The King's Lover-Chapter 420: Capture Everything Else

They were back on the topic of his father again, Caius thought as he sat next to Rose. He didn’t hate it—if she was asking questions, that was a good sign. He just wished she would pick a different topic.

Caius leaned back against the chair, his eyes on her neck as she leaned forward. She was deciding what piece to move, and from the way her eyes moved around the board, he was sure he had an idea.

Her gestures gave away her thoughts, which gave him even more time to counter her. Not that it would matter; Caius had played chess for as long as he could remember. The game used to be fun when he was younger, and it was only recently that it had become just as fun again.

It was fascinating to see her try so hard when it was pretty clear she stood no chance, but she was getting better. Did he think she stood a chance at winning against him? No. But that was because it was him. He was sure she was at least above-average now, as he genuinely had to think carefully about her counters before he played.

Another thing that fascinated him was how easily she used his counters against him. She always looked so angry when he won but would go on playing until she was tired.

At first, he was sure she was just humoring him by playing the game, but now he wasn’t so sure. She looked as though she was enjoying it. She tucked her hair behind her ear as she leaned forward, her brows furrowed, her lips a thin line as she thought deeply.

She made her decision, moving the piece just as he’d thought she would. She turned to look at him, her frown worsening. Caius could guess why—he hadn’t answered her question. Instead, he was staring at her so intensely.

They had been speaking about how long he had been playing chess, and he had told her long enough. Then she asked him who taught him.

"My father," Caius said reluctantly.

Rose’s face went pale. "Oh," she mumbled. "He must be really good."

Caius almost laughed. It was the most generic thing she could have said, but the funny thing was, he didn’t know. He hadn’t played with his father in at least a decade; he might be good, but Caius didn’t think he was still as skilled as he remembered.

"Perhaps," he said instead.

Rose looked slightly confused and turned her gaze away. She had stopped bringing up Caira. Caius preferred that. He didn’t exactly have a plan about the princess; he didn’t know what to do with her.

As much as he preferred her to keep silent and go along with this, it also made resolutions hard. He also didn’t know much about her and had no idea what to do to get under her skin. He could try to find out, but Caius didn’t care enough to put himself through all that.

For now, he was avoiding his mother. He doubted he could keep at it for long, but Caius was hoping she would get exhausted and forget about it for a while.

Caius roughly had an idea as to why he was betrothed to Caira: it was his father’s idea, but Grandfather had made it possible. Caius wasn’t sure exactly why, but he knew it was his grandfather’s way of assuring his father he would be the next king.

Caius frowned at an unpleasant memory. His father had always been sickly, and Grandfather had thought he might not be a great fit for the throne. His father had not liked that.

"You won’t give me any tasks?" Rose asked.

Caius blinked as his eyes focused again. She had changed the topic. "You didn’t say you wanted more. You didn’t seem particularly pleased about the first one."

"That’s not true," Rose replied.

She frowned. The crown prince was awfully quiet, but he didn’t seem angry at her. She would say he was a little sad. She wondered if anything had happened during the day or if it was the conversation from last night. Rose was unsure.

"You should have mentioned it during your lessons," he said and made his move.

Rose nodded. "Tomorrow night," she said.

She didn’t know why she’d said that; it was completely different from the conversation she’d had with herself earlier today. But for now, she was going to blame the crown prince. It was easier that way because overthinking didn’t make the problem go away, it just pointed out how powerless she was.

Caius raised his eyebrows. He couldn’t help it—for the first time, she had agreed to be a willing participant in this. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed their private time. Well, it was more secret now than private.

Caius knew Rose mostly went along with him because there wasn’t much else she could do about it. As much as he wanted her to express herself and what she wanted, he couldn’t freely allow it, as she would say she wanted to leave—and he was willing to do absolutely anything to stop that.

"Yes, Rose," Caius smiled. "Shall we call it a night?"

"But we haven’t finished playing," she said as she made her move.

"We have. Checkmate."

Rose stared at the board in complete astonishment, and Caius did his best not to laugh.

"How?" she cried.

"You know how," he said and lifted her by the shoulders.

"But that doesn’t make any sense." She was frowning and had her fingers up to her face as though she was counting.

"It does," Caius said. "Your problem is you’re too myopic sometimes. You tend to protect your pieces a little too much, especially the Queen. You think if I take that, I win."

Caius scooped her into his arms; Rose was too distracted to protest.

"Isn’t that true?" she asked.

"Well, yes, but not always. I know you will protect your Queen no matter what, so I bait you. You keep your Queen for longer while I capture everything else."

Rose was dumbfounded. How had she not realized this? Also, how was the crown prince so good at reading her? It was annoying. It was as though the longer she played with him, the less chance she had to win.

Rose felt cold as realization hit her. Did that also mean the longer she stayed with him, the less her chance to leave?

"Don’t look so annoyed," he chuckled as he placed her on the bed. "You are better at playing, but you only have me to measure against."

Rose tried not to roll her eyes. Was he praising himself while complimenting her? "Do you think I could ever win against you?"

Caius brought his hand to his chin as he lay beside her, one of his arms underneath her. "Probably."

Rose’s eyes widened, and she lifted slightly to get a better look at his face. "You think so?" she asked, excitement in her eyes.

"Yes, I do think so, Rose." He pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. "However," he whispered right into her ear, "I will do everything to prevent that."