Conquering His Cold Heart

337 Rejection

“Get your arses out of my store before I call the soldiers and have them drag you all to your graves! Who do you think you are to talk badly about our King?”

The store owner was baring his fangs as well as claws at those activists as he snarled at them. It looked as though he was ready to tear those vampires apart for speaking ill of the King.

The activists quickly scurried away from the store. And the store owner even spat on the pamphlet that they had given him and threw it at those vampires as they were running away.

Caspian smiled upon seeing the event that unfolded. He felt happy knowing that even though Bartholomew and his minions were trying to sully his name and get more people on his side, the people weren’t that fool to readily fall victim to his manipulation.

Vincent was also happy to see Caspian’s confidence returning. He patted Caspian’s shoulder and then said, “See, I told you that the store owner would chase them. They were being too bold… trying to speak against the monarch who is protecting all of them from the outside world.”

Zenon was keeping his eyes on the direction that those activists ran to. And he quickly asked the King. “Your Majesty. Do you want me to send some men after them? We can bring them in for questioning.”

Caspian thought about it for a while and then replied, “It might be the exact thing they want us to do. When we release them after questioning, they might try to make me look bad in front of everyone by saying things that I didn’t do.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes and grumbled, “Or Bartholomew himself might rally some people in front of the castle and protest demanding their release. They can make a show out of it if we are not careful.”

Caspian nodded in agreement and clarified his intention for now. “Either way, I don’t want to give them any unnecessary attention. So, let them be for now. I have faith in my people. They will control these pests for me.”

.....

Zenon couldn’t deny that what the King predicted wouldn’t happen. Seeing how Bartholomew was taking calculative risks until now, he also felt that capturing his minions would give them an upper hand.

“Okay, then.” Zenon sighed and said while looking at the King, “I will let them be for now. But we will have to think of a permanent solution to suppress Bartholomew’s propaganda. It will look bad for us if this keeps on escalating.”

Caspian also thought that Bartholomew needed serious punishment for his actions. However, right now, his hands were full of other bigger problems that had been looming over him for quite a while now.

Zenon then pointed in the direction where they were supposed to go and asked the King, “So, shall we continue with our original route? We still have a lot of places to cover before we can return to the castle.”

Caspian gave a nod. But before continuing their patrol, he looked towards the store owner from earlier and said, “I will go and meet him. I have to thank him for defending me earlier.”

—

In the capital of Xanmar, Lorenzo had finally arrived at the castle. Although he didn’t have any prior appointment with the King, he was sure that Everard would be elated to see him.

However, he felt a little disappointed when he saw that the security of the castle was tighter than before. His carriage was not even allowed to enter the main gate of the castle.

Lorenzo got off the carriage that Regulus had rented for him. He went to the guards and then asked, “Why can’t I enter the castle? Is there any reason for doing this?”

The guard was doing some entries of the carriages that he had allowed to cross the gate, along with the records of the passengers of those carriages.

And without even raising his head from his file, the guard asked Lorenzo, “Don’t you know that the alpha of the Atkinson clan was murdered? We are just being extra careful.”

Lorenzo couldn’t argue with the guard about that because it was their duty to protect the King at all costs. However, he was also determined to protect Everard’s reputation and side-by-side, protect his life as well.

Thus, he asked the guard again, “I don’t think you recognize me but I am a good friend of the King. I couldn’t contact him for the past few days. So, I am here to greet him.”

The guard couldn’t be less bothered. He nonchalantly replied, “We aren’t allowing anyone to enter the castle until they have some urgent business or if they have received the pass from His Majesty himself. So, if you are just here to greet him then you can go back to your house and write a letter to the King.”

Lorenzo sighed in slight frustration and tried to bargain with the guard again. “No, you don’t understand! I am not just any friend, I am His Majesty’s close friend. On the coronation day, I was with His Majesty all day long.”

The guard finally raised his eyes from the file to look at Lorenzo. He looked at the slightly short man from his head to his toes. The man with the golden brown hair was wearing pretty decent clothes for a man who didn’t have any personal guards along with him.

That guard then looked behind his as if he was looking for someone. He looked at the other guard who was even busier than him and gave up on whatever idea he had in his mind.

He looked back at Lorenzo and asked while knitting his brows together, “Are you, by chance, the Crown Prince of Orsenia?” He sounded polite when he asked that.

A subtle frown appeared on Lorenzo’s forehead when he heard that name after quite a while. He slightly narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

The guard unintentionally rolled his eyes at Lorenzo and harshly asked, “Then why were you saying that you are the King’s close friend?” He gestured towards the carriage that Lorenzo had taken and said, “Please, don’t hold the line anymore. You are wasting everyone’s time by being arrogant.”

Lorenzo scoffed when the guard called him arrogant. But he couldn’t say anything to the guard. He knew the guard wouldn’t hesitate to push him away.

Seeing that there was nothing he could say to the guard to convince the latter to let him in, Lorenzo decided to go back for now.

“At least let His Majesty know that a man named Lorenzo was here to meet him, will you?” Lorenzo asked the guard, hoping that Everard would leave a pass at the gate for him so that he could enter the castle premises when he came there the next time.

The guard sighed at the persistence of the man. But he still scribbled Lorenzo’s name on the top corner of his file and nodded his head. “Okay. I will pass the message to the King. You may go now.”

Lorenzo pursed his lips into a thin line and nodded. He turned on his heels and climbed back inside the carriage that he came in.

When the coachman was turning the carriage around, Lorenzo glanced at the guard from the window and thought, ‘I hope he won’t forget to deliver the message. Else I will have to think of some other ways to contact His Majesty.’