The Prince's Substitute Witch Bride

Just Need Food

They had entered the palace quite some time ago. The distance from the gate to the palace door was unnecessarily long! At least the garden was marvelous, flowers from every color decorated the shrubs. There was a fountain at the end of the garden way, a statue of an angel was standing on top of the fountain. 

The old Seraphine knew it was the fourth queen of Voltaire. Queen Azalea. Through the body memories and from what she knew of Voltaire history as the Dark Witch, she believed she had been transported back to before she even existed as the Dark Witch. Around three or four hundred years earlier. She knew that the reigning king was King Edmund Havenglow. 

This was the time when magic had just been incorporated into the daily life of the people of Voltaire. They even made an academy for sorcerers to serve as the kingdom's army. This was the time when the use of magic bloomed before it withered centuries later when the number of sorcerors born suddenly became scarce. The sorcerer academy was disbanded around three hundred years in the future due to the lack of members. 

As soon as her carriage stopped, the door opened to a long red carpet. In front of her was a grand palace. White pillars rose from the ground to the clouds. And it stretched miles upon miles from where Seraphine was standing. There was a huge set of stairs in front of her a giant wooden door. 

She put her foot down and was about to wait for the other carriage. But upon seeing her, a middle-aged lady rushed to her. "You're late!" she said breathlessly. She looked at Seraphine from her fake crown to her unseen shoes. Then she clicked her tongue, "They cleaned you up nicely."

The woman grabbed Seraphine's arm and started dragging her to ascend the stairs. Seraphine looked behind where the second carriage had just stopped. She saw the body owner's parents and Karen went out. But Karen was wearing a cloak. 

"Don't talk. Don't do anything rash. Just stand there and say, 'I do'. Got it?" 

Seraphine looked back at the woman. The woman nodded to the guards standing by the door and kept dragging Seraphine inside. It was a long and wide hallway. When she looked back again, she saw Karen, the Duke, and the Duchess were following her. 

"Got it?" the woman repeated her question in a more asserting tone. 

"The prince doesn't know that I will be replacing Karen, is that right?"

The woman kept on dragging Seraphine. "Oh, he knows," she said, "He just found out this morning and is not in the best mood. So, keep quiet and don't do anything. With the crowd, he will have to accept you as his wife eventually."

"Why..."

A memory flashed to her mind again. She saw a man that had frequented the dukedom. Seraphine could only see glimpses of him as he mostly spent his time in the living room. Karen would entertain him, no doubt. The living room was off-limit for Seraphine. 

In those few glimpses, she saw the man looking at Karen with so much doting. The body remembered how Seraphine desired for someone to look at her like he looked at Karen. The man was tanned and had silver hair. He also had tattoos on the left side of his neck. It went down to his body but Seraphine could not see beyond the collar. 

Seraphine remembered that the body owner poured herself into searching what the tattoo meant. She scourged the books in the library. What she found was that the tattoo was a tradition from the prince's mother's side. Prince Rowan was not the queen's son, he was the son of a concubine. His mother, Leeta Rayes, was the daughter of the Khal Rayes, the King of Berth. It was a small kingdom on the northern part of the continent. 

'The tattoo was the identity of the soul', the book said, 'It was chosen by the soul and ingrained on the skin permanently.'

"Why are you doing this to Prince Rowan?" Seraphine blinked at her own question. Why should she care why the Prince was fooled heavily like this? She should only care about her own. For example, how is she going to escape? And where is that gem?

"How would I know?" the woman asked, "I'm just the head maid that is trying to have a peaceful day without any blood being drawn out." 

The woman stopped just in front of another towering door. She turned to Seraphine and looked at her straight in the eye through the veil. Only then Seraphine could recall the body owner's memory of the woman. Standing in front of her was Viscountess Perrone, a widow with two sons. Both of her sons entered different academies. One attended the regular academy for scholars, and the other attended the academy for sorcerers. Viscountess Perrone was a woman in her fifties and it was rumored that she never once smiled after her husband's passing. 

"So," the Viscountess said seriously, taking a large breath that her poor lungs could withstand, "Don't say anything. Don't do anything. Except when you're supposed to say, 'I do'."

Without waiting for Seraphine's answer, the Viscountess entered the room briefly by herself. A few moments later, trumpet sounds were heard from behind the dress. 

