Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 454 - 454: Defeat

Caspian was still standing in his walk-in closet even after he was all dressed up. He had already dismissed his servants from his room and was engrossed in his deep thoughts.

The King who barely neglected his daily duties was now considering handing over the tasks to Zenon and his other subordinates and taking a few days off from his work. With everything that was going on in his life, he knew that he wouldn't be able to give any attention to his stately duties.

'Better to leave them at capable hands for now,' he thought.

With that thought in mind, he slowly walked out of the closet. He was about to call Percy again and order him to deliver the message to Zenon.

However, before he could do so, the man himself entered the chamber.

"Your Majesty…" he sounded way too nervous. His whole demeanor looked like he didn't want to be standing in front of Caspian at all.

Caspian immediately noticed the change in Zenon's tone as well as his aura. He didn't know what it was but he could tell that there was something amiss.

"What is it?" Caspian immediately asked Zenon with a deep frown on his forehead.

Zenon took a gulp before lifting his hand that was holding a relatively thick file. He opened his mouth to tell what he was holding. However, all his words died out before they could escape his lips.

Caspian instinctively took the file from Zenon's hand and then turned the pages while asking with a nonchalant tone, "What is it? Is it even more important than the task that I had assigned you earlier?"

He initially thought that Zenon was being careless in following his order even when he had clearly stated that the matter was very urgent.

However, the moment his eyes landed on the carefully written words on the page, his eyes widened with shock when he saw the title that was written on the head of the first page.

"A detailed background research on Queen Anastasia Vairina."

He quickly went through the first few paragraphs that were written in familiar handwriting. The more he delved deeper into the report, the more he found himself getting angrier and angrier. Both his hands began to tremble with fear as well as rage.

After a while, when it became unbearably hard for Caspian to hide his inner turmoil, he finally tore off his glare from the pages and shot a look dagger at Zenon.

Zenon felt a chill shiver running down his spine and shuddered when that single glower from the King fell on him.

"What's all this?" Caspian's grumbling voice echoed throughout the chamber as well as the corridor outside.

Zenon could already see an eternity of hellish torture waiting for him. He could see it in Caspian's eyes that the latter wouldn't allow him to get away with punishment as simple as the death penalty.

However, he was ready to face any punishment for he had indeed broken the King's trust by hiding such crucial information from him.

The King had specifically asked him to find out if the Queen's family was hiding something from him. He had even found solid evidence that the Queen's family was indeed hiding a big secret regarding the Queen's health.

But instead of bringing it to the King's attention, he chose to hide the discovery and continue keeping the King in the dark.

He deserved to be punished harshly for deceiving the King.

Zenon lowered his head in utter guilt and shame and then answered as if he had already accepted his impending fate, "Your Majesty, I deeply apologize for not bringing the report to your attention before. I might have unknowingly caused you even greater pain by concealing the file from you. I don't wish to speak in my defense. I will accept whatever punishment you decide for me."

Caspian's heart ached when one of his most trusted men revealed that the betrayal was intentional.

For a while, he kept on staring at Zenon with a look of disbelief in his eyes and also kept on shaking his head.

Even after listening to Zenon's confession with his own ears, he was still reluctant to believe that out of all the people in the world, Zenon would be the one to betray him.

He frowned and said without showing any hostility in his voice, "Please say that someone else forgot to give this file to you and they handed it to you just now."

He looked at Zenon with a pleading look in his eyes and begged again, "Please say that you are covering for someone else's mistake. You are just trying to protect someone else from my wrath, right? Tell me the truth, Zenon. You're putting yourself in the forefront because of your conscience, aren't you?"

Zenon couldn't lift his head to meet Caspian's eyes when faced with those questions.

It was apparent from the King's broken voice that he desperately wanted Zenon to agree that he was only covering up someone else's carelessness.

And the fact that the King was still giving him a chance to correct himself rather than lashing out immediately made it harder for Zenon.

He felt as if a sharp knife was lodged through his lungs. He couldn't even breathe properly thinking how he had hurt the King.

"I am really sorry, Your Majes..." Zenon choked on his own saliva.

He could only tighten his fist and spill all the words that were stuck in his throat. "I am not trying to shield anyone. I had received the report quite a while ago. However, after going through the content, I don't know why but I wanted to keep all the information in the file hidden from you."

Suddenly, the file got hurled at Zenon's face. The force was so great that the sharp metal corner on the cover of the file cut through the hard skin of Zenon's cheek with ease.

Before Zenon could react, that file flew back to Caspian's hand before landing on Zenon's neck with an even great force and precision.

Another deep cut appeared on Zenon's neck. Cold blood started to trickle down his wounds. The blood from his neck quickly got absorbed by his white shirt; the wound even started to heal in no time.

But the invisible wounds in both of their heart remained unhealed.

"Why did you hide it from me? I need clear answers!" All of a sudden, Caspian's thunderous voice echoed all the way to the gallery this time.

His voice held so much resentment and rage that even those who were standing outside felt the urge to flee from the area. They didn't want to breathe the wrong way in front of the King and get killed for it.

Zenon didn't want to be dishonest with the King anymore. Even if it sounded like an excuse for himself, he thought of clarifying his actions to the King.

He fell down on his knees and then proceeded to explain himself.

"When I had received this report, the Queen had barely recovered from her sudden fever. Besides, your relationship with the Queen was flourishing. And since it seemed like the Queen was aware of her health condition, I didn't have the heart to reveal it to you and put a barrier between you two."

Caspian gripped the file so tightly that it looked like he was resisting slicing Zenon's neck again.

His eyes turned bloodshot with immense fury. And he gritted through his teeth, "Even if it created a barrier between us, I had the right to know about my wife's condition! She was dying and I was oblivious to it! She–"

'She was silently suffering and I was enjoying her weak body!' Caspian hated himself when that thought occurred in his head.

"Arghhhhhh…" he tossed aside the file for now and growled in fury.

Zenon bowed his head even lower, almost touching the floor with his forehead, and politely expressed his thought when the King's scream calmed down, "I… I thought hearing it from the Queen herself would be better for you. If she had not revealed her poor health condition to you before it was too late, I had planned to bring up the file to you."

He speculated on his own and further said, "If I am not wrong, the Queen must have revealed everything to you yesterday night. I am at least glad that my decision to hide the file from you gave Her Majesty a chance to redeem herself."

"Re–"

Before Caspian could pour out his anger on Zenon, someone else's voice resounded in the chamber.

"Redeem herself?" Vincent warily looked at Zenon's pitiful state and then shot a quizzical glance at Caspian. And then he asked with curiosity, "What's going on?"

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