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However, he kept on insisting that he would stay by Anastasia’s side. And he asked Tilla to show him everything that he needed to do for his wife.

Tilla was quite impressed when Caspian actively listened to her and observed her when she taught every little detail to Caspian.

And soon enough, Caspian was already copying everything that Tilla was doing and he had memorized every detail. He knew which medicine to give to Anastasia and when, he learned how to give the sponge bath, and he learned what to do when Anastasia would start to tremble.

And though Tilla and the other maids were there to prepare the balanced diet for the Queen, Caspian also learned what kind of food would help in the quick recovery of his wife.

“Is there anything else that I need to know?” Caspian asked Tilla without lifting his gaze from his sleeping wife.

Tilla thought for a few seconds and replied, “I think that’s pretty much it.”

Caspian nodded and then picked up a wet towel. He took Anastasia’s palm and then began to gently wipe it.

Tilla placed the medicine on the table by the bed. She bowed to the King and said, “I will go and ask the chef to prepare something for Her Majesty.”

.....

Caspian gave a nod. After Tilla left the room, he stared at Anastasia for a while. He hated to disturb her when she was deep in her sleep. But her fever was still higher than normal. And she was grimacing in pain every once in a while.

So he lightly tapped on Anastasia’s shoulder and called her, “Anna... It’s time to take your medicine.”

Anastasia turned her face away and kept on sleeping.

Caspian looked at her with a pitiful glance. He caressed her hair, careful not to touch her skin with his icy palm, and then called her again, “Anna... You can go back to sleep after taking the medicine.”

Anastasia took a deep breath in and unwillingly forced her eyes open. It took her some time to clearly see who was sitting by her side.

“Caspian?” she whispered with her breath, and tried to get up but failed.

“Yes. I’m here.” Caspian placed his hand under her back and her head and said, “Let me help you up.”

He helped Anastasia to sit upright on her bed. He also stacked the pillows behind her back. And when he made sure that she was sitting comfortably, he picked up the bowl of medicine to feed it to his wife.

He brought a spoonful of dark-green liquid near Anastasia’s mouth. “Here. Drink this and you can go back to sleep.”

All the while, Anastasia had a confused look on her face. And before drinking the medicine, she asked, “Where’s Tilla? I thought she was here with me.”

“She went to get you some food,” Caspian replied and put the liquid in her mouth.

Anastasia winced and shuddered the moment she drank that bitter medicine.

Caspian’s felt a prick in his heart thinking that he might have done something that he wasn’t supposed to. He hastily asked, “Did I do something wrong? Isn’t that how I should be feeding this to you?”

Anastasia wiped her lips and replied, “It’s bitter.”

Without wasting a second, Caspian put a drop of that medicine in his mouth. And the moment it touched his tongue, he felt so disgusted by that medicine that he felt like scrubbing his tongue to scrape out the residue of that medicine.

He gulped hard and tried to get over it. But the bitterness made him gag and he felt like he would throw up. He pressed his palm over his mouth and kept on gagging and coughing.

Anastasia was holding her stomach and trying hard not to laugh. But she couldn’t help it. She giggled even though it hurt her back and her stomach. And she asked her husband, “Why would you even do that when I said that it was bitter?”

Caspian gasped for air and then angrily mumbled, “I think I should behead that doctor for giving you something as disgusting as this.”

Anastasia giggled at that overdramatic husband of hers and snatched the bowl from his hand. “If you start beheading the doctors who prescribe bitter medicines then there will be no doctors left in this world.”

She then pinched her nose and gulped everything that was in that bowl.

Caspian held his breath and kept on staring at his wife as though she had done something that was impossible.

“Pass me the water, please,” Anastasia asked while tight-shutting her eyes. She was trying not to throw up everything that she had just drunk.

Caspian hastily gave her a glass of water. And when she was done, he asked, “How did you drink so much of it when I couldn’t even handle a drop of it?”

“Well I am used to it,” Anastasia replied without thinking. And she regretted it instantly after.

Caspian furrowed his brows and asked, “What do you mean you are used to it? Do you get sick very often?”

Anastasia felt cold sweats breaking out on her forehead and her back. She gave a nervous smile and slid back down on the bed. She turned to face away from Caspian and then vaguely replied, “I catch a cold easily. And all the medicines are bitter.”

“You catch a cold easily? How often?” Caspian wanted to know how often his wife would go through this kind of pain.

Seeing her like this for once was enough to traumatize him for a very long time. He didn’t think he could see her in her fragile state again and again.

Anastasia closed her eyes and lied through her teeth, “Not that often. Maybe once or twice a year during winter. But if I dress warmly and eat healthy food then I will be fine.”

“And it also gets this bad every time?” he asked again.

And she replied without emphasizing the negative aspects, “I recover completely within four-five days.”

Caspian felt his heart aching again. He couldn’t even imagine seeing her going through such pain for four-five days, twice a year.

‘Why is it so hard for humans?’

He sat down by his wife’s side and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead.

‘Why do they have to get sick when they only live for less than a century? Can’t they live without feeling any pain as long as they are alive?’ He asked himself several questions to which he didn’t know the answers.

He tried not to think much of it. But he was already engulfed by sadness.

‘It’s so unfair on them...’

It struck him how fragile a human’s life was as compared to the lives of the vampires.

And for the first time, he wished that his wife was also a vampire like him and not a frail human with a short life.

‘I don’t want to lose her as well...’

Caspian’s eyes glistened when the thought of his wife getting old and passing away hit his mind.

‘I don’t think I can ever get over it.’

Caspian felt a lump in his throat. He shakily breathed in and abruptly got up. He rushed out of the room to get some fresh air and clear his head.

Anastasia felt her husband leave. She could already guess what was going through his mind.

And she felt very guilty for hiding her true condition from Caspian. ‘He will get devastated when he finds out my true condition, won’t he?’

For the first time, she wanted to come clean to Caspian. She wanted to tell him that she didn’t have much time left to live. And she even wanted to ask him not to fall harder for her.

She felt that she was a criminal for making him fall in love with her, only to leave him alone for the rest of his long life.

‘I will go to Hell when I die...’