"Lady Seraphine Storm is entering the hall!" announced someone. On cue with that, the door was opened revealing rows upon rows of people sitting on long wooden benches. There were candles on each row of the bench. flowers and ribbons decorated the whole room, and there was an altar at the end of the walkway. 

People turned to look at her and the body she was in shivered. The old Seraphine must have been anxious when there were so many people staring at her at once. But the new Seraphine took in all of those hateful and scrutinizing stares. She did not exactly know why all those people were so hateful to the old Seraphine. Sure, she was born on an auspicious day. Sure, she showed affinity to the shadows. Yet all of that was not her fault!

The new Seraphine also could not choose to be the Dark Witch. She just came to be the witch. And even so, she sought to destroy the world herself. She had wronged a lot of people and so their hatred of Seraphine the Dark Witch was just. But this? The old Seraphine did not do anything wrong. Her only fault was being born. 

Seraphine felt the embers of flame blooming inside her. Perhaps because she inhabited the body, or perhaps because they had similarities albeit different circumstances, Seraphine felt angry for how people had treated the old Seraphine.

Just see when I finally able to destroy the world, Seraphine thought, I'll destroy everyone that has looked down upon you, Seraphine Storm.

Her trail of thoughts was cut off by Viscountess Perrone nudging her to walk down the aisle. Once she made her first step, the orchestra came to life. A cheerful sonata was played but somehow it had a somber effect of a requiem to the audience. 

Seraphine trudged on with confident but slow steps. She kept her chin high and whenever there was someone looking at her in detest, she stared down at the person. A few feet from the altar, however, she switched her focus to the man in a white tuxedo standing. 

He would not even spare a glance to Seraphine. His eyesight was focused on something behind Seraphine. Without turning her head, she knew that he was staring at Karen. It was the same look she usually saw during his visits. That long stare of admiration, awe, and ardent affection. 

It made Seraphine stopped in her track. 

How could someone be in love so much like that? How could someone wear their hearts on their sleeves bravely like that?

She blinked. Suddenly, the prince's gaze flicked to hers. It was the most fascinating change. He looked at Karen with so much longing yet when he looked at Seraphine there was only contempt. His lips line went down, his nose crinkled up a bit. There was no trace of that adoration that he gave to Karen. 

It was only when the Viscountess who whispered from one of the benches for Seraphine to move that she realized, everyone had stopped to stare at her stopping. Even the orchestra stopped too. 

"Mooovee." the Viscountess whispered. 

Seraphine pretended to fix her bouquet of lilacs and cleared her throat. When Seraphine moved again, the Viscountess rolled her hand as the cue for the orchestra to continued. 

She finally walked to the end of the aisle where his husband to be staring at her with so much adoration... not. He was staring at her like she was a disgusting cockroach that he so badly wanted to kill. Seraphine could almost swear to see his murderous aura emitting from his body. 

The old Seraphine would have flinched at such an intent stare and looked down on her feet for the rest of the day. The new Seraphine, however, dared to raised her chin even more and stared at the man. She knew the man was angry at her –unjustly so. But she appeared calm and collected. 

What is the best way to annoy the person that is angry with you?

Seraphine tilted her head a little to the side to get a better look at the man. He was tall and muscular it seemed. His silver hair was in the same tone as his tuxedo and it covered his tattoo on his neck. His jawlines were the sharpest Seraphine had ever seen. And his eyes... that blue calming color did not match the burning fires inside him. 

That fire seemed to intensify each second he stared at Seraphine's serene face. 

By being calm and making that person feels like the stupid one for ever being angry.

Patience now my dear boy, Seraphine chuckled inside her, I do not wish to marry you as well and will be out of your way in an instant. I am just curious as to the food served in the castle. 

As the Dark Witch, she never truly felt hungry nor thirsty. But in this human form, her stomach had been begging for food the entire time. As long as the body owner could remember, this body had always been in constant hunger. The food sent to her every day was mostly burnt toast, leftovers, and of course, the portion was always tiny. As if the staff did not want to put more effort to care for her. There was only one maid that the body remembered, that gave her a decent meal. It was so long ago that she had forgotten her face. 

The body did remember, however, that the maid was lashed and fired by the Duchess the next day. Since then, the old Seraphine understood why the maids never talk nor gave half of the care they gave to Karen. 

You know what, I will kill that wretched family. Just because they had put this body through a horrible life. 

She kept her stare with Rowan. 

But first, I need food. So bear with me for... half a day. I just need to eat. 

Seraphine smiled then to the uncomfortableness of the Prince.