47. The Bride is here.

The door to Alice's room opened and a slave walked in. "My lady," she bowed her head a bit as a sign of respect. "It is time to leave for the palace halls. They are awaiting the arrival of the bride now."

Alice sighed, a look of sadness on her face as she stared at herself in the mirror before her. Her back was turned to the slave who had just walked in, so the slave could only see her appearance from the back. "How do I look?" She asked her.

"You look amazing, my lady. Nobody in the castle is as beautiful as you are today." The slave replied her.

Hearing this, it sounded a bit comforting, and her confidence returned immediately. "Are you sure about that?" She asked as she turned to face the slave.

"Yes, my lady. Nobody in this whole palace has…" Her voice trailed off as Alice turned to face her. "My lady!" The slave suddenly exclaimed as she finally saw Alice's face. It was covered in blisters, but this time, larger than how it was the day before. It had become extremely noticeable, that no one would look at her and not see it. To the slave, Alice's face looked ugly and disfigured, but she was not in the right place to tell her that. If she wanted to remain alive, the slave had to maintain that Alice was the most beautiful woman in the castle at the moment, even though it was a lie.

"I knew it!" Alice sighed as she turned back to look at her blistered face in the mirror. "I am so dead today. Had I known, I should have left my face the way it was. I look so horrible right now."

"My lady!" The slave called again. "Do not say such words to yourself. You look beautiful and that's nothing to argue about."

"Are you sure about this?" Alice asked her slave one more time.

"Yes ma'am." The slave replied. As she replied her, Alice smiled to herself in the mirror.

"Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe it's not so bad after all." She said to herself as she checked her face in the mirror one last time before she left for the palace hall, with the slave following closely behind. The slave made sure to cover Alice's face with her veil before leaving the room. It was a sort of tradition, and it was her groom who would raise the veil when she walks into the hall.

"The bride is here!" Someone announced inside the palace hall as Alice stood in front of the entrance of the hall with her slave behind her. "Let us all welcome the one and only Lycan princess, and our bride to be, who is the reason we're all gathered here. Princess Alice, everyone!"

The whole congregation stood up at the introduction of Alice's arrival as a form of respect to the princess. There was an aisle covered with a red carpet, on which Alice walked into the hall, her slave still following her. As soon as he walked in, everyone else had their seats.

Right in front of the hall was the biggest seat, on which their father, the lycan king, King Alexander sat. Beside him was the father of the groom. Next to their father was Hunter, and then Arthur and next to the groom's father was the groom. He was beaming with smiles as he watched his groom walk into the hall.

As soon as she got in front of the high table, she bowed as a form of greeting to the royals on the high table. Then, her groom; Clover stood up from his seat and approached her. As soon as he got to her front, he unveiled her in front of everyone.

Alice raised her head slowly for Clover to see, and the smile on his face dissolved almost immediately he saw her blistered face.

"What the..." He muttered to her with a serious expression on his face. "This wasn't how I saw you the last time the met. What happened to your face?"

"Now that our bride has been unveiled, can the bride turn around now for us to see, sir Clover?" The man who had made the announcement of Alice's arrival spoke again. Clover sighed and walked back to his seat, as Alice swallowed her spit and turned around. As soon as she did, most people, if not everyone gasped.

"What happened to her face?"

"The princess' face!"

"Are those blisters on her face?"

"Oh my, on her wedding day!"

She could hear some of these murmurs loud and clear from people seated in the hall, and she felt embarrassed and a bit tensed. She made her hand into a fist as she tried to maintain her confidence no matter what. Suddenly, she turned backwards to her slave. "You said I looked fine!" She muttered to her between gritted teeth.

"I am sorry, my lady, but you look amazi—"

"Just shut it!" She snapped at her and faced her front. The man continued with the introduction as the murmurs died down and soon, she had gone to have her seat beside her groom on the high table. The programme continued with several entertainments ongoing on the stage.

"Why didn't you take care of your blisters before today, Alice?" Clover asked her amidst the noise in the hall, as soon as she sat next to him on the table.

"I tried. It just started yesterday." She replied and sighed. "I still look beautiful though, right?" She asked him, trying to make him give her a reassuring speech or something close to it.

"Uh…" Clover, whose eyes was already somewhere else, and on someone else, didn't answer her question immediately. "Who is that?"

"Who?" Alice asked, following his gaze to see who he was staring at that took his attention from her.

"That young lady over there." He said as he used his head to motion in the direction Winifred stood, behind Arthur.

Seeing that he was referring to Winifred, Alice rolled her eyes and snapped at him. "Are you here to marry me or to lust over human slave girls like her?"

Clover scoffed, a look of surprise on his face as he turned to face Alice, ignoring what she had said earlier. "You mean that lady is a slave girl? Dang, that slave is beautiful."

"Really? You're going to be like this on our wedding? Fine!" She said and slammed her hand on the table, but it got no attention because the hall was noisy with the dancers entertaining the guests on the stage.

"Hey, calm down. I never said you aren't beautiful, did I?"

"But who is more beautiful? She or me?"

Clover chuckled a bit. "You have blisters on your face at the moment, my love. She's definitely the most beautiful girl in this castle as I speak."

"That does it." She said and stood up from her seat immediately.

"Uh, hey, Alice!" Clover called her as she stormed to the other side of the hall, but she didn't reply. "She'll come back when she's calm," he muttered to himself and gave a small smile.

Alice stormed to where Winifred was and dragged her by her cloth from Arthur's back. Arthur on the other hand didn't know she had left her back, he was too focused on the dancers on the stage, and the noise in the hall didn't let him hear Winifred shout when she was being dragged away.

"What is it?! What do you want from me again?!" Winifred asked in anger as she finally managed to push Alice away from her when they got outside the palace hall.

"What is wrong? You're asking me that? Do you not see the blisters on my face? This is all your fault, Winifred. You're such a liar and a jealous person! You knew I was so beautiful than you are, so you decided to damage my skin by giving me a wrong prescription so I can look unattractive today of all days!" Alice exclaimed as she glared at Winifred.

Winifred just stood there staring at her, and as soon as Alice was done ranting, she burst into laughter. "You know, it's because you never listen, that's why this happened to you. Assuming you had listened to me when I told you not to use honey when you knew so well that you're allergic to it, this wouldn't have happened. Now you're blaming me for your own mistake and misfortune? Typical." She scoffed and added, "you might be a princess, but that doesn't mean you know it all. Listen to advice sometimes and stop acting like you know everything."

Alice shook her head as she got even more pissed with how Winifred has just spoken to her and addressed her. "You think you can speak to me because you're my brother's personal slave? He won't be behind you for life, you know that right? And by the time he would turn his back to you, you'd be as good as dead."

Winifred who was in the least moved by what she just said, simply shrugged and replied. "That could happen. But at the same time, life happens also and who know? I might rule over you and you might have to bow to me. You don't know the future anyway."

"I'd rather die than allow that to happen," Alice replied sternly, a furious expression on her face. Then headed back into the palace hall.