Conquering His Cold Heart

201 Stages of Love

After crossing the field in no time, Vincent turned around to look if Caspian had taken the bait and was running while carrying his wife.

However, he was disappointed when he saw them right by the road. “Ugh! Why aren’t they running yet?” he mumbled to himself and looked down at Tilla.

Tilla was tightly closing her eyes, holding her breath, and clutching Vincent’s shirt as if she was clinging for her life.

The last time Vincent had carried her, she wasn’t fully conscious due to the blood loss. And she barely recalled how it felt to be swept faster than the wind. But now that she was fully conscious, she felt like her soul had escaped from her body when Vincent dashed like that.

Vincent widened his eyes upon realizing that he might have run a little too fast for Tilla. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked her while fearing that she might spit on him or punch him or do something like that as an act of revenge.

Tilla was, however, not even in the right state to shake her head. She grimaced as though something was terribly wrong with her and then slipped down from Vincent’s arm.

She almost tumbled into the field because her head was spinning badly. Thankfully, Vincent grabbed her before she could collapse.

“Tilla, I am so sorry!” Vincent apologized while helping her to sit down on the narrow path. “I don’t know how I forgot that you were a...”

“Human?” Tilla asked in a throaty whisper. She sounded like she was struggling greatly. Surely enough, she held her head with both of her hands and closed her eyes.

.....

A deep frown settled on Vincent’s forehead. “Please forgive me for what I did. I shouldn’t have been carried away like that.” He crouched beside Tilla and asked her, “Are you feeling dizzy? Can I do something to ease you?”

Tilla shook her head and then pressed her lips together very tightly. She wanted to say that she would be okay after a few minutes. But she felt her stomach hurling and couldn’t dare to open her mouth.

Vincent was even more worried when she tightly clasped her mouth with her palm and buried her head in between her knees.

He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the other end of the field. He was thinking of asking Anastasia if she knew what would ease the dizziness. But when he saw the Queen running through the field and lost in her own world, he didn’t want to disturb her.

Tilla suddenly lifted her head and gagged. “Please don’t look at me,” she quickly requested and turned her back on Vincent. However, in doing so, she almost tumbled head-first into the damp paddy field.

Vincent was quick enough to grab her by her shoulder.

Tilla quickly turned her head away from Vincent and gestured for him to look away. Her eyes were tearing up because she had been gagging for a while now. She didn’t want Vincent to witness her in such an unladylike condition. And she definitely didn’t want him to see her throwing up. So, she was doing her best to hold it in until now.

“Relax.” Vincent could understand why she was trying to avoid facing him. He gathered her loose hair that had managed to escape from her bun earlier while running. After removing the hair from her face, he held her head and said soothingly, “I’ve seen much worse things. Don’t hold it in.”

Even if he hadn’t said that, Tilla wasn’t going to hold it in. She was unable to do so anymore. So, she let it all out.

Vincent kept on holding her head until she was done.

Tilla took a deep breath and sat down on the dusty path. She felt a great sense of relief. She wasn’t feeling extremely dizzy anymore. All that was left was a slight headache.

“Do you feel better? Or is it even worse now?” Vincent asked worriedly.

Tilla wiped her tears and then nodded her head. “I feel much lighter. I will be fine after a minute or two.”

Vincent sighed in relief. If something happened to her because of him, he was worried that he would face the wrath of the Queen.

Tilla didn’t want him to keep on standing there. So, she asked, “Milord, may I trouble you with something?”

“Yes, anything,” he replied without missing a beat.

Tilla looked up at him and asked, “May I get a bottle of water? It’s under our carriage’s seat. I’m sorry for making you-”

“Oh, no. It’s alright.” Vincent didn’t mind it since it was his fault in the first place that Tilla was sick.

He instantly ran towards the carriage.

When he got somewhat closer to Anastasia and Caspian, he leaped in the air again and landed behind them.

“Hey, where’s Tilla?”

He heard Caspian’s voice from behind.

Without answering the King, he rushed inside the carriage to grab the water bottle. And when he was on his way back, he replied, “She’s still there on the other side. Give us a few minutes.”

Caspian frowned at how Vincent ran away without waiting to hear any follow-up questions. “What’s he doing there with Tilla? And what did he say? ‘Give us a few minutes’? Why?” he mumbled to himself.

“What did Lord Vincent say?” Anastasia turned around and asked as she slowly walked towards Caspian.

Caspian shrugged and shouted the reply, “He was saying he needed a few minutes. Should I go and check on them?”

Anastasia smiled and shook her head. “No, leave them. I know he won’t do anything to hurt Tilla.”

“Huh? How can you say that so confidently?” Caspian frowned and said, “You are being too trusting of vampires, Anna. You shouldn’t trust everyone!”

Anastasia giggled and held Caspian’s hand after reaching near him. And she said to him, “I’ve spent enough time in the castle to know whom to trust, dear husband. Vincent is one of those I can blindly trust on.” She winked at him and said in a whisper, “Especially if he is around Tilla.”

Caspian raised his brows and asked, “Is something cooking between them?”

“Maybe?” Anastasia shrugged and looked behind her. She couldn’t see anyone, but she hoped that Tilla wasn’t uncomfortable being alone with Vincent.

While the couples were busy in the field, Hamilton was watching Caspian and Vincent from his carriage window. Unlike them, he had no reason to burn his skin in the sun. But he did envy them a little.

He rolled his eyes at them and then rested his head back on the soft cushion. He closed his eyes and thought, ‘Lucky bastards! It must be nice to never have their hearts broken. At least not before meeting those lovely women. ‘

He sighed and wondered, ‘Is there no expiration date to a heartbreak? When the hell is my heart going to move on? It has been 113 years 5 months and 11 days... Even her son looks older than me now!’

Hamilton then began thinking back to the time he had loved someone deeply, so much so that he would forget about everything else when he would start to think about her. He recalled how she would be all over him, how she would smile at him, how she would follow him around, and how she would always put him before her.

‘I was her everything. And one day, just like that... she became someone else’s.’

He covered his eyes with his palm. Every time he would recall the day he realized he lost her for good, he would start to feel depressed.

‘If only I hadn’t taken her love for granted... If only I hadn’t been an arse and confessed how I felt about her...’

He opened his eyes and glanced out of the window. He could see Caspian and Anastasia playfully hugging each other and laughing together.

A sad smile danced on his lips upon seeing them.

‘That could have been me and her.’