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‘Couldn’t he have simply stayed outside?’ Caspian sighed in irritation and thought to himself. ‘How can he be so shameless and come here with his head held high when he was trying to pick a fight with me just moments ago?’

Everard, on the other hand, wasn’t focusing his attention on the vampires at all. His eyes were glued to Anastasia. And he was thinking of several ways he could ask Anastasia for a dance. ‘How should I approach her? Should I simply hold out my hand and then ask if I can dance with her? Or do I have to say something more impressive?’

“Everard! You took long enough to come back,” Alexander looked at Everard and then said with a welcoming smile. He was hoping that Everard was sober enough to participate in the conversation now.

Everard smiled and replied, “Oh, yes. I’m sorry that I took so much time.” He looked at Anastasia and then apologized to her as well, “I am sorry that I couldn’t give my proper attention. But I hope your brother took good care of you on my behalf?”

“Oh, yes.” Anastasia gave a quick smile to Everard and said, “My brother is giving us good company. There’s no need to worry about us. We are being taken care of. And it’s okay if you have to tend to the needs of your other guests first. There are so many, after all.”

Everard guiltily smiled and mumbled, “Yes, there are a lot of guests tonight. I hope my bet- my assistant is looking after everyone’s needs because I am too new to all this.”

Lorenzo quickly ran and then brought a chair for the King. He placed it beside Alexander and gestured for Everard to take the seat.

“Come, join us,” Alexander patted the chair and looked at his friend.

.....

Everard smiled and sat down, although he would have loved to ask Anastasia for a dance immediately and take her away to the main hall outside. He didn’t really want to sit down with all the vampires, but he had no choice but to do that anyway since the others were expecting him to join in the conversation.

Alexander immediately held his breath when Everard sat down beside him. He was still reeking of alcohol, and it made Alexander wonder if Everard had sobered up or if he drank even more before coming there.

“How do you feel?” he asked Everard to check how tipsy he was.

Everard nodded his head and replied, his eyes busy looking at Anastasia, “I feel fine. Great actually.”

Caspian glared at Everard and rambled in his mind, ‘Of course, you would feel great when you are checking another man’s wife right in front of him!’

If it wasn’t for the mask that was hiding the deep frowns and disgust on his face, everyone in the hall would have witnessed how enraged Caspian was at the moment.

Since he wasn’t looking away from his wife, Caspian cleared his throat and tried to grab Everard’s attention by asking, “King Everard, I hope you are enjoying your day?”

“Oh yes. I am.” Everard gave a short answer and then focused his attention back on Anastasia. And he asked her, “Anna, it’s been a while since we last saw each other. Are you adjusting well in your new castle?”

“Yes. It’s been a while,” Anastasia gave a subtle smile and turned to look at her husband. She could tell what kind of expression he was making beneath that mask. So, she said in a soft and spellbound voice, “I don’t know how I got so lucky. I have adapted well to my new home. I almost feel as though I have been living there for a long time now.”

“Ah! I see...” Everard pursed his lips and kept on nodding his head, not knowing whether he should believe what she was saying or not.

Though half of her face was covered, from the way she was looking at her vampire husband, he felt as though she was saying the truth. However, at the same time, knowing that he was a vampire made it really hard for him to believe that Anastasia was being treated well and that she was happy.

‘Don’t tell me vampires possess some kind of ability to enchant the humans...’ He thought of a possibility as to why Anastasia looked so spellbound by her vampire husband.

Everard suddenly grimaced because his head hurt very badly. He felt as though someone was hammering nails into his head. ‘I think I should stop thinking about whether she is speaking the truth or not. It is going to make my head explode if I keep on thinking about that.’

He decided to leave that topic for now and took a deep breath. He turned to look at Alexander and then asked, “I think our guests should have some fun, don’t you think?”

“Er...”

Before Alexander could answer, Everard replied to his own question, “How about we all go to the ballroom and then let out feet loose? It’s boring to just stay here and talk.”

Anastasia was the first one to agree. She held her husband’s hand and then asked him, “Why don’t we dance? I think it will be fun.”

The corners of Caspian’s lips curved up in an instant. The only time he had danced with his wife with proper music was when he had thrown a ball to welcome Anastasia to Sorvando. However, at that time, the two of them weren’t that close, so the dance wasn’t that flattering.

‘I was forcing her to dance at that time, wasn’t I?’ Caspian felt guilty when he recalled how their first dance was.

‘Let’s make up for that time,’ he thought to himself and then whispered to his wife, “Yes, I think it will be fun.”

Anastasia happily smiled ear to ear and turned to look at everyone in front of her. “Let’s go then. Let’s enjoy ourselves for a bit.”

‘This wasn’t how I imagined it would go,’ Everard dishearteningly thought to himself. But then he got an idea. ‘I could still dance with her while exchanging partners. Maybe I will even get a chance to get truthful answers from her.’

Everard swiftly got up from the chair and then said to everyone while gesturing towards the door, “I hope all of us without the partners can find ourselves a partner to dance with. Let’s head to the ballroom and dance to the tune.”