Conquering His Cold Heart

361 Confrontation

Marcella abruptly retreated her grip on Tilla’s neck and took a few steps away from Tilla when she saw the Queen glaring at her with eyes full of fury.

Tilla, on the other hand, instantly heaved a deep breath and collapsed to the ground. She immediately held her neck and began coughing to the point where she teared up. Though Marcella wasn’t grabbing her neck anymore, the immense pain was still there.

“What were you doing to her?” Anastasia growled in rage once she slowed down after reaching in front of Marcella and Tilla.

Marcella didn’t utter a word. Since she was at fault here, and since she was already caught, Marcella could only lower her head in shame.

“Don’t you dare run away from here! I will deal with you in a while.” Anastasia clenched her teeth while giving a death glare to Marcella, and then pushed her legs to take a few more steps towards Tilla. Her heart ached upon seeing the pitiable state of her dear friend.

‘Was she always bullied like this by the other maids? Was she always hiding the pain from me until now?’ Anastasia wondered to herself as her eyes turned moist all of a sudden.

She slowly crouched down by Tilla’s side and then put her arms around Tilla’s shoulder. She then consolingly rubbed her palms against Tilla’s arms and asked in a very soft voice, “Tilla, you aren’t hurt, right?”

Tilla gulped to soothe her dry throat and spoke with great difficulty, “I am not hurt. Please don’t worry about me.”

“How can I not worry about you when you are in this state?” Anastasia said in a rather reprimanding tone. And in the next second, she asked, “Do I need to call a doctor for you?”

.....

Tilla’s eyes were stuck on the hem of Marcella’s gown. She recalled how Marcella had threatened her saying that she would hurt the ones who were dear to her.

She then slowly turned her head to look at the surrounding. It was only Anastasia who had somehow come to her rescue. Even though there were now two of them, they both were no match for a vampire.

Thus, so as not to cause trouble for Anastasia, Tilla looked at her worried face and said, “I don’t need a doctor. Nothing has happened to me. Besides, what are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in your bed by now?”

Anastasia furrowed her brows and scolded Tilla. “Can’t you see why I am here? I came here for you, silly!”

Tilla couldn’t explain how glad she felt upon hearing that. A warm feeling soared across her chest. However, at the same time, she also felt guilty for unintentionally dragging Anastasia into her problems.

“My Queen, let’s go to your chamber then. I will tuck you in,” Tilla said with the intention of taking Anastasia away from potential danger.

Her heartbeat began to escalate again when she inadvertently looked at Marcella’s face. She didn’t care if something happened to her. But no matter what, she couldn’t let Marcella hurt the Queen.

Anastasia frowned. “Don’t you think I should deal with some other issue first?” she asked with a serious look on her face. It looked as if she was determined to do something to the maid right now.

“No, it’s all right. Let’s just leave for now.” Tilla gulped and looked towards the empty and moonlit path by their side.

Anastasia couldn’t believe that Tilla was trying to let such a serious case of assault slide just like that. “It’s not alright, Tilla!” she exclaimed. “She almost choked you to death!”

Goosebumps ran down Anastasia’s body when she recalled how Tilla was gagging for air just moments ago. She knew that if she was even a second late, something terrible would have happened to Tilla. Her body suddenly began to heat up and tremble because of the anger and fear.

She abruptly got up on her feet and glared at Marcella’s face. That maid still didn’t seem to look that guilty about what she just did.

“You!” Anastasia exclaimed to grab that maid’s attention. And when Marcella lifted her head to look at her face, she shot a lot of questions at her, “Didn’t you hear what I asked earlier? Why were you choking Tilla? What did she do to receive such cruel treatment from you? Have you been doing this to Tilla for very long?”

Anastasia suddenly felt her heart clenching when she recalled how Tilla had come to her chambers while dragging her legs. She clenched her fists and voiced out her suspicion. “Don’t tell me it was you who pushed Tilla in the morning.”

Marcella didn’t deny the accusation. She simply frowned as if she was irritated by the questions and averted her gaze from Anastasia.

“It was indeed you, wasn’t it?” Anastasia’s blood began to boil even more when she saw the nonchalant demeanor of that maid. She was acting all high and mighty even when she was in the wrong here.

Tilla could sense that Anastasia was about to lose her calm. And she forcefully pushed herself up on her feet and mumbled from behind, “Let’s just leave, Your Majesty. You shouldn’t be wasting any more time with her.”

Anastasia was, however, not listening to a word that Tilla was saying. Rather than leaving like a coward, she swiftly took off her shoe with a wooden heel and then tightly clutched it with her hand.

Before Marcella could even guess why the Queen took her shoe off, she felt a slight stinging sensation on her left cheek.

Tilla widened her eyes and covered her mouth with her palms in shock.

Marcella was also greatly stunned because she had never expected to get hit by the weak-looking Queen.

“Wh–” she was about to snarl at the human Queen to assert her dominance. However, before she could do so, she got another even stronger smack on her other cheek.

“Don’t even think for a second that I am a weak Queen who can’t punish you,” Anastasia grumbled in rage when she saw Marcella clenching her teeth and rolling her eyes.

And as if she was fearless, Marcella glared back at Anastasia and asked in a mocking tone, “You call this a punishment? It won’t even hurt a fly, let alone me.”