Chapter 71

71 Blame Game

“Hey, do you take me for a thief?” Vincent yelled back at Zenon for accusing him like that. “Don’t think so lowly of me, you arse! And why the hell would I try to fight some weak creatures? They would die from a punch of mine.”

Zenon nonchalantly pointed his finger at Vincent’s neck and asked, “Then how do you explain the blood on you?”

Vincent sneered and tried to wipe the dried blood from his neck. He chuckled again upon recalling how Tilla had attacked him and said, “Well, I did not fight a human, but a human did try to fight me.”

Zenon waited for Vincent to explain more, but Vincent looked as if he was lost in his own thoughts. So Zenon waved his hand in front of Vincent’s face and asked, “A-And? I guess you have some explaining to do.”

“Right!” Vincent gave an unapologetic smile to Zenon. Then he explained, “I saw the door to the dungeon wide open and decided to check it out since I heard some voices. I saw Tilla, maybe she was trying to clean the dungeon. But when I found her, she was talking with the prisoners. And I-”

“She found out about the prisoners?” Zenon asked again in disbelief.

Vincent narrowed his eyes and said in a satirical tone, “Since she entered the dungeon, isn’t it obvious that she came across those humans?”

“W-Well, who opened the door for her? How did she get inside?” Zenon again gave the same suspicious look to Vincent.

Vincent scoffed and shrugged, “How the hell would I know, Zen? Aren’t you the one who is in charge of the keys to the dungeon? Why are you looking at me like I was the one to steal your damned keys? If anything, you were probably the one who carelessly left the door unlocked.”

.....

Zenon was now a little restless. He sighed and asked Vincent, “And? Where is she now? What did you tell her? You made everything clear, right?”

Vincent gave a guilty smile and scratched his head.

And Zenon raised his brows and repeated his question very slowly, “You made everything clear, right?”

“Umm... I wanted to make everything clear, but...” Vincent slowly took a few steps back and maintained some distance between him and Zenon.

“But what? What did you do?” Zenon narrowed his eyes because he was almost sure that Vincent had done something stupid.

Vincent cleared his throat. And he briefed further, “But... she drove a stake through my neck, head-butted me and broke my nose, and then fled before I could say that I was just being sarcastic.”

“You were being sarcastic?” Zenon closed the distance between him and Vincent. He glared at that stupid friend of his, and then he asked in a stern voice, “And what were you being sarcastic about exactly?”

Vincent blurted out while slowly backing off, “She was saying to the prisoners that she would try to free them. So I thought that it would be fun to tease her and maybe scare her a little bit so that she wouldn’t dare to go back to the dungeon again or even think about helping the prisoners.”

“What exactly did you tell her? Out with it already!” Zenon suddenly snapped.

Vincent kept on walking backward and said, “I said that I would imprison her in the same dungeon. And I might have...” he emphasized the word again, “might... might have said that I would drink her blood the next time I was hungry.”

“You... you threatened the Queen’s handmaid saying that you would... Ahhhhhh!” Zenon covered his face with his palm in frustration and screamed, “And why on earth would you do that?”

“It was fun?” Vincent was ready to run away any moment now.

However, Zenon sprung forward and grabbed Vincent by the collar of his shirt. He slammed Vincent into the stone wall.

And he snarled at that stupid lord, “Fun? Vincent! Do you even realize that your small joke could put a strain on the relationship between our King and our Queen? They just made up yesterday!”

Zenon restrained himself from throwing his fists at Vincent. But he kept on giving an earful to him, “Do you have the slightest idea how hard it has been for everyone when the King and Queen were fighting with each other? The King lashed out at anyone and everyone. He is finally back in his cheerful mood. And congratulations! You might have just ruined it again.”

Vincent raised his hands in the air and tried to reason with Zenon, “Hey, in my defense, it was not my fault that Tilla found out about the dungeon. And also, since when does Caspian have a cheerful mood? As far as I can recall, he always lashes out on others.”

Zenon scoffed and questioned Vincent, “Really? Are you going to play dumb now? Weren’t you the first to avoid His Majesty saying he was in a bad mood? Didn’t you run off to your mansion saying that you would only return when the King’s mood lightened?”

Zenon pushed himself away from Vincent and said mockingly, “And aren’t you back here in the castle today after your minions told you that the King was in a better mood now? You are an utterly selfish and terrible friend, you know that?”

Vincent nodded his head and agreed, “I know that I am a selfish and terrible friend. But I do find my life precious. What was I supposed to do by staying around him anyway? I didn’t want to be a dummy for him to throw his punches on.”

Vincent suddenly frowned at Zenon and asked, “And why are you here scolding me? Shouldn’t you be finding Tilla and making things clear to her? By now, she must have vomited everything to the Queen.”

“And whose fault is that?” Zenon angrily shouted at Vincent.

And he ordered Vincent, “Please find Tilla and tell her everything before any misunderstanding arises between the Queen and the King. I don’t have any energy left to deal with His Majesty’s sour mood today.”

Zenon turned around to take a look at the dungeon.

However, Vincent stood in front of him. And he asked in a politer tone, “Why don’t you clear the air? I have a feeling that I might mess it up even more if I try to talk to Tilla. She might think I came to kill her and who knows, she might stake my heart next. She’s too unpredictable.”

Zenon gave an amused smirk and mocked Vincent, “Is Vincent, the mighty one, scared of a human maid?”

Vincent gave a wide fake smile and replied, “Well, not the maid, but I am scared of the one whom she serves.”

“So you’re afraid of the Queen?” A hint of disbelief was lurking in Zenon’s eyes.

Vincent hadn’t told anyone that Anastasia had slapped him across his face with a shoe. She indeed looked a little intimidating when she snapped at him when they were in the doctor’s home. And by admitting it, he didn’t want to tarnish his reputation of being one of the most feared Vampires of the land.

So he gave different reasoning, “Shouldn’t I be afraid of the Queen? Caspian has been enchanted by her. And who knows, he might come after me if I anger his precious wife.”

“You always find ways to increase my work for me, Vincent.” Zenon rolled his eyes at Vincent and asked him, “Stay right here and guard the dungeon until I return. If I find it unguarded when I come back, then I won’t allow you to have a single drop of blood while you are here.”

“Alright, alright. The lord will now be a guard.” Vincent sneered at Zenon and walked to lean next to the door.

Zenon smirked and teased Vincent, “The position of the guard suits you.”

He then rushed to the place where he thought he would find Tilla at the moment.