Mars arrived early, but Ellena and her aunt were even earlier than him.

When the prince reached his mother's lounge where she usually had her tea with her ladies-in-waiting, he saw Ellena sat gracefully, surrounded by Lady Preston, Lady Athibaud and her two young daughters, and even Lady Chaucer, Edgar's mother.

Queen Elara was accompanied by her husband, the king. Mars' heart skipped a beat when he realized Ellena was alive and well.

He was immediately filled with a sense of relief and happiness.

This foolish girl was not dead! Thank heavens!

"His Highness Crown Prince Mars Strongmoor is here," John, the royal butler announced his arrival in his usual flat tone.

They all looked up when John notified them of the crown prince's presence.

"Hey, you are here," the queen smiled sweetly and motioned him to come and sit next to her. She was beaming with relief and excitement. Mars could only guess that Ellena had told them that the curse was lifted.

"Your Majesty," he bowed down to his parents and then took a seat next to his mother. He glanced at Ellena and saw the girl smile sweetly.

"Honey... did you know that Ellena has managed to get the witch to lift her curse????" Queen Elara was emotional and her eyes were brimming with tears.

Mars was in a daze. He hoped Ellena was okay and the curse was lifted, but he hated to think about the price that she had paid...

The crown prince no longer wanted the curse to be lifted so he could touch women, lived as a normal man and produced heirs for the throne's succession... He had Emmelyn for that.

He just wanted his friend to live.

"Did you touch Ellena last night?" King Jared, a sensible man, quickly asked the prince that all-important question.

Even though Ellena claimed that she managed to make the witch lift her curse on his family, he needed to hear from his son, if Mars did touch the girl the night before.

Because... if he did, that means, Ellena being alive today would prove her claim. Then, the king would believe it one hundred percent. The weight that had been pressing on his chest for 27 years could finally be lifted.

He gazed at his son intently, waiting to hear his reply eagerly. Mars stared at Ellena, looking relieved but conflicted at the same time. When he heard his father's question, the prince smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty. We hugged last night," he replied. "Ellena was telling the truth."

Audible gasps were heard in the room and everyone turned to see Ellena at the same time as if to make sure that the girl was really alive and well.

"So, it's true..." Queen Elara could no longer hold back her tears. She rose from her seat and hugged Ellena tightly. Her voice was hoarse when she repeated her gratitude over and over again. "Thank you, thank you, sweetheart. Our family owes you for life."

Mars swallowed when he heard his mother's words.

That was true. In all 27 years, his father had sent countless men in search of the witch to break the curse, but none of them succeeded.

Ellena did, in five years, what so many people couldn't do in almost three decades.

This was a really big debt to pay to her.

"How...? If I may ask?" the king turned to Ellena. "How did you convince the witch to lift her curse?"

Queen Elara let go of the girl from her embrace and looked at her with tears streaming down from her eyes, eagerly waiting for her answer.

Ellena lowered her head and tried to hide her expression of distraught, but everyone could see that she probably had sacrificed something really big to get her request granted.

Lady Athibaud, Lady Chaucer, and Queen Elara all pressed their lips anxiously. While Lady Preston let out a long sigh.

"Your Majesty, I have asked Ellena about it, and she confided in me, that she has sacrificed a lot to beg the witch to lift her curse. My poor niece..." she said in a trembling voice.

Ellena quickly turned to her and shook her head. "Auntie... there is no need to say that. I did it because I care about Mars. We have been friends for a really long time."

The king held his breath. He knew how much the witch hated him and his wife. The price she asked for must be really high. King Jared felt so distraught that this innocent girl had to do so much for his son.

Did she do it... because she loved him?

"What do you want as the compensation, Ellena?" asked the king.

He didn't want to press Ellena to let them know what she had done to make the witch lift her curse, as long as they saw the evidence, that his son was no longer cursed.

Ellena deserved to get a handsome reward. She had saved the Strongmoor family line. The whole family owed her.

Ellena rose from her seat and bowed down to the king. "Your Majesty.. I want nothing in return. I did it because of my devotion to the crown prince. My heart ached to see him feeling distraught over the throne's succession. I just want to see him happy."

Mars now realized that it was Ellena who gave him his happiness. He owed every bit of happiness he had with Emmelyn to this girl.

When Emmelyn came into his life, the curse must have been lifted.. That's why he could touch her without causing her death.

Had it not been the case, Emmelyn would have been dead ten weeks ago when she was still disguised as his servant.

"Ellena," his voice was hoarse when he spoke. "Thank you. I owe you everything."

"Your Highness, do you remember our conversation six years ago?" Ellena turned to him, her eyes were gleaming in tears. "You asked me if I would marry you to calm down the public..."

Mars stared at Ellena with conflicting emotions.

All eyes now turned to him.

The crown prince nodded weakly. "I do, Lady Ellena."

"You said, the threat of power struggle really made you feel distraught. You thought we should get married for the public to see and get a child to pose as your heir. That way, no one would dare to think about rebelling," Ellena added.

Mars remembered that conversation well. He was 21 back then. It was two days after his birthday.

He had overheard the conversation between two officials about him not interested in women, and they laughed.

They said that since the crown prince was unlikely to produce an heir because of his condition, they predicted that once he got old, the throne would be fair game since he couldn't have a successor.

Mars was so upset and he couldn't sleep for days. One day, he confided in Ellena what he had heard.

The girl was upset for him, but she, too, was feeling helpless. There was nothing they could do.

Mars finally got an idea to avoid a power struggle once he took the throne. He asked if Ellena was willing to help him.

Since she was the closest woman to him, and they had known each other for a long time, he asked if Ellena would be willing to be his nominal wife.

She would act as his wife and, before the public, they would pretend like a husband and wife. Since Mars couldn't touch Ellena sexually, they would get one of his nephews to pose as their child.

The child would become his heir, and Ellena his queen.

That would be the perfect cover.

Now, that conversation was coming back to haunt him...

.

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>>>>>

From the author:

Heyya... sorry, for the delayed update for this story. I was caught up in so many things. For the past week, my body had this really weird clock because of my insomnia.

I live in Asia, but my body functioned during the US timezone, so it really messed up my body clock. I slept at 2 pm and woke up at 9 pm my time.

Just finally got it to return to Asia this morning. Pfew. It feels so weird tbh.

I also had some stuff that got my hands full. One, my daughter apparently skipped school A LOT during the past month because it's online. I just got a warning letter from the school.

Gosh... I admitted that I didn't pay enough attention to her. I had to give her a good talk this morning.

Second, I commissioned a video trailer for this book and it is REALLY NICE!!! You can check it out on my Instagram and YouTube, both under Missrealitybites. Gosh... I wish I could post it here :(

Oh, I also posted the video on Ko-fi, you can check there.

Btw, I just realized, I never mentioned my ko-fi account. Well, if you feel like buying me coffee, you can do so here: https://ko-fi.com/missrealitybites ^^

No need to split the ko-fi with Webnovel and Google/Apple HAHAHAHAHA...

Third, I'm setting up a website so I can share more stuff on the books I'm writing. Like, backstory, inspiration, artworks, maybe even merchandise!

I also plan to write some other books that might be published independently or on Amazon. So, many things are keeping me busy. I'm a tech noob, so I'm really really really slow.

I'll keep you updated.

PS: As usual, this note is written AFTER the chapter was published, so my long notes won't cost you extra coins to pay.

PPS: I'll publish more chapters in a few hours. I need to catch my breath. Btw, what do you think about the secret that Mars was keeping from Emmelyn? His agreement with Ellena six years ago?