Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 491 - 491: A Pawn

The sky was quite bright. All the dark clouds had cleared and the warm rays of sun graced the land.

Anastasia had her eyes tightly shut as her head was spinning from flying for the past few hours. She was keeping her mind busy by thinking positive things so that she wouldn't throw up on the man who was helping her cross countries.

Slowly, a sense of relief washed over her when she felt that they were descending to the ground. She was right. The man informed her that they had arrived at their destination and slowly let her down to the ground.

Anastasia was expecting to see the familiar buildings or at the very least see the familiar trees in front of the castle when she opened her eyes. But she was very disappointed when her expectations shattered.

"Mr. Herald, will you tell me why we stopped here in the middle of nowhere?" Anastasia asked her rescuer when she didn't see a single house as far as her eyes could see. "You told me you would take me to Caspian." There was a hint of fear laced in her voice which didn't go unnoticed by the man.

"This isn't nowhere." He stepped aside and pointed behind them to show Anastasia the tall wall and said, "We are at the border of Xanmar and Sorvando. Well, technically, we are inside Sorvando's territory already."

The man then casually pulled out a handkerchief and spread it on a large rock nearby. He gestured for Anastasia to sit there and said, "If my calculation is correct, Caspian will be here shortly."

"He will come here? Why? Did you inform him that you would bring me here?" she asked while looking at the man apprehensively.

The man, calm as usual, looked at the distance and replied, "That hothead found out that you were taken to Xanmar and now, he is bringing war to them. But since we are at the border, they are bound to cross from here, and hence, stumble upon you."

"Wait, what do you mean by war?" Anastasia suddenly felt faint, cold sweat dripping down her spine. Gathering her composure, she asked under her breath, "Why would he… Why would he do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He crossed his arms and went back to staring into the distance. "His wife was abducted by the people of Xanmar and it is only fair that he fought them to get you back. It's just that… he didn't need to fight a full-scale war to free you. He could have done that single-handedly."

"But I am already here!" Anastasia exclaimed restlessly. "He doesn't need to fight at all." She couldn't imagine a war breaking out between two kingdoms because of her.

The man scoffed and asked while lightly shaking his head, "Do you think Caspian is the type to silently back down without punishing the culprit? I'm sure he will try to rain hell on Xanmar just because one of them was fool enough to kidnap his wife and bruise his ego."

Anastasia gulped dryly. She couldn't deny it because that was how he was. "You are not wrong."

"Which is why…" He looked at Anastasia and said while smiling at her, "You are going to stop him."

Anastasia suddenly felt a huge burden on her head. She felt as though the fate of thousands of lives depended on her. She anxiously clutched her chest and mumbled in fear, "Stop him how? Will he even listen to me?"

"Make him listen. That's your job." The man made it sound as if Anastasia couldn't have any room for error, making the burden on her head feel heavier.

Anastasia finally sat down on the rock, holding her head and breathing rapidly as she feared the aftermath in case she was to fail to stop her husband.

"Will you also help me change Caspian's mind? I'm not sure if I can do that alone. We aren't really on good terms right now." She looked at that man hoping to get some support when and if the need arrived.

Seeing how she was already sounding very pessimistic, the man heaved a sigh and said, "I cannot do that. I'm sorry. My job here is already done. I will leave once I hear them coming."

"Why?" Anastasia raised her head to look at that man. "After all the trouble you went through to rescue me, you aren't even going to meet Caspian?" She couldn't understand why someone would go above and beyond to save her and not even claim credit. After all, why would a stranger help her if he didn't want something in return?

His eyes suddenly looked full of sadness as well as resentment towards himself. And his calm voice wavered for the first time, "Trust me when I say this, I will only make things worse if I stay."

Anastasia had noticed how this man was constantly referring to her husband as 'Caspian' instead of 'His Majesty' or something more respectful. And she couldn't help but think that this man and Caspian used to be very close in the past. She wasn't sure what caused the two of them to fall apart, but she wanted to solve the mystery surrounding this man.

So, she asked him once again, "Can you at least tell me who you are? You are someone very close to Caspian, aren't you, Mr. Herald? Or is that even your real name?"

A soft smile appeared on his lips. He turned to face her and then said, "You really are very perceptive. Not to mention very kind too. I was right to send that letter to you."

"Right! The letter!" Anastasia suddenly looked restless. She wanted so many of her questions to be answered. "Why did you send that letter to me? Why did you lie that I could find a cure in Sorvando? What did you want to achieve?"

"First of all, let me reintroduce myself." He gave a subtle nod to Anastasia and said with a smile. "I am Percival Heradi."

The moment Anastasia heard that name, she got right back up on her feet. However, she was so stunned that she couldn't utter a single word in response.

"Your reaction tells me that you have heard my name before. Yes. I am Caspian's older brother."

"But you're supposed to be dead." Anastasia clasped her mouth when she realized that she had voiced out her thoughts.

Percival let out a soft chuckle and gestured up and down and himself, "Well, you can see that I am very much alive."

"Then why…?" Anastasia had so many questions that she didn't know where to start.

