The King's Lover-Chapter 385: Indoor Walk

Rose stood next to Caius as they walked away from his room. It was time for their walk around the castle. She certainly thought it was a bad idea, but she was sick of being cramped in rooms and would like to look around.

Since Caius had injured his hand, her movements had been restricted to between his room and hers. It was already much restricted before, but now it was even worse. Rose wasn’t sure where he would lead her or how the walk would go, but she thought it would be better than nothing.

From their floor, Caius led her to the main entrance hall. It was the only room in the entire castle that connected multiple sections. It was also the room that was filled with numerous statues. This time, Rose was able to look around, noticing a statue of a small whale. She giggled at this.

The stone pillars of the hall had intricate designs on them, and Rose wondered how she had never noticed them before. It was pretty clear that every inch of Castle Catherine had been delicately designed. It was indeed unfortunate that the late Queen Catherine never got to see it completed.

From the entry hall, Caius led her to the great hall—smaller than the one in the capital, yet still imposing—with long tables pushed neatly aside and a broad hearth crackling at the far end. It didn’t look like the great hall was used very often, but it was still in pristine shape. Every surface was polished and arranged, ready to receive guests.

There was barely any conversation between them as Caius led her from one section to another. He would answer her questions but didn’t offer anything more, and Rose found that she had fewer and fewer questions to ask. This had to do with the fact that, rather than look at what he showed her, he kept his gaze on her, their hands intertwined the entire time.

After going through a few more sections, Caius led her to the library. Rose had to tilt her head all the way back to see the ceiling, which had beautiful drawings of whales and other sea creatures. The library in Castle Catherine was just as big as the one in the capital.

Shelves lined the walls and filled the space. There wasn’t anyone in the library other than the two of them, but it was clear the library wasn’t abandoned. Rose wondered if Caius had cleared the room for the walk.

"Perhaps when you can read," he started to say, forcing her to tear her gaze away from the room to look at his face. "You’ll pick any book of your choice from here."

Rose’s eyes widened as she looked around. She didn’t think she would be able to do that in the time they had left, but somehow she felt happy at his confidence in her.

"Someday," she said with a grin, glancing at him.

Caius suddenly froze, and if Rose hadn’t been caught up with looking around, she would have noticed his expression and understood it this time.

The tour ended in the inner courtyard, open to the sky. Snow clung to the edges of the stone, the well stood quiet at its center, and the cold air felt clean after the enclosed halls. The sky was darkening as sunlight slowly faded, giving the courtyard a pale, dream-like look.

Rose finally pulled her hand away from Caius, and he reluctantly let her go. She walked away from him with a smile on her face. It was clear winter was slowly coming to an end.

There was barely any snow falling, but Rose still closed her eyes and lifted her face upwards as if to feel snowflakes fall onto her face. When she opened them again, Caius was staring at her.

"We should go in," he said and stretched out his free hand. "You aren’t dressed for the cold."

She scowled at him but did as he ordered, rushing back to him where he pulled her against himself. He felt softer—and she didn’t mean his skin. She shook her head, wondering what she was thinking; it must be the cold getting to her head.

When they returned to his room, Rose was tired from walking around. She did know that Castle Catherine was huge, but she had gravely underestimated it, as it was significantly smaller than the castle in the capital.

Rose sat on the bed and fell sideways, her legs hanging off the edge. Caius walked to where she lay and just stood. Rose’s eyes couldn’t meet his face with how close he stood, so she just stared at his chest. It was broad, and all of a sudden a flash of his bare torso appeared in her mind.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Huh?" she asked, praying her face didn’t show an inkling of what she had been thinking moments ago.

"Are you tired?" Caius questioned with a raised brow.

Rose nodded and looked at his feet; it was better than his chest. There must be something wrong with her; she had been acting odd all day. She was finally getting what she wanted, and yet she was the one in shambles. She couldn’t completely blame the Crown Prince, now could she? She was just as wanton.

She moved herself to a sitting position; it was uncomfortable to lay that way while dressed in daily attire. Caius still stood in front of her, not attempting to move.

She spotted his injured hand and instinctively reached for it. Rose tried to pull her hand away as she realized what she was doing, but it was already too late as the Crown Prince handed her his hand.

"Does it still hurt as much?" she found herself asking.

Caius shrugged. "It will be fine soon enough."

Rose didn’t believe how casual he was. Aside from the physical pain, she was sure his ego had taken a hit, but he was indeed acting as though it really would be fine. Other than the first day, he had truly not acted odd because of the injury.

Rose blinked and realized that she had been tracing the bandage around his wrist. She smiled tightly and slowly let go of his hand, letting it fall beside him with an apologetic look on her face. If she could see Caius’s face she would see that he was disappointed that she let go of his hand.