The King's Lover-Chapter 271: After Dinner

Rose didn’t think Lady Deana was just being nice as she led Rose to the room. She couldn’t help but feel there was a reason for this, and as they got farther away from the dining room, that feeling grew even stronger.

"Where are you from?" was the first question Lady Deana asked.

"Edenville," Rose replied without hesitation. She was sure this was the buildup to more questioning, but she couldn’t guess what exactly the lady wanted from her.

"Edenville?" Lady Deana asked in shock. "I would have sworn you were more down south." She turned to face Rose, a small smile lingering on her lips.

Rose shook her head. "Has your Ladyship ever been to Edenville?" she asked.

She shook her head. "I’ve heard enough. We do a lot of business with Edenville."

Rose nodded, not knowing what to say to this. The conversation was increasingly getting awkward, and as much as she appreciated Lady Deana being nice, she would prefer if she just said what this was about.

"What do you think about Futherfield?" Lady Deana asked, glancing at Rose as though she genuinely cared about what she was about to say.

"It’s huge," Rose replied without thinking much about it, and Lady Deana laughed.

"I suppose it is bigger than Edenville, but I wouldn’t call it huge," she said, still chuckling about the comment.

"It is," Rose agreed easily.

Edenville wasn’t big at all. Rose could count all the members of the village, and there wasn’t a name she didn’t know or she knew someone who knew them. It was a pretty small town.

They were closer to the room now, and Rose could see servants standing in front with their heads bowed as though waiting for her.

"I apologize for my husband’s behavior," Lady Deana said before they got within earshot of the maids. "He likes to tease. I promise he meant no harm by it."

Rose almost lost her footing. Did Lady Deana think she had been bothered by the conversation about Caius’s betrothed?

"There’s no reason to apologize, Your Ladyship. It was a wonderful dinner," she said with a bright smile.

Lady Deana studied her as though she didn’t believe her, then politely nodded. "I’m glad," she said with a smile. "Please don’t hesitate to ask the maids if you need anything."

"Thank you," Rose replied. "I’m grateful."

Lady Deana smiled. "I’ll let you get some rest. I’m sure the journey here must have been strenuous." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Rose nodded, and Lady Deana withdrew while Rose was led into the bedroom and prepared for bed. After the maids were done, they excused themselves, and Rose finally had some alone time.

She bolted out of the bed the maids had tucked her in and, with her flowy nightdress, ran around the room looking for the bag. It had been moved from where she last saw it, and it didn’t take her long to figure out that it had been unpacked.

Rose was mortified and frantically started to search for what they could have possibly done with the contents. If they had opened the map—even if the maids didn’t know how to read—they would have immediately figured out what it was.

She checked the wardrobe, but it wasn’t there; the shelves, the drawers—but found nothing. Rose was about to lose her mind until she checked the drawers in the dresser and found it.

She not only found the map but also the letter her father had given her. The maids had properly arranged them for her, and it didn’t look like they had been tampered with.

She held it to herself as relief flooded her chest, but only half of her problems had been solved. She needed to find a safe place to keep it. At first, she thought about leaving it in the drawer, but that was too risky.

She couldn’t keep it on her person as she didn’t trust the crown prince—especially when they would be sharing a room—but nowhere looked good enough to hide it.

Suddenly, Rose had an idea, and she rushed to the wardrobe. She probably didn’t have a lot of time until Caius walked through the doors, which meant she had to move fast.

She opened the wardrobe, found a dress with a lot of layers, and hid the map within the skirt of the dress. She secured it properly, making sure it wouldn’t fall out even if someone moved the dress.

Satisfied that no one would find it here—or even look—Rose returned to bed and shut her eyes. If the crown prince wasn’t here yet, she could at least get some sleep before he arrived.

Shockingly, Rose fell asleep faster than she had expected. She thought the new space and the anxiety about getting caught would stop her from falling asleep easily, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

She slept peacefully, not dreaming about a thing, and it wasn’t until she heard the sound of the door opening that her sleep was interrupted. But Rose didn’t open her eyes rather she pretended to keep sleeping.

She heard voices other than Caius’s, but it wasn’t really much of a conversation. She was too scared to open her eyes, she was afraid he might discover she was awake. She figured the other voices were simply servants helping Caius undress for the night.

Everything soon went quiet, and Rose felt the opposite side of the bed dip, as though Caius got into the bed. Rose hoped it was him, as the person moved close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck.

Caius knew Rose was only pretending to sleep. She had slept in his bed before, he knew what her breathing was like while she was asleep but here she was pretending otherwise.

He wanted to shake her and demand that she stop pretending but at the same time, he felt something hold him back. He had tried to look at her face while Lord Leopold spoke about his betrothal but she wouldn’t look at him.

Caius was infuriated but for now, his focus was on the bandits. He would deal with this when that was over.

Rose released the breath she was holding when Caius just rolled away from her. She closed and tried to sleep but it completely eluded her.