Conquering His Cold Heart

304 Letter from Orsenia

“Hmm…” Regulus grumbled and looked away from Ruby.

Ruby could see on Regulus’ face that all the expectations that he had about finding a clue about the killer’s identity shatter.

“I know that it would have been a great help if I had regained my consciousness a bit earlier. I apologize that I wasn’t much help to you,” she said while bowing her head.

She genuinely wished that she could help Regulus to catch his brother’s killer. However, right now, she was saddened that she couldn’t be of much help.

Regulus was still conflicted about whether what Ruby had said was a hundred percent true. So, he looked at her and said, “I think you should stay here until the killer is caught. I might need to question you again.”

Although Ruby had already planned to leave the manor and move into her new cozy place, she agreed to what Regulus had asked of her. “I will cooperate with you to capture the killer. If I recall something else apart from what I just told you then I will come to you and inform you right away.”

She knew she had to stay in the manor if she didn’t want Regulus to put her under suspicion. She looked troubled when she further mumbled, “It seems like I am still forgetting a lot of things because of the shock. I will do my best to fill the gap in my memory.”

Though Regulus could already guess that it was Slayer who put Ruby to sleep and then carried her to the dungeon as per Romulus’ order, he still nodded his head. “Sure. If you recall something then come to me right away. Something that you think is useless might actually be the key to finding the murderer.”

Ruby gave a low bow to Regulus and then stepped out of the meeting room.

.....

Regulus kept on looking at the door until it shut on its own. He then closed his eyes and thought to himself, ‘I need to know more about her. How she is from Sorvando when she is a werewolf, why she was there at the King’s coronation ball, and why my brother brought her here. I need to know everything.’

—

Everard was in his study, surrounded by crumpled-up papers that were thrown all over the floor. He was trying to write a letter to Alexander explaining how some rouge people from his clan acted out on their own and tried to hurt them.

“Ugh! This doesn’t sound right!” Everard crumpled another paper and then tossed it on the floor, angered at himself for not being able to pen a simple letter by apologizing to his friend.

He spread out another fresh sheet of paper in front of him and then dipped the nib of the quill in ink. And he wrote a few words in it, casually mentioning how he came to know about the unfortunate incident and how he had already killed the man behind that attack.

“No!” Everard threw the quill on the table and grabbed his hair with both of his hands. “If I say I killed that man without fair trial then he might think I have finally lost my mind.”

He suddenly looked very worried and scared when he further mumbled, “What if he thinks that I pinned all the blame on some innocent man to hide the deeds that I did in my drunken state? He knows that I was drunk out of my mind that night! And I even said a lot of things…”

Everard recalled his fight with Caspian and slapped himself on his forehead. “And I did a lot of things that looked outrageous from other’s perspectives! Argh! What do I do?”

He bit the cuticles of his finger and contemplated what his next course of action should be. “Should I meet Alexander and explain everything in person? Maybe I will sound more believable in person than through the letter?”

A sudden knock on the door disrupted Everard’s thoughts.

“Who’s it?” Everard asked agitatedly because he had asked everyone not to disturb him for a few hours.

“Your Majesty,” Jerome opened the door to the King’s study and then softly said, “A letter just arrived from Orsenia. So, I thought that you might want to take a look.”

A sudden gust of wind hit Jerome’s face. When he opened his eyes, the letter was already in the hands of Everard.

“It’s from Alex…” Everard gulped and kept on staring at the envelope for a while. He was afraid to tear the envelope and read the contents of the letter because he feared that his best friend might have written something that would break his heart.

After a while, he slowly walked towards his table and then tore off one side of the envelope. He took out the letter and a familiar scent hovered around him. He took a deep breath and then whispered to himself before opening the letter, “I hope that he isn’t under the impression that I was the one to attack him and Anna. He should know that I would never even imagine doing something like that.”

Everard began going through the contents of the letter.

Jerome kept on watching the King’s expression from the door. When he saw Everard’s eyes reaching halfway through the letter, he noticed how Everard began to panic. He could even hear the King’s escalating heartbeat.

“What is it, Your Majesty? You seem worried,” Jerome asked curiously.

Everard was too focused on reading the letter. He reached the end of the letter and finally raised his head to look at Jerome.

And he answered with tears glistening in his eyes, “Alex… He… He knows!”

“What does he know?” Jerome asked while already guessing the answer himself.

Everard sniffled and looked up at the ceiling. He fisted his palm to crumple the letter in his hand and then mumbled in a heartbroken voice, “He knows that I am not human! He said he witnessed the men turn into monsters and rip his guards apart. And he is asking me if I was the one who… who ordered all those ‘monsters’ to go after them!”