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Caspian was getting ready to head to the throne hall for the meeting even though he wasn’t looking forward to it.

He had called for Percy. And when he arrived at the dressing chamber, Caspian asked him sourly, “Is she doing fine without my interference in her life?”

Percy bowed and replied, “I don’t think anyone would be completely fine without their husband’s presence.”

Caspian raised his brows and asked, “So, you’re not going to ask me to give her some more time today? Am I finally allowed to see my wife? Has her anger finally subsided?”

Percy wasn’t an expert on women’s behavior, but he tried his best to answer his King, “In my opinion, the Queen should have calmed down by now. But as far as I know, Her Majesty has been reading non-stop. So I don’t really know whether it’s a good sign or bad. Why don’t you ask Her Majesty yourself, my King?”

Caspian frowned at the man and said, “You’re as sly as ever, Percy. After asking me to give her some time to calm her anger down, now you’re telling me that you don’t know anything? Ugh!”

Caspian walked out of his room, wishing he had barged into Anastasia’s chamber sooner. Because now, he felt even guiltier for not apologizing to his wife for so many days.

‘She has been reading non-stop, huh?’ He recalled what Percy had said to him.

.....

He regretted showing the library to Anastasia. ‘If she didn’t have any books then maybe she would have been bored by now. Maybe she would have wanted to talk to me if she wasn’t so occupied.’

Caspian stood in front of the main door to Anastasia’s chambers and knocked lightly.

“Who’s it?” he heard her soft voice.

Her voice felt like music to his ears since he heard it after what felt like a year to him.

“Anna, it’s me. Can we talk?” he asked from outside the door.

He was expecting his wife to invite him in, but he got his heart broken instead.

“I have nothing to talk about. Please, pretend that I don’t exist. And I will do the same.”

Caspian clenched his fist and stopped himself from barging in. But he asked again in a hurt voice, “Why are you saying that, Anna? Please, let’s talk.”

However, there was no reply.

“Anna? Anna!” he slammed on the door and called her, but she didn’t say a word.

Caspian was already late for his meeting. So he sighed and thought of checking on his wife after the meeting was over.

—

“Your Majesty, should we send some men to reinvestigate this particular matter?” Zenon turned to look at the King.

And he asked for the King’s opinion, “This particular woman disappeared from her home without any traces. Her parents said that she was badly injured so she couldn’t have run that far. But no one found her. Maybe someone kidnapped her?”

Caspian was leaning on the backrest of his throne and was lost in his own sorrow. ‘Ah! How can she become so heartless?’

He was unable to accept that his wife, who had said that she would do anything to make him fall for her, would act so distant.

His mind was filled with a lot of questions, ‘Has she forgotten our bet? Does she not care if she dies? How can she stay locked up in her room? And more importantly, how can she ask me to pretend that she doesn’t exist? Is she trying to test me or something?’

“Your Majesty?” Zenon leaned a little closer to Caspian and tried to get his attention.

“Hmm?” Caspian gave a clueless glance to his advisor.

So Zenon explained the case they were discussing again and asked if they should send someone to Silver Keep for reinvestigation.

Caspian casually waved his hand and said, “Don’t bother so much. If the council didn’t find her then maybe she doesn’t want to be found. She must have run away with her lover. Let her be.”

Zenon gave a nod and moved on to the next case.

But Caspian suddenly interrupted Zenon and asked everyone present in the hall. “All of you... most of you have wives, right?”

The vampires were confused by that question that the King asked out of the blue. But those who were married and whose wives were still alive and well nodded their heads.

Caspian cleared his throat and then awkwardly asked, “Give me a suggestion then. What should I...” He took a deep breath in and continued, “What should I do to make my wife talk with me? She umm... she has been avoiding me for a few days now.”

The ministers and councilmen were confused if they were to actually give suggestions or if they were supposed to wait for their King to start ranting.

Zenon was barely holding in his laughter after seeing the looks on everyone’s faces.

Caspian was waiting for them to speak up. He kept on looking at the confused vampires, expecting some answers from them.

Zenon cleared his throat and asked the confused vampire nobles, “Well, you heard His Majesty. Why are all of you so silent?”

—

Caspian was in his study. He was thinking back to what a councilman had suggested, ‘Gift her something that she likes...”

‘I know she likes sweet food, but... I don’t want to use the same tactic as that dead maid. She likes to read novels, but if I gift more books to her then I will be pushing her further away. And I don’t really know what else she likes.’

He rested his chin on his palm and thought, ‘Shall I ask Anna’s handmaid?’

But he shook his head and dismissed that thought. ‘I feel as if that maid hates me. She might give opposite suggestions to me, and Anna might hate me more than she already does.’

He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door.

“Your Majesty,” Zenon walked in with a piece of news, “The spies who I sent to gather more information about Everard Crestfire returned today. Would you like to listen to the summary of their findings?”

Caspian’s eyes twinkled, and his ears perked up. He adjusted his position on the chair and eagerly looked at Zenon. “Yes. I am all ears.”

Zenon started with the piece of information which he thought the King wanted to hear the most. “The Crown Prince had his first transformation on the last full moon. He is in Xanmar at the moment. But he will return to Lavinya soon.”

“By the last full moon, do you mean he transformed not more than a week ago?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Just a week ago,” Zenon gave a nod.

Caspian had a hint of relief dancing on his face after hearing that.

He then thoughtfully rubbed his chin, ‘Anastasia was already here in Sorvando when that wolf had his first transformation. Then I was worried for no reason. Even if he liked her, he didn’t get the chance to mark her.’

Zenon could see that his King was lost again. So he asked, “Shall I continue, or would you like me to stop for now?”

“You have the report given by the spy, right?” Caspian asked as he got up from his seat.

Zenon nodded and asked the King, “Yes, it is in my study. Shall I bring it to you?”

Caspian tapped on his desk and agreed, “Leave it here on my desk. I will look into it later.”

Immediately after ordering his advisor, Caspian headed towards Anastasia’s chamber.

When Anastasia didn’t talk to him for four days straight, Caspian was almost sure that he had made baseless accusations against her. If she had some hidden agenda, then she would have tried to win him over already.

However, he still had some doubts regarding the mark. He wasn’t an expert on werewolf marks. But he wondered if Anastasia was marked by Everard without her knowledge.

He didn’t want his wife to be a werewolf’s mate. And he definitely didn’t want that werewolf to come and take her away from him.

But now that he knew for sure that Everard wasn’t even a werewolf when he had met Anastasia, all his doubts were cleared.

He wanted to apologize to Anastasia for having hurt her feelings.

Caspian stood in front of the main door to Anastasia’s chamber. He knocked on the door and said authoritatively, “Anastasia, we need to have a talk.”