Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 487 - 487: Kindness

[Two days ago]

Anastasia inhaled sharply as she shot her eyes open from a nightmare so long that she felt like she was stuck in it for as long as an eternity.

However, even after opening her eyes, she wasn't exactly sure if she was awake or if she was still stuck in her dream world, jumping from one nightmare to another. She was unsure because her surrounding felt foreign. She didn't recognize the room she was in, neither did she recognize the furniture or curtains. Everything felt so unfamiliar that she felt like she didn't belong there at all.

Before she could process the overload of information that her brain had received through her sensory receptors though, she heard a gentle voice from the other end of the room, "Your Majesty, how are you feeling now?"

Anastasia searched the source of the voice with her eyes, but answered before she saw the face of the speaker, "Fine, I suppose." And as the figure of a woman clad in red slowly inched towards her bed, she asked while trying to figure out who that woman was, "Where is this place? How did I end up here?"

The woman in red settled down on the chair beside the bed and asked in a voice that was as loud as a whisper, "You don't remember anything that happened?"

Anastasia furrowed her brows, confused. Her mind was trying to find an answer to that woman's question while her eyes were busy trying to figure out why the redheaded woman looked so familiar.

Suddenly, her eyes widened with surprise when she was able to match the woman's face with a name that was buried deep inside her brain.

"Ruby!" Anastasia almost screamed at the top of her voice, to which the woman in red replied with a shushing sound while pressing her index finger against her lips.

Following Ruby's direction, Anastasia notched down the pitch of her voice and questioned in a whisper, "Aren't you Ruby? What are you doing here? And what am I doing here?" She pushed her head up and held her upper body up with the help of her elbows. Then she asked while frantically trying to see out of the high window to her left, "Where on earth are we?"

Upon getting answered with absolute silence to her questions, Anastasia shifted her gaze back to Ruby, only to see her clutching her hands together tightly and looking down somewhat guiltily.

"Ruby? Why aren't you saying anything? What's wrong?"

No response. Instead of saying a word, Ruby began to bite her lower lip so hard that Anastasia was scared of the former hurting herself.

Ruby's demeanor made Anastasia feel as if something was not right.

Anastasia was going to press Ruby for some answers but before she could do so, a flash of memory suddenly blinded her.

She recalled how she was in the town, buying gifts for her husband when someone sprinkled some kind of powder over her face. After that, she vaguely remembered being grabbed by someone and then…nothing.

A drop of cold sweat ran down her spine. The hair at the back of her head became damp in no time. 'Was I… Was I abducted?' The thought made her throat parch.

Her body heated up so fast and so much that she wondered if it was summer again, except it was not. But seeing how the blanket that her legs were still covered in was thinner than what she normally used, she deduced that she was in a warmer region now, meaning she was far away from Sorvando's capital.

Her eyes did a quick scan of the room again. Instead of ceramics decorative, the room was filled with wooden sculptures and copper vases. The thick carpet on the floor had a tribal design instead of being plain. And instead of pattered tiles or sandstone paved floors, this room had smooth clay bricks for the floor.

Another hint.

This wasn't even Sorvando.

'Oh, god!' Panic ensued in Anastasia's heart. She lightly clutched her gown with her sweaty palm so as not to give away that she was now shaking. She knitted her brows when the texture of her gown felt different. She looked down, finally realizing that it wasn't even her gown.

"R-Ruby?" she stuttered.

It seemed like Ruby was also lost in her thoughts because she got startled when Anastasia called her name.

Anastasia didn't know it yet whether Ruby was here as a friend or a foe. Thus, she asked rather cautiously, "Will you tell me what day it is today?" She had noticed how it was bright outside. It was already dusk when she was still in Sorvando.

Ruby nodded. She took a deep breath before whispering, "It's Saturday."

Anastasia gulped hard. Her heartbeat began to pound faster. She was at Silver Keep on Tuesday. And now it was suddenly Saturday? "I was unconscious for four days?" she asked in disbelief.

Ruby slowly lifted her eyes to meet Anastasia's questioning gaze. She quickly looked down again, unable to face that innocent gaze. She sounded even guiltier when she slowly answered, "You've been unconscious for the past 11 days, Your Majesty."

"Wh–"

Anastasia's sudden attempted scream got muffled by Ruby's warm palm that was now tightly clasped over the former's mouth. Her eyes widened with fear as the pain began to sink into her jawbone. Her guts told her to get out of bed and run for the door to get some help. But she was unable to move even a finger because she had no strength in her body.

