The King's Lover-Chapter 374: Logical Fashion
Rose rolled on her bed. She had free time, but she couldn’t seem to enjoy it. She was completely occupied with the thought that the Crown Prince might call on her soon. She was certain that as soon as the physician left, she would be summoned.
But sufficient time passed, and no one had come to call her. At first, she was worried that maybe his injury was more than a sprain, but soon enough, she was able to push him out of her mind as she slowly started to relax.
Rose didn’t feel sleepy as she stayed in her room, and she thought that she might try to recall all that she had learned today. The best way not to forget was to practice.
At this thought, she wondered if the Crown Prince would want to teach her again. Now that he couldn’t use his hand, would he agree to get a tutor? Rose realized she didn’t care who taught her, as long as she could learn.
There wasn’t anything to write with in the room, so she just drew the letters on her palm while saying them out loud. Rose couldn’t help but smile when she realized she could remember the letters of the script easily.
She was annoyed because, whether or not it was all her, and she could have done just as well with a different tutor, she would never know. Which meant she had to give Caius his accolades for being a good enough tutor.
A loud knock echoed through her room, and Rose jumped. She stood up and walked to the door. Outside stood her two maids.
"Lady Rose," they said with a small curtsey while looking past her into the room.
"Why didn’t you just come in?" she asked as she stepped away from the door. They were her maids; as long as they hadn’t arrived at inappropriate times, they could walk into the room after knocking unless told otherwise.
"W-we weren’t sure if you were alone," they said as they walked in.
Rose shut the door with a puzzled expression. It shouldn’t matter if she was alone or not. They had been here multiple times when she wasn’t.
"It doesn’t matter," Rose said.
"Well," they looked at each other as though unsure if they could tell her this. "We didn’t want to anger His Highness. We heard something bad happened outside the castle, and he has been punishing everyone."
"What?" Rose asked. "Something bad did happen, but no, the Crown Prince isn’t punishing everyone as you have heard. You have nothing to worry about."
"What happened then?" the girls asked. "We heard he broke his bones and had to be carried inside."
"What?" Rose repeated, trying hard to appear serious while fighting the urge to burst out laughing. "The Crown Prince didn’t break any bones, nor was he carried inside. He is also not punishing everyone, so don’t worry."
Rose had thought Castle Catherine wasn’t like the main castle at all, but she could see they had a very peculiar similarity: gossip. She almost laughed at this; the gossip was so exaggerated, and to think even the Crown Prince wasn’t spared.
Rose had left out the true extent of Caius’s injury on purpose for safety reasons but had at least said enough to stop the tales being spun into something even worse.
"Thank you," the maid said, looking genuinely relieved.
Rose understood they were serious, so she tried to keep her face just as serious. But she couldn’t help but wonder what the maids were worried about. It wasn’t as though the crown prince would start punishing everyone randomly.
Why would he do that?
At this question, Rose’s eyes widened. Why was she so sure the Crown Prince would behave in a logical fashion? Nothing he had done to her made any sense, but all of a sudden, she didn’t think he would punish the servants for his falling off a tree.
"We came to tell you dinner is ready," the maids said, pulling Rose out of her confusing thoughts.
The maids were quick to help her get ready for dinner, and Rose walked out of her room. As she stepped out, she instinctively turned to look at the Crown Prince’s chambers. She hadn’t heard from him since the afternoon, and she hated that she was starting to get worried.
Her gaze lingered for a little longer than it needed to, and just as she was about to turn her head, his doors opened. She waited to see who was coming out. She shouldn’t have, but she was curious. It was easier to say that than to admit she was concerned.
Caius walked out. He was still wearing the same style of clothing as earlier, but the colors were different, indicating that he had changed his clothes. Rose wasn’t surprised; the last one had been covered in snow.
"Your Majesty," she curtsied as he approached, while the maids hid behind her bedroom door. They really didn’t want to see the Crown Prince.
Caius walked and stopped in front of her but didn’t say a word. He just loomed over her. She forced her head up to meet his gaze. She swallowed before opening her mouth to speak.
"How’s your hand, Your Majesty?"
His face was solemn as he looked at her. It was hard not to inquire about his hand.
Caius stretched out his right hand towards her, and Rose instinctively held it. It had been carefully wrapped by the physician. His hand smelled of medicine, and she figured it was the ointment the physician might have used to make his sprain hurt less.
"It hurts," he said with his hand still in her grasp.
It was such an odd thing to hear him say that Rose’s first instinct was to console him. "Only for a few days; it should feel better as the days go by."
After she said this, she couldn’t help but wonder why she would speak to the Crown Prince as though he were a child who had fallen and scraped his knees.
"Shall we?" he asked, cutting short her thoughts.
"Yes," Rose replied, blinking in slight confusion.
Caius took his right hand away and held her right hand with his left as he led her away from her chambers and towards the direction of the dining hall.
