Conquering His Cold Heart

226 Before the Winter

“Yes, brother. Why don’t you join us tomorrow?” Anastasia leaned a little close to her brother and asked, “It would be nice if I got to spend some more time with you. Seeing you only for a few hours will just make me miss you even more when I head home.”

Alexander looked at his sister. She looked as though she greatly missed him, and everyone else back at Orsenia. After all, she had never been away from their parent’s eyes. It wasn’t a surprise that she would want to spend some more time with him.

However, he wasn’t sure if Anastasia wanted him to come along with her to Sorvando because she missed him or if it was because her health was deteriorating faster than before.

‘What if it’s the latter?’ he questioned himself. Just thinking about it made him feel really uneasy in the pit of his stomach.

He wanted to talk with Anastasia in private. He wanted to know if she was going to be completely cured or not. He wanted to know if his sister would make it past her eighteenth birthday. If not, then he wanted to prioritize spending his time with his sister rather than with Everard.

And almost as if Anastasia read what Alexander was thinking, she smiled mirthlessly and said, “I would like to show you around my new home before the winter hits hard.” She looked at her husband and then back at her brother. And she said, “The weather in Sorvando during winter is a bit harsher than in Orsenia. I don’t think we can visit anywhere properly if it snows heavily, or if we face the snow storm.”

Almost instantly, Alexander’s eyes glistened with tears and his heart clenched in pain. He understood what his sister really meant when she said that she wanted to show him around before the winter.

“Ah! I see...” he forced a smile and nodded so that Caspian wouldn’t get suspicious that something was off. From the way she was speaking cryptically, he could tell that Caspian wasn’t yet aware of Anastasia’s health condition.

Nevertheless, Caspian could feel the tension in the air. And he also noticed how both Alexander and Anastasia looked somewhat sad.

.....

‘Is there something that I don’t know?’ he furrowed his brows and wondered to himself. However, since he didn’t know what the exact cause of that sudden gloominess was, he didn’t have any specific questions to ask.

He thought that it was because of some common trauma the two of them shared, and then let it be at the moment. ‘If it is something that I should know, then I am sure that Anna would have told me.’

Now that Alexander was sure that there hadn’t been any improvement in his sister’s health condition, he wanted to spend at least a few days with her.

“Sure, I think traveling together will be fun.” Alexander sniffled and then took a deep breath. He then glanced at Caspian and jokingly said to him, “And I will also get a chance to monitor how my sister is being treated in her new home.”

Caspian laughed and openly agreed, “Please, you are very much welcome to do that. And I also allow you to give suitable punishment to me if I am treating her wrong.”

Alexander also laughed and agreed with Caspian. “Then I guess it is settled. We are leaving tomorrow morning.”

After saying that to Caspian, he looked towards the door and thought, ‘If I say that I would like to spend some time with Anastasia, Everard would understand, right?’

—

Outside in the main hall, Everard had gotten so drunk after drinking that alcohol that was specially brewed for the werewolves that he got knocked out. He was already tipsy before he even drank that special alcohol. And when he added half a glass of the strong alcohol to his digestive system, he couldn’t handle it.

Jerome wanted to take him back to his bedroom and then let him sleep for the night. However, he didn’t do that after hearing what Lorenzo had said to him.

Lorenzo had pointed out how Everard’s reputation would be at risk if he was carried away by the guards back to his room.

“Then what do you suggest? Letting him stay here unconscious is helping in protecting his reputation?” Jerome had asked Lorenzo furiously.

And Lorenzo had agreed while speaking in a very low whisper, “Yes. At least not all the people in the hall know that he has been knocked out already. But if the guards carry him away, it will only be like announcing to everyone that the King couldn’t handle his alcohol and passed out in his own celebratory party.”

He further made Jerome doubt his own decision saying, “And just think about it. People won’t need a big issue to gossip about. They will say that our King was so happy about ascending the throne that he drank until he lost consciousness. And what if they point out their fingers at our King saying that he isn’t grieving his father’s dea-”

Jerome instantly covered Lorenzo’s mouth since a few of the werewolves who were around them started to turn their heads and look at them. “Okay, okay, I got it. I will just let him be then.”

Lorenzo sighed inwardly because he knew that he had just averted the plan of his alpha from getting ruined. He didn’t want to look like someone who couldn’t follow the alpha’s order properly. He didn’t want to lose his credit in front of his alpha; it had taken a great deal of time and effort to get that close to the alpha. And he didn’t want to go back to being a nobody just because Everard couldn’t handle his alcohol.

Just when he was about to sit back down in front of the passed-out King, Jerome grabbed him by his collar and then snarled at him, “Just so you know, I haven’t forgiven you for bringing that filthy alcohol to the castle and letting the King get drunk on it. You are the one who is at fault here. Don’t forget that.”

Lorenzo pretended to be afraid and nodded his head. “I won’t repeat something like this again. I didn’t know that the King was already drunk before I gave him that alcohol. Else-”

Jerome tightened his hold on Lorenzo’s collar even more and then said in a low growl, “I have a very good memory, kid. Prince Alexander had given you clear instructions to keep him away from alcohol saying that the King was already drunk. And you did just the opposite. I don’t know what your game is, but don’t you dare test me. If anything goes wrong tonight, you will be the first person I am killing.”

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