Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 479 - 479: The Guards

The dark night had inevitably graced the land of Sorvando.

The search for the Queen was still going on.

That 15-minute time limit that Caspian had given to the guards who were supposed to join Anastasia in the Warmane Mansion had already passed several hours ago.

They had all spread out as soon as Caspian had ordered them to find the Queen. Since she wasn't found yet, they all were still running around the capital and the forest surrounding the castle in her search.

They didn't dare to return to the castle without finding the Queen or any traces of her because they knew their death would be waiting for them if they returned empty-handed.

The squads of royal soldiers who were dispatched by Commander Jasper had already finished raiding Bartholomew's properties and they were currently going after the most loyal followers of the radical Lord.

Caspian was still flying in the sky, scanning the forest under the subtle moonlight.

Likewise, Vincent was also looking for any signs of Anastasia from the ground.

He had already returned from the Wintertide Mansion after confirming that Anastasia hadn't visited Lady Edith.

After taking a few rounds around the Capital, he was returning to his mansion, feeling somewhat guilty for not accompanying Anastasia on her way back to the castle.

'If only I had followed her back when I didn't see enough guards with her…'

He was rambling in his head when he suddenly stopped on the track after noticing a couple of royal guards from the corner of his eyes.

They were rushing in his direction from the other road that connected to the road that he was currently taking.

'Are they also looking for the Queen?' he wondered to himself and kept on standing right where he was, thinking of questioning them about the progress so far.

However, when those two guards came close enough for Vincent's eyes to recognize them, his eyes widened with fear and shock.

'The Queen's guards!' he exclaimed in his head.

He was scared because neither the Queen nor her carriage was anywhere to be seen.

And his mind immediately thought of the worst possible scenario.

'What if she is…'

Vincent vigorously shook his head and immediately ran towards those guards.

When the guards got even closer, Vincent shouted at them in a rather angry tone, "What the hell are you two doing here? Where is the Queen? Aren't you two supposed to be guarding her? And weren't you two supposed to lead her to the castle directly? Do you even know how tensed Caspian is, and how everyone is looking for her right now?"

John stopped on his track as if he couldn't run any further, as if he suddenly lost every drop of blood in his body.

Following his example, Isaac also stopped by his side.

Both of them held a very grim expression on their faces which made Vincent even more anxious.

"I asked where the Queen is! Answer me!" Vincent spread out his claws and screamed while displaying his long and sharp fangs.

He was ready to strike them down if they said anything unpleasant.

"We are terribly sorry, Milord."

And unpleasant it was.

Vincent glowered at John, whose face was growing paler by the second, and grumbled, "I didn't ask if you are sorry, John. I asked where the Queen is. Tell me where she is before I lose my patience. Or worse, before Caspian comes here and questions your dead bodies instead."

John lowered his head in shame and guilt. He looked as if he wished to die that instant.

"The Queen…" He tightly clenched his fists and grimaced as if he was heavily wounded somewhere. "She…" No matter how much he forced himself to speak, he couldn't bring himself to complete that single sentence.

Vincent's worst fear came true when he heard what Isaac said next.

"We lost the Queen, Milord," Isaac blurted.

"What did you just say?" Vincent shifted his look daggers from John to Isaac. He was barely holding himself back from beating the soul out of those two.

Isaac immediately collapsed down to his knees when he was met with Vincent's deadly stare.

He rested his palms on his knees and hung his head low. He looked terribly guilty when he choked on his words, "I deserve the death penalty. My carelessness led to the Queen's disappearance."

He purposefully showed his neck and pleaded to Vincent, "Please, kill me right now, Milord. I can't face His Majesty after what happened today."

Vincent was speechless.

A lot of thoughts rushed in his head as he blankly stared at Isaac's nape.

'She disappeared? Did someone kidnap her? Did she run away? How will Caspian receive this information? He is going to go mad… if he hasn't already.'

"What are the three of you doing here?"

Vincent felt his heart dropping to his stomach when he suddenly heard that heavy and chillingly cold voice from behind.

John instantly dropped to his knees and copied Isaac's position.

"W-We both deserve to die, Your Majesty. We couldn't protect the Queen as we had vowed. We couldn't uphold our promise." John almost sounded as if he was… crying.

*Bam* *Thump*

Before Vincent could even fully turn his head to the side, from the corners of his eyes, he saw Caspian kicking John and Isaac so hard that they went flying several meters and collided against huge tree trunks, ultimately falling to the ground.

Both John and Isaac let out muffled coughs. They didn't dare to let a sound of pain escape their lips after failing to do their duty.

At the speed of a flash, the formidable King stood in front of those two, held them up while grabbing them by their hair, and began to hit them one after another in their guts using his knee.

Every blow was so severe that they were soon coughing up blood.

Vincent didn't intervene, not until those poor guards were on the verge of collapsing.

"Caspian!" He finally swooshed in and grabbed Caspian's arm. He dragged his friend away from the battered guards while trying to talk some sense into him, "Caspian! You will kill them if you kick them one more time!"

"So what? They deserve to die!" Caspian was still blinded by his sheer rage. He was fighting to get out of Vincent's strong grip so that he could continue beating the guards.

Vincent didn't let Caspian escape from him. He tightened his hold even more and shouted, "These two are the only ones who know what happened to the Queen and where she possibly might be at the moment. If you kill them before you get the information, there's a chance that you might never see her again. Just think before you act!"

Caspian abruptly stopped squirming and trying to escape. What Vincent said made a lot of sense.

"Besides," Vincent slowly loosed his grip on Caspian and said in a somewhat softer tone, "They are your loyal guards who have been with you through thick and thin, for centuries. You don't want to take their lives in the whim of your rage."

Caspian tightly closed his eyes and slowly controlled his irregular breathing. When he felt his overwhelming anger settling down to some extent, he looked at the guards who were gasping and groaning, and then finally asked them, "Tell me everything that happened."