The Cursed Prince

Gewen looked at the king with a pleading gaze. It didn't work. Apparently, Mars already set his mind to send Gewen to find Emmelyn. Now, Gewen felt regretful. It was he who suggested Mars to personally look for Emmelyn.

Now that the king agreed to his suggestion, Mars decided to delegate the task to Gewen as his most trusted confidante, since the king obviously couldn't leave the capital for the time being.

Gewen could only pout to hide his displeasure. He just returned. He needed more rest and relaxation after a long and arduous trip to Wintermere. This was not fair.

He didn't even like Emmelyn, but he had to sacrifice his time for her?

"I heard that Elmer, Bruinen and the others almost reached the capital," Mars added. "We can wait for them to arrive and then you can go look for Emmelyn together with Bruinen."

"Huh? Bruinen? Why?" Gewen didn't understand what his friend had in mind. Gewen also didn't like Bruinen. Why would the king ask him to travel with the young wizard? Gewen only tolerated Bruinen to give face to Elmer and Mars.

"Bruinen seems to know something about Myreen. He will be very helpful if you want to go and look for Emmelyn," Mars said. "Plus, he is a wizard. His skills in magic and herbomancy will be very useful for your trip."

Gewen had to agree with the king's opinion on this. However, it didn't mean he liked it.

"Hmmph.. fine," he said. "I am only doing this for you. I hope you know how much I love you."

"I know, Gewen," Mars smiled. "Thank you."

The door was suddenly knocked and John came in when Mars told him to enter.

"Your Majesty, the little princess is awake. I heard you wanted to see her after she woke up?"

"Yes, I do. Thank you for bringing Harlow here," said Mars with a big smile on his face. Gewen followed his gaze and saw John brought a basket in his hand.

Ahh.. this must be the little ugly baby, he thought.

Except... the baby was no longer ugly.

Gewen couldn't believe Harlow could change so much in only two weeks. Wasn't she wrinkly and yellow the last time he saw her?

And her silver hair really didn't help either. She looked like a miniature frail old lady with wrinkles on her face and limbs.

However, now she was no longer wrinkly. Her facial skin was smooth and she actually gained weight.

How old was she now? 6 weeks?

Harlow's eyes were still grey, her hair was like glowing silver, and her cheeks looked a bit chubby and red, like two cherry tomatoes. Her lips were unusually red, they looked like a beautiful plump cherry.

She was still small, but overall looked so much healthier than before. Her skin also was no longer yellowish. They looked fair and fresh. Welp.. was this really even the same baby?

It must be. They had the same hair!

"What are you looking at?" Mars scolded Gewen who looked dumbfounded. 

The man was moved from his reverie. "She doesn't look like your baby. What happened to her?"

Mars furrowed his brows. He didn't understand what Gewen meant. "What do you mean? She always looks like this."

Gewen realized that for someone who saw Harlow every day, her physical changes might not be noticeable because they were subtle, but for someone like Gewen who didn't see the baby for a long period of time, all changes in Harlow's physical form would seem obvious.

So, he didn't argue with Mars. "Yeah, I just thought she didn't look like this when I saw her the last time."

"She was a newborn, so of course her appearance will change. You will see that she will look like me as days go by," Mars explained. "My father said Harlow looks exactly like me when I was her age."

"Oh, he did?" Gewen was interested in hearing more. "Have your father seen her? I mean... after the last time when you brought her to the throne room and then he appointed you to be the next king."

Mars nodded. "Yeah. I take Harlow to see my father every weekend. He chose to spend most of his time near the ice cave. We are building a mansion for him there where he would live his old age."

"Oh..." Gewen clicked his tongue. "Then? Does your father like Harlow?"

Mars nodded. "He likes her a lot."

Gewen really didn't expect the answer. He thought Jared Strongmoor would not want his grandchild for two reasons. One being Harlow was a girl, and the second reason was that Harlow was born by the woman who allegedly killed his wife.

"I am glad to hear that," Gewen let out a relieved sigh. He tilted his head lower and observed Harlow up close. "Hello, Harlow."

He tried to greet the baby. 

SCRATCH

"Auww!!" Gewen didn't expect the small baby to have such long nails and she suddenly scratched his face. "What the....!"

"Hey, Gewen, watch your language," Mars quickly reprimanded his friend. "Don't teach Harlow curse words."

"She scratched me!!!" Gewen whined. "What, is she a bear or something? Why don't you cut her nails?"

"Ah, sorry about that. I will do it later." Mars winced when he saw three scratch marks on Gewen's otherwise smooth face. 

Mars picked up Harlow from her basket and scolded the little bear affectionately. "Ssshh.. Harlow, you shouldn't attack Uncle Gewen. He is not a bad guy."

He was so surprised when he heard the baby chuckle. Mars quickly raised Harlow to the air and looked at her face intently. "Are you laughing at my advise, or are you happy because you have hurt Gewen?"

Harlow didn't reply. She pulled her limb with difficulty since her father was lifting her to the air by holding her armpits. And when she succeeded, she immediately sucked on her right thumb.

"Ew... she is sucking on her thumb," Gewen winced. "Hey, little bear! Your father is wealthy. He can afford to get you any food you want. Don't embarrass him by sucking your thumb. You will make people think he doesn't feed you properly."