Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 436 - 436: It's You!

"W-Who's there?"

Anastasia clenched her gown to try and stop her hands from shaking uncontrollably. She felt a cold sweat run down her spine as her eyes were glued to the closed door of her carriage.

The door slowly creaked open once again. A gush of wind blew inside the carriage with such a great force that Anastasia turned her head away and tightly shut her eyes.

And though she hadn't yet seen who was standing at the door, suddenly a great sense of relief overtook her heart. The wind was carrying a familiar petrichor smell that she was used to.

"Caspian?" she mumbled to herself and quickly turned to face the door.

A tall figure was standing outside.

Though it was already dark by now, Anastasia easily recognized her husband's build.

"Oh! Caspian! It's you!" Anastasia let a deep sigh and smiled as she finally unclenched her sweaty fists.

"Yes, it's just me." Caspian sounded somewhat rude, although that wasn't his intention. And his mind was occupied by a lot of things for him to realize it.

Anastasia felt a slight prick in her heart. However, she dismissed her thought and asked Caspian, "By any chance, were you heading towards the Warmane Mansion?"

"Yes, I was coming to pick you up because I was getting worried. But I found you here. So, there's no need to go to the mansion anymore." After saying that, Caspian climbed inside the carriage and took the seat by Anastasia's side. But he was careful not to sit too near his wife or touch her.

Anastasia also noticed how Caspian didn't immediately kiss her or hug her or greet her warmly. It made her nervous. She was afraid thinking that Vincent might have broken his promise to her.

She looked up at her husband's face to see if he was angry. However, she couldn't see his facial expression. There was no source of light inside the carriage at the moment.

"Umm…" She cleared her throat and carefully said, "I apologize for not keeping my promise. There was still some light outside when I left the Warmane Mansion. I had thought that I would reach the castle before it was dark, but it got dark on the path."

"It's alright," Caspian replied.

However, from the tone of his voice, it didn't sound like it was alright.

And Anastasia was left wondering if Caspian was angry because she didn't come home early or if he was angry because he now knew everything about her illness and the lies that followed.

Anastasia bit her lower lip and slowly pulled the curtain a little to get some air. She peeked outside while drawing cold air. Since it was dark, all she could see were some dark figures moving around.

'Are they carrying something?' Anastasia wondered to herself.

It looked like they were carrying something.

However, Anastasia hadn't brought any luggage with her, and neither had the people from Warmane Mansion sent some gifts for her. Thus, she just assumed that the guards were removing tree trunks from the path and were getting ready for the travel.

She closed the curtain again and looked at her husband once more. The fact that he wasn't saying anything didn't make the situation any better.

Anastasia gulped dryly and then slowly spoke in an attempt to break the silence, "When the carriage suddenly stopped, I was afraid that someone with bad intentions was blocking our path." She let out a nervous chuckle and mumbled while looking down, "But turns out that I was afraid for no reason."

"Ah!" Caspian looked at his wife and finally noticed how shaken she was. He placed his icy cold hand on his wife's hand and spoke in a soft and warm voice, "I'm so sorry, wife. I didn't realize you were afraid."

He shifted a bit closer to Anastasia and held her hand in his. Then he said something more, "I was just reprimanding some of the guards because they weren't maintaining a proper formation. I should have probably made you aware of my presence first and gone out to scold them."

Anastasia lifted her head once again.

Benjamin was walking towards them while carrying a lantern in his hand.

Anastasia could finally see the glowing face of her husband. There was not a single trace of anger in his eyes, all that she could see was a slight hint of worry.

She felt some degree of relief after seeing that her husband wasn't angry at her. But she still wanted to make sure that Vincent had kept his promise.

After watching Benjamin hanging the lantern at the corner of the carriage and locking the door, she began to share how her day went by.

"I am glad to see that Tilla's health has improved drastically. I bet she will be completely back to normal soon. We talked a lot and that's why I didn't realize that the time was passing by too quickly."

Caspian finally showed his smile and said while gently tapping on his wife's hand, "If you enjoyed your time there then I don't have any complaint regarding you being a little late."

Anastasia kept on intently staring at her husband's face when she nervously said, "I didn't get to thank Lord Vincent for the hospitality though. He wasn't there in the mansion when I was heading out. I just saw him in the morning and that's it."

She said that because she indirectly wanted to know if Vincent was in the castle for the whole day.

Caspian frowned a little and said as if he was surprised to hear that, "Really? Where did that fool go then? I thought he didn't come to the castle because he was busy attending to you."

"Oh?" A slight hint of relief appeared on Anastasia's face when she heard that. "So, you haven't seen him today then?" she asked to double confirm.

"No. I haven't seen him since yesterday," Caspian replied truthfully. And he also asked, "Shall I scold him too? For not attending to you properly?"

"Oh, no, no!" Anastasia quickly shook her head and praised the welcome that she got at Warmane Mansion, "His people took good care of me. From what I observed, they were really nice to Tilla as well. I couldn't ask for more."

"That's good then."

"Mhmm…" Anastasia heaved a sigh, finally relieved to know that her secret was hers to tell.

And since the carriage was moving just as fast as before, she pulled the small pillow from the corner and put it behind her head so that she could close her eyes to avoid feeling dizzy.

A soft smile appeared on Caspian's lips when he looked at his wife's serene face. He leaned and planted a kiss on her forehead. He then slightly adjusted his own posture after deciding to close his eyes as well.

However, right before he did so, his eyes fell on his knuckles which were painted red with dried blood.

His eyes widened in shock and he cursed in his heart, 'Oh, hell! I thought I wiped all traces of blood off of my hands. I missed some!'

He slowly turned his head to look at Anastasia's face and wondered, 'She didn't see it, right?' He carefully removed his hand which was smeared with blood and tucked it away. He was still holding his wife's hand with his other hand though.

Caspian then gritted his teeth and thought while looking at the closed curtains, 'I hope she didn't peek outside earlier when I was smashing the skulls of those mindless scums.'

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