Conquering His Cold Heart

Martha was still reluctant to let the Queen leave her room and wander to the servants’ quarter. There was no telling who held grudges against her. Since the King wasn’t present in the castle, Martha feared that it might be the perfect opportunity for them to take an action against her.

In order to make the Queen give up on the idea of visiting Tilla during the night, she wanted to think of a plan.

As she went to the bedchamber and shuffled through the clothes in the wardrobe, Martha suddenly recalled that she had yet to offer the tonic to the Queen.

She lightly clapped and thought, ‘Right! I will go to the kitchen to fetch the tonic. And when I come back, I will say that Tilla is already asleep. That way, the Queen won’t keep on insisting about roaming around at night.’

With that thought in mind, Martha pulled out the white woolen cloak from the wardrobe and walked towards the antechamber. She wanted to make the Queen believe that she was willing to let her leave the room.

“Your Majesty…” Martha mumbled when she saw the Queen spacing out.

Anastasia looked at Martha and stood there while holding out her hands. She let Martha help with her cloak and just as she was about to step towards the main door, Martha asked something while stuttering.

“M-My Queen, I almost forgot about that t-tonic that you asked me to prepare.”

.....

“Ah! Yes.” Anastasia turned her head to look at Martha and said, “You can bring that over to–”

“Please forgive me, Your Majesty.” Martha knew that the Queen was about to ask her to bring the tonic to Tilla’s room. But before the Queen could order her, she blurted out, “I will fetch it right away. It won’t work properly if I let it sit any longer. The tonic needs to be as fresh as possible.”

After saying that, Martha dashed out of the antechamber as if she was in her twenties.

“Mar–” Anastasia held out her hand to stop Martha but she was already long gone. She breathed out and pursed her lips as she kept on looking at the slightly open main door for a while.

“Shall I also head out?” Anastasia mumbled to herself. “I can ask someone to go to the kitchen and order Martha to bring the tonic to Tilla’s room.” But then she wasn’t sure if she would find that ‘someone’ whom she could order.

“Ugh!” Anastasia grunted and then swiftly turned around to go and sit down on the sofa. “I guess I will wait until Martha comes back.”

Anastasia was restlessly tapping her foot on the floor when Martha returned holding a tray with a bowl of greenish-looking liquid.

“Should I drink it all?” Anastasia asked after picking up the bowl.

After getting approval from Martha, Anastasia chugged the bitter-tasting tonic. She was grimacing as if she was in pain after drinking it.

Martha was watching the Queen somewhat restlessly, as though she had something important to tell her.

Anastasia, on the other hand, was still tightly clutching the bowl while covering her mouth with her other palm. She was trying her best to keep the tonic down her throat. After trying for a while, she finally burped and slammed the bowl on the table.

“That tasted horrible!” she exclaimed while shaking her head.

Anastasia looked at Martha when she didn’t hear her speak. And when she saw the look in Martha’s eyes, she knew that something was terribly wrong. “What’s going on, Martha?” she asked.

Martha bit the inside of her lower lip, not sure if the Queen was the right person to give this news to.

“Martha? You are scaring me with that silence.” Anastasia immediately got up on her feet and looked at Martha with a frown.

Martha finally relented. She gulped and blurted out what was worrying her, “I umm… I don’t know if my ears were ringing. But when I was coming back from the kitchen, I think I heard Tilla’s voice.”

“Tilla’s voice?” Anastasia looked very confused as to what Martha was going on about. “What did you hear?”

“Umm… she was saying ‘what crime’, I think.” Martha wiped the sweat beads that were forming on her forehead and also added, “Her voice sounded like she was in extreme pain.”

Anastasia instantly felt a sharp pang in her heart when she heard that Tilla was in pain. And without asking anything further and without thinking anything, she immediately ran out of her antechamber.

Martha also ran after the Queen, wondering if it would have been better if she brought up this matter to Percy. ‘I sure hope it’s nothing serious,’ she prayed silently while catching up with the Queen.

Anastasia quickly ran down the stairs and in no time, she was outside the central wing. “Where did you hear her voice from? Was it coming from her room?” she asked without looking at Martha.

Martha replied breathlessly, “No… I think it… came from… behind the… quarter…”

Anastasia’s throat was also getting very dry. Her chest was swelling up and down as she was already pushing herself past her limits by running faster than her body could handle. However, deep down in her heart, she felt as though something bad would happen to Tilla if she slowed down.

She gulped and kept on pushing herself. She could see the servant quarter in the distance. A lot of things were coming into her mind as she headed there.

‘What if she fell down again? What if someone… No, let’s not think too much. It’s also possible that Martha’s ears were ringing, or she heard someone else’s voice. Let’s not think too much.’

Martha, on the other hand, was almost completely sure that it was Tilla’s voice. She had only shown her unsureness to the Queen because she initially didn’t want the Queen to worry too much. She knew that the Queen already had a lot on her plate to worry about.

However, now that the Queen was already running toward the servants’ quarter, Martha could only follow her. In fact, she wasn’t even able to keep up with the Queen because her back was already about to give up.

‘What do I do?’ she wondered as she saw the distance between her and the Queen getting greater and greater. ‘I can’t seem to catch up with the Queen. But if I give up now and if what I think is true…’ She slowed down and furrowed her brows in worry.

‘Even though Tilla denied it, I am sure that she got hurt because of someone this morning. What if they were bullying Tilla again? The Queen might also be in trouble…’

The more Martha thought about it, the more her steps became heavier and heavier. And ultimately, she came to a complete halt. She fisted on her hips while panting, and watched the Queen’s faintly visible figure getting smaller and smaller.

“I should go and find someone this instant,” Martha muttered to herself and turned on her heels. “It’s going to get ugly if my guess is correct.”