权力的游戏 在线

He kept on staring at his wife’s serene face and thought back to the things that had happened yesterday.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Everard was being truthful in the letter or if he was simply acting to have apologized when he had some other hidden motives. ‘I sure hope that he isn’t secretly preparing for any kind of battle while pretending to apologize.’

Caspian’s mind wandered around and recalled all the things that he had heard from Hamilton. He clutched his jaw in anger and cursed Everard in his mind. ‘And I sure as hell hope that he doesn’t harbor any funny ideas about my wife anymore. Or else, I will be the one declaring war even if that bastard doesn’t have any plans to go into war with me and my Kingdom.’

Obviously, laying a single finger on the Queen of the Kingdom would be equivalent to declaring war. And Caspian hoped that Everard wasn’t a fool to do so.

Caspian spent his morning by simply lying on the bed beside his wife and thinking about all kinds of things. The sunlight had brightened up the whole room by the time Anastasia finally rubbed her eyes and opened them.

“Good morning, dear husband,” she greeted him in her throaty morning voice.

Caspian finally snapped out of the rabbit hole of his thoughts when he heard his wife greeting him first thing in the morning and moving closer to him to give him a tight hug.

A soft smile automatically bloomed on his face after receiving that sweet gesture from his wife. He also fully turned to face Anastasia and put his arms around her. “Good morning, dear wife. Did you sleep well?”

.....

“Mhmm,” she whispered and gave a nod. She looked into his eyes and then further said in a happy manner, “I saw a very good dream today.”

“Oh, really? What did you see?” Caspian showed his interest to hear about his wife’s dream.

Anastasia smiled and answered, “In my dream, you and Everard were good friends. And I saw that both of you were happily drinking tea while discussing about the future of two nations.”

The smile from Caspian’s face faded away in an instant when he heard that. He took a deep breath in and abruptly sat up on the bed.

Anastasia looked a little saddened by that reaction from her husband. “You didn’t like what I said?” she asked in a guilty voice.

Caspian got out of bed and went to grab the shirt that he had worn the day before. He began buttoning his shirt without facing his wife.

Then he said in a disinterested tone, “I don’t think I would consider drinking tea with him and talking about my Kingdom a happy dream. No matter what he does from here on forth, I can never forget what he did to you in the ball.”

“Neither can I!” Anastasia pushed herself up from the bed and said while defending herself, “But if putting that one unpleasant memory behind me will mean that thousands and thousands of people will enjoy the peace for years to come then I am ready to forget about it.”

“And if there’s a chance that the people of Sorvando and Xanmar will forget about their enmity then isn’t it better to have a friendly relationship with Everard than to treat him as an enemy forever?” Anastasia sounded serious when she asked that question. It looked like she was determined to mend the fracture between the two Kings.

Caspian turned to look at his wife and asked her in a hurtful tone, “Anna, a few days ago, you were ready to give up your friendship with that man! Even your brother asked you to maintain your distance from him. Don’t you remember what kind of description your brother gave about him and his people?”

“Yes, I remember, Caspian.” Anastasia slipped down from her bed and slowly inched closer to where Caspian was standing. “But after you told me what he had written in that apology letter, I don’t think we should be looking at Everard in the same light as before. Just because a few of those men attacked us doesn’t mean that everyone from Xanmar is bad.”

“Most of the people in Xanmar are someone who can kill us, vampires, as well!” Caspian sounded desperate to make Anastasia understand the gravity of the situation. “No vampire will want to have a good relationship with their kind because of that very reason.”

Anastasia also tried to reason with Caspian that being able to kill vampires didn’t mean they would actually go around killing vampires left and right. “We can always start somewhere, can’t we? Maybe the friendship between you and Everard would be the very reason for a peaceful relationship between the citizens of both kingdoms. They can learn from their rulers.”

“Anna, please, that’s never–”

“And…” Anastasia held Caspian’s arm and completed what she was about to say before letting him speak again, “He apologized to you. Maybe this is where you can extend the hand of friendship with him. You can send a letter to Xanmar by accepting his apology and–”

“He apologized. Yes.” Caspian pushed Anastasia’s hand away from his arm and said in a harsh tone, “But I don’t see why I should sit with him and have tea together when I don’t even like the damn tea!”

“Oh…” That revelation came as a shock to Anastasia.

Caspian immediately closed his eyes when he realized what he had just said to her even though it wasn’t really his intention to hurt her. He sighed to express contempt at himself and extended his arm to hold his wife’s hand.

And he said in a much softer voice, “Anna, I didn’t mean what I said. Please forgive me. It just came out of my mouth even when I really really really like the tea you make.”