The King's Lover-Chapter 395: You are

Caius stood up so fast he startled his poor mother. She clutched her chest, her eyes wide, while Caira looked confused. She lifted her face to look at him but quickly averted her gaze.

He clenched his fists and pressed his arms tightly to his sides, fighting to remain civil. He was surprised by Caira’s presence and even more surprised that they would decide on a wedding without telling him.

"What’s going on, son?" his mother asked in that shrill voice he was getting sick of hearing.

Caius turned his gaze to Rylen, but the latter wouldn’t look at him. Caius narrowed his eyes. He had suspected something was off with Rylen’s behavior, but he had never foreseen it would be this extreme.

Caius stomped towards the door. There was no point in talking to his mother, and he was trying his best to keep up appearances in front of the princess. Caius couldn’t care less what she thought, but he knew better than anyone that certain appearances must be kept. It was the same reason he had been betrothed to a baby and they had never seen each other until now.

Caius barged out the door, his anger slipping out as he slammed it hard enough to rip it off its hinges. There was only one person who could make this possible, and he was merely a few rooms away.

Guards bowed as he walked through the hallway. The setting sun streamed through the windows, hitting the marble floor and scattering the light in all directions. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Caius walked swiftly as he made his way to the king, and without waiting for the guards to announce his presence, he barged into the king’s chambers. The guards didn’t dare stop him, and Caius pushed past them.

He entered the room to find the king in bed, his physicians crowded around as they helped him eat. His food was mostly mashed and shredded. The physicians were startled as he barged in, and one of them started to speak, but the king didn’t even look surprised.

"I am sorry, Your Highness, but you can’t be here..."

"Leave us," the king said in an exhausted voice.

The physicians hesitated, but only for a moment. They knew better than to ignore the king’s order, regardless of his health. They bowed and withdrew from the room.

"I heard you had returned. I didn’t expect to see you so soon—"

"I am not getting married," Caius stated. "Whatever this is, send the princess back to her homeland."

The king paused, and his eyes turned serious. "That might be a p-problem," he said casually, and coughed hard enough to make his whole body shake.

"A problem?" Caius scoffed. "I am not getting married."

"You are," the king replied and let out another bout of coughs.

Caius looked at his father with angry eyes, completely indifferent to his plight as the older man wheezed after coughing too hard.

"I already promised you’d marry the third princess of Lystern a long time ago. It wasn’t a matter of if; it was a matter of when."

"I refuse!"

"Why? You won’t find a better maiden, and she has been preparing all this time to marry you."

"I can choose who I want to marry!" Caius said, opening and closing his fists.

His father scoffed. "Don’t be ridiculous. You are the heir to the throne. Did you think the task of choosing the next queen would fall into your capable hands?" The king’s words dripped with sarcasm. "Besides, my marriage to your mother was decided by my father, too."

"You can’t force me to marry her!"

"Then who will you marry? The whore?" The king laughed and then coughed just as hard.

Caius’s vision blurred, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. "I shall not be at the wedding."

The king lifted his gaze, his expression filled with disappointment. "Then I shall take it that you relinquish your title as crown prince. That’s perfect. Your cousin did a better job anyway."

Caius felt as though a hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed hard enough to burst it. He didn’t think he cared about what his father thought, but hearing the king speak highly of his cousin had the intended effect.

"You wouldn’t."

"Would you be willing to test that, my spoiled son?"

Caius looked at his father with defiance, unwilling to give in. "Spoiled?" Caius let out a sad laugh. "You’re nothing more than a dying old man."

The king smirked, though it took some effort. "Then you will be nothing more than the lover of a whore, and my first order would be to have this whore executed. See how you can stop me, titleless."

Caius froze as though all the breath had been kicked out of him. He knew his father didn’t joke around. This was the man who had sent him to the mercenaries and, after that, to an enemy camp.

Caius slowly unclenched his fists as the heavy realization hit him. He had no choice but to give in, and it had everything to do with Rose. If he didn’t marry the princess, he couldn’t protect her. It was a dilemma he hadn’t foreseen, as he had thought his father was too stringent to let the throne go to anyone else.

Even if it was simply a ploy to get him to concede, there wasn’t enough time between now and the wedding. The king could have her executed and return his title out of spite. There was nothing he could do to prevent this.

The king smiled as his son fell silent, multiple expressions passing over his face. "I shall take that as a yes to the wedding. Leave my room."

Caius didn’t move as he sent a deathly stare in the king’s direction, but the latter wasn’t unnerved and met his son’s gaze head-on.

Caius hated his father; he could feel it in his bones. But alas, it wasn’t enough. Instead of giving in to his anger, he turned around and walked towards the exit. His father’s laughing and coughing followed him out.