Conquering His Cold Heart

Oh, and how grateful he was when he didn’t hear any footsteps outside.

“Thank you, Moon Goddess,” he whispered while closing his eyes.

Lorenzo’s knees finally gave up on him and he collapsed down to the floor. Until now, he was pretending to be unafraid of Regulus and was pretending to have an actual plan regarding the King. And now that he was back to being alone, his whole body started to tremble in fear.

He wiped the blood that was starting to clot on his eyelashes and then whispered under his breath, “Oh! I am still alive! I am alive! Thank the Goddess! I am still breathing…”

He slowly lifted his fingers and then touched the wound on his head. It had already healed by now. He lay flat on the floor and stared at the blank ceiling. His eyesight instantly became blurry as his eye rims were now filled with tears. After what just happened, he felt like wailing like a baby.

However, he still managed to calm himself down by thinking that everything would eventually fall back into place.

‘I just need to prove the innocence of the King. I know he is innocent. And I will be set free. I will leave this place after solving this case. I can go to another Kingdom again and start my life there. Yes… It’s just a few days more and I will get my freedom again.’

He gulped a few times and kept on knitting a sweet dream. ‘After all, what use will Lord Regulus have for a man like me once I solve this case right? Yes, I can go on my own after that. He doesn’t want someone like me to serve him for a lifetime… He wouldn’t want me to serve him for my whole life, right?’

.....

After rambling on in his head for quite a while, a sense of relief finally enveloped him and calmed his drumming heart.

Lorenzo finally got the strength to push himself up from the floor.

Since his clothes were all dusty and even torn in some places, he took off all his clothes and searched for another good pair of clothes from the pile again. After grabbing a fresh set of clothes, he didn’t forget to put the pass in the pocket of the new coat.

He cleaned himself before dressing up and then finally, headed out of the mansion to hire a carriage.

Just like yesterday, he had no problem getting inside the castle.

After getting through several security checks, he finally found the King in the garden.

Everard was sipping his morning tea and eating some light snacks when Lorenzo stood beside him and bowed.

“Lorenzo! You’re here!” Everard was happy by that intrusion since his mind was drifting to all the things that went wrong in his life. The sadness was getting to him when his cheerful friend came along. “Come. Grab a chair and sit down.”

Everard immediately looked behind him and ordered one of the attending maids to bring some more tea and refreshments for Lorenzo.

He then looked back at Lorenzo and asked, “How come you are here so early? Not that I mind it. But did you have any… special request perhaps?” He took a sip of his tea and said, “You don’t have to be shy if you have one.”

Lorenzo gave an awkward smile and shook his head. “No, I just came here to chat with you. I thought I could offer you some...” He suddenly paused mid-sentence and then looked at Everard as if he wanted to ask something.

Everard simply smiled and asked casually, “You want something. What is it?”

Lorenzo cleared his throat and pulled the chair closer to Everard. Then he took a deep breath before asking in a serious manner, “Will you forgive me if I told you that I was sent here to extract the information out of you?”

Everard laughed it off thinking that Lorenzo was cracking a joke. However, when the expression on Lorenzo’s face remained unchanged, Everard furrowed his brows and set his cup on the table.

“You aren’t being serious, are you?” he asked, still thinking that his friend was just pretending to be serious.

Lorenzo immediately got up from the chair and then knelt before the King. He lowered his head and then said, “Yes, I am being serious. I came here under the order of Lord Regulus. I am sorry if I broke your trust, Your Majesty. But please hear me out first, will you?”

Everard scoffed as he stared at the man who he thought was his friend. ‘Was he lying to me the whole time?’ he was compelled to rethink his whole friendship with Lorenzo. His body temperature began to slowly rise along with the anger and distrust in his heart.

The guards who were standing behind the King were all on alert.

“Do you want us to escort the man out of the castle?” one of the guards asked the King.

Everard waved his hand and sighed. “Okay, let’s hear you out then,” he grumbled.

Lorenzo kept on lowering his head when he talked. “I told you before how I was punished by the late alpha. And after his death, amidst all the chaos, I had even managed to run away from this Kingdom. But Lord Regulus’ men caught me and brought me back. The Lord suspected that I was the murderer.”

Everard scoffed and rolled his eyes as the accusation sounded too ridiculous. “Yeah, right!”

But when Lorenzo lifted his head and looked at him in the eyes, Everard knitted his brows and asked, “Are you the killer?”

“No!” Lorenzo exclaimed. “How could I take down those five strongest men of my clan? I couldn’t even think of doing such a thing.”

Everard quietly sighed in relief and asked rather mockingly, “Then what? Now I am under suspicion of your new to-be alpha?” He was not expecting Lorenzo to agree with him.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The new lord doesn’t trust people that much. And he thinks that somehow, you are linked to his brother’s murder.”

“What nonsense is that?” Everard shouted at Lorenzo. He was greatly offended that Regulus would even think that way. “Why would I ever kill him?”

“I don’t know why he thinks that way. But he forced me into serving him. Just this morning, he beat me up mercilessly because I refused to use my friendship with you to get what he wants.” Lorenzo looked pitiable when he asked, “I was hoping that you would help me clear his suspicion, Your Majesty.”

Everard chuckled angrily after hearing that. He wasn’t just offended but also enraged by the whole situation. “The audacity! Who does he think he is that he can send my friend to spy on me? Why doesn’t he come to me and ask me face-to-face if I killed his brother? Is he afraid that I will kill him or what?”

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “Pathetic! Only cowards resort to such disgusting tactics.” He glared at Lorenzo and shouted, “Ask him to come to me if he wishes to question me.”