The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Alicia was led to a room far bigger and well-arranged compared to the other kingdom. The room was almost empty, left for a king-sized bed and a dressing table with a small mirror. She remembered how her room was well decorated. Bright sheets instead of these dull looking sheets, floor-to-ceiling windows compared to the small windows in the room. The similarity was that the room was on the second floor, so she could still look at the city from her window even if it wasn't that big. Something clicked in her head, and she approached the window with a smile on her face. The door behind her opened and a girl entered, but she didn't bother to spare her any glance as she went to the window.

"My lady,"

'I can pass through this window.' Alicia thought to herself. She only had to try a little, plus she also needed a rope to help her down. She had played several dangerous roles and had refused to use a stuntman because she had aimed to be the best actress. And one of the ways she demonstrated this was by reducing the cost of hiring a stuntman to play her role. So she had been trained a lot. Jumping down from here would be an easy feat.

"Can you hear me?"

'I just have to wait until midnight. But first, I need to find a strong rope.' She turned to look around the room absentmindedly, still not noticing the person inside.

She tried to find something solid she could tie the rope to, and her eyes landed on the solid legs of the bed.

'That's it! I will try to move the bed a little closer and make do with it. And I will need a horse. I should still remember how to ride one.' She had starred in a historical drama before and was made to take horse riding lessons for the role.

She heard a loud sound behind her, like something was being flogged, and was startled as she jumped back. Then she finally took note of the girl inside the room with her, who had a cane in hand and had used it to hit the dressing table.

"Who are you?" Alicia asked and eyed her up and down. She wore a simple dress and had her hair tied in a ponytail with a red head band around her hair and a crescent moon knitted at the center of the front of the band.

She'd noticed that the other maids in this kingdom had the same thing around their heads. But unlike the maids she saw in the other kingdom, who looked very meek and humble, this one had an air of arrogance around her, which she didn't try to conceal. She acted like she was superior to Alicia, which felt weird to Alicia because, technically, she was the prince's bride and was supposed to be respected. The girl looked to be in her teenage years or early twenties. She couldn't guess."

My name is Beth. I will be your handmaiden from now on and cater to all your needs. I will also be in charge of teaching you the things you need to know about the palace. Firstly, you need to have a warm bath and greet the royals." She turned to face the door and yelled, "Come in."

The door opened and about five other young girls hurried inside. They all bowed to Alicia, but it seemed like they were bowing down to Beth. They also looked very nervous, and she could tell it wasn't because of her. Each had a bowl of something in their hands.

"Set up her bath."

Alicia watched everything happen in confusion.

They all hurriedly pushed open a curtain at the end of the room and entered the next room, which she believed was the bathroom.

"You should be stripping out of these," Beth said, eyeing her up and down like she was wearing rags.

"Where is Paulina?" Alicia asked.

"Who is that?"

"My handmaiden. She came with me."

"She will be assigned other duties."

"She is going to attend to me."

Something akin to a smirk grew on Beth's face. "You do not have a choice here, My Lady. It is the order of the inner court that I train you. Therefore; She. Will. Be. Assigned. Other. Duties," Beth said each word pointedly, as if she was deliberately trying to annoy Alicia.

'There is something wrong with this place,' Alicia thought to herself as she took a step forward so that she was standing directly in front of the maid, "And if I say no?" She asked with a slightly raised brow, challenging the maid.

"You seem to be mistaken about something here. I... didn't ask for your opinion. If you care about your maid, it would be best you do as I say," Beth threatened.

'Didn't the rumor say that everyone was scared of Prince Harold? How come this girl could treat me, who happened to be Prince Harold's wife, like this? Who is she exactly? She is no ordinary maid. Everything about her points to that fact. Aside from that, maybe I am being treated this way because they must have heard that Prince Harold does not like me. It doesn't matter. I need to swallow my anger and be nice to her if I need a rope to get out of here.'

Alicia paused when something else occurred to her. Paulina. She hadn't realized that there was a flaw in her plan until she had to think about Paulina now. What was going to happen to Paulina if she managed to escape? Perhaps she shouldn't have brought Paulina along with her?

"W-We are... done, Miss... Beth," One of the girls said when they came out of the bathroom. She had her head bowed and so did the others.

Now, Alicia wondered who this Beth was and why they had assigned her to attend to her.

Beth, on the other hand, could feel her blood boiling from having to attend to a mere human woman. She had been working for the royals since she was a baby. Her mother had been a handmaiden before she died. And she was born in this palace. Unlike the humans, who she had heard didn't let their maids or servants get married and procreate, it was different in the moon kingdom because they were werewolves. And they have to keep procreating to keep them from going extinct. They also needed warriors.

Not only was her mother a strong Beta who had sacrificed her life to save the queen, but her father was also a Beta and one of the best warriors. Everyone feared her because she was the favorite handmaiden of the royals, and this was because of her family. She was also quite strong since she trained with her father sometimes.

She deserved better than to attend to a mere weak human girl.