The Cursed Prince's Strange Bride

Chapter 23 "... You Are Mine."

Harold's left brow shot up at the sudden interruption, 'She is rude!' his wolf growled angrily.'

Shut up and go back to sleep.' Harold replied to the wolf. He had been having a peaceful time the whole evening when his wolf didn't say a single word.

'Why should I? This is my business as much as it's yours. I won't mate with her!''

No one is mating with anyone! Now shut up!' Harold growled back and focused on what Alicia was saying.

"Why are there so many rules? Last I remember, you came to marry me, not take a slave, so why do I have to live like a slave?" She asked, and Harold's eyes hardened at the question. His wolf growled again. Alphas never like to be challenged. They always craved obedience and submission.

"Do you know what it means to live like a slave? Do you think you would be locked up in your room doing nothing if you were only a slave?" Harold asked in a dangerously calm voice that caused her to take an involuntary step backwards and shoot him a wary look.

Why was he overreacting as if she had said something horrible? She had only asked a little question, so why did he look like he was angry? Or perhaps the King had said something to annoy him, and he was here to take it out on her?

"A slave has no will of her own, and I'm saying I don't like being controlled or told what to do. I might have to break some of those precious rules of your kingdom," Alicia said, staring at her nails and blowing out some invisible specks of dirt she could spot.

"I don't care what you choose to do with your time. Just make sure you don't come running to me when you get into some sort of trouble, as I know you will, because I won't help you," Harold threatened as he turned around to leave.

"Why did you marry me if you weren't interested in getting married?" Alicia asked before he could reach for the doorknob.

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't be married to you. But right now," He began to take a few steps closer to her, causing her to step back until her back was against the wall. His eyes continued to stare at her darkly, and the gaze was making her scared, so she shut her eyes.

'I told you to stay back!' Harold yelled in his head. 'You are scaring her.'

'She deserves it!'

Harold took charge of his consciousness and reached out to touch her face. She was pretty. Very pretty. She looked very humble and innocent— with her mouth shut. And although he wasn't going to admit it out loud, he would rather have her ranting about than acting like one of those boring princesses. But not to him, at least. She shouldn't do that to him.

"Open your eyes," He said in a commanding voice.

She opened one eye first, and when she noticed his eyes didn't look as scary as they looked earlier, she opened the other eye, but she was still very suspicious of his intention. Why a 20 or 21-year old boy could have this kind of commanding aura around him was something she wouldn't understand.

"As long as you remain in this palace... you are to listen to me. Because you are mine."

Her eyes opened wider, and before he knew it, she slapped her hand away from her face and shoved him, even though he merely budged.

"You are mistaking something, dear Prince. You can own a slave, but you can not own me. Let's say we are even a loving couple; it doesn't matter. Because I am my own person. I am a feminist. Do you know what that word means?" She asked when she saw a flicker of confusion across his face when she mentioned the word 'feminist.'

"I do not care to learn whatever word that means you are not mine," He said and turned around to leave the room, leaving Alicia staring after him with a scowl on her face.

''What a rude jerk! Patriarchal bastard! Arrgh!'' Alicia cussed as she returned to the window where she had been standing before he interrupted her. Soon she heard a knock on her door again, and glared at the door, wondering who it was this time, "Come in if you're a reasonable person," she said, half expecting it to be Harold, who was back to apologize for his mannerless behaviour.

The door opened, "I hope I'm reasonable?" Tyra asked with a small smile, and Alicia grinned at her. Grateful that there was at least one normal person in the kingdom who she could relate with.

"Of course you are," Alicia said as she walked away from the window and went to sit on the bed while Tyra looked around the room, which was sparsely furnished, "You know, for a kingdom that looked as wealthy as yours, I expected something better," Alicia said, referring to the interior decor.

"I'm sure your husband would do something about that," Tyra lied, knowing fully well that Harold wouldn't bother himself with such, and her mother was probably trying to get on Harold's nerves by giving him bride such a room.

Alicia scoffed, "I wouldn't count on that. Your brother is a jerk, you know?" Alicia asked, and Tyra shook her head.

"What's the meaning of that?" Tyra asked curiously, making a mental note to always carry a note whenever she was hanging out with Alicia, as she needed to write down the new words and their meanings.

Alicia pursed her lips as she tried to look for a simpler way to make her point, "He is annoying and he always says annoying things," Alicia explained, and Tyra smiled.

"You mean like obocios?" Tyra asked, and Alicia blinked at her in confusion.

"The word you said earlier when we just got here," Tyra reminded her, and Alicia giggled.

"You mean obnoxious?" Alicia asked, and Tyra smiled in embarrassment, grateful that she had yet to use the word with anyone else.

"Yes. Both words mean the same?" Tyra asked curiously, and Alicia shook her head.

"A jerk is more annoying in a stupid way," Alicia explained, and Tyra giggled as she tried to picture her brother's reaction if he heard the kind of words his wife was using to describe him.

"By the way, what do you do here when you're bored?" Alicia asked with a yawn.

"Bored? What's the meaning?" Tyra asked, and Alicia sighed. Communication was going to be even more difficult than she had expected if she had to explain what being bored meant.

"When you're tired and feeling annoyed because there is nothing for you to do?" Alicia asked, and Tyra pursed her lips for a moment as she tried to process it.

Her mouth rounded into a silent O when she got it, and she flashed Alicia a smile, "I never feel that way, but when I have nothing to do, I walk around the palace or talk to some of the servants. But now that you are here, I am hoping we can spend some of our time together and then you can teach me new words and their meanings," Tyra said with a hopeful smile, and Alicia couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor princess who didn't know what she was missing by being in this boring era.