Conquering His Cold Heart

Everard heard a loud knock on the door, accompanied by the stern voice of Jerome. He grimaced in irritation and shouted, “I heard you the first time, Jerome. I will get up. Now, for heaven’s sake, please leave me alone for a while!”

“I’ve already given you enough time, Your Highness.” Jerome kept on banging on the door and then shouting from outside, “Now, you cannot go back to sleep again. It’s 8 AM already. You will have to start getting ready. We have to leave for the Great Hall in an hour. The public has started to pour inside the hall to witness your coronation. We shouldn’t make them wait on the very first day of your official reign.”

“Ugh! Alright, alright! I didn’t know that you could pester someone this much.” Everard slipped out of his bed even though he was still feeling like curling inside his bed for the rest of the day.

He opened the door and then looked at Jerome while frowning at him. “Were you this irritating to my father as well?” he asked with all seriousness.

Jerome gave a polite bow but curtly replied, “The late King never found me irritating because he was never once late in getting out of his bed. If you hadn’t wasted an hour already then I wouldn’t have to give you an earful, Your Highness.”

Everard rolled his eyes at how confident Jerome sounded while scolding him, the to-be King. He walked back inside the room and while calmly threatening Jerome, “I will overlook your rude behavior this time for the sake of my father. But if you do this again, then remember that in a few hours, I will have the right to exile you from this Kingdom.”

Jerome let out a quiet sigh and then replied, “I will keep that in mind, Your Highness. Now if you don’t mind, I will send the maids in.”

Before Everard could reply, Jerome vanished from the door like a puff of smoke.

.....

Everard felt proud of himself for putting that proud Beta in his place. And he mumbled to himself, “When am I getting instated as the alpha again? The coming full moon, right? I’ll have to find someone to replace him. I cannot keep on working with him. He thinks that he can act like my father just because my father asked him to take care of me.”

He looked up at the ceiling and then heaved a sigh. And he pondered, ‘But whom should I use to replace him? I don’t even know any of the werewolves aside from the guards.’

‘Right! Ruby...’ He clenched his teeth; a deep sorrow prevailed in his heart. ‘Where’s Ruby? She would have made the perfect beta... How could that heartless fool run away from the castle just because I said a few words?’

He went and stood near the window. A chilling gust of breeze caressed his bare chest. He looked out into the abyss and sighed. ‘Maybe I said a little too much... Ugh! I don’t even remember what I said to her. I should have kept my mouth shut when my head wasn’t clear.’

‘She will come around though, won’t she? She has to...’ He was sure that she would come to him one or the other day because of the sire bond they shared.

He suddenly closed his eyes and winced in pain. He felt as though someone had hammered a nail in his head. Everard held his head and wondered, ‘Is it because I drank a little too much yesterday?” He grimaced again when he felt a splitting pain in his head.

Everard’s heart suddenly filled with rage. He clenched his fists and grumbled, “You cannot keep on hiding from me forever, Ruby. The moon goddess won’t allow you to.”

He smirked as if he was full of hatred, and then thought to himself, ‘Even if you hide from me for now, I bet you won’t be able to resist the temptation to run towards me when I start speaking in your head in the coming full moon.’

Everard then started walking back and forth in his room while thinking about a lot of things. His head felt as if it would burst at any moment now. But that didn’t stop him from thinking until he felt like puking.

After pacing around the room for quite a while now, he finally heard some footsteps approaching his room.

“You know how much time I have been waiting for you slackers?” Everard burst out in anger without even looking behind to see who was at the door.

“Oh, I’m sorry but one of the horses of my carriage got a little tired and-”

Everard abruptly turned on his heels when he heard the voice he hadn’t heard in a long while. “Alex!” he exclaimed happily and sprinted towards the door.

“Alex!” he hugged his friend very tightly and rejoiced in the presence of one of the most important people in his life. “Oh my goodness! You’re here! I thought I would be all alone even when I was surrounded by countless people. But you’re here!”

Alexander also hugged his friend tightly and happily patted his back. “How could I not be here? It’s your big day after all.”

Alexander pulled away from the hug and then looked at his friend. His smile turned a little sadder when he saw his friend’s face up close.

Everard had noticeable dark circles around his eyes. His eyes looked tired even when he was supposed to look fresh in the morning. And his face and lips looked dry as though he hadn’t been taking care of himself at all.

“Oh, Eve... What happened to you...” Alexander asked while looking at Everard with a sad expression on his face.

Everard shrugged and said with a mirthless smile on his face, “Life?”

Alexander pulled his friend into a hug once again. And he apologized, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t come here when I heard the news about your father. And I am really sorry about what happened.”

Everard swallowed his tears and pulled a smile on his face. “It’s alright. There was nothing much to do here even if you had come.”

Everard understood that Alexander didn’t come to the funeral of the late King since the King of Orsenia himself had visited Xanmar to pay respect at the funeral.

However, in his heart, he was wishing to see his friend.

‘I could have used a friend though...’ he thought. ‘I was utterly lonely.’