Conquering His Cold Heart

309 A Big Lie

“A very disturbing information?” Zenon couldn’t help but instantly get worried when he heard that. “What kind of information?” he asked after grabbing the second file that the spy was handing out to him.

The spy immediately hesitated to answer Zenon’s question. Rather, he waited for Zenon to open the file and find the answer for himself.

Seeing the hesitation in that spy’s eyes, Zenon didn’t waste any time opening the file to read. He wondered if the Queen was acting as a spy for all this time after all. He couldn’t think of anything else when the spy mentioned the information as ‘disturbing’.

However, the moment he read about the actual disturbing fact, Zenon wished that what he had thought was true rather than what he had just read.

“No… This can’t be true…” he whispered in utter dismay and tightly clenched his jaw as though he was in physical pain. And for a while, he kept on looking at one particular word on the file – death.

Zenon finally raised his eyes and looked at the spy, who too was looking very sad after finding out the bitter truth. “Is this information really true? Is our Queen suffering from an unknown terminal illness?” he asked, just to make sure that the spy had not mixed up the files and handed out the file that he was not supposed to.

The spy hung his head low and softly replied, his voice coated with a hint of sympathy and sadness, “Yes, Milord. As you had asked, I met with the doctor who had treated the Queen in Xanmar. He immediately warned me that our Queen was suffering from some unidentifiable illness that is sure to take her life in less than a year.”

“He knew?” Zenon closed the file and hardened his face. He was angry at that doctor for hiding the fact from the King. “Then why didn’t he say anything back then?”

The spy took a deep breath and answered, “The doctor confessed that he didn’t say anything because a man in the room didn’t let him say anything. And he said that he kept quiet thinking they already knew about the illness… Just as the King and the doctor had suspected…”

.....

That spy darted his eyes around at the floor, hesitating to speak once more.

“As they had suspected…?” Zenon slightly tilted his head to the side and demanded to know everything that the spy knew.

The spy sighed heavily and answered, “I had sent someone to Orsenia while the rest of us did the digging in Xanmar. Apparently, he found out that the illness of the Princess is common knowledge in Orsenia.”

“Oh, dear lord!” Zenon abruptly sprinted towards his table and dropped the files in his hand on the table. He then began massaging his temples with the tips of his fingers as though he was trying to contain his head that was about to burst.

“Everyone in Orsenia knew that our Queen doesn’t have enough time with her?” He asked himself, shocked at that revelation.

The spy could understand why Zenon was freaking out. “The public doesn’t know that her illness was terminal, but the people inside the castle seemed to know that her illness is incurable. The Queen wasn’t healthy even as a child. And yes, the Queen is also aware of her condition.”

“No...” Zenon sighed in disbelief. He rested his back on the table and crossed his arms in front of his chest. At this point, he was already imagining the reaction from Caspian, and he got even more furious on behalf of his King.

“They all knew that the Queen is going to die and yet they sent her here as a tribute bride? What kind of parents does that?” Zenon closed his eyes in confusion as he tried to stand in Anastasia’s parents’ shoes and tried to think from their perspective.

However, he couldn’t logically imagine the reason why they would willingly send their sick daughter to another country as a bride when her final days were nearing.

‘Shouldn’t they have kept her at home and tried to give her a comfortable life during her last days? Why marry her off?’

Zenon kept on pondering about it while standing like a lifeless statue. ‘Or did they think that she was going to die anyway and wanted to take advantage of their dying daughter instead of taking good care of her? Our King doesn’t have a very good reputation outside of Sorvando after all. Is that the reason why they didn’t hesitate sending her here to the ‘Monster King’?

The advisor still couldn’t think of any good reason why they would want to send Anastasia here to Sorvando. Something was not clicking.

‘Establishing goodwill cannot be the reason since no King would be happy if they knew that their wife was already ill when he married his bride and soon died because of it. So, what could be the real reason?’

‘Or was it our Queen’s wish to experience married life before she passed on? But there are many other Kings and Princes with good reputations out there. Yes! Even that werewolf King dotted on her. If she just wanted to experience what married life felt like then she could have married him years ago. Why our King?’

Zenon opened his eyes in confusion when he couldn’t get to the conclusion on his own. He looked at the spy who was still patiently standing right where he was a while ago and then tried to get the answer from him.

“Did you also happen to find out the reason why our Queen was sent here as a tribute bride?”

The spy looked at Zenon as if he was already expecting that question. However, he disappointed the advisor by replying, “I am sorry, Milord. I don’t have the answer to that question at the moment since that was not our goal in the first place. However, I did find out that she was sent here as a tribute bride in a haste, right after her seventeenth birthday. It was said that even the Crown Prince wasn’t aware that she was sent here.”

“So, only the King and the Queen of Orsenia took the decision to send her here, huh…” Zenon wondered to himself while massaging his jaw. “What does the King of Orsenia want from this relationship?”

Since Zenon wasn’t so sure, he looked at the spy and gave him another task. “Find out the reason behind our Queen being sent here as the tribute bride.”

“Yes, Milord,” the spy bowed his head and accepted the order.

Before leaving though, he asked the royal advisor, “If I happen to stumble upon the King and he asks me about the Queen, am I supposed to answer him?” He wanted to know if the advisor intended to pass on the message to the King right away or not.

Zenon thought for a while and replied, “Don’t reveal this information to anyone for now. Not even to the King. I want to find out the real purpose of our Queen’s arrival to Sorvando before I say anything to the King.”

“Understood.” The spy bowed again and quickly disappeared from the room.

Zenon himself wasn’t sure why he didn’t want to inform the King right away about such a big lie from the Queen’s side. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to protect the King or the Queen.

However, he convinced himself that he was doing the right thing for now by thinking, ‘It’s not like I am not loyal to the King anymore. I am simply trying to give complete information to him. Yes, I am simply trying to give the complete information. There’s no harm in withholding the information for a few days. I sure hope there’s not.’

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