The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

The head of the kitchen entered together with the three maids, who looked around in confusion, wondering why the room looked weird and smelled damp.

Alicia showed them to the table where they dropped everything, and she looked at them in awe. How had Harold thought to send her all these?

Seeing this, Luciana could not help but feel envious of her, and it brought her great sadness. For the four years since she had been married to Ivan, he had never done anything like this for her.

"Can you give us the list of things you want now?" The man asked Alicia politely when the maids finished serving the meal.

Alicia's face lit up as she thought of all the yummy things she had avoided eating because she was watching her weight. Well, this wasn't her body, so she was free to eat as much as she wanted now without fear of weight gain.

"Oh, yeah! Sure. I want to make pizza, burgers, pasta, Oh! Add smoothies to the list. You have no idea how much I've missed that. I'd like to also make— Oh... Sorry," she stopped when she noticed the confusion on all their faces. Why did she always forget that she was the most civilized person in this era?

Who knows? Perhaps if she succeeded in making pizza and burgers in this era, her name would be written in history as the first person ever to make a delicacy like that.

"You know what? Just leave this note here, and I will write them down and return it to you later."

"Uhm... I can't. This note is... it is kitchen property." The man explained uncomfortably, not wanting to annoy her.

"I see. No worries, then. You can leave with the kitchen note. I will write them down and bring them over to the kitchen myself so that we can review the list and see what items you can get and which ones we would have to find alternatives for."

"I will be waiting, my lady," the man replied with a bow.

"By the way, when can I use the kitchen?" She asked, surprising the others in the room.

"You want to use the kitchen?" Susan asked in surprise.

Alicia nodded like it was something normal. "You can join me if you want. I will be delighted to show you a few kitchen tricks," She said, winking at them before facing the man.

"If we are able to get all the ingredients you need by tomorrow, then you can use the kitchen in two days," the man said, and Alicia smiled broadly.

"That's cool! Thank you so much." She said politely to the four people who bowed to her before leaving.

"Prince Harold is aware that you want to go into the kitchen to cook?" Luciana asked with a deep frown, wondering what was happening and why it seemed like Alicia was doing the opposite of all that they were supposed to be doing, yet her husband was treating her so nicely.

Alicia smiled, "Yes."

"And he allowed you?" She asked incredulously.

Seeing the surprise on her face, Alicia decided that it would be a bad idea to tell them that Harold had actually been the one to suggest that she go into the kitchen to make her own food. They would probably die of shock that her husband was helping her rebel. What a sweet man she was married to. I mean, sweet man Amber was married to.

"I'm going into the kitchen to fix something that suits my taste. What is so wrong with that?" Alicia asked and then looked at Susan thoughtfully, "Can you cook?"

Susan shook her head, "Why do I need to when we have servants to do things like that?" Susan asked, and Alicia shook her head.

"Cooking is a basic survival skill that every adult should learn. So what happens if your servants choose to go on strike and refuse to cook? You will die of starvation," Alicia said, and both Luciana and Susan exchanged looks.

"They can't refuse to cook. If they do, they will be punished," Luciana said, and Alicia decided to give up the debate. It was their choice. They could do whatever they wanted.

"You both can start eating before the food gets cold. I need to go look for Paulina. I'm sure she must be hungry. I will also see if I can find Tyra."

"Why do you care about Paulina so much?" Luciana could not help but ask. It's not that she had a bad relationship with her personal maid, but she didn't have such a close relationship with her either that she would go to all this length to look for her to feed her. That was just so strange and... improper.

"What do you mean? Paulina is my friend so I care about her," Alicia said matter of factly.

"Your friend? She can't be your friend. She is a maid." Susan reminded her.

"That is where you are wrong, darling. She can be anything to me that I want her to be. As a matter of fact, I don't just see Paulina as my friend. I also see her as my younger sister, and as much as she cares for me and my welfare, I will do my best always to protect her."

"Uhm... I'm not sure I can eat at the same table as a maid," Luciana said with a slight frown.

"Well then. Practice makes perfect. Come on," she linked her arms with Susan's and Luciana's, standing in the middle of the two ladies.

"Where are we going to?" Susan asked in confusion.

"Let's go find our personal assistants and give them a treat today. You are eventually going to see that there is nothing wrong with treating them with as much care as they show us." Alicia said, dragging the ladies to the door.

"I can not do that," Luciana protested with a shake of her head. They had a class structure here that could never be changed for anything. Maids were maids. Princesses were princesses.

"I'm sure Paulina is in the painting room with Williams. If she is with him, then I'm sure she isn't hungry," Susan said as she dragged them out of the room.

Change wouldn't come to these ones in a day. Maybe she needed to take it one day at a time by pushing them to take baby steps, "Okay, they won't eat with us. But each of you will give a piece of snack to your maid, agreed?" She asked, looking from one to the other.

Luciana shrugged. That was something that she could do. Susan gave her a nod, and Alicia smiled at them. She was sure that when they saw how much joy their kind gesture would give their servants, they would be more willing to eat with them.

"Okay then, let's find Tyra." Fortunately, they saw Tyra walking down the passageway even before she finished speaking.

"We were just coming to find you," Alicia said with a wide smile.

"I was looking all over for you," Susan told her.

Tyra looked at the three, confused, wondering why they were looking for her and why Luciana was with them.

"I was feeling sick, so I went to see the royal physician."

Alicia looked at her closely and noticed she looked pale. She wondered what was wrong with Tyra. Several times, she wanted to ask about Tyra's relationship with the rest of the family, but she didn't know how to bring up such a sensitive issue. Judging by how Tyra had said she didn't like Luciana reporting every detail to her husband and the queen, Alicia could only tell that there was a kind of strain in their relationship because even Tyra and the Queen never related much like mother and daughter. She wondered why.

"What did he say was wrong? How do you feel now?" Alicia asked in concern as she stepped forward to feel Tyra's temperature.

"I feel better. He gave me medicine. So now that you have seen me, where are you heading?" She asked and looked at the three one more time.

"Prince Harold brought her breakfast!" Susan said excitedly, cutting Alicia off.

"He did?" Tyra asked, surprised.

"Well, he didn't come with the food, but he sent the head chef and some kitchen servants. They brought a variety of dishes for her. Can you believe it? Who thought Prince Harold was such a romantic?" Susan asked with a wide smile.

"Stop being dramatic," Alicia said with an embarrassed smile as she looked at Tyra, who seemed very surprised. It seemed like the last thing she had expected Harold to do.

"Wow! That is great! I see you are both getting along very well," Tyra said, smiling.

"Yeah, we are learning to," Alicia said as she led all of them back inside, but paused outside her door when something occurred to her.

"My room is still a mess, and there is not enough space for all of us to sit down to eat," she said, looking at Tyra hopefully.

"What is wrong?" Tyra asked, and Alicia smiled.

"Why don't we move the food to your chamber?"