Conquering His Cold Heart

“My brother’s friend?” You mean Ev-”

Caspian suddenly choked on the tea that he was drinking and began to beat his chest while coughing violently.

“Caspian!” Anastasia immediately got up on her feet and ran to her husband’s aid. She gently stroked his back and lightly patted his head so that he would stop coughing.

“What happened? Are you okay?” she asked him after he finally stopped coughing.

Caspian gulped hard and gave a nod. “It’s nothing. I guess the tea went down the wrong pipe.”

Anastasia glanced at Tilla. She was still standing in one corner of the room without making a sound. “Tilla, will you hand me the kerchief?”

While Anastasia was busy looking at Tilla, Caspian glanced at Hamilton to ask the question that was bothering him.

Hamilton was giving a ‘I knew this was going to happen!’ look at Caspian. He didn’t understand why Caspian would drink something that disgusting.

.....

However, Caspian ignored the look of disdain from his cousin and whispered while covering his mouth. “Don’t tell me the woman you gave a ride to was called Ruby!”

Hamilton instantly widened his eyes and whispered back, “How the hell do you know that? You got spies after me?”

Anastasia looked at Caspian and asked, “Husband, remove your hand from your mouth, will you?”

Caspian immediately did so and gave a smile to his wife.

Anastasia tilted a little and gently patted the kerchief on her husband’s mouth.

“I can do this myself, you know...” He felt a little flustered in front of his cousin and tried to grab the kerchief from his wife’s hand.

But Anastasia gave a light slap on his hand and whispered, “Almost done.” And after wiping his mouth, she carefully examined his face and said happily, “Done.”

“Thanks, love,” Caspian held his wife’s hand and gave a quick peck at the back of her palm.

Hamilton suddenly disturbed their lovey-dovey moment, “Hey, you two! Stop making me feel jealous! Don’t act all touchy-feely in front of me and make me miss the wife that I don’t even have.”

Anastasia smiled and shyly pulled her hand away from her husband’s grip.

Caspian also chuckled and teased his cousin, “Maybe you should get a wife then. If you are incapable of finding someone, then I can arrange your meetings with the ladies from all the powerful houses. What do you say?”

“No, thank you!” Hamilton then quickly diverted the conversation away from where it was about to head. “My Queen, don’t you want to see all the gifts that your brother has sent for you?”

“He sent gifts for me?” Anastasia smiled ear to ear and then again headed towards the sofa.

“Yes.” Hamilton grabbed his briefcase and opened it to take out the gifts.

First, he took out two books and said while handing them over to Anastasia, “He said these are about adventures and said that you will enjoy them.”

Anastasia happily grabbed the books from Hamilton and read the titles of the books, “Gulliver’s travel... Robinson Crusoe...” Her smile widened when she flipped the pages of the books and inhaled the fresh smell of the paper. And she spoke as if she was intoxicated, “These will keep my company for a few days now.”

Caspian was constantly tapping his feet and Hamilton was starting to get agitated by the sound.

However, Hamilton still kept his cool and took out another gift that Alexander had sent. It was a really beautiful shawl which was dark red in color.

The moment Anastasia touched the shawl, her heart melted because of how soft it felt in her hands. “Oh... this is so soft!”

Hamilton smiled and said, “This is called Pashmina. It is something that is really hard to come by in this part of the world. These are made from high-quality wools of a breed of mountain goats. So I can tell that your brother had it imported from a foreign land across the oceans.”

Anastasia was impressed. “Really? No wonder it looks so beautiful.”

Hamilton then narrowed his eyes at the shawl and mumbled, “But I wonder why he sent this with me. He said that he was going to visit soon. He could have given it to you himself. That way he could have seen your reaction.”

Anastasia gave a quick smile and looked down at the shawl. She sighed and softly said, “I guess he wanted me to use it sooner. It’s too lovely to be kept inside his wardrobe for another two months.”

“I guess so.” Hamilton nodded.

Anastasia then recalled where they had left their conversation earlier. So she asked, “Right! You were saying earlier that you stumbled upon a lady who was looking for my brother’s friend.”

“Oh, yes! I almost forgot to tell you,” Hamilton glanced at Caspian with a questioning glance.

And Caspian abruptly got up from his chair and said, “Anna, why don’t you give the two of us some time? I have something important to discuss with him first. I will send him to your antechamber once I finish talking to him. And you can...”

“Oh, sure.” Anastasia quickly grabbed her gifts and got up on her feet. And she apologized to her husband, “I forgot to even ask if I was disturbing the two of you. I’m really sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. I will just need a few minutes with him,” Caspian replied a bit restlessly.

Anastasia looked at Hamilton and said, “Please don’t leave without meeting me. I would love to hear about my brother before you take a leave.”

“I won’t leave, don’t worry.” Hamilton got up on his feet and gently bowed to the Queen. “I will see you in a while then.”

After Anastasia left the room, Caspian shut the door close and then immediately asked, “Tell me, this woman that you gave a ride to, Ruby, how she looked?”

Hamilton raised his brows and asked, “Didn’t your little spies tell you how she looked?”

Caspian had already run out of patience by now. So he growled in rage, “Answer me already! I am not in the mood to play your word games today.”