Conquering His Cold Heart

That look of relief in Alexander’s eyes, however, was soon replaced by guilt. He looked down at his palms and said feebly, “Umm… I am sorry about him.” He said while referring to Henry.

He didn’t want his friend to feel betrayed, so he explained himself, “Anna and King Caspian convinced me to take a few bodyguards so that… you know… I would be safe if those rogue people came to attack me again. I apologize if I hurt your feelings.”

Alexander was ready to see Everard getting angry at him for letting those vampires stay so close to him.

Unlike what he thought though, Everard was completely calm. “No, you don’t need to apologize. I totally understand.”

Alexander lifted his gaze and looked at Everard to see if he was being sarcastic or if he was being serious.

Everard pulled the corners of his lips and said honestly, “I am glad that Anna sent them with you. She was right. You could have been attacked on the road. So, it’s good that they are with you.”

He looked at the closed door and went into deep thought for a while. Then he said in a low voice, “Besides, I don’t sense them having any malicious intent towards you. I can see why Anna trusts them so much. They really do have control over their hunger, huh?”

Alexander felt greatly relieved after hearing his friend’s genuine words. He smiled and then nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, they are provided with small amounts of blood on a timely basis. In secret, of course. And they seem content with it.”

.....

In order to change Everard’s view about the vampires, he also further explained, “Anna told me that there are blood servants who voluntarily choose that particular job. Their blood is drawn on a timely basis, but keeping their health in mind. They don’t hunt or kill humans. In fact, there is a law restricting human hunting.”

“That’s…” Everard shrugged his shoulders and said, “…good.” Although he still didn’t completely believe Alexander, he sure hoped that everything that Alexander said was true.

He clenched his jaw and thought, ‘I can never forgive that King if I ever find a single bite mark on Anna’s body.’

Alexander pursed his lips and waited for Everard to say something more. But when Everard kept silent, he asked something off the top of his head.

“By the way, did you already know that Henry and the others were here? You didn’t seem that surprised earlier.”

Everard held the bridge of his nose as if he was bothered by some smell and then revealed, “Yes, I was already aware of their presence when I saw you at the gate. But I didn’t want to make a fuss about it at that time. I wanted to eventually ask why they were here but I never got the chance until he bust in and you told me about them on your own.”

“Ah!” Alexander pursed his lips again and nodded. He was impressed with how Everard was aware of them even when they hid so well.

Once again, the room was filled with silence.

Everard took his time to get up on his feet and settle down on the sofa that was in front of Alexander. Both of them kept on staring blankly until something struck Everard’s mind.

“You know… now that I think about it, I think I always knew about it. About the actual blood pact. But since my father never told me what we truly were until I turned into a wolf and found out myself, I had a misconception that we weren’t allowed to reveal our secret to any humans. Because he kept the secret well-guarded from me, his son.”

He paused for a while and looked at Alexander, wondering about something. Then he quickly continued, “But I had my misconception cleared. I think it was Lorenzo who corrected me some time ago… that the blood pact didn’t restrict me from revealing what I was to you. Or it was someone else… I forgot the detail.”

“But yes!” Everard let out an angry chuckle and mumbled, “I was betrayed by my own mind and behaved so pathetically…” He felt his ears getting hot when he recalled how Henry had seen him in a wretched state.

He drooped his shoulders and spoke under his breath in a defeated manner, “I hope they won’t tell their King about my state today. I bet he will enjoy listening to it.”

Alexander heard as well as understood Everard even though he was just mumbling. He cleared his throat and consoled Everard, “Er… I will order them not to say anything. Don’t worry.”

Everard smiled at his friend. Although he was sure that those vampires wouldn’t miss any detail while reporting back to their King, he didn’t want to dwell much on it.

Everard slammed his back against the backrest of the sofa and then groaned, “When will your maids finish preparing the bath for me anyway? I am feeling itchy to the point where I want to take off my skin too.”

“They should be done by now.” Alexander turned his head towards the door and said, “I think they didn’t want to disturb us.” He looked back at Everard and said, “I asked them to prepare the bath in the room where you stayed the last time you were here. You can go ahead and rest.”

Everard showed his thumb in response but didn’t immediately run out of the room.

Alexander wondered if he was trying to avoid coming in contact with the vampire guards. So, he asked, “Do you want me to come with you? Or do you want me to ask the maids to prepare the bath right here?”

Everard stretched his arms and then said after getting up, “You can come with me. I think we still have a lot to talk about.”

Alexander smiled and replied while following his friend, “I think we do.”

When the two of them got out of the room, they didn’t see Alexander’s vampire guards anywhere.

Seeing Alexander frantically looking up and down the corridor, Everard chuckled and spoke loudly as though he also intended those guards to hear him, “They are good at hiding themselves physically but they should learn to hide their smell too. They don’t give off a strong smell like us, but I guess I have a really strong sense of smell.”

As soon as he said that, he could hear faint footsteps scurrying about. He smirked and shook his head at their lack of discretion while following the Crown Prince.

‘They aren’t even trying to hide their presence anymore,’ he thought to himself and kept on walking forward.