Conquering His Cold Heart

305 Arrogance

“Monsters…” Everard whispered, heartbroken that his one true friend had labeled him as a monster.

Jerome also felt heartbroken upon hearing what Alexander wrote in the letter. More than the whole race being called the monsters, Jerome felt bad for the King for having to hear such a cruel word from his dearest friend.

“Please don’t take what he said to your heart, Your Majesty,” Jerome walked inside the room and said to Everard.

However, it seemed like Everard had already taken those hurtful words to his heart. He looked at Jerome with teary eyes and said, “But he is right. We do resemble the monsters when we spread out our fangs and claws. I bet he was shocked as he witnessed those men kill all of his guards.”

“Wait!” Everard suddenly widened his eyes and asked himself, “How did he survive if all of his guards were killed right before him?” A sudden cloud of fear lingered over his face, not knowing whether his friend was wounded by those rouge wolves. “He wasn’t hurt, was he?” he mumbled in a shaky voice.

Jerome heaved a deep sigh and tried to ease the King’s heart. “I bet the vampires came to the rescue of the Crown Prince. After all, he is the Vampire King’s brother-in-law.”

The second Jerome mentioned the Vampire King, instead of easing Everard’s heart, his words had the opposite effect on the King.

“Don’t mention him in front of me!” Everard gave a glare to Jerome as if he was going to suffocate Jerome just by looking at him.

He rolled his eyes and slowly turned his head towards the window. In an instant, countless thoughts started to haunt his mind. Everard literally had to slap his head to stop overthinking everything and have another panic attack on the spot.

.....

“Right…” He suddenly gritted his teeth and flared his nose in anger. “Didn’t Alex see the real faces of those vampires that they hide behind those perfect porcelain faces? Didn’t he see their monstrous sides as well?”

Jerome instantly nodded and gave his opinion to the King. “If those vampires killed all those men then they must have displayed their true powers... and also their true faces. Since the Crown Prince was unharmed even when his guards were killed, my gut says that he must now know about the vampires. I am sure he witnessed them in action.”

A sudden tingle of joy danced on Everard’s face when he listened to Jerome. “Doesn’t that mean he also knows who his sister truly married?”

“Umm…” Jerome didn’t know how to react to the sudden change in Everard’s emotions. However, he didn’t want to make the King angry or sad again. Thus, he offered some hollow consolation to the King. “I would like to assume that the Crown Prince knows it… that the one who his sister married is also a vampire.”

“That’s right!” Everard subtly smiled and got lost in his own world of imagination. “Then doesn’t he think that Anna’s husband is also a monster? He should have realized by now that leaving his sister in Sorvando is basically like abandoning her at the doorstep of hell.”

Everard nodded to himself and took a sigh of relief. “If Alex knows that then he must already be doing preparations to bring his sister back to Orsenia.”

He again looked gloomy when he further mumbled, “It doesn’t matter if he thinks of me as a monster too. It also doesn’t matter if I can never have Anna. All that matters is that she will now be safe from the clutch of that blood-sucking creature.”

Jerome gave some time to Everard to collect his emotions that were going haywire at the moment. And he waited for the King to remember it himself that the immediate matter that he needed to be worried about wasn’t Queen Anastasia but to declare his innocence in the attack.

However, when Everard kept on going on and on about the safety of Queen Anastasia and how she would no longer have to endure living with the vampires, Jerome took it to himself to nudge Everard.

“Your Majesty, I don’t think you should delay clarifying your non-involvement in that attack.” Jerome had a serious look on his face when he further spoke, “If the King of Sorvando also thinks that you were the one who had orchestrated the attack on them then we might not be able to protect this Kingdom from being attacked.”

Everard simply rolled his eyes and arrogantly grumbled, “Why do I have to prove my innocence to that vampire? If he wants to attack then let him do so. We have a whole army who will be ready to defend the borders on my single command.”

Jerome felt a prick in his heart when Everard wasn’t being serious about the issue at hand. “We cannot afford another great war between vampires and werewolves, Your Majesty!” he said assertively. “Countless lives will be lost, and we might even go extinct if other Kingdoms see us as their enemies and band together to get rid of us monsters.”

“We are not monsters!” Everard snapped back at Jerome for using that very word that Alexander had used in his letter.

“But the humans will always see us as monsters. That is the truth.” Jerome took a deep breath to pitch down his voice and softly added, “There’s a reason why these borders exist, and there’s a reason why we made a blood pact with our enemies to protect our true identity.”

Everard was still not ready to listen to anything that Jerome was saying. He just thought that Jerome was being paranoid since Xanmar had enjoyed a peaceful era for a very long time.

Jerome, seeing that undying stern expression on the King’s face, tried to get to Everard’s heart again. “Even Orsenia might join hands with Sorvando since it was their Crown Prince who was almost assassinated, not just your childhood friend.”

Everard felt a prick in his heart when he heard that. Still, he tried to suppress that painful sensation in his heart by making himself believe that Orsenia would never side with Sorvando if a war would indeed break out. “Why will they join hands with Sorvando even after knowing what they truly–”

Jerome didn’t let Everard finish his sentence though. “No matter what creature the King of Sorvando is, he is still the son-in-law of the monarch of Orsenia. The King of Orsenia will definitely take Sorvando’s side and not yours.”

Everard felt attacked when Jerome pierced his heart with his sharp tongue.

Seeing the sad expression on the King’s face, Jerome urged again, “That’s why I am urging you to quickly take action. Clear the misunderstandings between you and the Crown Prince. And it would be better if you write an apology letter to the King of Sorvando as well.”

“But–”

“That apology will be indirectly heard by Queen Anastasia as well.” Jerome looked Everard in the eyes and asked, “Do you want her to keep on believing that you sent people after her and her brother?”

“No…” Everard looked down with a guilty look on his face.

Jerome finally got time to look around the room. He looked at the mess Everard had made by throwing papers everywhere on the floor. He pursed his lips and asked the King while pointing towards the paper on the table, “Please take the seat. I will also help you to pen down the letters.”

Everard didn’t want Anastasia and Alexander to keep on thinking that he tried to murder them. Thus, he accepted Jerome’s help and went to take his seat.

He grabbed the quill and asked Jerome after straightening out a paper, “Tell me how to start. I always end up writing some stupid sentences.”

“Sure, Your Majesty.” Jerome heaved a deep sigh of relief and sat down in front of Everard. “Okay, so these are the things that you should include in the letter…”