Emmelyn was dumbfounded when she saw the scene before her. She couldn't see the girl properly from the opened carriage door because Mars' body was on the way.
She only saw the beautiful yellow lacy dress and black wavy hair as the foreign girl jumped toward the crown prince and hugged him.
"Ellena....! What are you doing?" Out of reflex, Mars pushed the girl and stood there in his place looking pale, as if he was seeing a ghost.
Ellena was in tears as she stood before the man. Her lips smiled and her crisp voice turned emotional. She whispered so that only Mars could hear her words. "I can hug you now. The curse is broken."
"Wh-what?" Mars's eyes went round so big. For a few moments, he couldn't react.
This was all too shocking to him.
Meanwhile, when Mars pushed Ellena away from him, Emmelyn finally could see the girl properly.
Ellena was a stunning girl with a slender build, long dark wavy hair flowing down all the way to her waist, and her dress looked very expensive. She looked just like a princess.
[Who is she? Is she a princess?]
Her questions immediately found answers as she heard the crowd was chattering about the prince and Ellena.
"Oh... that's Lady Ellena. She is the only girl that our crown prince likes. No other women are allowed to be around him, but her. You know how much our prince hates women, right? She is the only one that is spared from the hate. I heard they grew up together."
"How come I have never seen her around the palace?"
"It's because you are new in town. She went away five years ago to study."
"Ah.. no wonder."
"Yeah, I think she just returned. Aw.. look at our prince, he is so surprised that his old friend finally returned."
Emmelyn stared at the reunion with a shocked expression. If the girl was Mars' old friend, didn't she know about the curse? She must know, right?
Yet... she came and hugged him. No wonder Mars immediately pushed her away.
Anyway.... what was she doing?
Was she courting death? Or...
Emmelyn pressed her lips. Could it be that the curse was broken?
She couldn't hear their conversation, but she could see Ellena's emotional expression. She was in tears, yet she was smiling.
What was going on?
And... who is she to him?
Did he... love her?
After her initial questions were answered, Emmelyn immediately got more questions that bothered her. Who is Lady Ellena to Mars?
"Ellena... what did you say?" Mars was in a daze. He stared at Ellena with rounded eyes, looking really confused.
"Mars, I did it...." Ellena whispered. "I found the witch and asked her to lift the curse. I managed to convince her to forgive your family..."
"You did what?"
"I found her and I worked as her servant for four years. She promised to break the curse if I could prove to her that I will do anything for you... and finally, she did."
"How... how did you know if she was telling the truth?" Mars was so shocked by everything that happened and he wanted to talk to Ellena to ask her everything. However, he remembered that they were surrounded by so many people.
He quickly looked around and found Gewen standing cooly by the door. He waved toward his friend and motioned him to come closer. "Gewen! I need you here!"
Gewen Athibaud made his way through the crowd and met the prince and Ellena.
"I need to talk to all of you immediately," Mars said. He turned to Ellena. "I am so distraught that you hugged me just now. What if she lied? What if the curse is not broken and you'll die tomorrow? How could you be so foolish??"
"No, it won't happen. You'll see..." Ellena shook her head and smiled. She had wiped her tears and now looked overjoyed. "I am so happy to see you."
Right at that moment, Emmelyn stepped down from the carriage and everyone's eyes were immediately fixed on her.
She was the most beautiful woman in the capital that evening, second only maybe to Queen Elara. However, the queen was still inside the palace and so people couldn't compare their beauty.
Ellena was visibly surprised when she saw a beautiful girl coming out of the same carriage Mars just came out from. She looked at Mars and Emmelyn alternately, her mouth opened but she couldn't say a word.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Emmelyn smiled as she spoke to Mars. Gewen batted his eyes when he saw the girl walk closer and finally stood next to the prince.
He remembered Mars said he would doll up Lord Aldrich with a beautiful dress and makeup to make him look like a woman.
"Holly—" Gewen, too, was at a loss for words. He pointed at Mars and muttered. "You were not joking! You actually did it!"
If the circumstance was different, Mars would laugh at his own joke. He managed to deceive Gewen into thinking he was actually dating a man and brought him to his birthday celebration as a woman.
However, it was no time for jokes. He was scared to death that Ellena would die because of him. That foolish girl...
He remembered five years ago, Ellena vowed to find the witch no matter what and make her lift her curse on the Strongmoor family. He didn't know Ellena would actually do it.
He was so upset when Ellena suddenly went missing and never to be found again. Mars sent spies and soldiers to look for her, to no avail. After years, he finally thought she had died and let her go.
Apparently, not only she was well and looked even prettier than before, but she also claimed that she had managed to make the witch lift her curse.
Was that true?
Oh my god... it's so hard to believe!
Mars badly wanted to talk to Ellena in private and found out what actually went on. Uff... what should he do? Emmelyn was here...
The prince motioned to Ellena and Gewen to go. "Meet me at the library. I will be there shortly. We need to talk."
Then he turned to Emmelyn and took her hand. "Let's go in. My mother is dying to see you."