357 Invitation
Anastasia took a breath of relief when she saw Martha walking inside the antechamber instead of Caspian. If it was Caspian, she was sure that he would suspect that she was hiding sothing because of the slightly nervous look on her face as well as her fast-beating heart.
“My Queen,” Martha gave a gentle bow to Anastasia when she saw her awake and then asked, “How are you feeling now?”
Anastasia took a deep breath and rubbed her palms over her face and eyes. And she replied, “I’m still feeling a little groggy. I keep on forgetting that afternoon naps aren’t as rejuvenating as the full night’s sleep.”
“Is there anything that I can do about it? Maybe you would like to get a nice massage?” Martha asked so that the Queen wouldn’t send her away saying that she was going to continue her sleep and end up doing sothing to herself.
Anastasia, on the other hand, was in no mood to get any massage. Thus, she declined Martha’s offer. Instead, she paced around the room for a while and then asked, “Why don’t you accompany to Tilla’s room? I want to see how she is doing?”
Martha didn’t seem so fond of the idea. She started breathing uneasily and then asked the Queen, “Why don’t we wait until tomorrow morning to do that? It’s already dark outside.”
The knot in Anastasia’s heart wasn’t calming down at all. And the reason why she wanted to visit Tilla wasn’t just to check up on her condition. She wanted to stay there with Tilla for a while in the hope that talking to her would lift the discomfort in her heart, even though it was just for a while.
Thus, she looked at Martha with a determined look on her face and said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s dark, Martha. I am not going out of the castle.”
Martha still looked hesitant about the idea. “My Queen, even though it’s inside the castle, I don’t think you should be walking around at night. Umm…” She nervously heaved a deep breath and looked down at the floor rather than saying what she was going to say.
.....
Anastasia slightly knitted her brows together and asked Martha, “You don’t trust the vampires that much, do you?”
Since the Queen was the one to voice it out, Martha nodded her head and looked at the Queen.
Her eyes were filled with subtle worries when she said, “You never know when one of them decides to give in to their urges. And I have been around them for long enough to know that their senses and thirst gets heightened during the night.”
What Martha was saying was true but Anastasia didn’t think anyone would dare to co after her. She was the Queen after all, whether they liked it or not.
—
While Anastasia was arguing with Martha, Tilla on the other hand was lying down on her bed and trying to get so sleep. Holly had already left for her own room after bringing dinner to Tilla’s room and making sure that her water glass was also full.
Tilla kept on tossing and turning in her bed. However, no matter what she did, sleep didn’t co near her.
Her mind was plagued with all kinds of thoughts. She would get afraid thinking about the things that she heard in the bathhouse. She would get scared by the affection that Vincent was showering her with. And she was left wondering how she could solve all these problems that were arising in her life.
While thinking about all those things, her eyelids finally started to get heavier and heavier. She was about to fall asleep when a loud knock on her door instantly woke her up.
“Holly?” she asked, thinking that it could only be Holly at her door at this ti.
“No, it’s . May I co in for a while?”
Tilla frowned because she couldn’t quite recognize the voice that she was hearing right now. With all the things that were happening today, her mind automatically let her think that the woman who was outside wasn’t soone with friendly intentions.
She didn’t wish to entertain anyone right now. She didn’t want to get bullied in her own room. Thus, with the intention of protecting herself, Tilla made up an excuse, “Umm… I was already sleeping. If it’s not anything urgent, can you co back tomorrow?”
Of course, Tilla was already planning to leave her room early in the morning tomorrow to avoid any confrontation.
The woman outside was, however, persistent.
“It won’t even take a minute. I just wish to give an invitation to you.”
The voice of that woman sounded very polite and there wasn’t any trace of hostility in her tone.
“An invitation?” Tilla muttered to herself and wondered what it was about. Though she was almost sure that it was so kind of trap, Tilla couldn’t keep on making excuses.
‘If it’s an invitation then I can choose not to go, right?’ she thought to herself and carefully got out of her bed.
When she opened the door just slightly, enough to see who was standing outside, she saw a maid who she would cross paths with every now and then. She worked for the King and it was normal for them to see each other in the central wing.
The mont that maid saw Tilla peeping through the door, she held out her hand to show a small piece of note and said, “I was just here to pass this to you. I was heading to my room and soone asked to deliver this to you in person.”
Tilla pinched the note carefully, and then awkwardly nodded.
“I will take my leave then.” The maid also gave a nod.
Before Tilla could ask who handed her the ‘invitation’, that maid was nowhere to be seen.
Tilla shut the door and looked at the folded note while pursing her lips. She carefully opened the note, in case there was so poisonous powder inside that note. She couldn’t help but think that the jealous maids could stoop to any level to clear her out of their paths.
When she didn’t find anything suspicious after opening the note, she then slowly read what was written inside in really bad handwriting.
“Co to the well if you don’t want anything to accidentally happen to the people you care about.”
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