Conquering His Cold Heart

And she knew that even this time, Percival disappeared from home so that he could take care of the problem that his brother was facing.

She looked at her husband and repeated her question again, “What if Caspian puts two and two together when his problems suddenly disappear and finds out that you were alive for all these centuries?”

Percival retreated his hands from his wife and sighed. He knew that his wife’s worry was valid. After all, for a person who wants to hide the fact that he is alive, he had been dirtying his hands for his brother’s sake for quite a while now.

However, he was pretty confident that his brother would never be able to trace back to him since he never left any evidence of his involvement.

“I always make sure to clean up my mess and tie up all the loose ends so that my brother can’t find me.” Percival sounded quite confident when he said that.

Liana swallowed dryly and pulled up the corners of her lips.

Percival felt that his wife still doubted him and was worried for him. Thus, he patted his wife’s thigh and reassured her, “Love, trust me. My brother won’t ever find out about our existence. Even if he does find out at some point in the future, I am sure that he will understand me and leave me alone.”

Liana indeed was worried about what kind of actions King Caspian would take if he was to find out that his brother had been alive and well for all these years, and that he was deliberately keeping his distance, mainly because of her.

.....

The fake smile that she had put up gradually faded away from her face. She frowned a little and then asked, “But what if he feels greatly betrayed by you and does something to you?”

Percival lifted his head to look at the ceiling and then scoffed. Since the two of them had been in each other’s company for so long, he could easily read what his wife was thinking.

He looked back at Liana’s face which was now starting to look gloomy. And he said while lightly pinching her cheek, “Liana, you should know that the rumors that we heard about Caspian being a cruel King are not true! He isn’t like that at all. I know that because I practically raised him.”

Liana’s worry was now even more evident than before. “But people change with time…” she tried to make her husband understand that the brother that he knew back then might already be a completely different person by now. “What if the rumors are based on facts?”

Percival chuckled lightly because he hadn’t seen Liana this worried in a while now.

“I haven’t said anything funny, Val!” Liana reprimanded Percival when she saw him laughing.

Percival nodded and said, “Liana, I have been keeping up with all the recent news and events about my brother and Sorvando. And I know for a fact that my brother hasn’t changed one bit. He is still a very righteous and soft-hearted man that I knew.”

“Soft-hearted?” Liana raised her brows in disbelief.

Percival smiled and replied in a more convincing manner, “Well… he can be cruel at times. Most of the time. Yes. But he is as soft as butter when it comes to the people he likes and cares about.”

He pinched Liana’s cheek a bit harder than earlier and mumbled, “And if you haven’t already guessed, I used to be his favorite person. So, I believe that he won’t spite me or kill me even if he were to discover that…” He sighed and his expression turned gloomy when he further continued, “That I betrayed his trust and turned my back on him.”

Percival suddenly forced a smile on his face and almost instantly looked confident. “But believe me when I say this. I don’t think Caspian will ever find out about us unless I am the one to stand in front of him.”

With that, Liana decided to put her trust in her husband. After all, she knew that her husband was smart enough to outsmart most of the people that he had ever encountered.

She let out a sigh of relief and slept while using her husband’s lap as her pillow. “What did you do for your brother this time? I’m sure it wasn’t that big of a problem, was it?” she asked as a way to gradually divert their conversation elsewhere.

Percival looked down at his wife’s beautiful face and began playing with her hair. His eyes darkened as he replied in his hoarse voice, “No. It was just a small anomaly that was trying to challenge the vision that I have for Sorvando. But since it was also threatening the peace of my mind, I took care of a few perpetrators.”

Liana lowered her gaze and looked out of the window. A subtle hint of sadness lingered in her eyes. Since she was a human before fully turning into a vampire, she didn’t like it when her husband killed them as if their life didn’t have any value.

In fact, she was the one who had managed to convince her husband not to kill their prey too. The times they would leave their secluded house to go hunting, they both had started to hit their prey unconscious and steal just enough blood rather than completely draining their blood and killing them.

Percival could obviously sense what his wife was thinking at the moment. So, he eased her mind by revealing some truth. “Liana, those perpetrators, if they were left unchecked, would have successfully pushed three Kingdoms into a great war. Do you know what that means? Countless lives would have been lost.”

Liana widened her eyes in shock and lifted her head to look at her husband’s face. “But you said they were just causing minor inconvenience to you.”

“I didn’t want you to worry.” Percival sighed when he noticed the deep frown lines on his wife’s forehead, and thus, he added, “They were werewolves who ambushed my brother and his wife.”

“Werewolves?” Liana didn’t expect that her husband had come in contact with the very creatures that he had warned her about in the past.

“Yes.” A sudden fury surged through Percival’s chest and he spoke in a growling voice, “They then tried to pin all the blame on the new King of Xanmar. It would have created a great misunderstanding between the Kings. And since the Crown Prince of Orsenia was also caught in the ambush, Orsenia would have also been dragged into the war between the Sorvando and Xanmar.”

Liana covered her mouth in shock. She had never imagined that her husband was going around, stopping potential future wars.

Since Percival was already talking about it, he also clarified that the matter had almost been completely resolved by now. “I indirectly sent some tips to Caspian’s spies regarding the true perpetrator of the attack on them. I believe my brother is smart enough to put aside the differences and avoid the war now that he knows everything… almost everything.”

Percival could finally see a genuine smile on his wife’s face.

He also felt as though his body was a bit lighter than before. “Ah!” he sighed in relief and mumbled, “I don’t know why but I feel as if I just lost some weight.”

Since he had always been a rather secretive person, he didn’t know that it was his heart that was feeling lighter. It was because he poured some of the cooped-up feelings out of his heart.

Liana lay down on his lap again, happy that her husband was sharing sensitive matters with her. And as her husband was evidently feeling good after sharing things with her, she wanted to promote his behavior.

So, she said while lovingly holding his hand, “You should trust me with these political issues more often. I know you are just trying to spare me the headache and worries by not revealing everything to me. But the only person you have is me. And I am a very good listener.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Percival was genuinely considering being more open to his wife. She was right. She was all he had.