Percival instantly looked serious again and summed up his life so that he could answer Anastasia's unasked questions.

"Nobody knows that I am still alive. A lot of things happened that led to the misunderstanding. Caspian was already crowned the King when I returned to Sorvando. I felt that it was my chance at a second life, a chance to live as a normal person, well… as normal as a vampire can be. So, I stayed in the shadows."

It took quite some time for Anastasia to sink all the information in. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She was angry on behalf of her husband.

She mustered up some courage and decided to confront Percival for what he did. "Even if you didn't want to do anything with the royal life, you could have at least come forward and said that to Caspian directly instead of making him believe that you were dead."

She couldn't fathom how someone could be so heartless. She angrily looked at Percival and reprimanded him without caring that he was someone whom she needed to respect, "Do you have any idea how lonely and broken he was? He had friends, yes, but friends can't fill the void of family. Imagine living alone in that huge castle for centuries! How could you even do that to your own brother?

Making him think you were dead when you are alive and well."

Percival didn't mind the tone that Anastasia was using because he knew he deserved all the hate. "I know what I did was wrong. I was being selfish. But by the time I realized my mistake, the damage had already been done."

He looked down in shame and mumbled, "I couldn't bring myself to reappear in his life after making him grieve for me for so long. Which is why I turned to you. I wanted–"

"You lied to me and used me as your pawn!" Anastasia was fuming with rage by now. She had never felt this angry in her life before. And she wasn't afraid to show it. She was openly glaring at Percival as if she was challenging him to a fistfight.

Percival raised his palms in front of his chest to try and calm her down. And he said as politely as he could, "I tried to bring you two together because I thought Caspian would finally find his happiness. And I was right! He has never been happier. I am sorry I used you as a pawn but you also found your happiness with him. You two are so much in love with each other."

Even though he didn't mean any harm by that, he realized how bad it sounded. So, he quickly added, "Both of you were drowning in loneliness. I simply wanted you two to save each other. I might have acted selfishly yet again but I only did so because I genuinely care for my brother."

"You!" Anastasia clutched her fists tightly. She wanted to punch Percival in his face but she stopped herself from doing so because she knew she was the one who would end up getting hurt.

That didn't mean she couldn't use her words though. She clenched her jaw and gritted from between her teeth, "How dare you play with our feelings just so you could gratify your twisted sense of brotherly love? Were you happy to see us fall in love just like you planned? Are you pleased to see your little matchmaking work?"

Anastasia didn't know when she had grabbed Percival by his collar. When she came to her senses, she was violently shaking him and screaming at his face with her eyes full of tears, "Now, thanks to you, Caspian will have one more person to grieve for! There was no cure! There never was! And now I am going to die in front of his eyes!"

She slammed her fists against Percival's chest even though it hurt her and not him. And she shouted bitterly, "How dare you use us for your own amusement?! Are you satisfied now? Are you done with all your games? Why aren't you saying anything? Speak, you coward!"

Percival didn't utter a word or try to resist the harmless attacks from Anastasia. After all, for better or worse, he had manipulated this girl into marrying his brother.

All her fear about her imminent death came to haunt her once again. Anastasia slid down to the ground and began to cry her heart out while clutching her chest. She was in so much pain that she felt like her chest would explode and she would die right there when suddenly she heard Percival.

"I never said there was no cure, Anastasia. Caspian is the cure."

"What?" Anastasia didn't understand why she was still dying if Caspian was the cure. She looked up at Percival and asked in between her cries, "What do you mean he is the cure?"

"That is for my dumb brother to figure out. I hope he will figure it out soon though." He looked at Anastasia with pity and said, "You are already too weak. You don't have much time on your hands."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked anxiously. If Caspian could indeed cure her then she wanted to know how. "How is he the cure? Can't you tell me?"

"You have that letter, remember? Don't forget to deliver it to my brother. He should be able to figure it out once he reads the letter." Percival suddenly turned his head to look at the distance. His eyes shone with relief and he looked at Anastasia to say, "It's time for me to take my leave. Caspian will arrive here with his army soon. Make sure to stop him from advancing any further."

"Wait," Anastasia pushed herself up on her feet and asked, "Are you still going to keep on running away from your brother? Isn't it about time you stopped running away and faced him?"

"I will come back when the time is right." He took in a deep breath and asked her for a favor, "Put in some good words for me, will you? So that he won't kill me the moment he sees me."

Anastasia gave a nod although she really wished that Percival would stay.

He smiled at Anastasia, and just like that, he disappeared from before her eyes.

Anastasia looked around at the sky to catch a glimpse of him but gave up soon. Her attention was instead drawn by the slight rumbling of the ground.

'Percival wasn't lying when he said Caspian was bringing an army, was he?' Deep down, she was still hoping that what Percival had said about the war was just a twisted joke of his. However, it didn't seem that way. She could already see a few blurs rushing towards the wall, towards her.

She nervously swallowed and hoped that someone would detect her before she got crushed by the oncoming stampede. She clasped her palms together and prayed that she would be able to stop the army who were on their way to wage a war.

'This is the last time I am playing your pawn, Percival... Only because our goals are aligned.'

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