When the first guest arrived, Ivan was quick to assign the Queen's bodyguard to lead them to their chamber. Since he was one of the most important people in the country, it was only normal that he would assign their person to lead him instead of letting Harold do that.
Seeing how Harold was nonchalant about the whole thing made his blood boil. He had expected Harold to try and prove to the guests that he was worthy of the throne by being nice to them, but he didn't seem to mind, which made Ivan feel angry because it felt as though he was competing with Harold, who wasn't even putting any effort into it.
As the queen's bodyguard, Damian, led the guest away, Ivan noticed how Damian's eyes went to the top of the building before he quickly looked away and continued walking ahead.
Curious, Ivan turned and found Susan, Tyra, and that witch by the window, conversing together.
The mere sight of her made his blood boil. He was going to deal with his useless sister and stop her from hanging around Harold's witch of a wife. Remembering how she had jumped on him and scratched his face made him shudder. He remembered that Susan's parents were going to come soon, and he almost began to dance for joy. He was going to tell them to make their daughter stay away from her and also have Susan leave the palace. That little thing had dared challenge him when he almost struck Alvin. Not once, but twice.
So when Alvin received his uncle and was leading them, he took special note of them, especially when Susan excitedly went to embrace her parents.
He narrowed his eyes, observing them, and noticed how Alvin averted his gaze from her while Susan stole a glance at him.
A smirk suddenly formed on his face as realization dawned on him. Well, this was getting interesting. There was a high chance that the son fancied a servant. A human servant. And then their precious daughter seemed like she fancied a bodyguard. And of all the bodyguards, it had to be Harold's. He could almost imagine his uncle and aunt's faces when they heard this.
Hearing him laugh like that made Harold look at him with interest. For all the years he had known Ivan, whenever he laughed like that, it meant he was already plotting something. But he didn't let it bother him. Ivan was an idiot, after all, who always allowed his emotions to control him. So, no matter what he was planning, there was always bound to be a flaw in his plan.
Since it was just the two of them left. He was more bound to leave now. But he decided to be patient since they had just one guest left that was going to arrive this morning before some others got here in the evening.
It wasn't long before the Minister of War arrived. Sir Richard greeted Ivan casually before he went to stand in front of Harold, shaking his hand firmly and asking how he was doing. Through the corner of his eyes, he noticed Ivan frowning at the attention Sir Richard was giving him.
Harold greeted the entire family casually and was about to turn and leave them with Ivan to handle the rest when he heard a faint, tiny voice call out to him,
"Your highness, Prince Harold."
He looked at the girl with a raised brow. Wondering what this was supposed to mean?
Usually, people were quick to get away from him, but she, on the other hand, wanted his attention.
Sir Richard cleared his throat, "Your highness, this is my daughter, Benedicta. She had just come of age and would be attending this banquet for the first time." Sir Richard said with a friendly smile, and Harold looked away from the girl and faced her brother, who hadn't spoken a word.
Harold noticed Harvey was looking up behind him in surprise and frowned when he remembered what was up there.
He followed Harvey's line of sight, and just as he had guessed, his sister and princess were there. Well, for Harvey's sake, he did hope that the young man was staring at his sister instead.
Harold realized he was supposed to be worried about something else when he saw Alicia glaring daggers at both him and... Benedicta? What did the girl do to her when she was only just arriving now? He wondered as he stared back at Benedicta.
'What did you do this time?' His wolf asked, sighing tiredly.
Of course, he did nothing wrong. In fact, if someone was mad at someone, it was him who was mad at Alicia, so why was she glaring at him like that?
"I will escort you to your chamber, Sir Richard," Ivan offered politely, making both Harold and Harvey return their attention to what was happening in front of them.
"I'm sure Prince Harold can escort us," Sir Richard said with a polite smile, and Ivan turned and walked away in annoyance to go report to his mother, while Harold walked ahead of the family, leading the way.
"Who is that lady standing up there with Princess Tyra?" Harold heard Harvey ask his father.
"That is MY bride," Harold said without looking back, hoping that Harvey would get the message clearly and get rid of any ideas he was getting in his head.
Why was Alicia standing there anyway? Why couldn't she just stay hidden and out of the sight of trouble? Harvey had barely been here for ten minutes and he was already showing an interest in her, whether or not it was a good or bad interest.
"Ah! That is your human bride?" Sir Richard asked as he looked up at her again. This time, Harold didn't respond and just continued to lead them while trying to guess what Harvey was thinking.
"How do you cope with her being human?" Benedicta asked as she hurried to walk beside Harold.
Although her parents couldn't give her away to him in marriage because of the curse, she still fancied him since she had been his chosen bride before the curse came upon him, and she still hoped that the curse would be broken.
Since Harold wasn't under any obligation to answer her question or speak with her, he ignored her as he continued walking.
After showing them to their chamber, which they already knew since they had stayed there during every banquet, Harold went in search of Alicia.
Maybe he needed to spell it out to her that she should stay out of the way of these aristocrats. He wanted her to avoid all of them. He didn't care whether they approved of her or not, as most of them didn't approve of him anyway.
He went to the spot where he had seen her standing with Tyra earlier, but she had left there already, so he continued to look for her until he saw her sitting under a tree shade with Tyra in the courtyard.
"Come with me," Harold ordered her, and turned to leave, but stopped when he noticed that she wasn't following him.
He turned to look at her, raising a brow, "Why are you not following me?"
"You didn't say, please. I'm not your servant; you can't order me around that way," Alicia said with her arms folded in front of her and a stubborn look in her eyes like she wanted to fight with him.
What was wrong with this woman? Why did she keep behaving like she was possessed by a demon? Oh, yes! She was actually the demon possessing a body that wasn't hers. And he had married the demon.
Knowing her the way he did, he knew that she wouldn't budge if she didn't get her way, and there was no way he was going to beg her to follow him. Not when he was still mad at her. Who begged a person he was mad at to follow him? All he wanted was for her to not cause any problems that would complicate things for them both.
"Excuse us," he ordered Tyra, and immediately she stood up and bowed to him before walking away.
"Because you couldn't order me, you chose to order your sister. What a man you are," Alicia said with a scoff, and Harold glared at her.
Harold took a deep breath to calm himself. It seemed like the moon goddess had deliberately made them choose this woman as his bride, whether or not she was his mate, to teach him patience.
The amount of patience he had exercised since he married her was far more than he had ever exhibited in all his life. Otherwise, how could he explain that she was still alive despite all the annoying things she had said to him since she came into his life?
"You promised to not cause any trouble," Harold reminded her, choosing to not argue or fight with her as he suspected she wanted.
"Oh, are you now talking to me? I thought you were giving me the silent treatment last night over something I did 500 years from now where you didn't even exist?" Alicia asked, and Harold just stared at her.
Was this woman normal? Was it about when she did it or was it about the fact that she did it?
"Just don't cause any trouble. Don't leave your chamber unless it's for breakfast or dinner or I send for you. I will have them deliver food to your chamber during lunch, and..."
"Excuse you?"
Alicia asked in annoyance.
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