Conquering His Cold Heart

Caspian was looking down at a pile of papers and files with great disinterest. “This is a lot of work for today, Zenon. Are you sure this is legal? Making your King work overtime like this?”

Zenon gave a guilty smile and replied, “I would have loved to lessen your workload, Your Majesty. But these are all urgent matters that need your immediate attention. All the works piled up when you were absent from the court.”

Caspian rubbed his face and made a grumbling sound. “Alright... I guess I have no other option.”

“I will take a leave then.” Zenon gave a bow to Caspian and turned to leave.

But before he left, Caspian asked a question, “Oh, Zenon, how’s the collection of wolf’s bane going? How much do we have until now?”

Zenon wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Definitely not enough, Your Majesty. I think we will have to send someone out of the Kingdom and gather the plant from other Kingdoms as well.”

Caspian gave it some thought and then agreed. “Do it then. Send someone whom we can trust.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Zenon gave a nod and also asked, “Is there anything else that needs my immediate attention?”

.....

Caspian shook his head but instantly changed his mind. “Yes, actually!” He cleared his throat and said, “The Queen hasn’t yet inquired about the runaway werewolf. But, I think she will soon do that.”

He sighed and asked, “What can we do about that? We don’t have a wolf to show her. And I am afraid that the Queen will assume we killed that wolf if she doesn’t see that wolf in person.”

“Umm...” Zenon knitted his brows and held his arms behind his back.

Caspian patiently waited for Zenon to come up with a brilliant idea that would save him from the wrath of his wife.

Zenon finally spoke after thinking for a while. “Why don’t we create fake alibis? Doctor Carl is already aware of our situation. So we can ask him to testify to the Queen that he looked after Ruby. And we can make something up like... she was sent to some other Kingdom for further treatment or something like that.”

Caspian looked impressed by Zenon’s proposal. “That’s actually a good idea. Well done, Zenon.” And he further asked, “But what about her parents? Anna is a quick-witted woman. She... might cross-verify.”

“Then I will keep them in the loop. I’m sure that they will cooperate when they hear the full story of what went down.”

Caspian was happy with Zenon’s idea, and he gave the approval to proceed, “That should work. Brief all three of them about what they are supposed to do and say if and when they meet the Queen.”

“I will, Your Majesty.” Zenon gave a bow and left from Caspian’s workroom.

—

“Martha!” Anastasia was delighted to see Martha after a long time. “How are you? And how is Holly? I haven’t seen the two of you in a long while.”

Martha was a little surprised by that warm welcome from the Queen. But at the same time, she was happy with the humbleness of the Queen.

After Anastasia pulled away from the hug, Martha gave a respectful bow and answered, “We both are doing well, Your Majesty. We used to update ourselves about your health from Tilla. We all were worried about you. I hope you are completely healed now.”

Anastasia gave a nod and agreed, “Yes, I am back to my normal health now. Thank you for worrying about me and helping Tilla from the background. You all did well. I am indebted to all of you.”

“We were simply doing our duties, Your Majesty.” Martha gave a polite smile and then asked, “Shall I prepare a warm bath for you?”

Anastasia gave an awkward smile upon hearing the word ‘bath’. She got flashbacks about how Caspian had given a quick yet sensual cold bath to her yesterday.

And she replied to Martha, “I think I will skip the bath this morning. I bathed at night yesterday.”

“You bathed at night? But none of us prepared the bath for you or helped you out,” Martha sounded a bit concerned for the Queen.

“Umm...” Anastasia gently bit her lower lip and turned her gaze away from Martha. And she quickly mumbled, “His Majesty helped me with the bath.”

Anastasia peeked at Martha, only to find her looking down and smiling ear to ear.

Martha didn’t need to listen to any other details to guess what might have happened between the King and the Queen. She was happy to know that the King was treating his Queen well.

Anastasia inhaled deeply and before Martha dwelled too much in her thoughts, she asked her personal maid, “I’m quite hungry, Martha. Why don’t you bring me breakfast instead?”

Martha gave a polite bow and said, “I will bring the breakfast as soon as possible, Your Majesty. Would you like to have a quick snack until breakfast is ready?”

“Some quick snacks...” Anastasia smiled after recalling another beautiful moment from yesterday. And she softly asked, “A cup of tea would be lovely.”

“I will have Holly bring it to you right away, Your Majesty.” Martha gave a wide smile to the Queen and then quickly walked out of the room.

The moment Anastasia heard the door to her room getting shut close, she flung herself onto the bed and buried her face into the soft pillow.

And she mumbled in a muffled voice, “Ahhhhh... Why did I have to say that he gave me a bath? Now she knows...”

She suddenly stopped mumbling and sniffed the pillow. She could smell the enchanting scent of her husband on that pillow.

She buried her face into that pillow again and thought, ‘I miss him already... Ahhh! Why am I being like this these days? It hasn’t even been two hours since he left me.’

Anastasia was lost deep in her thoughts about her husband and about the lovely night they spent yesterday.

She was hugging the blanket and smiling to herself.

Every once in a while, she would touch her lips and then shyly cover her face with her palm. ‘His kisses are so addictive...’

She was still getting that tingling sensation in her heart and in her stomach every time she recalled their kiss and several other things.

Clank! Crash! Thump!

“Argh! Oww!”

Anastasia was suddenly startled when she heard the painful cries of a woman.

“Ruby?” Anastasia mumbled to herself and swiftly got down from her bed. She rushed to the antechamber only to find Holly picking up the broken ceramics.

Holly had stumbled and fallen down on the carpet in the antechamber, along with the tray that she was carrying.

And though Holly’s scream wasn’t that gut-wrenching and loud, Anastasia happened to think that it was Ruby’s voice that she was hearing.

“Holly, are you alright?” Anastasia crouched down beside Holly and looked at her for any signs of wounds.

Holly gave a bow to the Queen and blurted out, “I’m not hurt, Your Majesty. But I broke the pot and cup. And I spilled everything. I apologize for the mess that I’ve created. I will clean it right away and bring you another one.”

Anastasia gave a soft smile and said, “It’s alright, Holly. Take your time.”

She then went back to her bedroom with a lot of things in her mind.

‘Right! I had completely forgotten about Ruby. How is she? I should ask Caspian about her when I take the tea to his study today.’