Chapter 55

55 Writing a Letter

Everard was frantically tapping his foot on the floor as he sat in front of his desk to write a letter. He dipped his quill in the ink and placed it on top of the paper.

However, he couldn’t even write a single word.

“Do I still address her as ‘Dear Anna’ or do I write something else?” That question had been bugging him for a while now.

After much consideration, he wrote ‘Dear Anna’ in the top left corner of the paper.

‘Even though she is a married woman now, she is still my friend. I have every right,’ he thought to himself.

Soon Everard heard the sounds of the footsteps approaching his study.

“Come in,” Everard said before he heard the knock on the door.

“Your Highness, did you call for me?” Jerome, the beta of the Crestfire clan, bowed and asked.

Everard looked at the tall man and asked, “Can our messengers deliver the letter to Sorvando castle? Or even our letters won’t enter those tall walls?”

.....

Jerome politely replied, “If the letter has our Royal seal then I’m sure the letter will reach the King of Sorvando.”

Everard cleared his throat and said, “I’m not writing to the King. You must have heard that Alexander’s sister was sent as a bride to that King. I want to write to her.”

Jerome had already suspected that was the case. So he further shed the light on the matter, “Then I would suggest that you don’t write anything that would potentially offend the Vampire King. If you are lucky then your letter might reach your friend. But of course, after being read by him.”

Everard snickered at the predicament he was in.

He looked at Jerome and dismissed him, “Thank you. That was all.”

Jerome, however, had something more to ask. “His Majesty was wondering when we shall prepare the carriage for your return to Lavinya.”

Everard glared at Jerome and mockingly asked, “Why? His Majesty is so eager to send his son away already? Besides, shouldn’t I stay here for good? Now that I turn into a damn rabid animal every full moon?”

Jerome gave a polite smile and said, “We will send some of our men to help you during the full moon. With them to aid you, your transformations won’t be much big a problem to you or to the others.”

Everard slammed his fist on the desk and argued, “What are you saying? What if those men can’t contain me? What if I hurt innocent people?”

“You don’t have to worry, they are professionals. Also, there are only a few full moons left before you complete your studies. His Majesty suggests that you return to Lavinya soon.” With that, Jerome firmly put forth the King’s wish.

He bowed to the Crown Prince and walked out of the room without giving Everard a further chance to argue more.

Everard clenched his fists and snarled while glaring at the closed door, “This bloody man! He always acts so high and mighty!”

Everard took a deep breath in and focused his attention back on the paper on the desk. He was about to dip the quill in the ink when he noticed that he had snapped the quill.

“Ah! What a waste!” He threw that quill in the dustbin and grabbed a new one from his drawer.

He dipped it in the ink and wrote a sentence down. However, he instantly crumpled that paper and threw it away.

After thinking for a while, he put down a few sentences on another paper. But he wasn’t satisfied with that as well.

After crumpling around 20 sheets of paper, Everard was finally satisfied with the one he was looking at.

“Okay, this will do,” Everard sighed.

He folded the paper neatly and put it inside an envelope. He stamped the Royal seal on the envelope and sent it in the hands of a messenger.

—

Back in the castle of Sorvando, all the maids and servants were busy preparing for tonight’s special occasion.

All the nobles of the major houses were invited to the castle for the coronation ceremony of the Queen.

Zenon had made it clear to all the vampire servants and maids that they were not to repeat the similar mistake as Elias. They all had been informed of what he did and how he was killed for his treacherous act. So the atmosphere of the castle was a bit more tense than normal.

The monarch and his consort were in their bedchamber. Anastasia was sitting in front of her dressing mirror while Caspian was lying down on the bed and gazing at his wife’s reflection.

Martha and Holly were helping Anastasia with her hair and makeup.

Anastasia smiled at her husband’s reflection and asked, “Caspian, don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“I would rather be here than somewhere else,” Caspian replied as he kept on staring at his wife as though he was hypnotized by her beauty.

“You’re making them nervous!” Anastasia tried to make him understand.

Her personal maids indeed looked stiffer than usual.

However, Martha politely denied, “We’re fine, Your Majesty.”

Caspian pointed his hand at Martha and said, “See. She doesn’t mind my presence.”

Anastasia shook her head and asked, “When are you going to get ready? Your servants have been waiting for you in the dressing chamber.”

“They can wait.” Caspian pointed at the set of the gown that was hung beside the dressing table and said, “I want to see how you would look in that gown before I go.”

“Then you will have to wait for another hour.” Anastasia gave up on trying to make him leave the room.

She focused on her own reflection in the mirror. Martha and Holly were doing a great job in preparing her. However, on days like this, she couldn’t help but miss her handmaid.

Caspian saw her zoning out. A hint of sadness was lingering in her eyes.

He recalled their previous conversation and said, “Anna, I’m sorry that we couldn’t invite your brother today. It’s unsafe for him to come here when the aftermath of the previous incident hasn’t died down yet. Lord Bartholomew hasn’t shown any signs of retaliation yet. But we never know when one’s heart changes.”

Anastasia turned her head to look at her husband. She gave a nod and smiled. “I understand. I wouldn’t want something to happen to my brother because of me either. We will invite my family here when the time is right.”

Caspian gave a sad smile. He wasn’t sure if the time would ever be right.

Caspian finally got up from the bed and said, “I think I will also get dressed.”

When Caspian ran out of the chamber, the maids audibly let out a sigh of relief.

It prompted Anastasia to laugh because she knew her maids were just trying to be polite when they said that they weren’t bothered by their King’s presence in the room.

Anastasia looked at their reflection and said while smiling, “You two should start to get used to him. He isn’t that scary when you don’t do anything wrong.”

Holly pouted and replied as if she was talking to her younger sister, “My Queen, you are saying that because His Majesty loves you a lot and doesn’t get angry at you. But he’s definitely scary for the rest of us.”

“What are you saying?” Anastasia looked down and awkwardly chuckled. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and her ears.