The Cursed Prince

That night, Emmely slept like a baby. Apparently, her body, mind, and soul missed her home so much, that when she went back, her heart was filled with so much happiness.

Even though she couldn't find any more unwashed shirts of her husband, at least she could still smell a bit of his scent in their bed. Gosh.. she missed him so badly!

She read his letters over and over again. They were short letters. Since Mars couldn't risk his letters being read by other people on the way to reach Emmelyn, he only wrote down simple information about where he was currently, what he was  doing there, and his wish for her to stay healthy and happy.

However, even though the letters were short, Emmelyn loved them. She read those letters over and over again, while imagining her husband's face.

It felt good. She would write back and send a bit of news that she was doing fine and she missed him.

She tried to keep her letters short too because she didn't want him to feel distraught and thought about her too much that his mission would be affected.

***

The next day, Roshan came to the village to get Mrs. Adler. Emmelyn wanted to have lunch with Mrs. Adler and talked to the old witch about helping her during labor.

"Your Highness, Mrs. Adler has arrived," Roshan announced when he entered the dining room where Emmelyn was waiting for the witch. Behind him, Mrs, Adler walked inside the room.

"Ahh.. hello, Mrs. Adler." Emmelyn rose from her chair to welcome her guest. "I am so happy to see you."

Emmelyn's steps halted when she could see the witch from close range and the witch could see her. Mrs. Adler pressed her lips in a horrified expression.

Emmelyn widened her eyes in confusion. She didn't understand why the witch gave her that look. Was there something really wrong with her?

"Mrs. Adler... Is anything the matter? Why did you look at me like you are seeing a ghost?" Finally, Emmelyn could find her voice. She asked Mrs. Adler what was wrong.

The old woman didn't reply for a moment. Her face winced as if trying hard to decide whether she should tell Emmelyn the truth, or not.

"Well...?" Emmelyn repeated her question. "Is there a problem? You have never looked at me like this before, so I am worried. Should I be worried?"

The witch's eyes were gleaming and she looked shaken by what she saw. This affected Emmelyn too, and even though she couldn't see what the witch saw, she suddenly thought that it must be something really bad.

"What is it? Please tell me..." Emmelyn begged the witch. She was worried that it had anything to do with her pregnancy.

Gosh.. please, don't let anything happen to Harlow, she prayed inwardly. 'My baby is innocent. I hope nothing bad would happen to Harlow...'

She kept repeating those words in her head, while her eyes stared straight at Mrs. Adler.

"If you are not going to tell me what's going on, I will be angry." Finally, Emmelyn became impatient. She crossed her arms on her chest and pursed her lips in annoyance.

The way Mrs. Adler looked at her with a horrified expression, made her heart tremble. However, since the witch didn't say anything to her, Emmelyn became distraught.

She knew Mrs. Adler could see the future when it presented itself to her in her divination window. So, what did she see now? Did Mrs. Adler saw Mars? Did something bad happen to him?

Mrs. Adler was startled when Emmelyn scolded her. She realized that this princess must be annoyed because she had never seen Emmelyn raise her voice to anyone.

The old woman felt guilty for her silence. She swallowed hard and slowly tears dripped down to her wrinkled cheeks. Her voice was hoarse as started speaking.

"Your Highness... I am very, very sorry.. but I see you have such bad luck... I don't have the heart to tell you about it."

"Bad luck? How?" Emmelyn was surprised when she heard the witch's words. Suddenly, Bruinen's face and words came back to her mind.

This bad luck... had been haunting her for so long. Mrs. Adler said that last year when they just met, and last month, Bruinen said the same thing. Both people didn't know each other. So, they didn't conspire to feed Emmelyn with lies.

"What do you mean by bad luck?" Emmelyn grabbed the old witch's shoulders and shook her. "Tell me...! What did you see?"

"Your Highness..." Mrs. Adler looked stressed all of a sudden. "Your aura is darker than the last time I saw you. And this time.. I can see blood in your future. It's really scary and dark... Someone will die because of you."

Emmelyn pressed her lips in shock. She unconsciously stepped back and her knees turned weak. She could barely hold herself to stand straight. 

Someone would die because of her?

OMG...

Was it her husband?

Gosh.. why did she let him go? Who cares if both of them were cursed, as long as they could be together. He didn't actually need to find the witch.

They both could live in peace with Harlow, and their next children. As long as he was here with her, Emmelyn didn't need anything else.

"Someone... will die because of me?" Emmelyn asked to confirm. "Are you sure?"

"The images have become clearer by the day," Mrs. Adler said with a low voice. She took a seat next to Emmelyn and held her hand with hers. "When I first saw you, I didn't know that the curse was very severe. Now... I do."

"The curse? Emmelyn was in shock. "Do you think I am really cursed by someone? Who? And why did they curse me? 

Mrs. Adler nodded. "I am not a highly powerful witch who knows all there is to know about these specific wizards or witches, but I can see that your family was killed because of you... and so was your brother."