Conquering His Cold Heart
Chapter 495 - 495: Fitting Fate

"I am very well aware that you are the King and that I am in your territory, King Everard. I wasn't trying to impose any authority on you." Zenon, although agitated after repeating the same thing time and again, said in a polite manner.

It had already been three days since he arrived in the capital of Xanmar and two days since he had arranged this meeting with King Everard after discovering that the men he was looking for were in the King's custody.

Now that he was finally attending the meeting, he was doing his best to persuade Everard to agree to his demands.

He leaned a little forward and tried his best to get through to the stubborn werewolf King. "I am simply trying to make you understand that if you don't agree with our demands, the centuries-old truce that has been upholding the peace between our two nations will fall."

"It won't most definitely be broken from my side," Everard rolled his eyes and answered harshly, not willing to give in to the vampires.

Zenon's entangled fingers applied some pressure on his knuckles, reminding him not to lose his calm. He needed to resolve this issue peacefully. He needed to play the part of the mediator between the two stubborn Kings if he was to put a complete stop to the war that was temporarily on hold.

"If not from your side, I am sorry to tell you that the truce will be broken from our side. Our Queen was kidnapped and held hostage for two weeks by those men in question. It is already a miracle that King Caspian didn't hold you and by extension your Kingdom accountable for that despicable act since it happened right under your nose."

Zenon put on a polite act and asked once more, "So, if you would simply hand those men over to us, we will be on our merry way and you will never have to see us again."

It was easier said than done.

Everard and his soldiers had to battle for the whole night before they were successful in subduing the Atkinson clan. There were many casualties on both sides.

Between grieving the loss and trying to quell the enraged elders who had accused him of creating a misbalance of power, Everard hadn't even gotten the chance to properly reprimand Regulus, let alone decide on the punishment.

Apart from the beatings that he gave Regulus on the night of the battle, he hadn't even gotten the chance to lay another finger on the man who was imprisoned in the castle itself.

After going through so much trouble capturing Regulus and convincing the elders that he had committed an unforgivable crime, Everard thought that he would finally get to punish Regulus for what he did to Ruby and Anastasia.

Suddenly, the vampires come to his Kingdom and demand Regulus and a few other men's custody. It was natural for Everard to find that demand unpleasant and unfair.

"Then you should also understand that those very men kidnapped my mate and held her hostage for not just weeks but months. And what more? Turns out the main perpetrator's brother was behind my father's death. Now, tell me, Lord Zenon…" Everard looked at Zenon through his brows and asked challengingly, "If you were in my place, wouldn't you also want to personally break that man?"

"Of course. I understand where you're coming from, Your Majesty."

"Then, that settles it."

"However!" Zenon couldn't return to Sorvando empty-handed. So, he didn't let Everard to abruptly end their meeting. "Your Majesty, you also need to understand that if giving up on personally avenging your father's death and your mate's kidnapping leads to your Kingdom being saved then it is wise to consider that option."

Everard let out a low growl in retaliation. "You're practically forcing me to agree to your stupid demand and calling it an option?"

Zenon, being the only calm-headed person in the room, said politely and with conviction, "I could never force you. It is your choice after all – whether to satisfy your ego or to avoid the war."

"Lord Zenon!" Everard slammed his fist on the armrest of his chair and growled, "Are you openly threatening me?"

"It's quite the opposite." Zenon was unfazed by the glowing eyes of the werewolf glowering at him. "I'm offering you a peaceful solution. But it is true that I am pressuring you a little. I don't want to see our men, women, and young children getting massacred in a meaningless war. Handing over those men to us is in favor of both the Kingdoms."

"Why don't you just ask your King not to unnecessarily brew the war? It's not like I am the one being unreasonable here." Everard sighed in frustration.

Zenon was also already frustrated as this conversation had been going in circles for hours. However, he didn't show it on his face.

"Your Majesty, we aren't demanding to take those men with us just so we could let them run free after a slap or two. I assure you that they will be through hell and back before they will even be given the chance to beg for mercy, in other words, death."

Everard laughed in exasperation and snarled, "Then I can also promise you the same thing. Say to your King that those culprits will get a fitting punishment here."

After a long while of back and forth, Zenon proposed, "Then how about this? I will give you one day with those criminals. Except for killing them, you can do whatever you like to them. After a day, I will come to collect them."

Everard was too drained by this meeting by now. He just wanted it to end so that he could go and see Ruby.

"Fine!" he grumbled. "After they get to Sorvando, just make sure that they don't get an easy death."

