The King's Lover-Chapter 370: A Baby
Lunch was swift, and as soon as it was over, Caius wasted no time in leading her out of the dining room. At first, she assumed they were heading outside for the walk as he had stated earlier, but it didn’t take her long to realize that the Crown Prince was leading her towards the direction of their chambers.
Rose didn’t say anything at this, only occasionally glancing at Caius as she bit down her curiosity. She was bound to find out sooner or later what his plan was. Asking him would only be giving in to what he most likely wanted by remaining silent.
Soon enough, they got to her chambers, and Caius stopped walking. She looked up at him with a puzzled expression. There was no way he had forgotten about the walk, but Rose couldn’t figure out any reason they would need to be in her room. While she pondered on this, the door was suddenly pulled open before she or the Crown Prince reached for the handle.
"Lady Rose," one of her maids said as the door opened to reveal the two of them.
Rose smiled at them, then asked, "What are you two doing here?"
But her question didn’t reach their ears as they stiffly curtsied to Caius. "Your Highness."
Caius let go of her hand, and Rose frowned as she realized she hadn’t even attempted to let go when they got to the front of her room. He turned and started walking away from her without saying a word.
Rose caught herself staring after him. She had several questions, but there was no need for the Crown Prince to be so secretive. He could have just told her the walk was canceled, and frankly, she would have been happy.
"Lady Rose," the maids softly called, and Rose pulled her attention away from the Crown Prince.
"Yes."
"Please come in," they said, stepping to the sides to make a path for her.
Rose nodded and walked into the room. "Why are you two here?" Her voice was filled with curious wonder.
The door was slowly closed after her, and the ladies approached her. "We were told you’re going for a walk outside of the castle and are to dress you accordingly."
"Oh," Rose said, her voice a mix of shock and relief.
The maids nodded and moved fast. Soon enough, she was dressed in thick gloves, boots, a scarf around her neck, and a hat. The two maids stepped backwards to get a better look at her while Rose felt like a dressed-up puppet in a play.
"All done," they proudly announced.
However, before Rose could say anything in regards to this, her bedroom door was pushed open and Caius appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in just a coat over his linen shirt and loose pants. Rose squinted her eyes as she looked at him; that didn’t seem enough for the cold.
The maids curtsied quickly, both mouthing, "Your Highness," as they bent their knees.
Caius paid them no mind as he stood by the doorway and stretched out his hand to Rose. "Ready?" he asked, looking her up and down, deliberately dragging his gaze.
Rose immediately started to move towards him as though she was being pulled. "Yes, Your Majesty," she whispered and stretched out her hand.
He wore black leather gloves that stopped right at his wrist, protecting only his fingers and palm. Rose didn’t like that she cared. It was none of her business if he wanted to kill himself from the cold. Besides, it would do her good if he died.
Her small hand, covered in satin gloves that went all the way to her elbow, rested on his palm, and Rose was instinctively annoyed at how small her hand was compared to his. He squeezed her hand again, then tilted it, bending her palm slightly upwards.
For half a blink of an eye, Rose thought he was going to kiss the back of her hand. He didn’t. Instead, he pulled her closer until she was standing directly in front of him and adjusted a nonexistent mess on her scarf with his free hand while locking eyes with her.
Rose heard an excited giggle from one of the maids, and the second one smacked her hard enough for it to echo. They then tried to hide the commotion they made with coughing.
If Rose hadn’t been so close to Caius—close enough to smell him—she would have found their exchange funny as she turned to look at them. However, Caius’s gaze didn’t waver once, and he looked completely uninterested in what the maids were up to.
"Shall we, little lady?" he asked, still holding onto her hand.
Rose winced; he was close, too close. So close that she could almost hear his heartbeat, or perhaps it was just hers echoing loudly in her head.
Rose turned her head and met his gaze. Her demeanor didn’t even give a hint of the nervous wreck she was inside. She met his gaze head-on and smiled. "Yes, Your Majesty."
His eyes flickered and his pupils dilated. One moment, he was teasing her, and in another, his eyes couldn’t hide his desire. Rose was fully convinced he would kiss her, and she took a step back without even thinking about it. It felt weird to let it happen in front of the maids.
Caius’s eyes squinted and his pupils returned to normal; then he turned his back to her and pulled her out of her room. Rose scrambled on her tiny feet as she tried to keep up.
They got out of her chambers and, thankfully, Caius slowed his pace so she was able to keep up with him without having to walk too fast. He led her down the pathway that led away from her chambers and all the way to the main entrance.
Caius seemed serious as he led her, not saying a word. Rose didn’t notice much of this as she looked around, coming once again to the statues she had seen the first day she arrived. Because the dining hall was in the same section as her chambers, there had been no reason to come here, so Rose nearly strained her neck as she tried to get a good look.
However, Caius didn’t even slow down to give her a chance to look around. He walked with purpose, leading her to the doors. The heavy doors opened, revealing the huge castle compound.
Rose forced her eyes from the interior as she stared outside. There was a blanket of snow over everything, but it still didn’t dampen the beauty. It was pretty clear that while the main castle had been built for safety, Castle Catherine concentrated on making the castle as beautiful as possible.
The interior was already so good, but Rose didn’t expect what lay outside. Perhaps it was because she had arrived at night that she didn’t realize just how magnificent it was.
There was a fountain right in front of the entrance, a few feet away from the huge stairway leading out of the castle. It was a statue of a whale spilling water out of its blowhole. Only, it wasn’t water, just ice.
"What is that huge fish?" Rose asked. It wasn’t like any fish she had ever seen. The underside was lighter than the top and a little wrinkly.
Caius looked shocked at her question as they walked down the stairs, but he seemed to welcome it. "You have never seen a whale before?" he asked.
Caius wasn’t surprised; whales were only found in the ocean, and the reason he was familiar with them was because he had done a lot of traveling by ship, both voluntarily and involuntarily. However, Rose should have at least heard of them.
He thought whales adorable, and apparently, so had his grandmother. Other than this fountain, there were other statues of various sizes of whales around the house and compound.
"No," Rose said with glee.
She couldn’t help herself. She knew a lot of different types of fish and had done some fishing herself, but the biggest fish they had ever found wasn’t even half as big as the statue.
"I have heard the term whale," she tried to explain. "But that’s all I know. That it is some kind of big fish, but no one ever talks about how really big it is. Is it really as big as this?"
Caius looked at her. "Don’t you mean small? If a whale of this size exists, it’s probably still a baby."
"A baby?" Rose’s eyes widened as she pulled her hand from his grasp. She rushed closer but didn’t touch the fountain. The water at the bottom was frozen, just like the water at the top.
This close, it was clear the water didn’t come out of the mouth. She could already see it from the doors, but now that she was closer, it looked like the frozen water was coming out of two holes that eerily looked like nostrils at the top of its head.
"Is that a nose?" Rose blurted.
