Transmigrated Into The Body Of The Cursed Prince Wife-Chapter 323: She’s here

If misery and anxiety were a person, it would be Lucian. For how long must he suffer for sins committed so long ago? For how long until he slowly began to lose his sanity in this foreign world?

Last night, he’d dreamt of her again. This was the second time he had had this same dream, and it always went the same way. His wife. He would see her standing there with a bitter smile, and whenever he tried to reach her, he would run until he was startled awake by his alarm clock without ever reaching her, even though she was standing right in front of him.

And before he woke up, she would always tell him, "Give up, Lucian. Go back. I am lost to you forever. We were never meant to be and would never be."

How could he give up? How could he go back without her? Why would she think they were never meant to be when they were mates? He could never give up because if he did, he wouldn’t be him anymore. Looking for her was the only string keeping him and his sanity together. It was the only ray of light in his darkened soul. If he gave up, there would be no light in him anymore.

He’d been here for more than four days now and not a sign of her or any lead. Was she appearing in his dreams to tell him she would never be found again? Had he indeed lost her to a time and world he didn’t know? Does it mean he was wasting his time and she hadn’t come to this timeline he was in? What was he doing wrong?

It had only been four days, but it was starting to feel like a lifetime. His memories of her were beginning to seem like they had all never happened and were just a sweet dream. He was starting to confuse what was real and what was not.

Now, as he sat behind his desk in the office, he could no longer bring himself to do Lucian Xander Penn’s work because—how could he when he was in such a miserable state? And to top it all, this morning, the mob of people with flashing black things poised in their faces had attacked him the moment he left the skyscraper. He had subconsciously tried to reach for his sword to cut them down when he belatedly realized he had no sword and that what they held wasn’t a weapon.

They had begun to ask him questions while blocking his way.

"Is it true that you are going around the city looking for your nonexistent fantasy wife?"

"Are you really married, or is it just another way to stop your scandal with Miss Foxx?"

"Who is your secret wife? Are you hiding your relationship from the media to keep her identity hidden?"

They had asked him so many questions that made him wonder how they knew he was looking for his wife. Phone gossips, obviously. Gary had whispered for him not to answer and to keep walking. He had been too overwhelmed with the crazy people to even do anything as Gary and a few men in black attire blocked him from them and led him to the car.

Now, he could not go out and continue his search because the crazy people Gary had said were the entertainment reporters and paparazzi were hovering around the building, waiting for him to come out. As if he’d asked Gary for advice, the fool had told him,

"Boss, I think it’s time you lay low on your search for this nonexistent wife. It’s bringing media attention to you yet again. You’re being caught in various parts of the city looking for this so-called wife. Don’t you think they will picture you as insane?"

If Lucian heard his unwanted advice, he didn’t show it because he didn’t need it. He had remained seated with his head bowed in his hands. If only Rylan was here, he would have used his magic to look for Ave. But here, in the future, not even his own powers were working. He was just a normal man with nothing special.

"Boss, the Trinity Tech Company representatives are here. They are being led to the conference room," came Gary’s voice, breaking into Lucian’s thoughts and making him look up with a displeased frown.

"What are they here for?" he questioned blankly, not interested in anything that concerned the company today.

Gary sighed. "You are the one who agreed just days ago to set this meeting, and they are here on time. And Eleanor Hart is representing her grandfather in the conference. She’s as hot as sizzling meat!" He said with excitement as if that should be enough to get Lucian out of his chair and into the conference.

No woman could ever catch his eye or make him feel the excitement Ave made him feel. He had seen many women so far in this modern world, but none of them had made him feel anything but irritation for how they threw themselves at him, especially the woman they called Lora Foxx, who kept calling and sending him messages to meet up.

"I don’t feel like being in the conference. Tell them to come tomorrow," Lucian said and was about to rest his head onto his palm again when Gary quickly said,

"You can’t do that, Boss. This is our only best opportunity. The Penn Corps need to be a part of something great, and I think the Trinity Company will—"

Frustrated beyond words, Lucian got up from his chair and kicked it back. It seemed he could never get a moment of peace in this world, he thought as he made his way to the conference to get it over with once and for all.

But then, as he came close to the conference, his brows drew together as his heart suddenly felt funny in his chest, and his stomach quivered with a familiar feeling he recognized all too well. His blood seemed to roar in his veins, and his frown deepened as the feeling grew more intense the closer he walked towards the conference.

Gary was following right behind him and hurriedly opened the door of the conference for him.

Lucian could hear the murmuring conversation even before he entered, but one particular voice stood out as the voice spoke with clarity. His heart skipped a beat, and he walked into the conference, stopping short in his tracks.

Time seemed to freeze for Lucian. A woman was standing before the long table where the others had already sat and were having a murmuring conversation. She stood with her arms crossed as she spoke Into her phone. She didn’t turn to him, but he recognized her from her hair and voice. She needn’t look at him for him to know she was the one.

And with that realization, his heart slammed against his ribs, breath catching in his throat as his mind screamed what his eyes could barely believe was true—his wife was here.

Emotions bubbled in his chest until he couldn’t move. After endless hours of searching for her in the vast world, of chasing ghosts and dead ends, the woman he thought he’d lost forever was standing in the same room, her back to him as she hadn’t realized he had even entered.

She seemed to finally notice him when all the men in the room turned their heads in his direction. She told the person on the phone that she’d call back and slowly but gradually turned to face him.

When their eyes met, Lucian’s world came to a complete stop as more emotions tightened his heart and burned the back of his throat.

Before he could stop himself, he was running towards her. The distance between them felt like an eternity, but then when he closed it he didn’t waste time pulling her into his arms.

