Chapter 226

Chapter 226

After hearing Dorian's words, Ella fell silent.

So, if the priestess helped an outsider remove the curse, she would die?

Was that why she had to marry an outsider?

If that was true, she seemed to understand.

But why did her heart still feel so uncomfortable?

As evening approached, there was no electricity here, so they could only light candles. The room was dim and everything looked blurred.

Ella reminded the two children, "Aurora, Dorian, we should wash up and go to bed."

"Okay." None of the three knew that Joshua and Dahlia's wedding would take place at dawn that very day.

The ceremony followed the local tribe's traditions completely.

Joshua changed into ceremonial clothing and completed a vow-like ritual under Dahlia's guidance. According to the rules, they needed to spend three days and nights together in a designated room to be considered husband and wife.

When Joshua learned about these rules, he only had one thing on his mind: getting Dahlia to lift Ella's curse as soon as possible. Therefore, he had no resistance to the ceremony itself and cooperated fully with all the procedures.

But he wouldnt be able to see Ella and the children for three days.

Ella and the children also didn't come to witness his wedding.

For a man, this kind of thing was humiliating.

He didn't want Ella and the children to see it either.

Inside the room, Dahlia looked at Joshua. His handsome features seemed out of place in this primitive environment. She smiled. "Your wife must be very happy to have married you."

Joshua had been made up with flower makeup, his face all rosy, wearing lipstick, looking like a shy bride.

He looked at Dahlia, who appeared particularly masculine and commanding, his mind full of thoughts about removing the curse.

"Our ceremony is over, right? When will you help my wife remove the curse?"

Dahlia stood in front of him, then turned around with her back to him.

"In three days. But first, you must stay with me in this room until the three days are over." She commanded, "Help me undo this."

Joshua was confused and sat in his chair without moving.

Dahlia looked back at him. "The clothes and headdress are too heavy. I can't undo them myself. Please help me."

Joshua still felt it was inappropriate. "Can't you have your people help you?"

Participating in this ridiculous wedding ceremony already made him feel he'd lost face, and he didn't know how to face the children afterward. Now asking him to help Dahlia undress made him extremely uncomfortable.

Dahlia laughed. "You really are loyal to your wife. If I really wanted to have you, I could curse you, and you'd immediately become my man."

"But I wouldn't stoop to that. Hurry up and help me, so I can rest. In three days, you can leave as soon as possible."

Hearing this, Joshua stood up and helped her undo the complicated ties on her back.

After that, he watched Dahlia walk to the bed to rest, while he sat down at a table on the other side of the room, preparing to wait like this until dawn.

Morning.

When Ella woke up, there was still no sign of Joshua beside her.

Seeing the two children still sleeping, she quietly got up, dressed, and went outside.

She wanted to see the place where Joshua and Dahlia held their ceremony.

The village was very quiet in the early morning, with only the sounds of insects, birds, and flowing streams. She saw that every household had hung festive red ribbons in front of their doors, full of celebration.

Ella knew this was prepared for Joshua and the priestess's wedding.

She forced herself not to care and kept walking forward.

She ran into an old woman carrying farming tools, heading to the fields. Ella stopped her and asked, "Excuse me, where was the priestess's ceremony held?"

The old woman looked at her and smiled. "The ceremony is over. Why are you going there now? But tonight there will be a bonfire party in the square. The priestess and her new husband will attend. You can go see then."

Ella was stunned.

Joshua and the priestess's ceremony was over?

It only took one night?

So they had already spent last night in the same room?

Thinking about this almost certain fact, Ella turned and walked back.

When she returned to their lodging, the priestess's people had already delivered breakfast.

Ella sat at the table in a daze.

She felt more and more abnormal.

Her heart felt blocked and stuffy. Instead of thinking about Michael, her mind was full of Joshua.

She actually cared that Joshua had gone through a wedding ceremony with another woman.

Especially since they'd only known each other for one day.

They were both adults-why act so rashly?

Why couldn't Joshua think more carefully?

Aurora and Dorian woke up.

Seeing Ella looking unhappy and almost ready to cry, Aurora walked over and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Hasn't Dad come back yet?"

Ella reached out and touched Aurora's little face. Her eyes felt gritty, like sand had gotten in them.

"Your dad might not come back. He might stay here and start a new family with someone else."

The ceremony had taken place, and he hadn't come back all night. A man and woman alone in a room-she didn't believe nothing had happened.

Ella felt like her heart was soaking in vinegar, sour and bitter.

Aurora frowned, seeming to half-understand, but still tried to defend Joshua. "But didn't Dorian say it was just a ceremony? Dad won't really become the priestess's husband."

Ella seemed lost. "Who knows."

"Are you hungry, Aurora? If you are, eat something. Let's go back by ourselves. Since your dad married someone else, he probably won't be leaving anytime soon."

