185 Bonding
‘Is it just me or...are the two of them giving off a hostile vibe?’ Anastasia thought to herself as she watched that small exchange of conversation between Hamilton and Vincent.
Before any of them could speak much, Caspian intervened, “Alright, why don’t we freshen up before continuing our journey?”
Hamilton stretched his arms and announced lethargically, “I’m hungry, cousin.”
Before Caspian could speak, Vincent asked rather firmly, “Didn’t you have dinner yesterday, Lord Hamilton?”
Hamilton gave a mirthless smile and replied, “Well, if everyone’s stomach would still be full from yesterday’s dinner like you then the blood consumption would be down by half.”
Caspian had thought of going on a short walk with his wife. However, it looked like those two needed a babysitter. So, he gestured to his wife that he was going with those two, and then went near them.
He put his arms around each one of their shoulders and dragged them away while feigning ignorance to that display of bad blood between the two of them, “It’s a pretty lovely day, isn’t it? It’s not that hot unlike how it used to be a month ago.”
Hamilton rolled his eyes and commented bitterly, “I’m surprised that you haven’t burned to a crisp in that overcoat. Take it off already! You’re making me feel uncomfortable.”
“Don’t tell Caspian what to do when you yourself are covering yourself from head to toe,” Vincent spoke without missing a beat.
.....
Hamilton sighed and asked in an irritated voice, “And don’t speak on my cousin’s behalf when I am talking with him and not you. You’re not his wife, for god’s sake!”
“I’m his best friend!” Vincent asserted while looking past Caspian and glaring at Hamilton.
Hamilton instantly sneered and mumbled, “More like his only friend.”
Caspian had had enough of those two bickering with each other. “Gentlemen!” he gritted from between his teeth and gripped both of their shoulders. “Stop making a scene already! Our enemies are beyond the border. So, save your hatred for later.”
“Who said I hate him?” Hamilton groaned and loosened Caspian’s grip on his shoulder. “He is the one who started getting hostile with me for no reason.”
“I’m not being hostile.” Vincent also denied the ‘accusation’ from Caspian and tried to clarify, “I just... don’t like your attitude. I don’t like how you act like you are the King when you clearly are not.”
“Whoa! Whoa!” Caspian spread his arms and pushed those two away from each other. “Let’s not go that far, okay boys? Why don’t the two of you walk in the opposite direction? I don’t need any bloodshed here.”
However, Vincent clenched his fists and kept on snarling at Hamilton, “And I don’t like how you disrespect my friend. Only I can do that. Also, I am not good at playing pretend or hiding my true emotions from showing on my face. So, sorry if I offended you, but you offended me first.”
Hamilton scoffed in disbelief. He stopped walking and stood while facing Vincent. He was looking at him while gaping his mouth.
“Only you can disrespect Caspian?” He raised his brows as if that was the most absurd thing that he had ever heard in his life. “Where did you get that idea from, Lord Vincent? He is my cousin first. And your friend after that. It is my birthright to disrespect him. So, just shut up and stop trying to claim all the fun.”
“Hey! Stop it you two!” Caspian shouted at them and stood in the middle.
However, Vincent pushed Caspian aside, puffed his chest, and took a step closer to Hamilton as if he was ready to throw hands at him. However, he only threw his words instead. “If it’s your birthright then it is my earned right. I earned the right to disrespect him after I stuck by his side for over a century now.”
“Wait for a second!” Caspian folded his arms in front of his chest and gave a questioning glare to both of them. “Are you two even listening to yourselves? You two are fighting about who gets to disrespect me, right in front of me? What the hell? Do you both need a smack on your heads?”
All of a sudden, both Hamilton and Vincent burst into laughter and even shook hands.
Caspian narrowed his eyes and fisted on his hips. “Huh! So you two were colluding together and fooling me? Since when did the two of you grow so close with each other?”
“Er...” Vincent raised his brows and glanced at Hamilton.
Hamilton nonchalantly shrugged and replied while trying his best to hold his laughter, “This morning.”
“But this wasn’t planned, okay? We just went with the flow.” Vincent then turned to look at Hamilton and said while wheezing, “Ah! I never had this much fun teasing him before.”
“Me neither,” Hamilton crouched down because he started to laugh violently after seeing Vincent laughing like a rattling chain. “Oh, heavens! We should definitely do this often...” he spoke with his wheezing breath.
Vincent bent a little and rested his palms on his knees. And he also spoke while laughing as if he just lost his mind, “His face... his face was worth seeing when he thought we were going to fight.”
Caspian didn’t like how the two of them were banding together to make fun of him. And seeing them laugh at him made him further irritated.
So, he smacked both of them on the back of their heads. However, he held back when doing that, so the two of them simply felt a tickle and didn’t feel like their head would explode.
“Keep on laughing, you arseholes! I’m outta here,” Caspian shouted harshly, and then turned on his heels to catch up with his wife.
Anastasia was still standing by their carriage while sipping on a cup of warm tea. Tilla was standing by her side to give her company. And the two ladies were watching the three men laughing, curious to know what was so funny that they looked like they would choke soon if they didn’t stop.
“Why are they laughing?” Anastasia asked Caspian as soon as he approached her.
Caspian shook his head and replied with a straight face, “Let’s just say, they got a common topic to bond over.”
Although Caspian was angry at them for laughing at him and trying to make a fool out of him, he was happy that the two of them were talking with each other. Since he didn’t have a good relationship with Hamilton before, Vincent also didn’t like Hamilton that much.
But now that he was trying to work on the relationship with his cousin, he was happy that his friend was doing a lot better than him already, even though it was at the cost of peace of his mind.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m