The Mad Princess and the Dying Prince novel Chapter 44

They couldn't leave her like this.

Besides, if Lucia did marry the prince, they would return to the estate by her side.

So they had taken their deeds of bondage and placed them in Lucia's hands.

Lucia studied their auras, noticing a distinct shift from the previous day. Smiling faintly, she accepted the parchment.

"Then from now on, you serve me."

The moment they willingly chose to follow her, the faint traces of the deathly aura clinging to them dissipated completely.

Lucia did not tell them that if they had stayed at the Prince's Estate, both would have been dead within a fortnight.

Celia and Celeste felt a profound relief.

They didn't understand why, but the second they handed over their deeds, a heavy weight had lifted from their chests, as if a layer of suffocating dust had been swept away.

Lucia looked at Celeste. "You need a new name. Your current name clashes violently with the threads of your fate."

Celeste blinked in surprise.

Pleased by their loyalty, Lucia didn't mind offering a bit more insight.

"Do you fall violently ill every three years? Always in the heat of summer? An illness that strikes without warning?"

Celeste's eyes went wide. "How did you know?" she blurted out.

"Because that name is a curse upon you. Your life force is naturally fragile, and the name only invites dark energy and sickness."

Celeste and Celia exchanged a look of pure shock.

Celeste indeed suffered a brutal fever every three years. Even Physician Finch had been helpless against it. She would be bedridden for weeks, losing flesh and strength, only for it to vanish as mysteriously as it arrived.

Even though she lived and ate exactly as Celia did, Celia was never affected.

The prince didn't even know about this. Lucia had just arrived in the capital; there was no way she could have investigated a lowly maid. Yet she had spoken the exact truth.

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