Conquering His Cold Heart

However, they were utterly shocked when they heard their King.

“A warm cup of tea would be perfect at the moment. I need to wash down a certain unpleasant scent that I had to inhale just a while ago.”

Anastasia had no idea what kind of unpleasant smell her husband was talking about. But she was glad that she decided to come to the throne hall albeit her fear of the scornful glare from the vampires who were present there.

“I will prepare it right away then,” Anastasia happily said to her husband and immediately began to brew the tea.

The other vampires were watching the Queen preparing the tea for their King with disgusted looks on their faces. They couldn’t help but think that this was some kind of an inside joke between the King and the Queen. And they all waited for the monarchs to drop their act.

However, Anastasia didn’t stop.

She was so consumed in brewing the best cup of tea for her husband that she had forgotten they weren’t alone there. And Caspian was also so focused on watching his wife’s delicate hands swirling the spoon in the teacup that he also completely forgot that he was in the middle of discussing something important with the council.

“Here you go,” Anastasia proudly handed over the teacup to her husband after she finished preparing it.

.....

Caspian held the saucer and the teacup. He appreciatively gazed at the steaming hot cup of tea. He felt as though the aroma of the tea was the best today. Maybe it was because he had been struggling to breathe properly until a while ago.

When he brought the cup very close to his lips to enjoy the taste, he was almost startled by a loud vampire who shouted out of the blue.

“Your Majesty, in my opinion, you should accept the invitation from Xanmar. It will be a good opportunity for us to investigate their plans from up close.”

“Xanmar?” Anastasia picked up the very word that Caspian wished she wouldn’t hear.

It was the Minister for War and Finance who had shouted out loud. He did that because he felt pity for the King when he happily decided to drink that ‘poisonous water’, probably to appease his wife.

However, he unintentionally gained the wrath of the King because he almost revealed everything in front of the Queen.

Caspian clenched his teeth and placed the cup on the saucer that he was holding. He then turned his icy-cold glare at that minister and asked in a bone-chillingly calm voice, “Lord Frankland, did I say that the floor was open for opinions?”

“Please excuse me, Your Majesty.” The minister gave an apologetic bow to the King and then sat back down on his chair, satisfied that he had done his job.

Though the King was angry at him, he thought that it was only a fa?ade that he put up in front of the Queen. According to him, he thought that the King was secretly grateful for protecting him from having to taste that poison.

He even thought that the King would praise him later, once the Queen was gone. However, he was disappointed when Caspian ordered him in the same cold voice.

“Please leave from this hall, Lord Frankland.”

When that minister didn’t immediately leave the hall, Caspian protruded his fangs and growled at that poor vampire, “I said, leave!”

Everyone in the hall jumped a little when the King suddenly lost his temper.

Lord Frankland didn’t need to be told twice to leave. He instantly got up and ran at the top of his speed.

Now, the others wondered if they were supposed to keep on staying or if they were also supposed to leave the hall. They all were thankful when they also got the order next.

“The court is dismissed for today. We will discuss the remaining matters tomorrow.”

The rest of the vampires immediately began to swoosh out of the hall. They knew better than anyone that when the King protruded his fangs, it was better to run than stay by his side and risk facing his wrath.

While the vampires ran out of the hall, Anastasia wondered what this was all about.

“Why did you abruptly dismiss the court?” Anastasia asked Caspian once the whole hall was empty, except for the few royal guards. “Was it because of me? Did I do something?”

“No! It wasn’t because of you.” Caspian sighed and picked up the cup again.

He quietly took a few sips of tea in order to calm the boiling rage inside of him.

“How’s the tea?” Anastasia asked in an attempt to reduce the tension-filled air around them.

Caspian gave a subtle smile to his wife and replied, “Very soothing.” He immediately focused on quietly drinking the tea.

Anastasia awkwardly turned to look at her handmaid. Tilla was stiffly standing near the back entrance, away from Caspian’s view.

‘Should I have listened to Tilla and stayed away from the throne hall?’ Anastasia asked herself. She had definitely not hoped for this sudden rage from her husband.

While waiting for Caspian to finish his tea, she couldn’t help but think about the sentence that she had heard from that vampire who was kicked out of the hall first.

‘Invitation from Xanmar? What was he talking about? Was that an invitation from the King of Xanmar?’ She thought about all the possible events that the King of Xanmar would invite Caspian to. And she thought of one possible event, ‘Is Eve finally getting married?’

Her attention was back on her husband when she heard him placing the saucer on the table.

She then gestured for Tilla to gather the cups and tray. While Tilla did her task, Anastasia wondered if asking about the invitation would be appropriate at the moment or not. However, she hesitated because she could clearly see that her husband was still angry.

‘I better ask him later, when he isn’t angry. Or never...’ she thought.

Caspian could feel the constant questioning gaze from his wife. At first, he had thought of hiding the information from Anastasia. But then again, no matter whether he liked the friendship between his wife and that werewolf or not, he thought that she had the right to know.

So, he looked at his wife and then said with a straight face, “King Alfred Crestfire has passed away. Your friend Everard has invited us to his coronation ceremony.”