Chapter 88

88 A Clue

A while later, Caspian returned to the room with a tray in his hand. He brought a big bowl of mushroom soup with him.

He set it aside on the table and then leaned to look at Anastasia’s face. She was still wide awake. So he asked her, “I think you should get up again. I have brought a bowl of hot soup for you. I made sure that it isn’t bitter.”

Anastasia turned her face to look at her husband’s face. She felt something warm in her heart upon seeing his pure smile.

‘I will tell everything to him once I recover,’ she thought to herself and smiled back at him.

And she held out her hands to wrap them around Caspian’s neck. “Pull me up.”

Caspian’s smile got wider from that small gesture of hers. He also wrapped his arms around her waist and then helped her up.

He planted a soft kiss on his wife’s forehead and then sat down while holding the bowl in his hand.

Caspian took a spoonful of soup and gently blew on it to cool it down. And he held it in front of Anastasia’s mouth. “Drink this. Tilla said that it is good for your health.”

Anastasia’s eyes were full of admiration towards her husband for going out of his way and taking care of her when he didn’t need to do any of this.

.....

And she subconsciously mumbled, “Can you make me feel any guiltier?’

“What? Why would you feel guilty?” Caspian was caught by surprise when he heard his wife’s whisper.

Anastasia realized that she actually said it out loud instead of saying it in her head. But she was quick enough to cover it, “I feel bad that you are doing all this for me. Why don’t you leave everything to Tilla? It’s already late. Shouldn’t you be resting?”

Caspian pushed the spoon inside Anastasia’s mouth. And then he answered her while stirring the soup with the spoon, “I don’t think I can go and rest when I know that my wife is in pain. Don’t worry about me. You should just focus on recovering soon so that I can show you around the capital.”

“Ah!” Anastasia slouched a little and sadly said, “We were planning to do that today! I was really looking forward to it. But I had to get sick today!”

“We can always do that later. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s not like you got sick because you wanted to.” Caspian was at least happy to know that Anastasia was also equally excited about their date.

She worriedly looked at her husband and asked after gulping down another spoon of soup, “I hope you didn’t wait for me to come by. I would have sent someone to inform you that I wouldn’t be able to keep my promise but I-”

“I know, love. I know. You shouldn’t be worrying about me when you are in this state.” Caspian lovingly caressed Anastasia’s cheek with one of his palms.

And Anastasia snuggled with his palm and asked, “I must be looking like a mess right now. You don’t mind seeing me like this?”

“I don’t mind your appearance. But I can’t bear to see you struggling like this.” Caspian lightly brushed Anastasia’s lips with his thumb and further said, “I want you to get better soon.”

Anastasia looked Caspian in the eyes. All she saw in his eyes was immense love for her. She kissed him on his hand. And she quirkily replied, “I don’t have any other option than to get better when my husband is taking care of me like this.”

Caspian raised his brows and smiled at his wife as he was intrigued by her reply. “So, my innocent wife also knows how to say things like this and make my heart skip a beat, huh?”

Anastasia giggled shyly, but abruptly stopped when she felt a shrilling pain in her head.

“What happened? Does it hurt somewhere?” Caspian face dropped upon seeing his wife grimacing in pain.

“My head is starting to hurt again. I think I should sleep,” Anastasia replied in a single breath and prepared to lay down again.

However, Caspian stopped her and suggested, “Why don’t you finish the soup first? And you can sleep until it’s time for another dose of medicine.”

Anastasia did just that. The soup had cooled down than before. And she chugged everything down and went back to sleep again.

Caspian tucked her in that same thin sheet of cloth that was on the bed. And he made himself comfortable on the chair by the bedside.

—

“Lord Zenon, we searched each and every corner of the woods. But neither my boys nor I found anything suspicious.” The commander who had accompanied Zenon’s search party came and informed him.

And he further asked, “What about you, Lord Zenon? Did you find any clue?”

Zenon looked at the night sky and heaved a deep sigh. And he dejectedly shook his head.

“Shall we call it a night? Or shall we spread around the town and the nearby areas?” Commander Jasper asked for further instructions from Zenon.

Zenon had been running here and there for the whole day without even sparing a second to sit down. He wanted to go home and rest for a while. But he couldn’t forget Caspian’s angry face and the order that he gave.

“His Majesty had asked me to find the culprit today. I cannot go back to the castle without capturing the culprit. So, let’s spread around and look for any clues, or anything and anyone that doesn’t match the norm.”

“Okay. I will order everyone to do the same.” Jasper turned to look at the vampire soldiers who were under his command. There were around 20 vampires involved in the search for this mysterious attacker.

And he shouted out the order, “Boys, let’s split up and spread around Silver Keep as well as the nearby areas. The drill is the same as earlier. You need to-”

Jasper was distracted by one of the soldiers who was playing with some kind of object instead of attentively listening to him.

So he called that soldier out, “Scott! Where the hell is your focus when I am talking here? Is this how you show your respect to me?”

Jasper was also already agitated after not being able to find anything on the killer of that dog. And when he saw his underling juggling something in his hands, he instantly got provoked.

“And what are you playing with?” He swooshed in front of that young vampire and snatched what looked like a broken heel of a shoe.

Scott was startled by the commander. The commander looked furious, so he immediately hung his head low and apologized, “I’m extremely sorry, Commander. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. I-”

“Wait!” Jasper narrowed his eyes and began to examine that heel very thoroughly. “Where did you find this again?”

Scott was sure that he was going to get in trouble. He lowered his head even further and answered in a scared voice, “I p-picked it up in the woods.”

Zenon had been waiting for a while now for all the vampires to disperse. But when they weren’t moving, he came and stood beside the commander. And he asked, “What’s all this fuss about? What’s the matter?”

Jasper showed that piece of the heel to Zenon. And he pointed at the tiny speck of blood on it. “I think we just found our clue.”