Conquering His Cold Heart

Thus, she comfortably sat on the chair and said after sighing, “Okay, you win.” She politely bowed to the Queen and said teasingly, “I will be in your care, my Queen.”

“That’s right!” Anastasia finally smiled and opened the lid of the jar. “Lift your gown,” she ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Tilla did as she was asked without hesitation this time because she knew that if she was to show her hesitation, Anastasia would do it herself. And she didn’t want to make the Queen act like her lady-in-waiting by making her do a lot more than what was necessary.

When Tilla revealed her bruises again, Anastasia heaved a deep sigh and knelt before Tilla.

Tilla instantly got uncomfortable when she saw the Queen kneeling down in front of her. “Umm…” she held out her hand as if to stop the Queen and asked, “Can’t I at least sit down on the floor? This doesn’t seem right at all.”

“Shh…” Anastasia brought her finger in front of her lips and shushed Tilla. “It will be over before you know it. Besides, it might be uncomfortable for you to sit down on the floor. You’ve hurt your knees, so…”

Anastasia was aware that Tilla was feeling uneasy because she was kneeling before her. Thus, she suggested, “Just close your eyes if you don’t want to see me like this.”

Tilla nodded and instantly closed her eyes.

.....

Anastasia closely looked at the bruises. Since the bruises didn’t have any dirt on them, thanks to the several layers of the gown, she softly blew on the bruises and began applying the ointment on Tilla’s knees.

Tilla inhaled sharply when the cold ointment came in contact with her skin. And she accidentally clutched her fists when she felt the burning sensation on the area where the ointment was applied.

“Argh!” she gritted through her teeth and quickly released her fists.

Anastasia furrowed her brows and held Tilla’s hand to inspect her palm. She hadn’t noticed it earlier. But now that she closely looked at it, she saw that Tilla had grazed her palms as well.

“It looks like you hurt your palms as well…” she mumbled in a worried manner.

Anastasia felt a prick in her heart to see her friend in this condition. “You should be more careful from now on, Tilla. It hurts me to see you getting hurt like this.”

Tilla let out a shaky breath and softly said in a whisper, “I apologize for making you worry about me.” She gritted her teeth and a few frown lines appeared on her forehead. Then she further added in a resolute voice, “And yes, I will be more careful from now on.”

The way she was speaking, it seemed like Tilla had something else in her mind.

After applying the medicine to Tilla’s knees, Anastasia pulled Tilla’s hands and was about to apply the ointment when the former noticed some dirt on the latter’s hand.

“Er… I will get a wet towel.” Anastasia got up on her feet.

However, Tilla quickly pinched Anastasia’s gown to stop her from leaving and said, “I can do that myself. I will wash my hand and come.”

But Anastasia was adamant. “No. You should let your knees rest for now. I won’t allow you to walk around, at least for an hour or two.”

“But–”

“No buts.” Anastasia pushed Tilla’s grip away from her gown and left for the bathroom.

Tilla heaved a sigh in discomfort and awkwardly scratched her neck. She then hung her head low for not only making the other maids speak badly about the Queen but also for getting hurt and making the Queen look after her.

She slowly lifted her head again and stared out of the open window. Although all she could see right now were the naked branches of the trees in a distance, the image of Vincent looking at her from the ground danced in front of her eyes.

Tilla clenched her jaw and thought to herself, ‘I should really be careful from now on. Careful not to let Lord Vincent get any closer to me. My greed is putting all of us in a pickle.’

Anastasia came back with a wet towel in her hand. She was about to kneel down again when Tilla stole the towel from the Queen’s hand and said, “Please don’t kneel in front of me again. And I can wipe my hand myself.”

Anastasia chuckled and nodded her head. She bent down to grab the jar of ointment though.

As she waited for Tilla to finish cleaning her palms, someone knocked on the door.

“Who’s there?” Anastasia turned her head towards the door of her bedchamber and asked.

Tilla, on the other hand, already had some idea as to who it could be. If it was the King, he would already be inside the room by now. Since the King wasn’t there, there was only one other person who would come knocking at the Queen’s door.

“Your Majesty, it’s me,” Vincent replied from outside the door.

“Vincent! You can come in,” Anastasia replied.

Tilla closed her eyes and silently grunted. Just when she had thought that she was going to maintain her distance from Vincent, he came to find her.

As if to prove her right, Vincent asked from outside the door. “Is Tilla with you, Your Majesty?”

Anastasia looked at Tilla and smiled when she saw her hiding her eyes with her palm. “Yes, she is,” she replied while smiling widely.

By now, Anastasia was well aware that the reason for Vincent’s frequent visits was because of Tilla. And she had no problem with it.

“I am coming in,” Vincent announced before slowly opening the door.

He then slowly walked inside the antechamber while looking around to see if the ladies were there. And when he didn’t see them there, he thought that maybe they were in the bedchamber.

So, without showing himself in front of the bedchamber’s door, he asked, “Should I come back later? I think I came at the wrong time.”

Tilla looked up at Anastasia and mouthed to her, “Ask him to leave.”

However, Anastasia walked toward the door while saying, “Oh, it’s totally fine. You should come in and check up on Tilla.”