The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alicia lay still as the royal physician checked her. He placed his hand on her wrist and checked her pulse. After that, he checked her eyes and her tongue.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, looking at her with curious concern.

Alicia's face was a picture of distress as she raised her hands to her head, "I feel very tired. My head feels like it's going to fall off my neck. My whole body aches. And I can't seem to keep my eyes open," Alicia said in a weak voice, as her eyelids fluttered as though they were shutting on their own volition, and she tried to lay down again.

"She needs to eat properly and rest well. I think it is fatigue," the doctor said, turning to look at Beth, who was staring down at Alicia with disapproving eyes. There was nothing that anyone was going to tell her that would make her believe that Alicia was ill.

"I will relay your message to the Queen," Beth said as the physician gathered his things and stood up to leave.

"I will have someone bring you a cup of peppermint tea for your headache," the physician told Alicia before walking away.

Once the physician left, Paulina quickly sat beside Alicia's bed with tears in her eyes as she looked at her mistress, "What can I do?" She asked Alicia with concern.

Seeing the tears in the girl's eyes, Alicia almost rolled her eyes. It seemed like her eyes never stayed dry. She cried at the slightest opportunity.

Alicia wanted to tell Paulina not to worry that she was fine, but she didn't. Not just because Beth was still standing there glaring at her, but also because Paulina's genuine concern made her acting even more believable.

Good thing she was an actress. She had played several sick roles in movies before, so looking and sounding ill wasn't something new to her. If they thought she was going to stand for hours listening to Beth ramble nonsensical things at her, they must be dreaming. With how she had looked last night, no one would doubt she was truly ill, and even Tyra would bear witness that she was sick since she had told her last night that she was very tired and exhausted. She laughed evilly in her head.

"Don't worry, I will live through this," she assured Paulina in a weak voice, as she prayed for Beth to leave. She was beginning to feel really hungry and wanted to ask Paulina to go and get something for her to eat, but she couldn't do that with Beth in the room, or else Beth would become even more suspicious of her.

"Don't worry about me, you can leave. You don't have to be here," she told Beth in a tender voice, but Beth only eyed her and remained where she was. She still was not over the fact that Alicia had slapped her two days ago and humiliated her in front of those maids.

"I'm not leaving. You missed your classes yesterday because you had lunch with Prince Harold."

"Yes. I had lunch with my husband." Despite her false illness, Alicia couldn't stop herself from saying it, seeing how Beth would never acknowledge the fact that she was married to him. What kind of sick obsession was this?

Beth glared at her, "I'm hoping that you get better before noon. You still have so much that you need to learn, and I don't think it's wise to keep pushing back your classes," Beth said, and Alicia snickered inside her head.

She intended to keep coming up with excuses like this to skip those boring and stressful classes until she figured out a way to leave the palace.

"Unfortunately, I'm too weak to get off the bed, unless you want to teach while I'm lying down," Alicia offered.

"You must think..." Beth's words were cut off by the sudden knock on the door, and they all turned to look while Alicia prayed that whoever was coming in was bringing food along. Trying to look even more pitiful, tears gathered in her eyes.

The door was pushed open, and Tyra walked in with Susan, who was carrying a tray with a cup of tea. "The physician sent someone to bring this to you. I took it from him since we were coming here," Susan informed Alicia as they walked into the chamber.

"How are you feeling?" Tyra asked with concern as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside Alicia, whose eyes were misty.

"I... feel like I'm... dying," Alicia said dramatically, and that only made Paulina break into another round of sobs.

"Please don't die, Milady. You can't die and leave me alone. I will die with you." Paulina cried.

Alicia reached for Paulina's face slowly until she touched her teary cheek.

"I... will be okay, Paulina. I will survive." She smiled faintly as more tears pooled in her eyes. "I only need to do what Beth asked me to. So, even though I am sick, I have to go to my classes. I believe I will survi—" Alicia broke into a dramatic sob that had Susan and Tyra frowning at Beth.

