The King's Lover-Chapter 413: Normal

Rose woke up with arms around her. Her eyes flew open almost instantly; from the light streaming through the window, she could tell it was only dawn and at least she had not overslept this time.

"Good morning, Rose."

Rose lifted her head from his chest, meeting his eyes. His hair was disheveled, but his face was relaxed, and by the looks of things he had been awake for a while.

If you are awake, leave, she thought to herself.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," she returned and tried to get away from him.

He reluctantly let her go, asking, "Where are you going?"

Rose sat upright and faced him. His tone was too nonchalant, not a single worry behind those eyes. This was not normal. She didn’t even want to think about what happened last night, but the fact that he was still here only intensified her horror.

"The maids are going to be here soon, Your Majesty," Rose explained.

"You are right," Caius said and propped his head up with his elbow. "I unfortunately have a meeting with the council today."

"Is something wrong?" Rose instantly regretted asking this, but it was the serious look in his eyes that distracted her.

Caius’s expression softened and he shrugged. "Nothing you have to worry about. The lords just can’t wait to tell me all about what they did while we were away, and unfortunately, I can no longer use the wedding as an excuse anymore."

Rose froze; it was hard not to. Not with the casual way he brought up the wedding as though it was no big deal. He was slowly roping her into acting like that was normal, and Rose realized she had nothing to fight back with.

"I see," she whispered and turned her gaze away. "I hope the meeting goes smoothly."

"Don’t bother. It will most likely end in chaos, as always." Caius didn’t seem bothered by this.

Rose started to get out of bed, and while Caius didn’t stop her, he stared at her oddly. She ignored him and walked toward the table. The fact that he wasn’t eager to leave annoyed her, but right now stripping the room of as much evidence as she could was all that mattered.

She walked to the table where a pile of papers had been crushed, some tossed to the ground, and ink spilled over parts of the table. Rose was surprised she hadn’t gotten any ink on herself.

She started by gathering the papers on the floor when she caught sight of Caius’s garment. Rose froze as she stared at it, remembering he had used it to clean her up.

She couldn’t begin to comprehend what had been going through his head at the time and why he would do something like that. This whole thing was a mess, one she would have to think about later, but she set that aside for now.

She picked up the garment and placed it on one of the seats. Caius didn’t say anything as he watched her, and Rose was determined to keep ignoring him.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything she could do about the spilled ink, but at least that would be easy to make an excuse for. She would leave it to the maids.

Her next major concern was how to get Caius out of the room. His garment was soiled, and he still had his boots and sword under her bed. However, the culprit looked completely unbothered. There was no way he hadn’t noticed the absence of these items.

Rose rested on the edge of the table, facing the bed. Caius had adjusted so he could stare at her unrestricted. She folded her arms and stared at him, hoping he would get the hint, but she should have known better.

"Your Majesty," Rose said slowly. She had to be mindful of how she spoke; she couldn’t let her anger take over. "Wouldn’t it be advisable to leave?"

Caius groaned and got out of bed, and for a moment Rose jubilated—until she realized he wasn’t leaving just yet. Rather, he was approaching her completely naked.

With the covers away, she could clearly see the marks she had left on his chest, and she glued her gaze to the floor, refusing to stare. Caius stopped in front of her and leaned forward, locking her between the desk and himself. With him this close, there was no way she could keep ignoring him.

"Your Majesty," Rose called as she slowly lifted her gaze.

He smiled as her gaze rested on him. "Do you need more papers or a bound book?"

Rose looked to the side; it was hard to keep his gaze when he was looking at her with such eagerness. "I-I don’t think I need more for now. I have enough."

Rose couldn’t comprehend how he was comfortable standing this close to her completely naked while she was the one getting embarrassed on his behalf.

"Should I have the servants bring you a chessboard? I don’t want you to get rusty. You already have a hard time keeping up with me; I can only imagine how much worse it would get."

"I am not getting rusty."

Rose glared at him, and Caius kissed her right on the lips. The sound echoed in the room. He pulled back and started speaking as though he had done nothing out of the ordinary while Rose was too stunned to react.

"I will ask them to bring it anyway, and if you’re not a terrible student, we might have time to do something other than your lessons."

Rose blinked and shook her head as she tried to get over what just happened. She didn’t miss the insinuation in his tone. This was about to become a regular thing, and he was using the one thing she wanted—and only he could provide—as a way to rope her into agreeing.

She opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of knocking startled her, and Rose looked at Caius with pleading eyes. "Your Majesty."

His face fell, and he stepped back, removing his hands from the table. "You are always so eager to have me sent away."

Rose blinked. She refused to believe her eyes—there was no way in hell the crown prince had just pouted. She stared at his back as he turned away from her and rounded the table.

He stopped in front of the seat holding his garment and picked it up. Bundling it in one hand, he sauntered away from her. Rose was glad he was taking that with him.

"Your Majesty," she suddenly called.

Caius glanced back at her with an eager expression.

"Your boots and sword."

His disappointment was palpable. He turned his head and walked toward the wardrobe. He didn’t even turn when it opened and shut behind his naked back.

______________________________

Caius sat in the meeting room in front of the lords. He was annoyed that he had to condone this, he’d rather spend his afternoon with Rose. The only reason he had agreed to this meeting just two days after his wedding was because the lords were using it as an excuse to linger, and he could no longer stand seeing their faces during mealtimes. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Especially the Duke of Furtherfield.

He wasn’t exactly a member of the council, but he had enough land and influence to show up to meetings if he wanted to. He would occasionally attend, but that was back when his father was still strong enough to make an appearance.

His cousin was by his side as always. Rylen began the meeting as soon as Caius was comfortably seated. He ran over a few things he had already briefed Caius about, and Caius tried his best to listen attentively, but he knew this was not the real reason they were here.

The major reason was the attack in Furtherfield, and he also knew this was the reason for Lord Leopold’s presence. The lords wanted retaliation. In conclusion: war.

The Duke of Hartfield, Lord Nicholas, stood up to speak after Rylen was done with his briefing. Caius massaged his temple. Lord Nicholas was a little better than Lord Charles, but considering they all seemed to agree on payback, he didn’t have much hope.

"Welcome back to Hearthgale, Your Highness. This is our first official meeting since you returned, and we want you to know that we are all glad you’re back here, healed, safe, and sound."

"Thank you, Lord Nicholas," Caius said with a curt smile.

"Without wasting any time, I would like to ask when Your Highness will allow an attack on the kingdom of Galdoris. They have trifled with us enough, and now to attack the heir to the throne—it would be an insult to Velmount if we do nothing about it."

Caius sighed. This was going to be a long meeting. "Speaking of war just two days after my wedding, Lord Nicholas."

"I apologize, Your Highness, but this is not something we can keep quiet about. Now that winter is over, they are bound to act again. We can’t keep letting them think they can get away with it."

"Despite what you say, Lord Nicholas, I was attacked by bandits. There is no indication that Galdoris had anything to do with it."

"We already know they were behind the bandits’ attacks."

"We do not know that. Prince Rylen," Caius called.

Rylen stood to his feet immediately. "His Highness is right. There is no proof that Galdoris had anything to do with the bandits’ attacks. All our investigations point away from them."

"They are just good at hiding their tracks," Lord Charles stated, slamming his hand on the table. "We all know they are behind it."

Caius dug his finger into his temple. He had hoped the lord would sit this one out but of course not, this was the sort of thing Charles enjoyed.