Conquering His Cold Heart

At first, she was simply thinking of giving a few slaps to Marcella and then warning her not to touch Tilla ever again. She first wanted to ask Tilla to explain what happened between the two of them in detail and then ask Caspian to give a fitting punishment to the maid once he arrived tomorrow.

However, when Marcella started to talk back as if she didn’t fear a thing in the world, Anastasia wanted to make sure that Marcella got a few more slaps for her crimes.

“Kneel!” Anastasia growled in rage while pointing her shoe at that maid.

However, the maid couldn’t bear the disrespect. “You humans have no right to order me around,” she stated rigidly while showing off her fangs.

Anastasia scoffed when she heard that. “You humans?” she raised her brows and folded her arms, while still holding the shoe in her hand. “I am sorry to break it to you but this very human is the Queen of this Kingdom. And I do possess the right to order everyone around, except the King himself.”

She then gritted her teeth and commandingly asked, “Kneel. You are going to receive punishment for your action from me. If you don’t wish to get beaten by me then you should apologize to Tilla.”

Marcella was still not relenting. She also folded her arms and then spoke as if she was one of the lords of Sorvando, “I am not going to apologize to anyone. Besides, I do not recognize you as the Queen of this Kingdom. So, I am not going to blindly follow your order.”

Anastasia’s veins on her forehead began to bulge. She was now getting more agitated than enraged. And she talked to the maid in her own language, “It doesn’t matter if a lowly maid like you recognizes me as the Queen or not. The King and all the other major houses do. And that’s enough.”

.....

“Now if you don’t want to lose your job tomorrow, be a doll and kneel,” Anastasia ordered in a low yet threatening voice.

Tilla could swear that she had never seen Anastasia get this angered. Even she was afraid to intervene with the Queen now, and thus, she stood near the well as quietly as she could.

In her heart, she was hoping that Marcella wasn’t that fool to lay a finger on the Queen. After all, she would have to face severe consequences from the King if she did that.

Marcella, however, was still trying to act high and mighty for her status. “No. I don’t want to kneel to a human like you,” she snarled in a threatening tone.

She was under the impression that she could threaten the Queen into leaving her alone for now. And since she was already caught laying her hands on Tilla, she was thinking of running away from the castle before anyone else arrived here at the scene.

Though this wasn’t the outcome that she wanted after going to such lengths by threatening Tilla into giving up her secret, she believed that she could find a decent job somewhere else if she took off as soon as possible.

“You don’t want to kneel, huh?” Anastasia chuckled maniacally. This was the first time she had ever laughed like that, as though she had now completely lost her composure.

Anastasia then asked Tilla while still glaring at Marcella, “Tilla, tell me what happened in detail. Why was this woman trying to kill you?”

“She wasn’t trying to kill me,” Tilla replied in haste.

Anastasia looked over her shoulder and asked in a grim tone, “Stop taking her side. I know that you would never do anything wrong to be treated that way. Even if you did something wrong, that is no way to treat someone.”

Tilla felt a cold shiver running down her spine as she looked at that somber expression on the Queen’s face.

“She…” Tilla glanced at Marcella before revealing the truth. And she inhaled sharply when she saw how Marcella was glaring at her.

“We just had a small misunderstanding. It’s nothing important,” Tilla mumbled bleakly. She didn’t want the matter to worsen than it already had.

However, Anastasia interpreted it in her own way. “So, she was trying to choke you to death over some small misunderstanding?” She looked ahead at Marcella and said with finality, “Then she deserves to be thrown out. We don’t need anyone who is overly violent to be working in the castle.”

“You can’t dismiss me!” Marcella exclaimed although she was already planning on running away.

It would have been better if she had just kept quiet. She would have been able to leave the castle under the Queen’s order, without anyone questioning her. Now, she only made the matter more complicated for herself.

And in her desire to not lose to the human, she didn’t realize that she was the one who was stalling here rather ending the matters quickly and taking off.

Anastasia breathed heavily when Marcella kept on defying her and treating her as if she didn’t deserve any respect even though she was the Queen.

Angered, Anastasia said while pinching the bridge of her nose, “If you don’t wish to respect me and follow my command then sure, keep on being your stubborn self and wait for tomorrow morning to arrive. I will make sure that you won’t get away with just being kicked out of your position.”

“I am not afraid of your weak threats!” Marcella scoffed at Anastasia since she was going to voluntarily resign from her post anyway, or rather, she was going to disappear right away.

Anastasia scoffed, disgusted by that insolent behavior of a maid. She didn’t wish to waste another word on someone who wasn’t willing to correct their behavior.

She finally dropped the shoe in her hand to the ground and elegantly put her shoe. Then she turned to her side and held out her hand towards Tilla, “Come here. We are leaving.”

Tilla heaved a deep sigh and limped toward the Queen to hold her hand. She was relieved thinking that the matter was settled, at least for now.

However, just before they took a step, Marcella questioned Anastasia with a deep frown on her forehead, “Wait! What do you mean I won’t get away with JUST being kicked out? Are you saying that you will get me…?”

Anastasia smirked and answered while walking away, “It’s exactly what you are thinking.”