She picked up her utensils and ate by herself, but the food had no taste and was hard to swallow.

Aurora clearly sensed her mother's unhappiness and quietly walked to Dorian's side. "What should we do? Mom seems really upset about Dad marrying the priestess."

Dorian was still sitting on the bed, looking at their mom at the dining table in the distance, increasingly feeling she had changed.

She wasn't as emotional as before.

Could Mom really care about Dad marrying someone else?

If so, did that mean Mom liked Dad too?

Dorian took Aurora's hand and walked over, sitting next to Ella. "Mom, are you sad?"

Ella was still in a daze and didn't hear what Dorian was saying at all.

Dorian asked again, "Mom, are you sad that Dad married someone else?"

Only then did Ella come back to her senses and look at him, forcing a smile. "I'm not sad. Why would I be sad? He and I aren't legally married. He's free to marry whoever he wants."

As she said this, even she felt guilty.

She clearly cared a lot.

And she was very angry.

But it had already happened. She couldn't change it.

She looked at the pair of children beside her and reminded them, "You two eat quickly. After we eat, we'll go home."

"Mom, you care about Dad, so you like him, not Uncle Michael, right?" Dorian wouldn't give up, staring at Ella and pressing her.

Ella was stunned.

It seemed that from last night until now, she hadn't thought about Michael at all.

She hadn't thought about calling him, didn't miss him anymore, and no longer felt restless because of it.

Instead, Joshua's image filled her mind.

Ella didn't know why she had changed so much. She felt like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Mom, let's wait for Dad to come back before we leave, okay? I believe Dad won't stay here and have children with someone else." Aurora pleaded.

Joshua had said he loved Aurora very much.

How could he abandon her and Dorian and start a new family here? She had to believe in Joshua.

Dorian also said, "Mom, give Dad some time. Dad did this all for you. Let's wait for him to come back before we leave, okay?"

Ella fell silent.

She thought about how she was still carrying Joshua's baby.

She at least needed Joshua to give her an explanation first.

Otherwise, if they ended things so unclearly, she would probably never be at peace.

Ella agreed to the children and was willing to stay and wait for Joshua to return.

But throughout the entire day, Joshua didn't appear.

Remembering what the old woman said this morning about a bonfire party in the square tonight, where the priestess and Joshua would attend, Ella waited until dark and took Aurora and Dorian to the square.

As night fell, many villagers had already gathered in the center of the square.

They had changed out of their daytime work clothes into colorful ethnic costumes, singing and dancing to intense drumbeats. The scene was very lively.

Seeing Ella arrive with the two children, several enthusiastic villagers immediately pulled the children over, inviting them to join the dancing.

Aurora and Dorian found it fun and novel, so they joined in.

They also tried to pull Ella in, but she refused. She stood alone on the outskirts of the crowd.

The bonfire blazed up, and amid the villagers' cheers, the priestess and Joshua, dressed in gorgeous ethnic clothing, appeared on the platform like a perfect couple.

Only then did Ella clearly see that the priestess was actually a very young and beautiful girl.

She looked only about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

Standing on the platform in elaborate ethnic dress, she had a powerful presence and outstanding temperament.

What man wouldn't like such a woman?

Ella felt a suffocating pain in her chest, her heart feeling like it was being squeezed.

Especially when the villagers below shouted in unison, "Congratulations to the priestess on her happy marriage and finding her ideal husband!"

Then the priestess took Joshua's hand and bowed to the villagers in acknowledgment.

The two of them really looked like a newlywed couple.

Ella found this scene too painful to watch. For a moment, she even forgot the children were still in the crowd and turned to leave quickly.

On stage, Joshua had spotted Ella as soon as he came up.

Seeing her turn and leave, he was anxious and wanted to go explain to her immediately.

But Dahlia beside him held him back.

Dahlia told him, "The time isn't right yet. You can't leave."

Joshua grew anxious. "But my wife is angry."

"Isn't it a good thing that she's angry?"

This sentence struck like lightning. Joshua looked at her in shock.

Dahlia smiled at him. "The love curse has no cure."

"Only by planting another curse in her, letting the two curse insects fight and erode each other, can it be removed."

Joshua suddenly understood. "So you've already planted another one in her?"

Dahlia nodded to the villagers below while saying in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I didn't use the kind that needs slow cultivation. I directly planted a mature curse insect into her body."

Joshua was still shocked. "When did this happen?"

He hadn't noticed at all.

So what exactly were these so-called curse insects?

Dahlia patiently explained, "The moment I cut her skin with the knife, the new curse insect had already entered her body."

"If she starts to care about you, it proves the original curse insect's power has weakened. Don't worry, in two more days, both curse insects will disappear from her body, and then she'll naturally return to normal."