"HOW DARE YOU ASK HER TO GO FOR THOSE STUPID CLASSES IN THIS CONDITION? ARE YOU SICK IN THE HEAD OR SOMETHING?" Susan asked, fuming angrily as she eyed Beth unpleasantly.

One could imagine how Beth felt right now as she dug her nails into her palms and looked at the witch who called herself a princess, sobbing pitifully. No one in this world would be able to tell her otherwise. This little witch was acting.

"No... it's fine. Do not take it out on her. She is only doing her job." Alicia said meekly, like an angel, as she used her sleeves to clean her eyes and started coughing out of the blue, like someone who was on the verge of dying.

Paulina refused to leave her side, crying loudly. This made Alicia make up her mind that whenever she planned to act like this, she was never going to let Paulina in on the plan. Damn! She was taking the whole thing to a new level.

"Don't cry. Nothing will happen to your mistress. She will be fine. You should sit up and drink the tea," Tyra assured Paulina as she moved to help Alicia sit up so that she could drink the tea.

"What are you still doing here? Get lost!" Susan yelled at Beth, throwing whatever she could find in her direction.

Alicia badly wanted to smile smugly, but she resisted the urge as she watched Beth bow slightly towards Susan. Beth still had an overbearing aura of arrogance around her, but it was none of Alicia's business. She had made up her mind that whatever concerned Beth, she would have others handle it on her behalf and keep her hands clean. As Beth left the room, she didn't miss the slight smirk and evil glint on Alicia's face, which Alicia didn't try to conceal when their eyes met. It was as if Alicia was daring her to go tell the queen that she was faking it. The royal physician had been here and said she needed rest. Susan and Tyra had seen how pitiful she looked, as well as some other servants who visited with one thing or the other. If Beth continued to push that she was faking it, then it would be the perfect time to use Beth's obsession with Prince Harold as the reason she was against her constantly.

Beth could only suppress her anger and leave the room. Adding one more name to her blacklist—Susan. For now, she knew the only one likely to believe her was Harold since it was obvious that he hated this new bride. With a plan in mind, she felt better.

This situation made Alicia realize that if she needed a strong ally in this kingdom, it had to be Susan. She seemed like the only one to take Beth head-on.

"You didn't have... to send her off like that," Alicia said, looking sad as she watched Beth leave.

"You are such a sweet soul, Princess Amber, but she deserves it," Princess Tyra said as she offered her the cup of tea.

If only they could all hear the evil laughter in Alicia's head right now. They would have realized that she was anything but a sweet soul. Beth didn't know what was coming for her.

As Alicia was trying to sit up, the door opened and Luciana walked in, a maid carrying a tray of food behind her.

"I was looking everywhere for you two so we could come together. Why did you come without me?" She scolded Tyra and Susan before looking at Alicia, smiling sweetly.

"You haven't eaten, right? I thought you might get hungry," Luciana said as she approached Alicia, whose heart was dancing with joy at the sight of food.

Luciana was officially her lifesaver. Not that she liked the girl, but this was food that they were talking about.

"You... didn't have to. I... don't have an appetite." Alicia said, sighing pitifully as she made a move to return to her former position.

As expected, the four ladies cajoled her to eat, even if it was just a bite.

"I really don't feel up for it," Alicia said with tears in her eyes as if she was being forced to do something painful.

"You need to take a spoon. We heard from the physician's assistant that you need food and rest. So you should try some, please," Tyra urged, and the others nodded their consent.

"I'm really not hungry, but because of you all, I will just have to force myself to eat some." She said in a tired voice as Tyra helped her sit up.

The evil laugh in her head and the hope she felt died immediately when she realized the 'food' they were referring to was an ugly-looking porridge.'

Just kill me!' She cried in her head as she officially added Luciana to her blacklist.

When she refused to eat this time, she really wasn't faking it.