Conquering His Cold Heart

Caspian and Hamilton left Alexander alone in the room to rest after they had a brief conversation.

Alexander, however, couldn’t even get a wink of sleep no matter how exhausted he was. He kept on tossing and turning on the bed, thinking about all the new pieces of information that he had discovered tonight.

And the more he thought about them, he felt as though he was going to lose his mind.

‘Argh!’ He covered his face with his palms and screamed in his head, ‘How the hell am I supposed to act in front of them tomorrow? Am I supposed to act like I don’t know what they all are? Or am I supposed to be scared of them?’

Before he could think of any answers to his questions, his mind got flooded with several other questions.

‘How is Anna able to love someone like that? Or was that all just a perfect act from her side? And how is that husband of hers able to cure her illness? It doesn’t seem like he even knows how to treat a fever. So, how is he going to treat the illness that even the doctors from all around the world couldn’t cure?’

His heart suddenly became really heavy when he linked everything that was in his head to one particular event.

‘On Anastasia’s seventeenth birthday, who sent that letter to her? Who on earth claimed that the King of Sorvando had a cure for my sister’s illness?’

.....

Alexander suddenly sat up on the bed. His heart started to beat so fast that on that quiet night, he could clearly hear his own heartbeat.

He slipped out of the bed and walked over to the table to find a glass of water. He chugged down the whole glass of that cold water and then slammed the glass on the table. He then rested his hands on the table and thought again, ‘What if that letter was written by someone as a mere joke?’

Alexander hung his head low and grimaced in pain. His heart aches with the thought that his sister might have endured everything for nothing.

He kept on dwelling on that topic for quite a long time. He was so worried for his sister that he felt like something was eating him up from the inside.

And before he realized it, someone came to knock on the door.

“Your Highness, all the carriages have arrived. Would you like me to bring you a change of clothes?”

Alexander suddenly felt a chill shiver running down his spine when he recalled that he was wearing the same clothes that had witnessed yesterday’s gruesome battle. He suddenly felt his whole body itching and felt the need to shed a layer of his skin.

“Your Highness?” he heard the same voice again along with a knock on the door.

Alexander hastily replied, “Yes. Bring me a fresh pair of boots as well.”

He then instantly took his shirt off and threw it on the ground in such a way that it was apparent how he felt greatly disgusted by it. Why wouldn’t he be? It had blotches of blood that were transferred from the clothes of the soldier who carried him.

Just like Alexander, everyone else was getting ready to leave the village. Not a single one of them wanted to keep on staying in the Kingdom where they could be attacked at any moment.

Caspian also changed into much more comfortable and simpler clothes. He didn’t want to announce to everyone that he was someone from a higher class by wearing fancy clothes like what he was wearing for yesterday’s ball.

After changing his clothes, Caspian went near the bed and then softly pressed his palm over his sleeping wife’s forehead.

“Mmmm…” Anastasia furrowed her brows and groaned in her sleep when she suddenly felt something cold against her forehead.

Caspian let out a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, her body temperature stayed normal after she sat down in front of the fire.

‘Maybe she got the fever because she was just too shocked after what happened.’ He gently caressed Anastasia’s cheek with the back of his fingers and thought, ‘I hope her temperature will remain stable now. We have to cross the border by afternoon, anyhow. It’s going to be difficult if her fever returns.’

Caspian suddenly heard a knock on the door, accompanied by a low voice, “Your Majesty, it’s me.”

Caspian swiftly walked toward the door and then opened it with a slightly guilty look on his face.

Tilla gave a bow to the King and said while looking past him, “I came to see how Her Majesty is doing. Is she okay?”

Caspian opened the door wide and stepped to the side to let her in. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

Tilla quickly ran towards the bed and stopped when she saw Anastasia still in her deep sleep.

Seeing her hesitation, Caspian closed the door and then said, “Her temperature is stable for now. Why don’t you wake her up and help her get dressed? We will leave when she is ready.”

Tilla looked at the King and gave a subtle bow.

Before she turned her head away again, Caspian apologized to her, “Tilla, I wanted to apologize for leaving you alone yesterday. I could have asked someone to bring you along, or I could have at least asked the servants back there to stay with you. But everything happened so fast that I completely forgot about your safety.”

Tilla was dumbfounded when she heard that considerate apology from the King. “Er…” She stuttered and quickly turned her gaze towards the Queen.

She then gulped and replied in a low voice, “I haven’t taken anything to my heart, Your Majesty. You did the right thing by prioritizing the Queen’s safety. I can be replaced easily. But she is irreplaceable.”

Tilla subtly smiled while looking at the serene face of her friend and mumbled, “If I was in your shoes, then I would have done the same.”