Zenon had a courteous smile on his lips when he extended his arm and said, "We have a deal."

---

"Argh!" Regulus flinched when he tried to turn his head and look around to make sense of where he was.

Before Regulus was transported from Xanmar, Everard had pummeled him so badly that he didn't come to his senses until after two days after his arrival in Sorvando.

"Ugh!" He grimaced again when he tried to move his body. Even with supernatural healing ability, it didn't seem like he was recovering at all.

If only he knew that this was a small payback from Lorenzo, who was rescued by Everard's soldiers from the Atkinson Mansion's dungeon.

Lorenzo had managed to procure the same compound that Romulus had given him before beating him to near-death. Since Regulus was no better than Romulus, Lorenzo had offered the compound to Everard so that he could make Regulus suffer more. Everard was more than happy to use it.

"Where the hell am I?" Regulus mumbled to himself as he tried to make sense of his pitch-black surroundings.

He wasn't expecting to actually get an answer from someone.

"It looks like you finally came to your senses huh?"

Regulus grunted in pain as he used all the energy in his body to prop up his upper body on his elbows. After looking around for some time, he finally noticed someone chained in the cell opposite of him.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked when he didn't recognize the smell.

The man let out a grim chuckle and murmured, "An unlucky soul who can only dream about death now."

Regulus wasn't amused to hear that stranger's philosophical answer. He thought of ignoring that man's existence until he noticed the glowing red eyes of that man. At first, he thought that Everard had captured other alphas besides him. But when his vision slowly adapted to the surroundings, he realized he wasn't in Xanmar's dungeon anymore, and neither was that man a werewolf.

"Where the hell am I?" he growled again, a bit panicked and a bit angry.

Instead of that man, a familiar voice answered Regulus from the adjacent cell, "We were brought to Sorvando, Alpha. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to escape. We all were heavily drugged."

"Sorvando…"

Regulus lay flat on the cold floor again. Anastasia's warning began to ring in his ears. He suddenly burst into a grim chuckle and mumbled to himself, "Everything would have gone according to my plan if that bitch had woken up sooner. That dumb King would have been dead along with that those two bitches."

Bartholomew slowly crawled closer to the bars of his cell. The chains tied to his body rattled as he struggled forward.

After finally reaching his destination after quite some struggle, he grabbed onto the bars and narrowed his eyes at the werewolves in front of him.

Out of nowhere, he suddenly shouted in an accusing tone, "When my men gave you the whereabouts of the Queen that day, I thought they also warned your men to erase your traces properly! How dare you get caught and lie there like a pathetic loser! And how come the Queen is unharmed? You had all the time in the world and yet I hear that she doesn't have a single scar on her body!"

"Why the fuck are you getting all riled up for, old man?" Regulus rolled his eyes and asked in an unbothered tone.

His answer made Bartholomew even angrier. "I am getting riled up because all of my men either got injured or killed just based on the assumption that I was the one who had kidnapped the Queen. If I knew that I would end up in this state either way and that you would fail so miserably, I would have kidnapped her myself instead of tipping off her location to you."

The old man's eyes almost popped out with rage as he continued screaming, "If I was the one to kidnap her, I would have drained every drop of her blood from her body."

It had been three whole weeks since Bartholomew tasted a single drop of human blood. Just imagining himself digging his fangs on Anastasia's neck made him drool uncontrollably.

He slurped his drool in an uncivilized manner and mumbled while slamming his forehead against the bars, "Even if I was to get caught after that, I would have been satisfied. If I had done that, at least my daughter's soul would have been happy to see Caspian suffer. He took away my dear daughter from me. I should have been the one to take away his precious wife from him, not you stupid stinky dog."

Regulus got ticked off by that old man's insulting words and barked back, "Don't call me a dog, you zombie! I swear I will rip that tongue off your throat if you run your mouth like that again."

Bartholomew snorted and mockingly said, "As if you have enough strength to break the bars. Once you are here, they will never let you regain your strength. You are already doomed, dog. If you're thinking of escaping from here, you'll give up on that idea soon enough. They love to torture the prisoners here."

He laughed at the naïve werewolves and ridiculed them, "And you dogs committed the most offensive crime. I can't wait to see what they do to you all. I can already tell that I am going to enjoy the show."

"Having a nice little chat, are we?"

Bartholomew suddenly went silent when he heard the voice he hated and feared the most.

Caspian emerged from the darkness and stood between Bartholomew's and Regulus' cells. He looked at those pathetic criminals with a little smirk on his face. And he mocked them both, "Did you two finish the introduction or should I give you two some more time? I can always come back later if you two aren't done talking."

