The King's Lover-Chapter 388: Too Cruel

Rose didn’t want to open her eyes, even when Caius broke the kiss and pressed his lips to the top of her head. The gesture was so unexpected that, if she wasn’t still caught up in what had just happened, she wouldn’t have been able to ignore it.

It was brief as and as soon as he kissed her head, he pulled away. She felt him pull away, disconnecting them, and only then did Rose open her eyes to see Caius was seated on the bed, taking off what was left of his robe.

Rose was sprawled on the bed with her dress hitched up. She did her best to try to adjust it just as Caius turned slightly to toss his robe aside. Rose froze as she caught sight of his scars again.

"Your scars," Rose heard herself say before she could think about it.

She knew about the scars but somehow it was just as shocking as the first time she had seen them. The harsh irregular lines were enough to take anyone aback.

Caius turned to look at her, his expression unreadable. "I have a number of those," he said casually as he lay on his back, pulling the covers over them.

"Yes," Rose said softly. "The ones on your back look more gruesome."

"Do you feel sorry for me?" he asked, glancing at her.

Rose could feel her impatience rise. It was hard to get any information from the Crown Prince. She didn’t particularly care, and she blamed the intimacy for why she was suddenly inquisitive.

"Don’t," Caius added.

Rose turned to look at him. It was his tone of voice—almost identical to the way he’d spoken about the scar on his chin, given to him by his own father. It was dismissive, as though it wasn’t worth talking about and was to be expected.

"What happened?" she heard herself ask. Her impatience scattered like flies as her inquisitiveness returned.

Caius looked away briefly. "It was a long time ago, and it would seem you helped me get my final revenge."

As he spoke, he pulled her to himself. If Rose hadn’t been so caught up in what he said, she would have noticed he pulled her closer with his injured hand.

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Her brows furrowed in confusion.

Rose was unsure why she was so bold, but for some reason, there was a strange urge to try to understand the Crown Prince. She barely knew anything about him, and he was closed off. It wasn’t as if she was trying to reach him, but she knew she couldn’t even if she wanted to.

Caius glanced at her again, his eyes softly tracing her expression. She could see him decide on something, and then he started to speak.

"I was twelve when I joined the mercenaries. Most of the scars I have—the older ones—are from that time. However, the scars on my back are different. These were inflicted by Ryder. I was weak and easy prey. Don’t look so aghast. After I’d had enough, I gave him the scar on his eye, and you smashed his head open."

Caius chuckled at the end of his words, and he seemed to be looking at her with admiration, while Rose was sick to her stomach as she tried to process what she had just heard.

She had heard too many things at once. The Crown Prince had joined mercenaries, and not only that, he had been only twelve at the time. Then he was bullied by a member until he had had enough. But to call the scars on his back bullying was absurd; it was torture.

Rose wasn’t sure what to do with this information, and she couldn’t act appropriately. Caius seemed to believe these violent acts were his fault for being weak.

Rose closed her eyes briefly. She should have never asked. It wasn’t an excuse, but she could tell that a small part of her wanted to understand him, and she hated that.

"Why did you join the mercenaries?" Rose asked softly, the words almost choking her.

All she wanted to do was exclaim how awful it was, but she couldn’t. She had to pretend she wasn’t the least bit bothered by the information she had just heard.

Caius’s expression darkened at her question. It was the only time he had shown an appropriate expression for this situation. Rose tried her best not to do anything out of the ordinary.

"The King," he said. "You should go to sleep."

Rose nodded. She knew without a doubt the conversation was over. She felt sad that she couldn’t offer some kind of support. It felt a little too cruel. She also didn’t miss that he had referred to his father as just the king.

"Goodnight, Your Majesty," Rose said, but she knew she wasn’t going to sleep. Instead, she gathered her thoughts around the information she just heard.

Rose had been curious about why the king would give his own son a scar on his chin, but he had also sent his son to join the mercenaries. The scar was mild in comparison.

Mercenaries were technically hired bandits. Most of the time, they were hired to do dirty jobs the kingdoms didn’t want to do themselves, and there was no limit to the sort of jobs they did. Rose didn’t want to imagine the sort of things twelve-year-old Caius had to do while he was there.

She was also starting to understand the hatred for his father. It was not unknown that the king and his son were at odds, but Rose didn’t realize just how deep it ran, and for the king to send his only son into such danger was hard for her to wrap her head around.

The rumors that had gone around were that the Crown Prince had gone abroad to study. For it to be something this cruel was hard for Rose to comprehend.

It took a while for Rose to fall asleep, and when she eventually did, she clung close to Caius, trying her best to offer as much comfort as she could without saying anything.