Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 310: Soulless

[Music Recommendation: Sad Gold spoon - Doctors Ost instrumental.]

---

"What can we do for him?" came Zane’s worried voice. "He will kill himself if he continues like this. It’s been weeks now." He raked his fingers into his hair as he watched the others pace around just as he was doing because of their worry for the Emperor.

"It’s a miracle he is still alive at this rate, if he were entirely human, he’d have lost his life from starvation." Alden sighed as he watched the tightly sealed door of his brother’s chamber. Nobody had been able to open the door since the day that disaster had struck them and his sister-in-law had disappeared right before their eyes. The door hadn’t only been locked with a key, but with magic.

Lucian was no longer a living man after that day. He had resigned from life itself, and everyone worried about his health and well-being. He had been in his chamber for months now without stepping out.

On that day when they had all watched how she disappeared, everyone had grieved, even the nobles and people who had been against her once, had felt her absence. Had it not been for her, none of them would have lived or survived. She had given them what nobody else could: life. She was a savior in the eyes of many, and her name would forever be praised and respected.

However, her husband had been affected by everything more than anyone, even more than her brother. After she had disappeared, Lucian had remained kneeling where she had been standing before she began to float away. He had stayed there crying, his sobs wracking his shoulders and tearing at the hearts of anyone who heard it because it sounded nothing like a sound any human would make. It was a heartbroken sound, filled with anguish and pain beyond words to comprehend.

He stayed there for days, and no one dared to approach him, as the air around him was frightening to the point where the atmosphere turned deadly. He cursed everything for days before he finally staggered to his feet, his face devoid of any emotions. He walked like a drunken man, everyone moving out of his path as he made his way to the chamber he had shared with his wife.

Since that day, he locked himself inside, and if not for the occasional sounds of things being scattered from the chamber, many would have thought he was dead in the room, as they had been unable to go to him.

Everyone had tried to talk him into opening the door, but if he heard them, he didn’t reply or make any attempt to open it.

"Has Rylan returned yet?" Alden questioned Zane, who shook his head.

"Not yet. He promised to find a solution to end this but has yet to return with whatever he found. We are not even certain if what he went to find will be of any help to His Majesty."

Rylan had left the day everything went wrong, promising he would do anything to bring back his sister. Even though he had no idea how, he had walked out of the palace and had not yet returned till now—not even a message from him. Nobody knew where he went or when he would be back.

Many of them still found it hard to believe that Ave was no more, especially the princesses, who had cried for days on end. It was as if her presence was what had brought the family together, and without her, the laughter that had once rung in the palace was lost. Even though two months had passed, no one had recovered from her loss.

No one had realized she was the beacon of light until she was no more.

While the family were worried sick about him, Lucian remained laying on the cold floor of the chamber in complete darkness. The light not only hurt his eyes, but he hated it. If he could do it, he would make sure the sun never rose in the sky again, just like he knew his heart would never live again or know happiness, as it had been wrenched away from him.

He had clad the chamber in darkness to forget about reality, but whatever he did, he could never forget. His heart hurt afresh whenever he recalled how she had slipped away from him. His Aveline, his heart and his love, was no longer with him. How would he ever live on without her?

Lucian clutched his left hand to his chest, pressing his ringed finger to his heart and a shawl she had once made for him so long ago, wishing it would bring him closer to her. The ring and ugly shawl were the only things he had of her, things she had made with her hands and given to him. His throat burned so hot he could not swallow, the emotions were too raw for him to take in.

If only death would take him easily, if only death would free him from this misery, but not even death was coming to him. He’d tried to end it all, but he wasn’t dying. He’d rather prefer the intense pain of the red moon than this.

Lucian had revisited each one of his memories with her in this room, and each one only killed his heart more. He curled up into a small ball as he hugged the shawl and inhaled whatever scent of her remained on the fabric. The pain was so much, it was numbing.

They say love is strong enough to heal the darkest heart, but no one said it was strong and powerful enough to break the strongest man. Because he was a man between life and death. He would never be able to live again. His heart was an empty void, a shallow hole no time can fill. No words can fix...

"Why will you give me life and take the soul away from me, Aveline?" he choked. "You should have let me die on that day. We should have been together now. Why... why..." He groaned as the intense pain in his heart resurfaced again, and the hole deepened even more.

He recalled the day she had first come to his world, the way she had slowly slipped her way into his heart and become the most important person in his life. Many times he had promised to protect her, but in the end, he not only failed her, but let her slip through his hands.

Lucian shut his eyes and another fresh hot tear slid down his cheek. "Aveline... we haven’t even lived half the life we promised to have. I haven’t built you a skyscraper yet... my love..."

He shed tears until there were no longer any tears in his eyes, and he gladly welcomed the numbness that washed over him next. He could no longer feel anything. Thus, he lay back and faced the ceiling with a blank stare.

He remained lying amidst the scattered things of their chamber. He was a man without a soul. A man who cannot die but cannot live. He had tried to take his own life, but it was like something was bringing him back at the moment he thought he was free from living.

Another week passed by, and Lucian still remained in that position without moving a muscle. He had blurred reality and lived in the safe haven of his thoughts and imagination. In the world he built in his mind, his wife was still alive, and she was laughing and running around the halls while he tried to chase her. Her laughter rang and echoed like the sweetest melody he’d ever heard.

He saw himself with her in a beautiful garden, where he laid his head on her lap and she tenderly caressed his hair. She used her fingers to trace his nose bridge and eyebrows, then she smiled down at him and said:

"Don’t ever leave me, Lucian."

"I will never. You and I will live in this world of ours alone," he vowed as he turned his head on her lap in a way that he pressed his lips against her abdomen. "And our child."

She laughed, and then he leaned up and kissed her lips. Lucian saw his life with her and he never wanted to wake up from whatever illusion this was because his Aveline was still there with him. She fed him, laughed, and joked with him. They lived a normal life with nothing to worry about.

This was the life he wanted and he would live in it until the end, because she was so much sunshine in every square inch, but the light was taken from his life.

A bitter smile graced his lips as he closed his eyes.