Conquering His Cold Heart

378 The Announcement

“Is it true? Did Beatrice really attack the handmaid of the Queen?” one of the maids asked another maid who was standing beside her, her eyes following Vincent and Tilla who were getting away from the crowd.

The other maid shifted her gaze from Vincent and Tilla to look at Beatrice who was tied up at the front corner of the courtyard. “I am not sure. But I think I heard someone mentioning in the passing that it was Marcella, not Beatrice.”

Another maid closed in and then whispered, “I heard Mr. Percy saying that not only did Marcella beat Tilla until she couldn’t move, but she also tried to do the same to the Queen.”

“To the Queen?!” Both of the other maids exclaimed in shock.

“Shhh!” the maid who joined them later shushed them and whispered, “You didn’t hear it from me. I will get in trouble if it’s not true.”

Just like those three maids, everyone was talking and speculating about what could have happened yesterday night. There were barely a few who were speculating that there could be something going on between Lord Vincent and Tilla after they swooshed by.

“Have you ever wondered why Lord Vincent is the one who is always carrying Tilla whenever she gets hurt?” one of the maids who was standing at the far end of the courtyard asked a servant who served Lord Zenon.

The servant simply furrowed his brows and replied in a nonchalant manner, “Because she is hurt? And perhaps she can’t walk at the moment?”

“No, I know that.” The maid cleared her throat and tried to brew some theory, “But why Lord Vincent? Can’t someone else do that job? Like you or even me for example?”

.....

The servant shook his head in a disinterested way and replied, “Miss Tilla isn’t someone who is replaceable. She came along with the Queen from Orsenia. Do you think the Queen and even the King would trust her safety with us random servants?”

“Hmm…” The maid crossed her arms and changed her mind about whatever theory was brewing in her head. “I think that might be the case. She is important to the Queen after all.”

Everyone suddenly stopped gossiping and became attentive when they sensed the King walking towards the courtyard. He was accompanied by Zenon, Percy, and a few soldiers. As soon as he stood in front of them, everyone bowed deeply to show their respect.

Nobody dared to even breathe properly thinking they would irk the King in the wrong way. The matter looked serious if the King presented himself in front of everyone.

Zenon quickly took the charge of addressing the crowd. “I don’t know if any of you heard what went down yesterday near the well over there. So, I am going to briefly explain what happened.”

Zenon quickly walked everyone through the incident. The courtyard was filled with gasps and shocks every time Zenon mentioned the cruelties done by Marcella and Beatrice.

When he mentioned how Vincent had to take care of Marcella right on the spot to protect the Queen, almost everyone was terrified. Nobody dared to question Vincent’s action though. They all understood it was necessary if he was to protect the Queen.

Zenon also didn’t forget to mention how Tilla was going to take about a month to completely heal. It surprised some of the vampires because they had never imagined humans were that fragile that one solid push would do such severe damage.

Yes, almost all of them had hunted down humans in their early years. However, they had never stuck around to see how long it would take for those humans to heal, who they had attacked but showed their ‘mercy’ by not killing the prey on some rare occasions.

After Zenon finished briefing everyone about the incident, Caspian finally stepped forward and carried on. “Now you might be wondering why Beatrice is tied up there.”

Caspian turned his head to glare down at Beatrice, almost making her heart fail right on the spot. She was very close to losing her calm because she was thinking that her end was very near.

The King then faced everyone else again and continued, “She not only did attack and threaten a fellow maid, although she only claimed that her dead friend had forced her hands into coming along, she also neglected her duty to report the harassment to the guards on duty.”

“Had she stopped her friend herself or reported her friend to the guards, the Queen wouldn’t have had to bear all the insults and her life wouldn’t have been endangered. Her inaction led to a life being lost, one hurt badly, and the Queen only recently regained her consciousness after getting terrified to her core.”

Caspian held his arms behind his back and said in a growling voice, “Marcella and Beatrice breached the trust that I put in everyone residing inside this castle. The two of them disrespected the Queen and her handmaid because they thought they could do so just because they are physically weaker than us.”

“So, I need to punish the one that survived even after committing such a crime.” Caspian took a pause.

Everyone standing there thought that Beatrice was going to be tortured and killed right in front of them.

However, Caspian’s announcement shocked them all. “Beatrice is going to serve the rest of her lifetime in the Isolation Center.”

That came as a shock to everyone because to the vampires, that was a fate worse than death. Beatrice also looked at the King with a terrified look on her face.

“No…” she whispered weakly. “I would rather die…”

Everyone looked at her with pity.

Caspian, however, made it sound as though he was showing Beatrice mercy. “I am allowing her to live so that she can spend the rest of her days reflecting upon what she did.”

The King then gave a glance to the soldiers behind him. They almost immediately reached in front of Beatrice and grabbed a hold of her. And although Beatrice began to plead and shout saying that she would rather give up her life for her crimes, they dragged her away.

The air around the courtyard was filled with terror.

Caspian then further announced, “From this day on, if anyone dares to lay a finger on the humans residing inside this castle or speak a bad word about them, they will meet the same fate as the maid who just got dragged away.”

“If anyone doesn’t like what I just said, they are free to pack their things and leave. I don’t need anyone here who cannot co-reside with the humans.” Caspian immediately turned on his heels and left the courtyard, leaving the remaining things to be handled by the others.

Percy stepped forward this time. He saw how uptight everyone was even when the King left them already.

‘That’s a good sign,’ he thought to himself and said out loud, “Alright everyone. You heard what His Majesty just said. If anyone feels that they won’t be able to co-reside with the humans, whatever the reason, they are encouraged to come forwards and resign from their designated posts.”

Nobody moved for quite a while.

So, Percy reassured them, “Don’t worry. You will get the severance payment. And you won’t get punished for admitting that you want to leave. You can leave the castle right away after terminating the contract.”

Slowly, a handful of the maids and servants began to step out of the crowd.

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