Ruby, not realizing her grip was tight, leaned closer to Anastasia's ear and spoke with her breath, "Please, Your Majesty, try not to make any loud noises. I don't want the others to hear you and know that you are awake. They are…very bad people."

Anastasia gulped dryly and nodded her head. Though she was frightened by Ruby's sudden action, and although Ruby's words sounded self-serving, Anastasia wanted to believe that Ruby was not the one behind her abduction.

She wanted to believe that Ruby was actually worried about her welfare. She also wanted to believe that Ruby was asking her to keep her voice down to protect her from whoever was outside, and not because she didn't want the outsiders to know that she was keeping someone hostage in the room.

When Ruby lifted her hand from Anastasia's mouth, the latter asked again, "Can you tell me where I am?"

This time, Ruby didn't try to hide. She had to answer sooner or later. "You're in Xanmar, Your Majesty."

Anastasia's heart did a backflip in her chest when she heard the Kingdom's name. "W-Who brought me here?" She prayed that it wasn't Everard, the only person she knew in Xanmar. Or else, all hell would break loose between the two Kingdoms.

To her relief, Ruby said some other name she didn't recognize.

"Regulus Atkinson."

Anastasia didn't ask why she was brought here. She wanted to know something else first. "Does my husband know that I am here?"

Ruby violently shook her head, a hint of fear dancing in her eyes at the mention of Caspian.

'Of course, he doesn't know where I am yet. If he knew, I would be back home before I even regained my consciousness.' Anastasia covered her eyes with her palm, the reality slowly settling in. 'I disappeared 11 days ago, huh? Caspian… He must be worried.'

A hint of uneasiness flickered in her chest. 'He is worried about me, isn't he? He is looking for me…isn't he?' The way things were between her and Caspian before she disappeared, a small part of her was afraid that he wasn't even looking for her.

Her breathing started to sound forced. Her heart rate was out of the roof already.

Ruby also noticed that and quickly asked Anastasia, "Why don't you lie back down? You are still too weak. You should rest."

Anastasia allowed Ruby to tuck her inside the blanket although her body was soaked in sweat. Her mind was already working overtime for her to notice such trivial issues like sweat.

"I will bring you some soup." Ruby got up and said before leaving, "Please pretend to be unconscious if you hear someone approaching. Horrible things are waiting to happen. The only thing that is stopping Regulus is your unconscious state."

Anastasia wanted to ask what Ruby meant by that. But she let it be for now since she was already feeling a sharp stinging pain deep in her head.

---

"She isn't awake yet?" Regulus asked Ruby, his imposing aura sending shivers throughout Ruby's body.

Ruby clutched onto the hot bowl of soup that she was holding and shook her head. "I will inform you right away when she wakes up."

She was glad that Anastasia was currently being kept in the guest quarter which was significantly far away from the main mansion. There were guards constantly patrolling the area though, the reason why she was afraid of someone hearing them talking.

Regulus condescendingly narrowed his eyes at the woman who was standing in front of him with her head down.

After glaring down at her for a while, he said while walking away, "Don't forget that it was her husband who made you homeless and also an orphan." He was indirectly implying that Ruby shouldn't sympathize with Anastasia.

Ruby held her breath as a wave of pain rushed down from her chest to her stomach. The grief was still fresh in her heart. It had only been 11 days since she got the news about her parent's death.

Since it was Regulus' men who conveyed the news to her, they had changed the narrative to their advantage to make Ruby resent the captured Queen from her guts.

Ruby, however, couldn't bring herself to hate the Queen because she had received Anastasia's kindness in the past.

'The King and the Queen are two different people. I may hate that bloodsucking King from the depth of my soul but I would never hurt the innocent Queen to get back at him.' That's what she thought.

Thus, although she knew that Regulus made her watch over Anastasia hoping to see some kind of drama unfolding, she diligently took care of the Queen. She did everything from washing the Queen's face and body every other day and changing her clothes to administering the prescribed medicine in time to feeding her liquid food.

And now that the Queen was finally awake from her coma, Ruby was relieved but at the same time worried. She was relieved because obviously the Queen was conscious, and worried because she knew that Regulus was going to use Anastasia to hurt Everard.

