Conquering His Cold Heart

Inside the carriage, Vincent was sitting on the opposite side of Tilla, watching her sleep on the seat before him so that she wouldn’t accidentally fall down or roll over as the carriage was moving.

Now that the carriage came to a halt, Vincent looked out of the window at his mansion. A tingling sense of warmth danced in his heart as he looked at the place where he barely came to sleep only.

The same mansion that always reminded him of his life without actual family members was looking very inviting today. He couldn’t wait to go inside and show Tilla around.

“Tilla?” Vincent held Tilla’s shoulder and gently shook her to wake her up from her sleep. “We’ve arrived,” he whispered.

“Oh? We’ve arrived already?” Tilla mumbled as she opened her eyes and blinked several times as if to shake off the sleep from her eyes. “It’s pretty close to the castle, huh.”

“Yes, it is very near.” Vincent gave a warm smile to Tilla and carefully slid his arms under Tilla’s head and her thighs. He gently carried Tilla in his arms and said, “That’s one of the reasons why you can find me in the castle very early in the morning and till late at night.”

“Ah!” Tilla smiled. In a way, the short distance between the castle and Lord Vincent’s mansion had saved her life.

The coachman of the carriage had already opened the door of the carriage for the two of them.

.....

Vincent was careful not to leap as he stepped down the carriage. He gave a little nod to the coachman and thanked him. “Thank you for bringing us here, Benjamin. You may return to the castle now.”

“As you wish, Milord,” the coachman bowed to Vincent and started to prepare for the return.

When Vincent finally made Tilla face his mansion, Tilla’s eyes glimmered and her lips slightly parted on their own.

The dark and grey colors of the stones, the massive pillars that held the mansion, and the architectural design of the mansion could easily make one believe that they were still in the castle. One could even say that this mansion was a child of the Kilerth castle in that sense.

“You look happy,” Vincent saw the corners of Tilla’s lips curving up slightly and commented.

Tilla smiled even more widely and looked at Vincent. “I never imagined your mansion to look like this,” she said in response.

“Like what?” he asked while heading towards the main entrance of the mansion where his butler, housekeeper, and a few maids and servants had lined up to welcome them.

Before the carriage moved from the castle, Vincent had asked someone to run to his mansion and pass his message to the housekeeper. Everyone looked eager by his arrival.

Tilla looked down at her legs that were hanging comfortably on the lord’s arm and said, “Similar to the castle. And I had never imagined that one day the sight of similar buildings would bring me joy.”

Vincent chuckled and tried to make Tilla confess something. “Could the reason for your joy be because of the fact that you are going to stay with me for a month?”

“I’m afraid it’s not what you think, Milord,” Tilla instantly refuted the ‘accusation’ as civilly as she could.

And she immediately said what was in her mind, “I was saying that because your mansion reminds me of the castle.” Her voice had a hint of sadness when she further added, “Hopefully, while I am here, I won’t miss the castle that much.”

“I won’t let you miss the castle, I promise,” Vincent smirked as he kept on gazing at Tilla’s dumbfounded expression.

“Welcome back, Milord.”

Both of their attention was grabbed by the welcoming voice of the housekeeper, Penelope, of the mansion.

“Thank you!” Vincent acknowledged the housekeeper with a nod, a lady who looked like she was in her late fifties.

Vincent took a glance at Tilla and introduced her to Penelope as well as everyone, “This is Tilla, the handmaid of the Queen.”

Penelope gave a smile to Tilla and politely said, “Welcome to the Warmane Mansion, Miss Tilla.”

“Thank you, Miss.” Tilla returned the smile and also didn’t forget to make an apology, “I apologize for the intrusion and any inconvenience I might put you all through because of my presence here.”

Vincent immediately frowned at Tilla and said, “You don’t need to apologize when I practically begged you to come here and also begged the King and the Queen to allow me to bring you here. It’s alright. They all understand your situation.”

To make her feel less awkward, Vincent looked at everyone standing there and asked, “You all are happy to have Tilla here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Milord.” Everyone replied no matter how they felt about having Tilla there.

Tilla was already feeling a bit embarrassed to face all of the workers of the mansion because of how their Lord was carrying her in his arms. And now, she felt even more embarrassed as everyone’s eyes were on her.

Still, she smiled at everyone who she could see from the position she was being held and then looked at Vincent. Her eyes looked as though they were asking the Lord to carry her away to her room as soon as he could.

However, since almost all of the workers of the mansion were present there, Vincent thought of making an announcement to avoid the situation of the castle repeating here as well, although he didn’t believe it would since he deeply trusted the people who worked in his mansion.

He cleared his throat and said in an authoritative tone, “I should let everyone know right now that Tilla will be staying with us until she fully recovers. And during her stay here, I hope all of you will treat her as you would treat the mistress of this mansion.”

“Mistress?” Penelope almost busted everyone’s eardrums by exclaiming loudly.

Not just Penelope, everyone was shocked by Vincent’s last sentence, including Tilla. They were all looking at Vincent with eyes as wide as the saucepan and they were wondering if he was serious.

It was not that their master never brought any women home before. It was just that he had never said this before. If anything, he would ask them to get rid of the women he brought as soon as the night was over.

Vincent slightly raised his brows and looked at everyone’s stunned faces. And he asked rather sternly, “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, of course not, Milord,” Penelope spoke on everyone’s behalf.

Instantly, her face beamed as if she was embraced by the warmth of the moonlight. She almost squeaked with happiness as she laid her eyes on Tilla and said, “We will treat her like the mistress. She shall have everything that she desires.”

And everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

They were all happy because they were all thinking that at last, their master had found someone who would help him to put his roots in the mansion instead of always rushing to the castle or elsewhere.

Tilla held her breath and turned her head towards Vincent’s chest to hide her face. Her ears as well as her cheeks were burning from embarrassment.

At last, Tilla asked in a whisper, unable to contain the awkwardness, “Milord, can we go in? I am a bit tired.”

“Oh, of course.” Vincent looked at Penelope and asked, “Is everything in order?”

“Yes, Milord. I have prepared the room that you asked for Miss Tilla,” Penelope replied.

“That’s good.” Vincent began walking down the corridor while at the same time, asking Penelope a few more questions. “Did someone go to get the nurses? And food items and chef for Tilla?”

Penelope walked behind Vincent as she answered the Lord.

“Stephan has sent some of the men to Silver Keep to deliver your message to the prospective nurses and chefs, and also to gather the food items. I am hoping that at least some will answer the call by tonight or tomorrow morning because the reward you mentioned is pretty high considering the type of jobs.”

Tilla was surprised that Vincent was going to hire nurses too. “Milord, that was unnecessary,” she said while looking at Vincent. “I just need to lie down on the bed. I don’t need a nurse for that.”

Vincent glanced at that worried face looking at him and clarified his intention behind hiring the nurse. “You never know when you will need an assistance of a human. I thought it would be better to have at least one human by your side in case something happens to you. We don’t know much about your body, so…”

Penelope also agreed with Vincent, “Yes, it is wise to have a nurse around. We could have taken proper care of you, Miss, but I am afraid we aren’t much experienced in that regard.”

Tilla didn’t protest since she knew they were right.

Penelope walked ahead of them when they neared the end of the corridor. She opened the door to a huge room for Vincent and Tilla to enter.

Vincent looked inside the room in satisfaction and said to Tilla with a smile, “This will be your room during your stay here. Do you like it?”