"And then... what happened?" Mars finally decided to get to the bottom of everything and stopped trying to find who to blame. As long as his wife was now safe, he would feel relieved and just focus on building their life together.

"Well... I didn't know about the protection spell until Emmelyn and I went to Myreen. There, we met my fiancee's family and found out the truth. They were horrified by what happened and I couldn't really blame them," Maxim said.

"The Leoraleis are not at fault. The person responsible for this is already dead and she might not be in her right mind when she did it," he smiled bitterly. "I guess, I am just unlucky."

"So.. how could Emmelyn be free? Or... is she not really free? Were you lying to her about it?" Mars asked Maxim again.

"No, I guarantee that she is free. I didn't tell her that I decided to marry my fiancee to fulfill her mother's wish because I know Emmelyn will stop me," Maxim replied.

He looked at Mars deeply and added, "She is too kind and wouldn't want to see me throwing away my life to marry a woman I don't love in order to stop this madness... So, I will appreciate it if you don't tell her. Keep this between us, please."

Mars was stunned to hear Maxim's plea. He looked at the man in disbelief. He didn't need to ask for detail. From the little explanation that Maxim gave him, Mars could quickly make his own conclusion.

Ah, no wonder Maxim said that after Mars and Emmelyn left, he would arrange his own wedding. It was apparently done to free Emmelyn for good from all the bad luck that had been following her ever since the day love grew in Maxim's heart.

Mars led an unusual and quite a lonely life for 27 years before he met Emmelyn, because he was cursed by the wicked witch. Now, his life was going good and he had decades to enjoy happiness with his wife and children.

But this man before him was the opposite. Maxim's life practically ended the day he decided to marry the woman he didn't love and bound himself in a loveless marriage.

For decades to come, until the day he died, Maxim would become family with her and he had to tolerate a woman that could possibly be a nightmare to live with.

Just look at Elise's mother who could be so wicked and selfish, casting a terrible spell to 'protect' her daughter without any concern for other people's lives.

If Elise's mother could be selfish and cruel, maybe Elise would take after her. She might be selfish and cruel too.

Suddenly, Mars felt very sorry for Maxim. Whatever resentment he had for that other man now had vanished into the air.

"I am sorry to hear that..." Mars could only utter words of sympathy. He couldn't imagine being in Maxim's position right now. "I promise I will not say anything to Emmelyn."

"Thank you. She is a good woman, and you are so damn lucky you won the competition because I am not allowed to be with her," Maxim walked toward the table and poured himself another cup of wine. "Who would have thought that loving someone could make me the bad guy in this scenario."

Mars didn't like Maxim's words who called him lucky he won the right to be with Emmelyn because Maxim got handicapped by his situation.

However, he understood that the man was in deep sadness and frustration. So, he didn't say anything.  If he were in Maxim's shoes, to be honest, Mars wouldn't know what he would do.

It would hurt so much to see the woman he loved being with another man, and he had to stay away, to ensure her happiness.

"I don't mean you are not a good man and you don't deserve Emmelyn," Maxim continued his words, pleased that Mars didn't get upset by his statement earlier. This made him realize that Mars was not petty. Which was good.

Maxim added, "I just wanted to say that, I hope you will value her for the gem that she is and treat her well. She deserves nothing but the best."

Mars didn't need Maxim to tell him that. Of course, he knew how precious his wife was. He would treat her well, and even die for her.

However, Mars nodded anyway just to be polite. He understood how important his moment for Maxim was. He was officially letting go of the love of his life... and it had got to hurt so much.

Mars was in that position months ago when he thought he had lost Emmelyn forever. He mourned for weeks and it was the lowest point in his life. For Maxim, even though Emmelyn was still alive, he had to see her be happy with someone else. 

What's worse was the fact that probably after this Maxim would cut ties with her, his only friend, who was dear to him, and never saw her again, because Maxim had lied to her about his marriage to Elise.

Of course, this was his last chance to make sure that Emmelyn was in good hands. This was the only time he could use to have that talk with Maxim and tell him to take care of Emmelyn properly.

"If I heard even just one news that she suffers because of you, I will hunt you down and do everything within my power to make you pay," Maxim's voice suddenly turned very serious and threatening. "Don't forget I have three dragons that could take me to Draec in four weeks."

