t.

Months had passed since then, and everything was going perfectly normal. However, even normal was terrifying to her, knowing Lucian hadn’t been forgiven for his past mistakes and that they had a lurking enemy who was nowhere to be found, no matter how deeply they searched.

A few days ago, she had agreed to have a banquet to announce her pregnancy. Perhaps a moment of shared joy would take away the depressing feeling and make her feel completely fine again.

Lucian had been against the banquet, but Rylan and everyone else had suggested it. They also thought that if the people of Pendragon knew about her pregnancy, no one would dare say a word that she had not earned her place as the Empress.

The talk of her dethronement, which she had heard recently, would die down and be replaced with the news of her pregnancy. They needed to counter the bad gossip with good news. Ave didn’t see why they should keep postponing the banquet when she felt well enough for it.

It had been set to take place tomorrow. Now, after going through the many dresses her husband had brought her, she stood on the balcony in a matching set of sweatpants and a sweater, which she had changed into using the magic dress. She had recently brought it out after a long time and was now gazing at the setting sun and the fading winter.

It felt good to be in comfortable attire and feel free. She was waiting for Lucian, as they had all planned a ’surprise’ for him—one she bet he might not like but definitely needed. While he was still in a court meeting, she waited for him in their chamber, gazing down the palace grounds from the balcony.

Even the air around the palace surprisingly felt too peaceful to be real. Down below the balcony, she saw palace guards who were off duty idly standing around, laughing and talking in groups.

On another side, she saw teenage boys who were once slaves happily playing around, as they would be returned to their lands once the banquet was over tomorrow. They were playing tug-of-war and frolicking in the melting snow, laughing.

When she first came to Pendragon, things like this were forbidden, and even the sound of laughter seemed to be forbidden. The air was always tense.

However, these past few days, seeing the changes she and Lucian had achieved filled her with pride. Her child would be born in this harmonious new world with a loving family and caring parents because she planned to give her child everything she had lacked from childhood.

Watching the happy atmosphere made a smile grace her face. She was still smiling when she saw the royal carriage come to a stop in front of the entrance, and Princess Thalia emerged from it at the same time Zane rode in on his horse. He stood away from the carriage, and the two shared a smile that made Ave realize they had been out together.

She was still watching them, wondering who the two were trying to fool when it was so obvious they were a thing when she was enveloped in a warm hug from behind that made her jump but immediately relax as she recognized that spicy, familiar scent.

His arms tightened around her as he buried his head into the crook of her neck and kissed it, causing her to shudder in pleasure.

"I miss you," he whispered thickly against her skin as she tilted her head to give him more access to her neck.

"You just left me a moment ago. How can you miss me?" She chuckled softly, bringing her hand up to hold his around her body. He groaned as he kissed her neck again.

"Every second away from you seems like days, and every day seems like years. Four hours away from you feels no different from weeks." He whispered softly as he pecked the side of her cheek and then followed her line of sight to see Zane and Thalia walking into the palace.

"Those two are making it more obvious. I wonder how her damned brother hasn’t noticed when everyone else seems to have." Lucian grumbled under his breath as he watched his friend from a distance, who had obviously taken the princess to see how much he had changed the once-doomed palace into his desired home.

"Damned brother?" Ave muttered with a displeased frown. Though everything had been going well between the families, Alden and Lucian still seemed to hold some deep-rooted resentment and grudge from the past. They treated each other formally and never like brothers.

"He is your brother as well," she reminded him, but her husband shrugged it off casually and changed the topic like he didn’t want to talk about his elder brother.

"What are you wearing?" Lucian asked instead, his brows drawing together as he finally took in his wife’s strange attire that obviously wasn’t from this era. He wasn’t interested in talking about Alden—they had been living together in one peace, and that was enough. But acknowledging him as his brother was by far something he would never do. Thus, he focused on his wife’s attire, as he was genuinely curious about it.

The fabric was soft and thick, covering her entirely yet fitting snugly around her limbs without revealing any cleavage like most of the morden attires she had shown him so far. This one made her look small and adorable with her red hair tied behind her head, enhancing her perfect feature and beautiful eyes that now stared at him smilingly then his eyes trailed down her plump rosy lips that were craved into a grin.

He felt the urge to kiss them and make them shiny with his wet kiss, but then he was more plunged by his curiousity about her attire as he’d never seen a fabric like this one before.

He reached out his hand, tracing it over the deep purple material of her sweater.

"It called a sweater and sweatpant." Ave told him seeing as his eyes took them in and watching as his fingers traced the collar and the stitching hidden lines, trying to flip it inside out as if trying to unraveled some grand mystery inside her sweater, but he just wanted to see how it was made into what it was.

His curiousity had always been adorable to her, and she couldn’t help but laugh when he arched his brows and asked,

"Can a man wear this as well? It looks like something a peasant would wear, yet it feels like a noble’s pillow." His serious tone, combined with the way he kept tugging at the fabric in fascination, made Ave burst into laughter before she nod her head.