The Royal Revenge
Chapter 209: Insistence

Chapter 209: Insistence

The King and Queen of the Western Kingdom was silent for several minutes. Cordelia was immobile as she was still under Aleksander’s spell. Elys had her face turned away from her husband, and after a while, she heard him sigh deeply.

She felt a gentle hand rub her shoulder, and the young queen turned to face Aleksander’s forlorn face.

"You aren’t happy," the vampire king spoke with certainty.

"No, I am not," Elys frowned. "Would you be happy, my king? If I betray you, or if anyone whom you have trusted for the longest of times ever did? Let us say, what if Henry betrayed you?"

Aleksander tilted his head and wrinkles showed up on his forehead.

"If Henry would betray me, then I would have him killed the very instant I know of his betrayal," Aleksander said with a blank face.

Elys’ eyes bored into him as her gaze deepened. It was as if she was diving into his mind herself, trying to fish out something she wanted to unearth from the deepest trenches of his thoughts and pretentious expressions.

"You lie," Elys said to him, "I know just how much you care for Henry. He has been with you since the day you were thrown to the sides by your good-for-nothing father. Just as much as Cordelia was a motherly figure to me, Henry was more than just an attendant to you."

Aleksander shut his mouth as his wife saw through him without even trying that hard.

To be completely honest, the young king still found it awkward to express a lot of his feelings. He always thought that it made him look vulnerable to his enemies.

Although he wanted to deny the things Elys said about his relationship with Henry, Aleksander didn’t want to argue with her as he found it futile.

Elys’ expression was already set. He knew she wouldn’t change her mind even if he lied as much as he would. That was perhaps one of the few things they had in common with each other.

They were both too stubborn to accept anything but their own beliefs.

"Aherm," he cleared his throat. "Let’s get this over now, shall we?"

Elys raised her brow at him for a moment and then turned her attention back to Cordelia.

The old woman was slumped to the floor, a blank look washed all over her face. Her mouth was slightly ajar, and Elys’ heart somehow constricted.

She reached out for a lock of Cordelia’s hair. Her snowy white strands standing out as her predominant trait as a Northern citizen.

"I am done," Aleksander suddenly spoke beside her.

Elys stood back and turned her eyes towards her husband. She expected him to describe what he read from Cordelia’s mind, but Aleksander remained silent after he announced he was done.

"What?" Elys asked him. "Weren’t you supposed to tell me what you found out?"

"I was supposed to, but first, let us get Cordelia restrained and taken to the dungeons," Aleksander said.

"Dungeons?!" Elys gasped. "Can’t she be isolated in a room? We have several vacant rooms in the Rose Palace. More even in the main palace. Why must it be the dungeons of all places?"

Aleksander’s eyes turned cold as he looked at Elys.

"Wife, you wouldn’t want to give Cordelia a chance to escape after you would learn how much she had been plotting against the kingdom," the vampire king suddenly snapped at her. "You need to push aside your past relationship with your maidservant. Her loyalty has since wavered, and there won’t be much you can do to change it."

"I would understand her," Elys said as her fists turned into hard balls in anger, "Even I have plotted against the vampire kingdom, the kingdom that had turned my home into hell on earth."

Aleksander’s face twisted upon hearing Elys’ voice. Her words were laden with hatred, and Aleksander could only bite his tongue.

She had all the right to hate his kingdom, but her words still cut deep into him.

Wasn’t everything he had done all for her?

How could she still see Cordelia as someone she should protect when she herself chose to be Queen of the Western Kingdom?

"Restrain Cordelia with your magic," Elys demanded of him.

"No," came Aleksander’s immediate reply. "I will not waste my time with her. The best that I can do for your ’loyal’ maidservant is to keep her safe from the other vampires who might want to kill her."

"Why would they even touch a human maidservant?" Elys said as she lifted the old woman up, supporting her as Cordelia groggily stood on both her legs.

The vampire king’s expression darkened as he kept his attention towards his queen’s face.

"Wife, haven’t you thought about the implications of Cordelia plotting against the Western Kingdom? The moment the nobilities and even the vampire clergy gets wind of it, Cordelia would most certainly be a target," Aleksander said. "She may even be killed."

Elys swept a stray hair out of Cordelia’s forehead, her face darkening with what Aleksander had said. She still didn’t like the idea of throwing the old woman away into the dungeons.

The young queen was determined to use all of her powers to alleviate the punishment her vampire husband wanted to put on her maidservant.

"If you don’t want to go an extra mile even when I adamantly requested it, then I would have no choice but to do it on my own," Elys said.

She swung the old woman’s arm around her neck and Elys grabbed Cordelia’s waist. She supported her maidservant’s entire weight, and slowly walked out of Aleksander’s half-destroyed office.

"Where are you going?!" Aleksander marched after her. "You shouldn’t take her away like that, Elys!"

"Oh yes, I can!" the stubborn queen persisted. "I have as much power in my hands to pull off anything I set my mind into. Just try and stop me, Aleksander, and you will lose everything you have tried to bargain from the beginning!"

Aleksander stopped in his tracks and watched his wife walk away with the traitor in her arms.

"Then do as you like!" Aleksander yelled back at her, "Don’t blame me if something bad happens to Cordelia. Remember that it was your choice to be stubborn, Elysianne Whitecaster!"

"Whatever you say, Aleksander Ardorlean," Elys retorted without skipping a beat.

The young queen didn’t turn her head to even give Aleksander a slight glance. She was determined to disobey his will, no matter if he was her husband nor her king.

Elys bowed to no one.

She walked into the Western Kingdom with Cordelia by her side. There was no way in heaven, earth, nor in hell that she would let the old woman out of her sight.

’I will bring Cordelia back to my side no matter what!’ she told herself.

Dragging the tall woman up to her chambers, Elys’ ladies in waiting raised their brows in incredulity.

"Your majesty, what happened?" Lady Azalea asked the young queen. "You definitely look like you would need a bath and a change of clothes."

"A-a-and wha-what about h-h-her?" Lady Penelope asked, her stutters still present no matter if she was only speaking casually or her anxiety was working in her head again.

"Open Cordelia’s room," Elys ordered.

Lady Tabitha was confused but the ladies in waiting did as they were told. She opened the door and Elys trudged inside. The ladies tried to get the maidservant out of Elys’ arms but the young queen was not too keen to let them touch Cordelia.

"Where is the Countess Rusiana?" Elys finally noticed her missing lady in waiting.

"She had informed us that she had something urgent come up back in her estate, your majesty," Lady Azalea responded to her question. "The Countess Rusiana said she would be back probably tomorrow at the very least."

Elys decided to let the lady in waiting slide off the hook.

"Very well then, there is nothing we can do about it now," she sighed.

Elys heaved as she set Cordelia down her bed. It seemed like Aleksander’s magic had not broken off even when Cordelia at a distance from him. But then again, Elys did recall that he had mentioned once before that his magic could only work within a certain distance.

Perhaps his powers worked within the entire Rose Palace. She should be able to keep Cordelia restrained if she isolated the woman just within the Rose Palace.

’I would have to make up with him,’ she realized as well. ’Aleksander might be as stubborn as a bull like I am, but I still do need his help too.’

"Your majesty," one of the ladies in waiting called out for Elys’ attention.

She was too absorbed in her own thoughts that Elys couldn’t even take notice of the ladies trying to grab her attention. She sat down at the edge of the bed and stared at Cordelia’s blank face.

"Queen Elysianne!"

The voice that called out to Elys the second time around was a bit different. She turned her head and raised her brows in shock.