The scent of her hair, the press of her body, the familiarity of her warmth—everything he’d ached for, craved, suffered for—was finally back where it belonged. A shuddered breath left him as he pulled her even closer like he would merge their bodies together, his grip was possessive and firm. He murmured his relief against her hair like a prayer, his voice rough with emotion.

"You’re really here. You’re not lost to me. You’re here again... I missed you so much," he rasped thickly into her hair.

For a split second, he expected her to melt into him like she always had—to bury her face in his chest, to hold him as tightly, to tell him she missed him too.

But that moment never came.

Instead, a sharp, rigid tension seeped into her frame. And then, she was fighting him, her hands pressing against his chest, stiffly pushing. His brows furrowed in confusion, momentarily cutting through his blinded joy of finally seeing her after what seemed like forever. He couldn’t wait to tell her all about his crazy experiences in this world and also go around with her one last time before they got the hell out of here and back to their home, where everyone was waiting for their return. But then...

Why wasn’t she holding him back?

He let go of her slowly, reluctantly, just in time to see her arm snap up angrily.

For a moment, Lucian thought she was going to slap him, and his heart dropped to his stomach at the realization. He couldn’t stop his eyes from trembling in pain as they locked with her icy, angry ones. Her hand froze midair from hitting him, trembling with suppressed, obvious rage, as if she was restraining herself by sheer force of will. He’d never seen such an expression on his wife’s face before.

Murmuring broke out in the room, but Lucian ignored it, as no words could describe the pain going through him and breaking him from the inside.

Instead of the warmth he had longed for, her blue gaze burned into him—fierce and utterly unfamiliar. She slowly brought down her hand, and her expression turned indifferent. When she parted her rosy lips to speak, her voice was low, detached and cold.

"Don’t ever do that again, or I will forget who you are and make you regret it. I am not one of your playthings, Mr. Penn. Now, if you’d respect yourself and take your seat, we can begin the meeting without letting our personal differences interfere in this." She glared at him fiercely with blue eyes that had once looked at him with love and tenderness.

He felt her words like a punch to the gut. She didn’t remember him... she didn’t know him. She was here, but she was not his.

Rylan’s warning before he performed the spell to send him here came back to him.

"It won’t be as easy as you thought, Your Majesty. She might be a different person in the future, she might not remember she was here. But if you are lucky, she might still have the memories locked away somewhere. But don’t have any high expectations if she never remembers her life with you."

Lucian had not thought about this possibility—not once had it crossed his mind that Rylan’s words would come true and that she would be a completely different person with the same face. Throughout the time he had been searching crazily for her, he had never stopped to consider those words. If she had no memories of him, how would he make her want to go back with him? Memories make a person—without them, she would only be the woman he loved by face, but not by soul and heart...

Why? He swallowed hard as he questioned his fate. Why do this to me again? Haven’t I suffered enough to be granted my happy ending?

He wanted to hit something at the injustice. He wanted to kill whoever was controlling his fate. He wanted to...

Okay, she was glaring at him with pure hatred now. When he didn’t move away to find his seat, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"If you’re not going to take your seat, I’ll take my team and leave. Your company isn’t the only real estate firm in the industry, Mr. Penn. Unfortunately for me, you own the land I want—otherwise, I wouldn’t waste a second tolerating your pathetic existence."

His pathetic existence? Those words cut deeper than he wanted them to. And when she began to pack her things on the table like she would leave, he budged from his spot and moved to go and sit. He wouldn’t want her to leave when he had only just found her, even though she was nothing like his love.

This woman here has ice for eyes and stone for heart.

He was still looking at her when he sat down on his chair, unable to believe that his wife would ever treat him this way.

From his view at the top of the long table, he could see her more clearly as she waited at the side, flipping through something on her tablet. Her red hair was swept into a neat bun, but a few loose strands framed her face, teasing, taunting him as he fought the urge to go and move them away from her face. He used to tangle his fingers in that mass of thick hair, pulling her closer, hearing the way she gasped when he did. But now, she didn’t even glance his way.

The crisp white blouse she wore clung to her curves, stretched just enough over her full breasts that he could see the faint outline of lace beneath. He had once been able to touch her rounded breasts, to press his lips and mouth on them until they pulled into a taut bud, until he felt her body come alive and arch into his. Now, that same body stood just feet away, yet out of his reach.

Not to mention the black tight skirt she wore—it hugged her hips, the darn fabric molding to every devastating curve, tapering down to her long, toned legs, made even longer by those sharp black high heels. The click of them against the floor was sharp, authoritative, just like the aloof woman wearing them. She was the boss, and she made sure everyone in the room knew it with how she moved.

She was breathtaking. She always had been. But now, she was more than that—she was untouchable, an icy beauty wrapped in professionalism, focused on the men and women around her, giving them her attention. She was talking, but he couldn’t hear a single word she spoke as he was lost in admiring her—her voice, her presence.

There was a time she would have her attention only on him, times he would make her straddle his thighs and make love to him while whispering things to drive him crazy. A time when he didn’t have to sit, being ignored, silently raging, watching her from afar while pretending it didn’t kill him.

Now, she didn’t look his way as she pointed to things on the large screens. And fuck, if that didn’t make him want her even more. She didn’t remember him, right? He would make her remember.

"Mr. Penn, what do you think about our plans for the TNT project?" came her voice that broke him out of his thoughts and pulled his eyes up to the screen where the project was presented.

Lucian hadn’t listened to anything she had been saying, he didn’t know what the TNT project was or if it would do good or bad to Penn Corps if he invest his land. He only knew that whatever his wife wanted, he would give to her even if it would cost everything in the world.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I think it’s perfect. When shall we start the building?" he asked. He’d learned a little by being here. She wanted his land and needed him to invest in the project as the Penn name would mean a lot to it and bring many investors to invest in the project. She needed the Penn to make everything possible. And he would give her that backing.