The King's Lover-Chapter 424: Bad Timing

Something felt off. There was nothing strange about the way he stood or the fact that he was still dressed in his clothes from the day, but it felt a little off. Caius walked towards her from the wardrobe with a steady step, his expression barely giving anything away, but Rose couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"Your Majesty," she said as he stopped in front of her desk.

"I see you’re already busy," he said casually.

"Yes," Rose said with a soft smile as she stared at the desk, then lifted her head to look at him. "Did something happen?" she asked.

Caius frowned, his brows furrowing deep enough to touch his eyes. "Why?"

Rose shook her head. "I don’t know but it feels as though something happened."

"Nothing did," Caius said, a little too strongly.

It reinforced the idea that something had happened, but Rose couldn’t begin to guess what. It was clearly something that annoyed and displeased Caius.

He had been coming to her room every night for the past week. Since the night of the wedding until now, he had not missed a day, and Rose had found herself adjusting to this routine.

"Okay," she said softly.

She did her best not to think too much about her situation, as that didn’t do much to change it and only left her in a terrible state. Right now, her goal was to try to learn how to read and write as fast as she could.

Not surprisingly, with so much free time on her hands, she was making significant progress. Besides, it was a good distraction, and the tasks Caius gave her kept her pretty busy.

"What are we going to do today?" she asked as he rounded the desk and sat next to her.

"Let me see your task," Caius stated.

Rose frowned. This was highly unusual. Caius always saved it for last, and she knew it was because he enjoyed seeing how anxious she was about whether she got them right or not.

He had not put any price or consequences on the tasks he gave her since the first day, but it was still enough to make Rose anxious regardless of whether or not she would be punished if she failed.

She searched through the papers on the table and handed it to him. He accepted it and went quiet as he checked. With nothing to do, Rose could only stare at him, trying to see if his expression would tell her anything.

"Not bad," he said as he dropped it back on the table. "You failed two."

Rose frowned and tried to look at it. Caius immediately started to explain what she had done wrong, but his voice had even more seriousness to it. Annoyed and embarrassed that she had failed some, she paid attention.

Caius focused on the corrections but his mind kept returning to the issue. It was hard to state exactly how he was feeling. It teetered more towards annoyance, as Caira’s act was bound to cost him something.

If it were just his mother, he could handle her, but if word reached his father and the older man decided to do something in retaliation, he might be faced with the same condition that forced him into this marriage.

He had expected to still have some time before she grew impatient; he had underestimated her. He didn’t expect her to do something so forward, and that had given him plenty of chances to make excuses.

He wasn’t directly rejecting her; he was pretending other factors were the reason why he couldn’t go to see her. But with this, there was no more excuse. He had blatantly sent her out of his room.

It was a bit ironic that seeing her on his bed, where Rose had once lain, had pissed him off even more than the gravity of the situation. It wasn’t meant for her. He had wanted her out of his room immediately.

He had done his best to hide his anger, but by the look on her face, his best wasn’t that good. However, he wasn’t the least bothered by how he made her feel; he was more worried about the consequences of this.

Caius had been shocked that Rose had instantly known something was wrong, as he thought he had hidden every trace of it pretty well. If she found out what had happened, he could already tell what she would say, and that only annoyed him further.

She would take Caira’s side and try to get him to let her go again. He didn’t want to let her go. He couldn’t do that, and regardless of how it seemed, he really was trying his best to make it work. But Rose didn’t want that.

It wasn’t something he could ask either, as her answer would be to let her go. How could she be so warm? Notice that something was wrong and in the next breath tell him to let go? How could she respond to his touches if all she thought about was leaving him?

"Your Majesty!" Rose yelled in fright just as a loud snap echoed in the room.

Caius was pulled out of his thoughts as he realized he had snapped the quill in half, splashing ink on the paper and sending the other half flying across the room.

"Are you okay?" She looked at his hand in concern.

"I am fine," Caius said coldly and dropped the broken half of the quill on the paper. "Shall we call it a day?"

He pulled his hand to himself, and Rose noticed it was stained with ink. "Let me get you something to clean that," she offered.

Rose was standing before he could agree or disagree. She walked to the wardrobe and came back with a towel. It didn’t completely wipe out the stains, but at least he couldn’t transfer them onto anything else.

"Water will wash it out better, but for now, this will have to do," she said and used the towel to wipe the remaining stains on the table. Then she picked up the broken quill.

"Toss it out," Caius said immediately. "I’ll send some to you tomorrow."

Rose nodded and dropped it on the botched paper. "What about my tasks?" she asked.

"None today."

"Yes, Your Majesty," she stated.

"You don’t always have to call me that. You usually drop it during lessons unless you want my attention, but as soon as I stop being your tutor, you won’t call me anything else." His irritation was showing.

Rose blinked once, twice, as she tried to fathom what the crown prince was talking about. She was pretty sure she didn’t call him anything other than "Your Majesty." Why was he now claiming otherwise?

"I thought you preferred when I called you Your Majesty," Rose asked softly.

"Never mind," Caius said and stood up. "Let’s go to bed."

"Aren’t you going to play chess?"

"Not tonight," he said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her to bed.

She got in before him, and Caius tossed his shirt off before joining her. He pulled her close, and she pressed her face against his chest. It felt warm against her face, and Rose instinctively closed her eyes.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong, Your Majesty?"

"No," he said. "Just tired."

Rose simply nodded. She would have sworn his heartbeat increased just before he spoke. She couldn’t guess what was wrong, and as much as she would like to pretend otherwise, it did bother her. She wondered if it was something she could help with.

Rose internally scolded herself at this thought. It was not her business to worry about him; she had more pressing matters. Her drug was at its last dose. She had tried to drag it out as best as she could, but Rose knew she would be pushing it too thin if she didn’t get a refill soon.

She waited for a bit. She knew the timing was off, but she needed to know as soon as possible, and since he made the promise, he had not brought it up since then.

"Your Majesty," Rose’s voice was unsteady as she called to him.

"Yes," he said and caressed her back.

Rose internally smacked herself at the satisfied sound that almost slipped out. "When do you think I can see Lady Delphine, Your Majesty?"

Caius pulled his hand from her back immediately as his body stiffened. Rose raised her head, instantly apologetic. "I know this is a bad time, but I was just wondering if I could... I am sorry, Your—" Rose faltered at his expression.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Y-your Majesty seemed angry." What did she do now?

"I am not. In two days. Thomas will take you there."

He pressed her head down on his chest. Rose wondered if it was to hide his eyes from her. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes," he stated. "Goodnight, Rose."

"Goodnight, Your Majesty."