The Devil's Cursed Witch novel Chapter 186

Just as Ember was about to focus on reading, her fingers happened to touch her nose as she pushed back a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. She stopped upon realizing something. She touched the tip of her nose once more, this time with a little pressure…

‘It is not hurting at all?’ she asked herself in wonder. ‘I was sure it was bruised. How come it’s fine so soon?’

She then remembered that after Draven gingerly touched her nose, she saw a glow at the tip of his finger. At that time, she didn’t pay much attention to it as his next words angered her. Even now, his annoying words calling her ‘clumsy’ and ‘liar’ were bringing a frown on her face.

‘Did he use magic to heal my nose?’ she wondered, but the next moment, her expression changed. “Well, his chest was the one that hurt me in the first place so it’s his duty to make the pain go away. There is no need for me to feel grateful towards him. Who asked him to stand so leisurely in the middle of the hallway anyway? With his sharp eyesight and ears, he should have been able to evade a human like me even when I was in a hurry.’

Feeling that she was absolutely right about what she was thinking, she moved her attention back towards the book. ‘Let’s read now. I will have to make note of what a proper wife is supposed to do.’

The book was a tale of romance between royalty of two warring nations. The story started with the newly-crowned king having to marry a tribute princess of a neighboring kingdom that was defeated in the war. The princess had no choice but to comply despite not wishing to marry him to guarantee the lives of her family. She hated the king of the enemy kingdom since he was the root cause of her suffering, but then she gradually fell in love with him after their marriage. She learned what kind of person he was, and he too tried to make amends for his shortcomings. It was a journey of her feelings, from hating to loving her husband, and at the end, they both led a good life together.

Reading the part where the princess outright announced that she didn’t want to marry the enemy king, Ember had a funny thought.

‘Why does it feel somewhat similar to me and His Majesty?’ She chuckled. ‘But I am no princess and I have no family to protect.’ She flipped to the next page where it had the description of the wedding ceremony and how the princess was contemplating running away. It even had an illustration of the wedding day.

She looked at the drawn image of the king and the princess.

‘This king is frowning so much, he looks as if he hates the entire world. He looks so scary… just like His Majesty. Imagine having been forced away from your homeland, only to meet such a scary man… No wonder the princess didn’t want to marry him. She should have just ran away.

‘If I had been given a choice, I wouldn’t have agreed to be His Majesty’s mate as well. He scares me all the time. Should kings always be so scary like this? Is having a scowling face a requirement to become king?’

She then reached the part of the story after the royal couple’s wedding ceremony. On their wedding night, the king didn’t meet the princess, much less proceed to consummate the marriage, as he was aware of the princess’s hatred towards him. Even during the days after, she never failed to show it to him. She was straightforward and openly rude whenever the two encountered each other. With her bitter words, she would always remind the king how his greed destroyed the peaceful lives of the people of her kingdom.

‘Hmm, they didn’t consummate the wedding?’ Ember sighed. ‘I was looking forward to the part where they will act as a couple and be good to each other, but I do not think this is a good reference. Their relationship is terrible. Forget about how to be a good wife; this princess even schemes bad things for her husband, angering him every chance she gets. If I act like her, His Majesty will not only throw me out of the palace, he might even have me banished from Agartha. They didn’t even consummate the wedding so I don’t even know what married couples should do. Shall I skip this book and read another one?’

Ember thought of closing the book, but before that, she flipped near the latter part of the book and saw an illustration of the king and his wife–

‘They are kissing?!’

Ember’s hand froze as she looked at the illustration for quite a while. It reminded her of the kiss she had with Draven and felt her cheeks turning hot. Unknown to her, even her heartbeats suddenly raced faster.

She took a deep breath and thought, ‘I…I think I should continue reading this book. Their relationship seemed to have improved…’ _{frёeweɓηovel.coɱ}

Just then Clio, who found a few more books, had approached the table to stack more books for her master to read, but then, she found Ember staring at nothing in particular in a daze.

“Miss Ember?”

Ember flinced. She felt like she was caught doing something wrong and immediately closed the book. She turned towards Clio with wavering eyes. “Ha ha, oh, I didn’t notice you, erm, were you saying something?”

Clio placed three more books on the desk. “We found a few more books for you, Miss.”

“Ah, yes, thank you. I will check them once I am done with this book,” Ember said as she let out another awkward laugh.