Chapter 20

20 Harshest Punishment

Caspian spent more time than expected in Anastasia’s room.

The vampire who had attacked Tilla and Anastasia was still in the court while being guarded by four of the Royal Guards. The councilmen were waiting in the court for their King to arrive and give his final verdict.

As everyone was getting restless in the court, Zenon rushed to the Queen’s room to get the King.

He knocked on the main door and politely reminded Caspian, “Your Majesty, all of the councilmen are waiting to hear your judgment.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.” Caspian gave a soft gaze to Anastasia and then asked her, “How do you wish that criminal to get punished? I have him in the court right now. You were one of his victims so I will do as you say.”

Anastasia was baffled by that question from Caspian. ‘What am I supposed to say? I don’t even know what kind of punishments are given to the criminals here.’

She contemplated for a while and reflected back to how that vampire had almost drained all the blood from Tilla. Her blood boiled when she recalled the dreaded look on Tilla’s face when she was holding on to her dear life.

And she replied while clutching her hands together, “I am not that well aware of the types of punishment. But he almost killed my best friend. So I want him to get the harshest punishment of this land.”

Caspian had thought that Anastasia was a girl with a soft heart. He was even half expecting her to ask him to let that vampire walk free. But he liked how she did not even flinch while asking him to give that man the harshest punishment.

.....

Still, he wanted to reconfirm with her so that she wouldn’t regret her decision later on. “The harshest punishment of this land is the death penalty.” He got up while saying, “I will have him beheaded and cremated right away.”

Anastasia had forgotten that she was in a Kingdom of vampires. In Orsenia, the harshest punishment used to be life imprisonment.

So she hastily held Caspian by his sleeve and changed what she had said earlier, “Give him the harshest punishment which does not involve killing him.”

Caspian smiled and gladly agreed, “Sure. He will be drained out of his blood and locked inside the coffin to face the eternal damnation.” If Anastasia hadn’t said anything then this was the punishment that he was going to give to that bloodsucker.

Anastasia’s grip on his sleeve slipped after hearing that. She wanted the punishment to be a little lighter but this sounded even more awful than death. And she didn’t know whether she did the right thing by changing the punishment or suggesting any punishment at all.

‘Maybe I should have just kept quiet,’ she thought to herself while sighing.

Before he went away to the court, Anastasia quickly asked him, “Caspian, can I go and visit Tilla? I want to see how she is doing.”

“Of course. I will ask Ze-” Caspian paused for a second. Even though he completely trusted Zenon, he didn’t really feel like letting his wife spend more time with Zenon than with him. So he said, “I will come by after finishing the matters in the court. And I will take you there.”

Anastasia shook her head when he said that he would be personally taking her to the servants’ quarter. She didn’t want to bother him so she suggested, “You don’t need to escort me there yourself. You can ask Zenon to show me the way.”

???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????

But that just triggered the jealousy button of Caspian and he asked with a frown, “Why? You prefer to be escorted by Zenon rather than me?” He almost looked hurt when he said that.

“What? No!” Anastasia instantly denied it and she clarified what she really meant to say earlier, “I didn’t want to trouble you by making you visit the servants’ quarter, that’s all.”

Caspian’s mood instantly lightened when Anastasia put it that way. And he gave a satisfied smirk before saying, “Don’t worry about that. I grant you full freedom to trouble me.”

He extended his arm to ruffle Anastasia’s hair. “I will send in the maids to take care of your needs. And I will come and pick you up a little later.”

Anastasia nodded and smiled. “Okay. I will wait for you then.”

After Caspian left the room, Anastasia leaned back on the pile of cushions. And she started to reflect on their conversations and other things that happened between them.

Subconsciously, she raised her hand and gently caressed her cheek with her fingertips. ‘What was I thinking shouting at him like a typical jealous wife? But I... I was jealous.”

“Argh!” She ruffled her hair madly and flopped down to the bed. ‘What is happening to me? Why did I feel so happy when he said that I am the only woman in his life? Why do I keep on wanting to hug him and say that everything is going to be okay? Why do I see the pain behind those deadly eyes?’

There was a war going on inside her head. One part of her was asking her to give in to Caspian completely, to embrace him, to be his perfect wife. Another part of her was still hung up on being selfish and just pretending to love him.

She covered herself with the blanket and curled up like a cocoon. ‘At this point, can I even say that I am pretending? A touch from him and I melt like a candle!’

Anastasia heard a gentle knock on her door and heard a soft voice, “Your Majesty, we have brought some breakfast for you. May we come in?”

“Yes, come in,” she shouted while still being wrapped up in the blanket.

Anastasia heard her doors opening and some light footsteps approaching her. She took in a deep breath and then slowly got up.

She turned her head to see two women. One of them looked like she was in her late forties while the other one looked to be in her mid-twenties.

They bowed to the Queen and the older maid introduced both of them, “Your Majesty, I am Martha and she is Holly. We will be your personal maids from today onwards.”

Anastasia smiled and gave a gentle nod. “It’s nice to meet you Martha, Holly.”

Martha placed a small over-bed table on the bed and Holly set a plate of freshly toasted bread with poached egg and fried bacon strips on the table. Holly also brewed a cup of hot tea for the Queen. The breakfast looked warm and also looked visually appealing than yesterday.

“Your Majesty, we will be back after a while to prepare a warm bath for you. We will take our leave for now,” Martha spoke with great politeness and gave a gentle bow.

Before they left, Anastasia asked them, “Martha, may I ask you a question?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Martha gave the same polite bow and smiled.

“Are both of you humans?”

“Yes, we are.” Martha was beaming for some reason and she took the moment to express herself, “And we are also aware that Her Majesty is also a human. We are very blessed to have a human Queen in this Kingdom.”

Holly further added to what Martha had said, “And we are extremely happy to be serving you, Your Majesty.”

They had this hint of relief in their voices, and also some kind of hope. And Anastasia felt really happy to see both of them smiling.