Conquering His Cold Heart

She set the teacup down on the table and got up on her feet. Slowly striding towards the mirror, she wondered out loud, “I wonder when Caspian got to know about this meeting. Maybe this morning? He got up and went out of the room very early.”

Anastasia looked at her reflection in the mirror and wondered if Caspian was taking her to the border as well.

She turned her head towards the wardrobe and asked Tilla who was pulling out a gown at the moment. “Tilla, at what time did you say that the meeting was again?”

“It’s tonight at 8, Your Majesty,” Tilla replied without turning her head and looking at the Queen.

“Ah!” Anastasia nodded and looked back at the mirror again. And she understood that she wasn’t going to participate in the meeting tonight.

‘I guess they fixed the meeting in a haste.’ She thought to herself.

Although she was a bit disheartened to know that she wouldn’t be meeting her brother tonight, she tried to cheer herself up. ‘But I only met him not long ago. And I bet that even if we were to meet, we wouldn’t have time to talk about anything else except… the apology letter from Everard.’

Anastasia took a deep breath and pondered about the direction that tonight’s meeting would take. She wasn’t yet aware of the recent developments regarding the case of Xanmar.

.....

She was still under the influence that the apology letter from Everard didn’t have any value for her husband. She had more or less gauged the worth of the letter when Caspian got angry at her for suggesting that he hold out the hand of friendship to Everard.

Thus, she was bound to be restless. She was worried that the peaceful era would come to an end soon. And it pained her even more when she couldn’t help but put the blame on herself for being the main reason for the dispute.

Thinking straight from her perspective, the fight escalated because of that unholy kiss that she didn’t see coming.

She dropped herself down on the chair and frowned deeply. ‘Why would Eve even do that to me? Did he mistake me for someone else? Or did he have some hidden motives behind it?’ she had several questions in her mind that she wanted to ask to Everard.

Anastasia shakily breathed in and closed her eyes. She rubbed the frown lines on her forehead. Slowly, her palm rested on her lips. She looked disgusted as she recalled that kiss from Everard. And as if she was trying to remove its existence in the past, she wiped her lips with the back of her palm.

“Aah!” Anastasia exclaimed. She only realized how hard she was wiping her lips when she suddenly felt a prickling pain at her lower lip. Her lips, which were void of moisture at the moment, happened to crack.

Tilla ran to Anastasia’s side in an instant and leaned in to look at her face. “What happened? Did you hurt yourself?” she asked while removing Anastasia’s hand from before her mouth.

Anastasia licked her lower lip and shook her head. “No, it’s not a big deal. My lips cracked a little.”

Tilla furrowed her brows and looked guilty for not taking proper care of the Queen. “Give me a second.” She quickly rummaged through the dressing table’s drawer and took out a jar containing coconut oil.

The oil had hardened because of the cold. But Tilla still managed to scrape it. She then looked at the Queen’s lips and put the oil generously on her lips.

And while doing so, she couldn’t help but notice the melancholic expression on the Queen’s face.

“Is something bothering you, my Queen?” she asked.

Anastasia’s somber expression didn’t change. Rather, she looked even more lost when she asked a question to her handmaid, “Tilla, do you think things would have been any different if I had never met Everard?”

Tilla could see the regret in Anastasia’s eyes.

However, she didn’t let Anastasia stay all gloomy for long. She crouched beside Anastasia and held her hand. She looked her friend in the eyes and said in a consoling manner, “Anna, you know that it does us no good by dwelling in the past. I had seen you genuinely enjoying King Everard’s company. It isn’t your fault that he broke the vows of a pure friendship.”

Anastasia looked away from Tilla, but with a soft smile on her face.

And before Anastasia blamed herself further, Tilla tugged gently on her hand and said after Anastasia looked at her again, “And didn’t you say that he sent an apology letter? Don’t think about those things too much. I know in my heart that everything will be okay.”

Anastasia finally took a deep sigh of relief and smiled widely. “Do you really think so?” she asked while knitting her brows.

And Tilla, with a calm expression on her face, gave a nod. “I know so.” Tilla lifted her hand and gently wiped the oil from the corner of Anastasia’s lips. She looked into Anastasia’s eyes again and asked, “So, don’t hurt yourself over it. Okay?”

Anastasia enclosed her lips into a thin line and nodded in response. Tilla’s words greatly comforted her.

—

Away from the castle, in the heart of the Kingdom of Sorvando, Caspian was doing a patrol while being accompanied by Zenon and Vincent.

They didn’t find anything out of the ordinary until they came across a small group of vampires who were handing out pamphlets to a store owner nearby.

Caspian didn’t think much of it until they started to explain what that pamphlet was about.

“We have lived under these tyrannical rulers for a very long time, fellow brother. Now it is time for us to take matters into our own hands. We have stayed in fear of persecution for too long. It is now time for us to raise our voices against the heinous monarchy system. The world isn’t the same anymore. And we have to adapt accordingly.”

Caspian narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth when he heard those vampires talking absolute nonsense about his and his ancestors’ ruling.

He turned his head to look at Zenon. He wanted to see if this was what his advisor wanted him to see because even though Zenon said that they were just going out for a normal walk around the capital, he knew his advisor wouldn’t do anything without any purpose in mind.

Just as Caspian had suspected, Zenon seemed satisfied by that encounter. He pointed his brows toward the so-called activists and asked in a whisper, “Guess who is leading all this?”

Caspian sighed and whispered back in irritation, “Bartholomew?”

Zenon gave a nod and went back to staring at the activists.

Vincent leaned closer to Caspian’s ear and asked him, “I bet my money that they will be chased by that store owner.”

Caspian wasn’t so sure about that anymore because until he saw all this, he didn’t think that Bartholomew had already created such a mess in his capital. He had thought that Bartholomew was only approaching the noble houses with his wicked agendas against him. But it looked like he was now moving on to brainwash the rest as well.

Suddenly, his attention was grabbed by the commotion caused by the store owner.