Conquering His Cold Heart

Her hands started to tremble in fear. She wasn’t sure why the Queen was suddenly trusting her with her day-to-day needs even after what she had done in the past.

‘What if I do something again that will put the Queen’s life at risk?’ she couldn’t help but let that idea get into her head. After all, she had almost accidentally taken the Queen’s life by offering her the tonic that was meant for the injured vampires.

After that incident, Martha was ready to offer herself to the King to become his meal. However, unlike what she had expected, nobody ever came to reprimand her or punish her.

The only punishment that she got was directly from the Queen. She wasn’t supposed to directly serve the Queen and that was all.

The only other change that had been done in the castle after Martha’s mistake was that the kitchens were separated. The kitchen used to prepare the food and drinks of the Queen was separated from the kitchen used by others who needed it. Also, only the Queen’s chef and Tilla were allowed to enter the Queen’s kitchen. And that was all.

After taking multiple deep breaths to calm her nerves, Martha finally gathered the courage to knock on the door.

“My Queen, it’s me,” Martha said in a soft voice from outside the door.

Martha was afraid that she would get a harsh welcome from the Queen. However, the Queen’s voice sounded as sweet and soft as ever.

.....

“Oh, Martha. Come in. Come in. I was just waiting for you.”

That kind voice of the Queen further helped Martha to calm her nervousness. She quietly pushed the huge door open.

As soon as her eyes fell on the Queen who was folding her arms in front of her chest and was standing by the window, Martha gave a deep bow and greeted the Queen. “Good afternoon, Your Majesty.”

“Good afternoon, Martha.” Anastasia gave a warm welcoming smile to her and asked, “It’s been a long while since I last saw you. How have you been?”

Martha kept on bowing while answering, “I have been doing fine. It’s all because of Your Majesty’s kindness. I will forever be grateful to you for not being harsh towards me even though the mistake I made was punishable by death.”

Anastasia took a deep breath and smiled. She had never acted as harshly to anyone as she had acted in front of Martha. But she was also aware that the punishment would have been rather drastic if she had let Caspian handle it.

“Let’s forget about what happened in the past and turn over a new leaf,” Anastasia suggested as she walked away from the window.

“You are as kind as always,” Martha commented with a sigh of relief.

Anastasia had been itching to take a hot bath for a while now. So, she instantly ordered her maid-in-waiting. “Martha, why don’t you prepare a bath for me? I would like to freshen up and change my clothes.”

Martha gave a bow and immediately walked out of the room to head for the kitchen and bring a bucket of hot water.

Anastasia, on the other hand, sat down on the sofa and resumed wondering if Caspian had managed to go through her personal diary while she was in the bathroom or not. That one thought had been eating her since earlier because she had written all sorts of things in that diary.

And the things that she had written in the diary weren’t a quarter as bad as the mysterious letter that she had kept inside the diary as if it was some bookmark.

As soon as Caspian left her antechamber earlier, she had hurriedly checked the envelope. She was at least happy to find that the glue that she had used to seal the envelope wasn’t tampered with.

‘I hope Caspian will never read my diary. No… I should make sure not to leave that diary lying around like that.’ Anastasia curled up her knees and hugged them after heaving a deep sigh.

And she thought to herself again, ‘Yes. I think I should find a secret place to hide that diary. Although Caspian doesn’t ever open my drawers, I don’t think it would hurt to find a safe, not-so-obvious place to hide it.’

With that thought in her mind, Anastasia sprung up from the sofa and began walking around her chambers, looking at every nook and cranny where she could hide her secrets.

She looked under the table, inserted her hands in the corners of the sofa, and looked inside her wardrobe and almost everywhere, including the bathroom.

In the end, tired, she sat down on the sofa. She didn’t find any place to be that safe and secret. And she even wondered, ‘Should I just burn everything? By the time he is back, everything will turn into ashes.’

‘Yes, I think that’s a wonderful idea!’ Anastasia exclaimed in her mind.

She turned her head to look at the fireplace that was on her left side. ‘No one would be suspicious about anything if I say that I was feeling too cold.’ She nodded to herself and convinced herself that it was for the best. ‘Yes. I shouldn’t be keeping something that could bring huge cracks in our relationship.’

Anastasia kept on looking at the fireplace until her eyes started to burn. A lot of things were running rampant in her mind, like what would have happened if the letter hadn’t arrived to her at all, and what if Caspian had never been a part of her life and such.

Though their relationship was formed based on some random letter from an unknown sender, she couldn’t imagine her life without Caspian now.

And while she was thinking all that, she couldn’t help but wonder how Caspian would feel after she died.

Suddenly a stream of tears began to roll down her face.