Bartholomew knew better than to provoke Caspian. He lowered his head and didn't utter a single word.

Regulus, on the other hand, growled, "Your wife is fine, isn't she? Just let us go and we will forget this ever happened."

Caspian turned to face Regulus completely. He glared at the werewolf through his brows and asked in a grim tone, "I'm sorry, what are we going to forget exactly?"

Regulus mustered up all the leftover energy in his body and pushed himself up on his feet. Feeling the need to show his dominance, he put on his brave face and spoke condescendingly, "You forget that I kidnapped your wife and I will forget that I was ever brought to this dungeon. But if you try to do anything funny, I won't forget it even if you do.

I will bring all my pack members here and have them tear your flesh."

Caspian simply scoffed and asked in an unamused tone, "What pack members? Those who already died or those who joined other packs?"

"Don't try to bluff." Regulus was trying not to look surprised even when he was. "Our kind are loyal to their alphas."

"But if the alpha is out of the picture, they will do anything to join the other packs instead of being a weak lone wolf." Caspian took a step closer to the bars that were standing in between him and Regulus and said, "You are forgetting that your kind can't survive alone."

"Besides," Caspian folded his arms and asked satirically, "Are you thinking that I will let you out of the dungeon once I am done torturing and punishing you? Are you still in your little delusion bubble that you will somehow be able to escape?"

He suddenly slammed the bars, tilted his head, and asked menacingly, "Or are you thinking that kidnapping my wife isn't that big a crime that I would be willing to forget about it?"

Caspian didn't like it when Regulus still looked unfazed and proud. "I think you still don't understand the position you're in. Let me just show you a little demonstration."

Immediately after saying that, Caspian called a guard and asked him to unlock the door of the cell where the other three werewolves were locked in.

Caspian grabbed the man with a mole on his chin and brought him outside so that Regulus could see what he was going to do to that werewolf.

He pointed at that man's face and said, "He confessed he was the one who drugged my wife. And you know what that means?"

The very next moment, Caspian grabbed that man's wrists and twisted them so hard that a loud crack sound resounded in the quiet dungeon, followed by that man's agonizing howl.

"That means he is going to lose his hands that he used to hurt my wife." Caspian kept on twisting that man's hand until it made one full rotation.

That man's arm was now hanging loose. He dropped down to the floor as soon as Caspian left his hold. And the way he was screaming and crying out in pain left everyone in the dungeon praying that they weren't next.

Even Regulus turned his head away, unable to look at one of his men in that pitiful condition.

Caspian hummed, feeling amused by that reaction from Regulus. "Should I now assume you've understood that you're in no position to threaten me or try to make deals with me?"

Regulus looked at Caspian and let out a low growl from his throat.

"Or not," Caspian said flatly when Regulus still showed his defiance.

However, instead of getting angry, Caspian smiled at Regulus and calmly said after pointing his brows at the man who was lying at his feet, "You must be thinking that his hand will heal in a few days. That's right."

An evil smirk appeared on his lips for a brief second before he said in a rather threatening tone, "And I will break his hands again and again until he begs me to just kill him instead. Same with you. I will take my sweet time torturing you. You won't be able to get out of here, not even during the full moons because I will make sure that you won't transform."

Caspian gestured for his guard to shove the whimpering man back inside the cell and said to Regulus, "I will see you in a few days. I don't take pleasure in torturing the man who can barely stand."

He mockingly waved his hand at Regulus and turned to leave the dungeon.

As soon as Regulus heard the dungeon door closing far away, he collapsed to the floor and fainted again. The little energy that he had in his body was used up in standing for as long as he did.

"Alpha? Alpha? Are you okay?" One of the werewolves who heard the thump in the adjacent cell ran towards the wall between them and asked while slapping his palms on the wall.

Bartholomew shook his head at the pathetic werewolf and sat while facing the wall of his cell. He then started to rock back and forth while grumbling incoherently. It looked as if he was very close to losing his mind completely.

The werewolf who was neither hurt nor concerned for the 'alpha' was sitting in the corner and watching the chaos around him. 'We messed with someone we should never have,' he thought.

He looked at Bartholomew who was still muttering to himself and wondered, 'He must have gone through a lot to reach that point… Maybe I should kill myself rather than wait for the torture from that vampire.'

However, he didn't have the courage to take his own life. He was utterly powerless. He could do nothing but accept the fate that awaited him.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.