75 Far Ahead
Anastasia and Tilla were sitting inside the royal carriage. They had reached halfway to Carmineville.
Anastasia was wearing Caspian’s cloak on top of her gown in order to mask her scent with that of Caspian’s. As instructed by Caspian, they had also closed the windows so that the vampires of the capital wouldn’t see if Caspian was also inside the carriage or not.
Although there were four Royal Guards who were guarding the carriage, one could never be more careful.
“Are you alright, my Queen?” Tilla asked in a worried voice when she noticed Anastasia wrapping her arms around her stomach and softly wincing in pain.
Anastasia answered as she breathed shakily, “You know travels are difficult for me.”
“Do you need some water?” Tilla asked again.
To which, Anastasia simply shook her head.
Tilla then arranged the cushion on the seat as a pillow and said, “Why don’t you try sleeping for a while?”
Anastasia shook her head again. “I can hold on. I don’t think there’s much distance left anyway.”
.....
Tilla kept on looking at the Queen. Her face had turned paler than usual. She then mumbled, “I wish you would listen to me sometimes.”
Anastasia lightly patted her neat hair and said, “I would listen to you, but I don’t want to reach Aunt Edith’s mansion with disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes.”
Tilla was about to point out that being in good health was more important than maintaining her looks.
However, Anastasia brought up another topic first. “Tilla, when we reach there, I want you to...” She gestured for Tilla to come closer to her, and she whispered in Tilla’s ear, “I want you to ask around and find more about the blood servants.”
Anastasia looked at her and asked, “Can you do that?”
Tilla thought for a few seconds and nodded. “I will try.”
Anastasia smiled and said, “I will also try to do the same.” She then mouthed, “Be inconspicuous about it though.”
—
In the meantime, in Wintertide Mansion, Lady Edith was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, the place where she had never once stepped in before.
She was keeping an eye on the human chef and her helpers. Not that she knew what they were doing or what they were cooking, but she wanted to make sure that everyone was doing their best to prepare the finest dishes.
She looked inside one of the containers with mini pork pies in it. And she asked one of the humans who was nearby, “Did you taste it?”
“C-Can I?” That helper of the chef stammered.
Edith frowned and said in a stern voice, “Of course! You have to make sure that everything tastes really good. If I find a bad expression on my dear nephew’s wife’s face while she is eating then you all are going to get punished.”
The chef stood next to her helper and said while giving a slight bow, “I will make sure that Her Majesty will praise the dishes. Please rest assured, milady.”
Edith sighed and tried to calm herself down. She didn’t know why, but she had been too focused on impressing Anastasia.
She heaved a few more sighs and thought to herself, ‘Ah! Why am I getting so nervous about this? Is it because I haven’t had any of my relatives visiting me in a long time?’
One of the footsoldiers knocked on the kitchen door and got Lady Edith’s attention. He bowed and informed her, “The Queen has arrived, milady.”
“Oh, great!” Edith instantly rushed outside her mansion.
She reached just in time to see Anastasia climbing down the carriage. She gave a broad smile to her nephew’s wife and welcomingly spread out her arms. “My child, you arrived!”
Anastasia gave a subtle laugh and hugged Edith. “Yes, I finally arrived. Thank you for sending the invitation. I was really excited the moment I got the letter from you.”
Edith looked into Anastasia’s eyes and said, “You didn’t come here on your own. So I had to resort to the invitation letter.”
“Ah! I had been meaning to visit you. But I was a little occupied,” Anastasia answered while smiling and looking down at her hands.
“It’s alright. You came. That’s what matters.” Edith glanced at Tilla and asked, “And she is your maid?”
Tilla gave a respectful bow to Lady Edith.
Anastasia looked at Tilla and introduced her to Lady Edith, “Yes, she is my handmaid. And also my dear friend. We’ve been inseparable since childhood.”
Edith smiled and praised Tilla, “She must be really devoted to you then. She even followed you here to Sorvando.”
Anastasia gave an appreciative smile to Tilla.
Edith then turned to look at her mansion and said, “Welcome to the Wintertide Mansion.” She then led them inside.
The Royal Guards stayed outside the living room while Tilla followed Anastasia inside the room and stood behind her.
After getting settled in the lavish living room, Edith said, “I don’t really have much idea about how to welcome a human guest. So, I’m going to follow everything that my servants have taught me. Correct me if I do anything wrong, but here it goes.”
She looked at Anastasia with a subtle yet serious expression on her face and asked, “Anastasia, would you like to have some tea?”
Anastasia grinned at how seriously Edith was taking this simple lunch invitation. “You’re doing perfectly fine, Aunt Edith.” She gave a nod and said, “And yes, I would love to have a cup of tea.”
Edith happily called her maid-in-waiting and asked, “You heard our guest.”
The maid bowed and swooshed outside the hall.
Anastasia then glanced at Edith’s evergreen face and asked, “So, you also have human servants here?”
And Edith replied with a question, “Vampires don’t know how to cook, do they?”
Anastasia laughed and nodded. “Yes, they definitely don’t. I guess my arrival here in Sorvando prompted Caspian as well as you to make a few changes.”
“And we are happy to carry out the changes to accommodate your needs.” Edith lightly caressed Anastasia’s dark ginger hair and asked, “So, how are things going on between you and Caspian? Does he treat you well?”
Anastasia already knew that Caspian had told Edith about their fight. So she came clean, “We had a little argument not long ago. But we are doing well now.”
Edith then knowingly answered, “Caspian is a little apprehensive about you. He fears that he will lose you. That’s why he acts the way he does. I am guessing that he acts very protective of you and easily gets jealous?”
Anastasia subtly smiled and nodded her head.
Edith gazed at Anastasia’s innocent face for a while. And she continued rather melancholically, “Caspian has lost everyone – his parents, and his brother. Humans say that time heals everything. But for us, it doesn’t work that way. We never forget. And the pain of losing someone never goes away.”
Anastasia felt a sharp sting in her heart upon hearing that.
Edith took Anastasia’s hand and said in a somber voice, “He loved his brother dearly and looked up to him. Caspian was always a cheerful one. But when he lost Percival as well, he shut himself down. The cheerful nephew that I knew once was lost.”
Edith gulped and then gave a soft smile to Anastasia. “I had thought that I would never see him smile again. But you arrived here like a spring season in his life. You brought happiness to his life again. He got someone to care about again. And you don’t know how grateful I am towards you for returning his smile to him.”
Anastasia felt a lump in her throat. And her eyes welled up within seconds.
“Hey...” Edith looked a little puzzled upon seeing Anastasia’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t mean to make you cry, Anastasia. I was simply stating that you are very important to him.”
Anastasia quickly wiped the drops of tears that her eyes couldn’t contain.
She looked at Edith with her blurry vision and whimpered, “But I am a human... I might die at any minute, any day! What will happen to Caspian if he has to go through the pain of dealing with my death? He will be devastated, won’t he?”
“Oh, sweet child!” Edith pulled Anastasia into a hug. She could see how much Anastasia also cared about Caspian.
She gently stroked Anastasia’s back. And she tried to console her, “You shouldn’t think that far ahead. Caspian is happy now. And I can see that you two love each other dearly. That’s what matters the most. The present.”
Anastasia closed her eyes and rested her chin on Edith’s shoulder. And she thought to herself, ‘But that ‘far ahead’ is really close.’
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