Conquering His Cold Heart

“Wh-” Anastasia’s words got stuck in her throat.

She gasped for breath and took support from the throne’s armrest. Though she didn’t personally know King Alfred, his sudden death came as a great shock to her.

Caspian got up from his throne to support his wife because she looked like she would collapse at any moment now. He held her by her arm and asked while looking at her pale face, “Are you alright?”

Anastasia nodded and took a deep breath in. Finally, her words came out of her mouth, “Eve’s father passed away?”

“Yes.” Caspian gently stroked his wife’s dark ginger hair in an attempt to console her. “I’m really sorry, Anna. Were you also close with the late King?”

“No, but still...” She felt very sorry for Everard. “How did he pass away?” she asked again.

Caspian slightly shook his head and answered her, “I have no idea. The scroll was more of an invitation for the coronation ceremony. It didn’t mention anything more about the late King’s demise.”

“Hmm...” Anastasia nodded her head and dejectedly turned her gaze toward the back entrance that she had used earlier. “I will be in my room then,” she said to her husband and began walking away, closely followed by Tilla.

.....

“You sure you are okay?” Caspian caught up with his wife and asked again.

Anastasia looked at him and gave him a subtle smile. “I will be.” Other than that, she didn’t say another word.

Since Caspian had chased away his council members, he didn’t have any more cases to discuss. So, he decided to follow his wife back to her room.

The three of them walked in silence until Tilla took another corridor to head for the kitchen area.

“So, when’s the coronation ceremony?” Anastasia looked at her husband and asked in a low voice.

“Er... it’s after two days,” Caspian replied a bit hesitantly.

He didn’t have any intention of attending that werewolf’s coronation ceremony. Rather, he was mad at Everard for even sending the invitation to come to his filthy kingdom.

‘I’m sure the whole nation stinks. As if I would step my foot in his stinking kingdom!’ That was the only thing that kept on repeating in Caspian’s head when his royal guard was reading the invitation out loud.

“Are we going there?” Anastasia asked innocently.

Anastasia didn’t catch it but, for a split second, Caspian’s facial expression had stiffened with anger. This was exactly what Caspian was afraid of when that minister had spilled the information in the throne hall earlier.

Caspian went silent for a while. However, before it became too obvious that he was angry, he composed himself and said to his wife, “I don’t think I can free up my schedule. I am still catching up on the previously piled-up work. And new files get piled up on a daily basis.”

Anastasia felt a pinch in her heart when Caspian made it clear that he didn’t want to go to Xanmar. She could guess why her husband didn’t desire to go to that kingdom. He never really liked Everard even after she had cleared his doubts.

Anastasia didn’t want to put Caspian in a difficult spot by insisting on going to Xanmar. However, she didn’t want to miss her chance to meet people that she cared about – Everard, Alexander, and maybe a few of the other familiar faces from Orsenia.

So, she looked at her husband’s face again and politely said to him, “Since Everard is my brother’s best friend, I think my brother will also attend the ceremony... I will get to meet my brother. You will also get to meet him.”

She took a step closer to her husband and asked, “Why don’t you ask Zenon to manage your schedule for a few days?”

Caspian wasn’t yet showing any eagerness to go to the kingdom that would be crawling with those stinky wolves. He wrinkled his nose and said to Anastasia, “But your brother will be here in a month or so. Why don’t we grandly welcome him here instead of briefly meeting him there in someone else’s kingdom?”

The two of them had arrived in front of Anastasia’s chambers. Caspian pushed the door open and both of them walked inside the door.

Anastasia immediately stood in front of her husband, looked into his blood-red eyes, and then tried to persuade him further, “We will also welcome him here to Sorvando. But it has been so long since I last met him. I miss my brother greatly. And...”

She wanted to bite her tongue, but at the same time, she also wanted to be truthful to her husband. “And honestly, I think Everard can use one more sympathy from an old friend.”

Caspian furrowed his brows and inhaled deeply from his mouth. He even averted his gaze from his wife.

It was pretty obvious that he didn’t like what his wife was asking of him.

Anastasia held the sleeve of his shirt and said in her softest voice, “Besides, Everard is also going to be the King of our neighboring kingdom. So, I think it will be a good idea to maintain a peaceful relationship with him from the very beginning of his tenure. Don’t you think so?”

Caspian didn’t say a word even when he wanted to say a lot of things to her.

Amidst his silence, Anastasia suddenly recalled how Sorvando was surrounded by sky-high walls from all sides. She pursed her lips and thought to herself, ‘Why would he want to have a good relationship with the neighboring kingdom? He built the walls around Sorvando to isolate his kingdom! He is obviously not interested to mingle with the humans!’

Although Caspian looked really uninterested, Anastasia was still determined to go and meet her brother and Everard. She could never tell if she would ever get to meet them again.

She cupped her husband’s cheeks and made him look at her. She then tried to make him see how the trip wouldn’t just be about attending the coronation. “Caspian, you said that you wanted to see a lot of new places with me. Xanmar IS a new place for me.”

Caspian held Anastasia’s wrists and tried to dodge what Anastasia was implying. “Then why don’t we go to Lavinya? That is also a new place. We can meet your brother there, after he returns from Xanmar.”

Anastasia drooped her shoulders and whined, “But that’s not the same! I don’t know even remember the last time I was invited to another Kingdom like this. Even if I was, I was never allowed to go. So, please don’t deny this invitation. I bet that you also haven’t stepped out of the borders of Sorvando in a long while. We can take this as an opportunity to travel together. Can we not?”

When Anastasia put it like that, Caspian couldn’t deny her because it hadn’t been many days since he promised to go on adventures with her. Although he hated the destination, he didn’t hate his company.

So, he looked into his wife’s emerald eyes and said in a soft voice, “You are right. We can make the most out of this travel. I will ask Zenon to free my schedules.” He gently pinched his wife’s cheek and asked, “Happy now?”

Anastasia gave a soft smile to him and happily wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you so much, Caspian. I promise it will be a memorable journey.”

Caspian was also happy to see how excited his wife was. However, deep down, he couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

He hugged his wife and gazed at the woods in a distance through the window.

He then thought to himself, ‘I am damn sure that those spies were sent by that bastard. What did he want to find out? Background information about Ruby? Or did he want some kind of information about my wife? He better not be after my wife!’