Conquering His Cold Heart

364 Dilemma

“My Queen!” Right before Anastasia landed on the lifeless body of the maid, Vincent grabbed her by her waist and lifted her in his arms.

“Your Majesty?” Vincent looked at the Queen’s face and tried calling her.

However, Anastasia didn’t open her eyes at all. Instead, her hand slipped down as if she had no control over her body.

And that was when Vincent realized that she had lost consciousness. “What do I do? Do I take her to her chamber or do I take her to Silver Keep?” he mumbled to himself and looked at Tilla again. From the look of it, he knew that Tilla also needed immediate care.

“Oh hell!” Vincent cursed at the predicament that he was in.

He wished that he could carry both of the ladies to Silver Keep. However, he didn’t know if that would be safe for both of the ladies since he could very well hurt them even more while carrying them in an awkward position.

Even through her pain, Tilla noticed how Vincent was in a visible dilemma. And to make it easier for him, she softly mumbled, “Lord Vincent, take care of the Queen first. I don’t have any serious injuries. Please take her to the doctor.”

Vincent wasn’t convinced though. He was sure that Tilla was only saying that to make it easier for him.

However, even after guessing that, Vincent decided to take care of the Queen first. As a loyal citizen of Sorvando, it was his duty to put the lives of his monarchs before his own or his dear ones.

.....

“I will send someone to help you out,” he assured Tilla and even though he was unwilling to, he turned his back on her.

“Lord Vincent, what happened to the Queen?” Martha arrived at the scene and asked while gasping for air.

Vincent was glad to see Martha finally catching up to him. He instantly ordered her, “Don’t worry about the Queen. Tilla is injured. Help her out.”

“Yes, Mi–” Martha looked behind Vincent and almost instantly gasped when her eyes fell on the severed body before seeing Tilla.

Vincent clenched his teeth after following Martha’s gaze and looking at the dead body. He looked ahead of him and grumbled, “I will send someone to clean up the mess.”

He then instantly ran at the speed of the wind. He was thinking of taking Anastasia to the town of the humans so as to get her treated.

However, when he reached the central wing, he changed his mind. “I think I should bring two doctors here instead of taking one patient there. Both the Queen and Tilla can get attended by the doctors at the same time if I do that.”

With that thought in mind, Vincent slowly made his way toward the Queen’s chamber while trying to convince himself that he was making the right decision.

‘The Queen just fainted because she couldn’t take in the bloody scene in front of her. Maybe she will even regain her consciousness before I even come here with the doctors. She hasn’t sustained any injuries… I guess…’

He took a deep breath and thought with a sad expression on his face, ‘Tilla, on the other hand, was looking like she has a few broken bones. Yes. I should bring the doctors here.’

Just when he was about to push the door of the Queen’s chambers, he heard someone asking, “Milord, w-what happened to Her Majesty?”

It was Percy who was doing the night round of the castle, in case he was needed somewhere. And it seemed as if he was.

“Percy! Good thing I found you.” Vincent kicked the door open and rushed the Queen to her bedchamber.

After carefully laying the Queen down on her bed, Vincent turned around to find Percy standing at the bedchamber’s door with his eyes wide open in shock.

Percy questioningly looked at Vincent. He was terrified seeing the bloodied and torn clothes of the Queen. He even wondered if Vincent was the one who had done that to the Queen but quickly shook that thought off his head upon seeing the worried expression on Vincent’s face.

Vincent quickly covered the Queen with the blanket and ordered Percy in a hurry, “I need someone to guard the Queen. Someone who doesn’t have any hard feelings towards her, someone who we can trust fully.”

He took a deep breath and blurted out other orders as well. “And I am going to need someone to come with me to Silver Keep to fetch a few doctors. Tilla is also hurt. And yes, there’s a body of a maid lying near the well behind the servants’ quarter. Take that corpse and keep it in the punishment room for now. And have that area secured and sealed. The King might want to take a look at that area when he arrives.”

Percy took a labored breath after hearing all the things at once. It wasn’t that he didn’t properly catch the order, rather, he could somewhat make a guess as to what might have transpired that led the Queen in the condition that she was in.

And he felt uneasy knowing that the King would also blame him for not weeding out the maids and servants who harbored ill intentions toward the Queen.

“Percy? Do you hear me?” Vincent asked after taking a few steps toward the head servant.

Percy gave a nod and responded after gathering his composure, “Yes, Milord. I will immediately take care of all the things.”

“Good.” Vincent walked past Percy and said, “I will head out first. And remember, if anything happens to the Queen, we will all be executed.”

Vincent said that to make sure that Percy would keep the Queen safe in his absence. After seeing the maid being brave enough to go after the Queen, he wasn’t sure whom to trust anymore. That was his way of warning Percy, in case the head servant wasn’t as loyal as he had imagined.

“I understand,” Percy said while bowing to the lord. He could feel the hostility and mistrust that seeped out through Vincent’s words. But he didn’t mind that at the moment.

Rather, he was more worried about ensuring the Queen’s safety.

He furrowed his brows and thought with a grim look on his face, ‘I should reevaluate everyone under me. I should have done that a while ago before things turned out this way.’

After shutting the main door, he walked towards the King’s chamber to find the maids-in-waiting who he knew were completely loyal to the King. He knew that they would fully extend their loyalty to the Queen too since she was someone very dear to the King.