The Cursed Prince

"Do you want to eat something?" Mars asked Emmelyn to distract her from her sadness. He knew she had not eaten anything from the afternoon. He was hungry too, but he was more worried about her since she was pregnant. "You need to eat something for our baby..."

Emmelyn didn't have any appetite to eat anything, but seeing his worried eyes, she relented and nodded weakly.

"Just.. something simple and small, please.." she said.

Mars rose and smiled. "Okay. I will bring something for you to eat."

He rubbed her shoulder gently, then turned around and left the chamber. He couldn't find any more cooks in the kitchen. It was close to midnight, after all. So, all the servants and cooks must have gone to sleep.

Mars decided to check the table and cupboards to see if there was any food left from dinner that the cooks prepared. He was sure they wouldn't throw away the dishes just because he and Emmelyn didn't eat them.

Ah, he found a plate with apple pie, his wife's favorite in the cupboard, and a big bowl of soup on the table. Maybe Emmelyn would want to eat the soup?

Chicken soup was supposedly good for people who were under the weather or feeling sad, wasn't it?

Alright. He would serve her chicken soup for supper, and the apple pie.  Mars decided to light the stove and warm up the soup so Emmelyn could eat hot soup for supper.

However, just when he was about light the fire, a fat cook came to the kitchen and stood by the doorway. His eyes went round so big when he saw it was actually the crown prince himself who sneaked into the kitchen.

The cook was sleeping next door when he heard footsteps and some noise in the kitchen. He thought it was some food thief, maybe one of the hungry soldiers who wanted to eat good food sneakily.

So, he got up and wanted to ambush this thief. Imagine his surprise when he opened the kitchen door and saw the crown prince himself was crouching on the floor, trying to light a fire with the flint.

"Y-Your Highness..." He greeted the prince with a stutter. Other than those two words, the cook didn't know what to say.

"Hey.. did I wake you up?" Mars waved his hand and motioned the cook to go back to sleep. "I am sorry. I just want to warm up the soup for Lady Emmelyn. Don't mind me."

When he heard the crown prince's words, the cook tilted his head like a confused fool. Wait.. what did he just hear?

His Highness was trying to light a fire to warm up the soup... so Lady Emmelyn could eat? This was so hard to believe. 

"Why are you standing there?" Mars furrowed his brows and waved at him. "You can go back to sleep."

Right then, finally, the cook was moved from his reverie. He hurriedly walked toward the prince and bowed down to him.

"Your Highness, please allow me to do it for you. It will take me only five minutes. I promise," he said with respect. Mars looked at the stove and the cook alternately. Then he realized that this cook would do a much better job than him.

So, he finally got up and gave the flint to the cook. 

"Thank you," he said as he took a seat and watched the cook do it. The fat cook immediately did his job. He lighted the fire and prepared a small pot to warm up the soup.

He also prepared two plates with apple pie slices since he knew the prince also had not had dinner. So, he intentionally prepared two servings on the tray.

Five minutes later, the soup in the pot was warm enough and they could smell the nice chicken flavor wafted in the air. With alacrity, the cook took two small bowls and poured the soup from the pot into each bowl.

Then, he arranged the pie and soup on a tray and handed it over to the crown prince. Mars accepted it with a grateful expression. Ah, this cook made his life so much easier.

He remembered how much Emmelyn liked them since they always made her favorite dishes. It seemed they liked her too.

Now, that reminded Mars that he had not thanked them personally for taking care of his wife's 'exquisite palate' as she often put it.

Finally, with his hand still holding the tray filled with food, the prince nodded his head and thank the cook.

"Thank you for doing a good job in the kitchen. Without your hard work, we wouldn't be able to eat good food every day," he said warmly.

The prince's words rendered the cook speechless. His ears didn't play tricks on him, did they?

The crown prince just thanked him personally for the good work he and his team had been doing? Somehow, this man felt touched and he instantly dropped his body to the floor.

"Your Highness... it is an honor for me to work for you. Please, no need to mention it. I will gladly do it for you and Lady Emmelyn."

"You are a good man," Mars could only say. He turned around and left the kitchen with the tray of food. The cook was still in awe long after the crown prince was gone.

***

Mars put down the tray with food on the table. He sat on the edge of the bed and took one bowl of soup to give to Emmelyn. "Honey, please take this soup."

Emmelyn wanted to take the bowl so she could eat by herself, but somehow her hands lost strength. She almost spilled the soup as her shaking hands touched the bowl. "Aahh...!"

"No, this can't do. Let me do it," Mars said when he saw her looking so weak.  "Just let me feed you,"

He sat next to her and held the bowl in one hand, while the other hand took the spoon with soup and brought it closer to her lips. "Open your lips so you can eat something."

Emmelyn felt so moved that tears started streaming down her cheeks again. She thought her tears were already dry after she cried for Killian, but apparently, there was still some left.

She opened her mouth and sipped the soup from the spoon and then wiped her tears.

Yes, she was so unlucky that she had lost her entire family, but at least she still had this loving man in her life. At least, his presence made up for all the bad luck she had experienced.

Meanwhile, when he fed her the soup, the prince's mind went back to the past when he fed her for the first time. Ah.. he remembered how he did it out of guilt.

In the break of dawn, while she was still sleeping, he had used her hand to help him get his release.. and it felt so, so good, that he didn't want it to end. So he ended up using her hand for a good long time.

Emmelyn later woke up thinking she was paralyzed and was about to die from his curse, since she could barely move that hand. Mars didn't tell her what happened but instead, he offered to help her eat and do other things.

Now that he thought of it again, the prince could see how it was so funny and ridiculous at the same time. Looking back, he remembered it as one of their early fond memories.

Gosh.. time flew by just like that. Looked at them now. She no longer considered him as her enemy, and their mission to conceive had been successful.

Now, Mars was feeding her out of love, no longer out of guilt. Oh, and don't forget that he was feeding their child too. Ahh.. so much had changed...

Emmelyn twitched her brows when she saw him smile faintly. She was wondering what he was thinking.