Mars was not offended by Maxim's threat. In fact, he understood that Maxim cared deeply about Emmelyn. So, even though he had lost his chance to marry Emmelyn, he still made sure she had a good life. That's what true friends did.

Mars understood what it felt like to care about a dear friend. He would do the same thing for Edgar, Gewen, and... in the past, he would do the same for Ellena. Now that she had betrayed him, Mars felt disgusted by what she did.

He realized, Ellena was not a real friend. A real friend would act like Maxim, who still cared about Emmelyn, even though Emmelyn didn't return his love and instead marry another man.

"Don't worry, I will not let you down," Mars said with a smile. "You are a good friend. My wife is lucky to have met you and have such a true friendship. I hope in the future, when the time is right, you can come and visit. She will miss you deeply."

"Thank you," Maxim smiled. "I will remember that."

Both men looked at each other in silence and didn't say anything else. Mars's heart was filled with sympathy for Maxim. The king of Summeria felt numb. He was thinking of going somewhere for a week, away from everything and everyone after Emmelyn left.

After his seclusion, he would have to face the reality and prepare his wedding with Elise. Had she reached home? She was away when he came to Myreen. Maxim wondered where she was now.

"Thanks for the chat," he said after he finished his wine. His mind was clouded by sadness and helplessness. He thought he would start rambling if he kept drinking with Mars. So, it's time to end it now. "You should rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and you have to start traveling."

"You are right," Mars nodded. He put down the cup on the table and got ready to leave. "Thank you for everything. Good night."

Maxim saw Mars left absent-mindedly. He, too, had to rest.

.

.

****************

From Missrealitybites:

HARLOW'S STORY

Yes, the main conflict has ended and we will soon see our beloved characters go home and rebuild their life in Draec. I only need to wrap up punishment for Ellena, Gewen confessed his love to Kira, and Emmelyn's second pregnancy.

After Emmelyn's and Mars' story ends,  I will immediately continue with Harlow's story. I have given the synopsis for Harlow's and Raphael's story in chapter 635. If you skipped it, you can go back and read it again. See if their story will interest you.

As the new story will be slowly built up, for those of you who are impatient and want to read a lot of chapters in one go, I'd suggest you don't purchase the privilege next month for The Cursed Prince and just go to "The Cursed King" to read about Maxim/Loriel's love story with the woman he married,  Elise Leoralei.

That book already has 244 chapters. In December, you can come back to TCP with stockpiled chapters to read. That way, you can save money by not purchasing privilege.

Taking a break from reading TCP for a month is good for you to break the privilege cycle and just read regular chapters.

I know most of you have been spending so much money on privilege since February 2021 because you renewed every month.

Even if Emmelyn's story will wrap up in early November, I think you can guess what will happen in the end and just wait for December to come to read the last chapters out of Privilege.

READ MY OTHER BOOKS?

If you want to read my other books on this platform, I have 5 more books. From 357 chapters to 1069 chapters. One book is actually free. 

The Alchemists

Finding Stardust

The Prince Who Cannot Fall In Love

Till Death Do Us Part

The Cursed King.

All my stories carry similar themes, they have doting husbands and fast burn, much like "The Cursed Prince". I mean it when I said I don't do slow burns. Just click my profile and go to my reading list "Missrealitybites Books". You will see them.

I hope you will enjoy them as much as you enjoy TCP. 

However, if you are stubborn and still want to read Harlow's story right away, and don't mind purchasing another round of privilege, be my guess. See you next month. I have decided to publish 2 chapters per day as usual for Harlow and Raphael.

I wanted to publish more for Harlow, but I have to split my time between TCP, TCK, Finding Stardust, and a new book that I will publish next week.

MY WEREWOLF NOVEL

I want to join the werewolf contest held by Webnovel. So, I will start publishing my werewolf book on Webnovel next week. It's a great opportunity to be seen because werewolf is a mainstream genre.

I have always written niched books all this time (that made it harder for me to get an audience). So, maybe it's time to try something mainstream for once.

I hope you will read and support that new book too. I will still publish advanced chapters on Patreon until the end of November. So, if you are impatient, you can go to Patreon and read it first.

Anyway.. that's it from me.. See you tomorrow for the next chapter ^^.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.