The King's Lover-Chapter 381: Fair And Square

Rose peeked at the Crown Prince while sitting across from him with the chessboard between them. It was the fifth game and her fifth loss. Their eyes met, and Rose couldn’t even pretend to be surprised that he was looking at her.

A lock of hair sat on his forehead, resting perfectly in the middle, just between his bushy brows. His eyes were sharp as they met hers, and a smile lingered on his lips.

"You are getting better," he said with a smug expression at his victory.

Rose did her best not to show any emotion on her face. She preferred when he made annoying comments about her lack of skill than when he complimented her. After all, they both sounded the same; only the words were different.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Rose said, only because it would be rude not to reply.

She forced her gaze away from him and stared at the table. She was reluctant to rearrange the chess pieces. Five games in a row was exhausting, and coupled with the fact that she had to write all morning, her hands were aching.

"Shall we call it a day?" Caius suddenly suggested, as though noticing her exhaustion.

Rose lifted her face to glance at him, a faint smile on her face. "Please," she said politely.

Caius narrowed his gaze. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say you don’t like to play."

Rose frowned. It wasn’t that she didn’t like to play; rather, she hated to lose, and each time, the glaring difference between them was pretty apparent.

"That is not it."

"Then what is it?" Caius pressed, clearly not letting the issue go.

Rose looked at him with an intense expression as she contemplated if she should answer him truthfully. That was not a good idea, but the Crown Prince would likely not let the issue go unless he got an answer.

She sighed and picked up the chessboard with all the pieces, intending to return it to its place on the shelf. "I don’t like to lose," Rose said as she walked away. She deliberately turned her back to him as she didn’t want to see his expression at her answer.

"Would you like me to go easy on you?"

The question was so unexpected that Rose nearly lost her footing. She turned around to look at the crown prince, and he was staring back with a serious expression.

"No, Your Majesty," she replied as she quickly recovered. "It would defeat the purpose." She couldn’t believe he would ask that.

She placed the chessboard on the shelf just as she heard the sound of the chair being moved. She felt a slight shift in the air around her, and she knew he was approaching her; however, his footsteps remained light.

Rose didn’t move away from the shelf, as she didn’t want to face him, and if she turned around, she would have to. She felt him come closer until he was right behind her.

He wrapped his uninjured arm around her waist and pulled her closer to himself, pressing her backside against him. He lowered his head until it rested in the cradle of her neck.

"If that’s what you want, Rose, I will do it. Consider it as payment for helping me," he whispered right in her ear and took a deep breath.

Rose felt goosebumps as his breath caressed her ear. "As I said," Rose replied immediately, refusing to be tempted by his offer. "It defeats the purpose, Your Majesty. When I win, I want it to be fair and square; only then would it be satisfying."

"Hmm, you think you can." His hand moved upwards as he spoke.

She broke away from his grasp and turned to look at him. It suddenly felt as though her lungs were empty of air, and Rose blamed it on the fact that she pulled away in a rush, not because the Crown Prince had held her tightly moments ago.

Caius’s expression turned lustful, and his gaze fell to her lips. Rose’s throat went dry, and it was a little hard to tell if she was appalled or expectant. Perhaps somewhere in the middle.

"You’re right." Caius turned away, his hands clasped behind his back as he slowly walked away.

She had seen something in his expression just before he turned away, but Rose was unsure of what it was. She had been a little too caught up thinking about whether or not she disliked the idea of him kissing her, and she couldn’t help the guilt that crept in.

"You should get some rest before dinner." He took his seat once again. "I am sure I have worn you out today."

He smiled at her, a smile that reached his eyes and formed crinkles around them, and Rose thought he looked younger than she had ever seen. She started to wonder if she had been wrong about his age.

"It is nothing I can’t handle," Rose said reflectively. She didn’t like the idea of the Crown Prince looking down on her.

"Perhaps." He leaned back, watching her with clear amusement on his face. "However, I’d prefer it if you weren’t too tired."

Rose was unsure why this annoyed her. Recently, some insignificant things he did seemed to get on her nerves. She walked towards the table and sat across from him. His gaze followed her every move, his smile still lingering.

"May I ask a question, Your Majesty?" she blurted, partly to change the subject and partly out of curiosity.

"Go ahead," he encouraged, looking pretty pleased.

Rose immediately started to lose confidence, and a part of her wanted to skip the question altogether, but she knew if she didn’t ask now, she might not get the chance to. There was also the fact that unless she knew, it was something that would keep coming up in her mind.

"How old are you?"

Rose didn’t want to sugarcoat it or beat around the bush, so she had asked the question directly, but it was clear from Caius’s face that perhaps she might have asked the question a little too directly. She opened her mouth to apologize, but he was already speaking.

"Twenty-two."

Rose’s mouth fell open; she couldn’t even hide her shock. Caius was instantly offended.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed. "Am I too old?"

"Too old?" she asked with a baffled expression. "I would have sworn you were at least a quarter of a century old."

Caius felt the anger, hot and sour, crawl from the pit of his stomach up to his throat, as though he had swallowed a vial of vinegar. It was bitter and acidic. He wasn’t just annoyed that she had thought he was older, but because of how she described it. It made him sound even older.

"Do you even know what a century means?" he asked, let alone a quarter of a century.

Rose wasn’t offended; rather, she sat upright in her seat, eager to learn more. Perhaps she had been wrong about the meaning of a century, and she knew the Crown Prince would tell her the right answer.

"A hundred," she replied softly, hoping she wasn’t wrong.

Caius narrowed his eyes, seeming even more offended. "Yes," he said and turned his gaze away.

Rose frowned, a little confused. If she had been correct, why had he asked that?