Conquering His Cold Heart

Caspian gave a nod to Zenon. “Good.”

But then he furrowed his brows and asked, “Are the servants on leave or something? Why aren’t they here to help me get dressed?”

Zenon’s gaze unintentionally fell towards the door of the bedchamber when he answered, “Oh, I thought that His Majesty wouldn’t want to be disturbed. So I stopped them. But now we must head out.”

Vincent raised his brows in surprise and glanced at Zenon. He quickly narrowed his eyes in suspicion and asked, “What was Mr. King so busy with that Mr. Tight Schedule let him off the hook, that also when we are planning to travel?”

“You don’t need to know,” Zenon raised his head a little and gave a corner-eyed look to Vincent. He was acting as if Vincent was someone who was beneath the scope of knowing the full truth.

Vincent folded his arms and demanded to know the truth, “What are you two hiding?” He sniffed twice and glared at Caspian as if he found what the King was guilty of. “And why do I smell a human here? Did you have a human all to yourself?”

Vincent inched closer towards the bedchamber since the smell was coming from there. He was expecting to see a bloodbath in there.

However, before Vincent could get any closer to the bedchamber, Caspian had him in a chokehold.

.....

“Yes, I did have a human all to myself. So what? Am I not even allowed to enjoy every once in a while?”

Vincent tapped on Caspian’s arm and shouted while coughing, “Alright, alright. You’re t-the King. Why would I care if you broke the rule that you passed yourself?”

Caspian let go of his hold on Vincent and pushed him towards the main door.

“Hey, I came here to chat with you. Stop pushing me out of the chamber.” Vincent protested but Caspian didn’t heed his request.

After pushing his friend outside, Caspian gave an order to his advisor, “Zenon, send the servants in.” He also lightly pointed his brows inside his bedchamber, gesturing Zenon to send Anastasia’s personal maids as well.

Zenon understood what his King meant to say. So he gave a bow and went outside.

He saw Vincent waiting in the corridor to enter Caspian’s antechamber again. So he instantly scolded that fidgety vampire, “Ugh! Don’t you have anything else to do other than following me and trying to butt into His Majesty’s business?”

Vincent sneered and shouted, “You’re the one to talk when all you do is tail Caspian everywhere.”

“That’s my job! Now, stop being a baby!” Zenon had enough of this man. He grabbed Vincent by his collar and dragged him away.

Caspian went back inside his bedchamber and saw Anastasia standing by the window that was covered with mesh. Her hair was gently being blown by the breeze. Her sweet scent filled the entire room.

Caspian admired his wife’s tiny frame with his eyes. He couldn’t resist the inviting aroma so he went near his wife and hugged her from behind. Her body was giving off such a pleasant warmth that he could feel that warmth slowly crawling inside his heart.

Anastasia, on the other hand, didn’t mind the cold body of her husband. His embrace, though cold, was enough to make her feel warm.

No words were exchanged between them for a good while. There was no need to.

In his heart, Caspian wished to embrace his wife for the whole day. However, he had his own duties as a King and also as a husband.

He had to punish the ones who had tried to take away this warmth from him.

Even though he was unwilling to leave his wife, Caspian softly whispered to her, “Anna, I won’t be in the castle today. Tilla is still recuperating. So if you get bored then you can visit the library. I will ask one of the servants to take you there.”

“Thank you for being so thoughtful,” Anastasia turned her head and smiled at her husband. If she had access to the library then she was sure she wouldn’t even miss her handmaid.

—

Six of the Royal Guards were standing in front of the castle gate.

Elias was handcuffed for the show. He was standing in the middle of those Royal Guards.

Rather than to protect their King, the Royal Guards were joining the travel in order to keep Elias in check if he ever tried to run away.

After some time, the fearsome trio walked out of the castle.

Caspian was adorned in his full royal attire. He was exuding the aura of sophistication as well as danger like always.

Zenon and Vincent also didn’t look any less threatening than their King.

Zenon was going along because it was a part of his job to assist the King with almost all important decision-making and negotiations.

Vincent, on the other hand, was simply tagging along because he wanted to see some drama that was going to happen at Lord Bartholomew’s mansion.

Caspian didn’t mind his presence since Vincent had always proved to be of some help in one way or another. Also, Vincent was that friend who wouldn’t leave Caspian’s side no matter how much Caspian tried to get rid of him. He would always find some excuse to stick close to Caspian.

The King stood in front of the prisoner and asked, “Are you ready to save yourself?”

Elias gave a low bow to Caspian. He replied to the King in a timid voice, “Yes, Your Majesty. Lord Zenon has already briefed me on what I need to do. I will not disappoint you.”

At this point, Elias was grateful to the King for having given him a second chance at life. And he was going to do anything that the King demanded to earn that second life.

“Very well. Let’s leave then,” Caspian walked and stood in front of everyone. And then he added, “I will run along with all of you.”

“Are you sure?” Vincent questioned Caspian because it was very unlike him to opt to run when he could fly and cover the distance much sooner.

Caspian nonchalantly replied, “If I reach there before all of you then I don’t know for how long I can hold myself from tearing off Beth’s head.”

Though he spoke very calmly, everyone knew the temper of their King. They knew he would do exactly what he told.

Also, everyone was well aware of Lord Bartholomew’s position as well. He was a very influential nobleman who could easily sway the other noble houses. If his daughter was killed by Caspian then he could provoke other noble houses into overthrowing Caspian’s monarchy.

Vincent gleefully clapped his hand. And he cheerfully spoke to lighten the heavy mood, “Why the long face, everyone? Our King will be walking alongside us and not flying above us. Aren’t you happy to be accompanied by the King?”

“Of course, we are, milord,” one of the Royal Guards replied with a grateful bow.

Caspian glared far ahead in the forest and mumbled, “Crystal Cliff, here we come.”

In the next second, Caspian ran at the top of his speed.

All the others also followed their King. They were all trying to catch up with the King but there was considerable distance between Caspian and all the others.

Vincent sighed and thought as he tried to catch up with Caspian, ‘Ah! And he said he didn’t want to rush. He can’t even control his legs.’

He frowned and thought again, ‘But is he really serious about killing Beth? He’s known Beth for centuries now. And he is willing to kill her for someone who came into his life some days ago? What kind of enchantment spell did his wife cast on him? Is she somehow controlling him?’

Suddenly, he recalled getting slapped by Anastasia’s shoe. He placed his hand on his cheek and wondered, ‘Maybe Caspian also got the taste of his wife’s beating. And instead of getting scared like I did, maybe he liked it. That’s why he wants to keep her around. Maybe that’s why he behaves so differently when he is around her.’

Vincent looked ahead at his friend’s back. He snickered at the thought of that scary King crouching on all his fours and Anastasia standing in front of him with a shoe in her hand.

‘I would kill to see Caspian jumping like a dog.’