The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

'What are you doing? Let me take over!' Harold's wolf said impatiently. He had been scratching to take over completely since he sensed danger even before Harold did, but Harold kept pushing him back and restraining him.

'No.'

'No?' His wolf asked in disbelief.

'She doesn't know about us,' he reminded his wolf, who seemed ready to pick a fight with him as he looked down at Alicia, who was tightly holding onto his arm with her body trembling.

He could swear that she didn't know about the existence of werewolves. So what would happen to her if he suddenly transformed right in front of her eyes? But he wasn't only worried about Alicia right now. He wasn't ready to experience such excruciating pain twice in one hour. Shifting was not a moment he looked forward to. Unfortunately, he didn't have any way to stop his compulsory night body shift, but he could definitely stop this one.

"Are you scared?" He asked Alicia quietly.

"Are you fucking kidding me? We are surrounded!" She whisper-yelled.

Harold ran his hand through his hair in confusion. He was at a loss as to what to do. He had never had anyone to care for him during a fight. What was he supposed to do about her? There was no way he was going to let her stay around here.

"Why aren't they saying anything?" She asked, tensed. If they were talking, she would at least know what they wanted, but they just kept looking at them while circling.

Her heart lurched to her throat when she felt movement from the back and realized Harold was about to climb down and leave her alone.

"Where are you going?" She asked with wide eyes while holding tightly to his hand.

"Be good," he said only those two words to her before releasing his hand from her grip and jumping down, leaving her all to herself.

"Harold! What the hell are you doing?" She asked as soon as he unsheathed his sword and lightly hit Bane's crupper.

Bane reared, startling Alicia, who yelped and grabbed the reins before she could get thrown off. Without waiting for her to settle, Bane jumped over a group of people and began to run, leaving Harold behind.

"SHIT!" Alicia swore when she realized what was happening.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" She swore repeatedly as she looked for a way to stop the horse, since speaking to Bane proved futile. It wasn't until she noticed three people chasing after her that she realized the seriousness of this ambush. How were they that fast?

But it didn't take long before Harold caught up with them and slashed his sword at them. The sight made her scream and her body shook because this was the first time she witnessed something like this. These people were going to kill her. Common sense told her that this was her chance to run away with the horse, but that wasn't the best plan for her.

"BANE! STOP!!" She yelled as she used a hand to hit Bane's crinet before she grabbed the reins and drew it to the back with all her might. Bane neighed loudly and reared one last time before he halted, getting the attention of Harold and Alvin, who were busy fighting with the assassins, who were surprisingly very skilled. Harold was slightly baffled that she had stopped and, most especially, that Bane had listened to her, but he didn't dwell on it for long, because nine of the assassins were still alive and they seemed even more vicious, with two going after Alicia.

p "RUN!" Harold yelled at her, but she jumped down from the horse, almost twisting her ankle in the process. She didn't waste time before raising her dress and reaching for the daggers she had strapped to her thighs. She had bought four of them from the market earlier when Harold was not looking. Since she found out she was good at it, she needed to arm herself, right?

But obviously, Harold had noticed and decided to let her do as she pleased. Talk about spoiling one's wife.

Just before one of the assassins could get to her, she threw two daggers with both hands, one directly at the assassin closest to her and the other one at an assassin sneakily approaching Harold, and with the perfect strike, the two daggers pierced their stomachs. The men hadn't expected that. With wide eyes, they both stumbled and fell. Surprised, Harold took note of the one behind him and stabbed him while the one close to Alicia also fell, with his sword flying from his hand and fortunately landing beside Alicia, who quickly picked it up. At the same time, she spun around and stabbed the assassin who suddenly appeared behind her, trying to take her unaware.

She drew the bloodied sword from his belly and went to complete the job on the assassin who was taking the knife out of his stomach, but he didn't get the chance to finish before she slit his throat with the sword, striking a perfect avenger pose like she had done this countless times before.

It was only after he fell to his death that Alicia realized what she had done and stared at the two corpses with wide eyes. Not only her, but even Harold, Alvin, and the three assassins who were still alive stopped whatever they were doing to look in her direction. Alicia's entire body kept shaking and even got worse when she looked at the sword. She dropped it to the ground quickly, like she had just been burned, and continued looking at her hands, which were shaking.

'THAT'S MY BRIDE!' Harold's wolf yelled in excitement, while Harold intently watched her.

Before the three other assassins could recover from their shock, Harold and Alvin finished off two, and as the third one tried to escape, both Alvin and Harold threw their daggers at him, piercing both his legs and causing him to fall on his face.

Alvin rushed over to where he was writhing on the ground trying to get up, and he took off the man's mask. He couldn't recognize the person's face, so he asked, "Who sent you?"

Although Alvin knew that it was a useless question to ask, he chose to ask nonetheless. He already had an idea of who sent them. Who else would be after the prince's life if not the Queen and Prince Ivan? Those two hated him, and they knew his whereabouts, so they were the only people who could have sent these men after him.

The man shook his head. From the look in his eyes, Harold, who had approached them with his sword in hand, could tell that the man wasn't bothered about the fact that he might die.

So that was exactly what he did. He slashed the man's throat without bothering to ask any questions.

Alvin went around taking off the masks of the other men to see if he could recognize any of them.

Alicia, on the other hand, had been throwing up with tears streaming down her face. It just occurred to her now that she had just ruined her perfect chance to escape. If she had run far away with Bane while these men were chasing after her, everyone would have assumed that she had been kidnapped or had been killed, and then Paulina would have been safe since she knew that Harold would have made sure that she was okay. So why the heck had she come back?

But most importantly, who was Princess Amber? How was the Princess so skilled at using weapons? Because those skills were definitely not hers. So how come she had the princess's skills? Perhaps the princess's soul was still inside her body somehow? Then why didn't she have her memories? Was she sharing this body with the Princess? If that was the case, what about her own body? Feeling suddenly faint, Alicia staggered a bit on her feet, but Alvin, who was close to her, was quick to hold her before she fell.

"Thank you," Alicia said weakly, while Alvin looked down at her with newfound admiration and respect. She was indeed a befitting bride for Harold. She was perfect in every sense of the word, and he still couldn't get over what he had seen.

Harold, who had noticed some of the assassins were still alive and busy sending them to the afterlife, glanced at Alvin, who was holding his wife and also noticed the awe on Alvin's face. He could tell that Alvin was impressed. If it had been someone else other than Alvin, he would probably have reacted harshly to him holding her that way, but he didn't let it bother him as he straightened up.

Harold whistled to get Bane's attention, and the horse that had been standing a distance from them returned to where they were standing.

Alicia's stomach clenched when she saw all the dead bodies and began to throw up again. As the good person that Alvin was, he reached for the water gourd in Bane's saddle and handed it over to her to wash her mouth. Alicia was still too dazed by what had happened to think straight, so when Alvin reached for the water gourd in Bane's saddle and handed it to Alicia, she was too distracted to remember that she had laced the water with sleeping medicine as she drank from it after washing the vomit out of her mouth. This was the case of someone digging a pit for someone else and also falling into it.