---

"So, you're telling me that I was abducted and brought all the way here because they are targeting Everard and not my husband?" Anastasia asked after hearing Ruby's explanation.

"Yes," Ruby replied, her eyes fixated on the setting sun that was visible from the window.

"And they needed me to wake up before they threatened Everard because…?"

Anastasia didn't understand her abductors' logic because why go through the trouble of treating her and taking care of her if they were going to use her to lure Everard into their trap? They could have done so weeks ago, as soon as they brought her here. And why heal her when they were going to kill her after achieving their goal?

"Because that man called Regulus is a sadist who loves to create dramas and enjoy people's pain. Eve– King Everard would suffer more if you were to scream in pain and beg to be saved, wouldn't he?"

Ruby was grimacing and breathing heavily, already in pain after just imagining the scenario playing out in her head.

Anastasia closed her eyes and exhaled exasperatedly. She was already going through a rocky phase with her husband and now this happened. To top that, her already limited time was about to be cut short because of some grudge against her friend, her very friend whom her husband disliked.

She couldn't even imagine the consequence if she was to die here.

Anastasia covered her face with her palms and she asked in a frustrated manner, "Why me? I am married to Caspian, not Everard! Everard is just a friend of mine."

"Regulus believes that you are King Everard's Achilles heels," Ruby mumbled in a dazed voice.

Before Anastasia could react, Ruby suddenly bowed to Anastasia and spoke in a broken tone, "I apologize, Your Majesty. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for my loose mouth. I mistakenly revealed that King Everard was in love with you. I never imagined that they would actually go to Sorvando and bring you here. I am to blame for your abduction."

Anastasia took a moment to process that. After a moment of silence, she slowly covered her mouth with a pillow and let out a muffled scream of frustration.

She didn't know if she was angry at Everard for making others believe that he was still in love with her, at Ruby and Regulus for believing that, or her ill fate which never failed to disappoint her. But she was very angry. So angry that she wanted to pull her hair out and scream till her throat went sore.

However, she swallowed her anger and asked Ruby while controlling the pitch of her voice, "Do you resent me, Ruby? For what my husband did to you?" She asked that because she was once again confused if Ruby was her friend or her foe. "Are you being nice to me because you feel guilty or are you getting close to me to carry out your revenge?"

Ruby's heart ached upon hearing that accusation. However, she couldn't blame Anastasia for thinking that way.

She lowered her head even further and clarified to Anastasia, "It was never my intention to bring you any harm, Your Majesty. I could never stoop so low. But since you are here because of my stupid mistake…" She looked up to meet Anastasia's eyes and said confidently, "I swear I will break you out of here, even if it costs me my life."

Anastasia's gullible heart once again decided to put her faith in Ruby. "Do you have a plan, Ruby?"

Ruby nodded vigorously and revealed, "I have been keeping track of the number of patrol guards, their route, and the duration of their duty before another team takes over. We will take advantage of the holdup during their duty handover time and escape from here. But we alone won't be able to outrun the pursuers forever. So, I will take you to the castle and you can ask King Everard for protection.

I'm sure he will arrange for your safe return to Sorvando."

"And what about you?" Anastasia couldn't help but notice how Ruby's plan didn't involve her own safety. "Won't you be dragged back here if they catch you? You should also come to the castle with me. I'm sure Everard will help us both."

Ruby smiled uncomfortably and mumbled, "Let's think about that later. First, we have to escape from here before Regulus finds out that you are awake and lures King Everard here. Alone."

Anastasia agreed. "So, when are we escaping then?" She was on board with Ruby's plan.

She didn't want Everard to be in a pinch because of her. Neither did she want her death to be the root cause of a war between the two Kingdoms. She was 50 percent sure that Caspian would bring the war to Xanmar if she was to die here, regardless of who her killer was.

Ruby took a deep breath and whispered, "We will escape tomorrow night. You should get plenty of rest till then."

"I think I have rested enough." Anastasia looked at Ruby's tensed face and said while giving her a soft smile, "Ruby, thank you for showing me your kindness."

Ruby shook her head. "I am just repaying what I owed."

She then smiled back at the kind Queen who was the complete opposite of the cruel King. Deep down, she wondered if Anastasia would avoid going back to Sorvando if she had a choice. But looking at those eager emerald eyes of the Queen, she could assume that the Queen would keep on going back to that King no matter how many times she got lost.

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