Chapter 176

176 An Unexpected Scroll

It had been a few days after the full moon.

Caspian was sitting down on his throne while looking down at Commander Jasper, who was standing in front of the platform and was giving the briefing.

“We’ve been keeping an eye around the border. There hasn’t been any activity since the last time. And we haven’t found any new holes beneath the wall as well.” Jasper concluded his daily briefing and slightly bowed his head to the King.

Caspian tilted to the side and rested his hand on the comfortable armrest of his throne. “Hmm...” he let out a throaty sound and was lost in his thought for a while. “What about that hole that those two spies had used?” he asked after a while.

“It has already been sealed shut, Your Majesty,” Jasper replied and bowed again.

“Good job, Commander Jasper. I will leave the patrol of the border in your hands.” Caspian turned his gaze on a royal guard who entered the hall and walked towards the stairs that led to his throne.

He could already tell where the scroll was from because of the subtle stench that it carried. He kept on glaring at that scroll and thought to himself, ‘Now what, Eve? Are you still sending letters to my wife? Have you written a complaint to her saying that I killed two of your birds?’

When the guard began climbing the few stairs, Caspian turned his gaze back on the commander and rested his chin on his knuckles. Then he asked the commander, “Oh, by the way, the supply of blood is enough for your men, right? They’ve been working hard these days. They should be well fed.”

Jasper gave a grateful smile to the King and replied, “Yes, Your Majesty. It is enough. Thank you for your concern.”

.....

Caspian gave a nod. After dismissing the commander, he finally turned to look at the royal guard again.

The guard bowed to the King and extended his hands to offer the scroll that he was carrying. “Greetings, Your Majesty. It’s a message from Xanmar.”

The moment that royal guard announced that he had brought a message from Xanmar, the throne hall was suddenly filled with gasps and whispers from the councilmen and the ministers.

They all were aware of the recent encounter that Jasper and his soldiers had with the spies that were sent from Xanmar. And they were wondering if that letter was some kind of warning or retaliation from Xanmar, although it would be very foolish of those from Xanmar to own up to the spies that had illegally entered the territory of Sorvando.

For a split second, Caspian wanted to order the guard to burn down that scroll because he was already getting agitated by the stench.

However, he didn’t actually give out that order because he was also curious to know what was written inside. But he still didn’t want to touch that smelly scroll. So, he ordered his guard, “Why don’t you read the scroll for me? And for everyone else? Let’s listen to what they have to say.”

The royal guard bowed and then did as the King had asked.

“Respected King Caspian of Sorvando...”

—

While the guard was reading the message from Xanmar, Anastasia was heading towards the throne hall, followed by Tilla.

Tilla was carrying a tray full of necessary ingredients for the tea.

As they got closer and closer to the throne hall, the two of them noticed that the density of the guards had increased. Both of them were feeling a little uncomfortable when those guards stiffly bowed to Anastasia as they walked by.

Tilla moved her feet a bit faster and caught up with the Queen. And she asked her in a whisper, “Is it really necessary to brew the tea to His Majesty in the throne hall? Can’t we wait until he returns to his study? They might be discussing some serious matters in there, and we might be distracting them with our tea.”

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Anastasia slowed down her pace when she heard Tilla. She was also contemplating whether it was appropriate to go inside the throne hall with such a lame excuse as serving tea to the King.

However, she immediately thought otherwise.

“I think His Majesty will be distracted if I don’t bring him his tea,” she mumbled to Tilla and kept on moving forward because she didn’t want Caspian to keep on waiting for her to show up. It was already way past the time for his daily cup of tea.

Furthermore, Zenon had informed her that there were a lot of agendas that needed to be looked after by Caspian today.

“He might be staying in the throne hall for quite a while today. So...” Anastasia sighed and continued walking.

Tilla kept her head low and kept on following the Queen because she had no other choice even when she wasn’t comfortable with all the guards’ gazes following the two of them.

Anastasia and Tilla were heading for the back entrance that only the King used to get inside the throne hall. Anastasia didn’t want to go through the main entrance and alert everyone of her presence in the hall.

However, two of the guards who were guarding that back entrance immediately bowed their Queen. And one of them was quick to announce, “Her Majesty, the Queen, is entering the hall.”

Anastasia nervously smiled at the guards and thought to herself, ‘You did not need to announce me like that...’

Since it was already done, Anastasia had no other option than to quickly get inside the hall.

The entrance directly led Anastasia and Tilla behind the King’s throne.

Anastasia was startled a little when she saw someone quickly running down from the platform. She took a deep breath in and emerged from behind the throne. Her eyes fell on the huge hall sparsely seated by a few vampires.

She saw them standing up from their seats and bowing down to her. She was feeling a bit nervous to be standing in front of them like that. But she collected herself and subtly nodded her head to acknowledge everyone’s greetings.

She then quickly turned her gaze to look at her husband. Caspian was still sitting on his throne, looking at her with a wide smile on his face.

Anastasia hadn’t realized that she was holding her breath. She finally let it out and walked closer to her husband’s throne while smiling back at him.

“I was wondering if you would come here or not,” Caspian said to her after she stood right next to him.

Anastasia gestured for Tilla to put the tray on the table that was in front of Caspian, and then she replied to him, “I heard that you had a lot of work today. So, I thought that you would like some refreshment.”