The King's Lover-Chapter 426: Sounds Vulgar

Caius walked into the dining room to find that everyone was already seated. His mother glared at him as soon as he walked through the door, while Caira refused to meet his eyes.

No one spoke a word as he sat down, and it felt incredibly awkward. Caius was glad they no longer had any guests, as that would complicate things further.

The only silver lining right now was that he knew breakfast would be cordial; however, he had no idea what would happen afterward. Caius was sure he would be able to handle anything, as long as it didn’t involve his father.

He could make excuses to his mother and lie to her, but his father followed through with his words, and Caius would not be able to make excuses this time. It didn’t help that it would endanger Rose.

His cousin also seemed affected by the news—it was subtle, but Caius could notice his reactions. How tense his expression looked when he stared at him. Caius was unsurprised. His cousin tended to have a hero complex; it was no surprise he was acting as though Caira needed saving from him, as he had done with Rose.

Caius realized that, unlike with Rose, he didn’t care. If someone was willing to take Caira away, he would let them have her. He sounded cruel even as he thought about it, but Caius didn’t have the chance to be anything less. He had to come up with a worthwhile solution, or this would be a mess he couldn’t clean.

"Might I have a word, Caius?"

Not son, not even his title—just his name, in front of everyone. Caius could tell this was going to be some conversation.

"Of course, Mother." He plastered a smile on his face.

She was not impressed, and she turned away from him without saying another word, then politely said her goodbyes to Caira, who nodded in response.

Caius was impressed. Compared to how she had looked when she ran away from his room the night before, one could not immediately tell that something was wrong. She was the epitome of composure and polite smiles. If only she hadn’t been so impatient, things wouldn’t be this awkward.

His mother rose from her seat, and Caius followed behind her. This was hard to do, as her ladies-in-waiting stuck behind her like glue. The Queen walked briskly, barely looking back to see if he was following. She knew she didn’t have to.

As Caius trod behind, he felt like a kid being scolded for putting his hands in the cookie jar. He couldn’t wait to get this over with. It would take some time for things to calm down, and he was sure Caira wouldn’t venture into his room again. Hopefully, that would give him some more time.

The door of her chambers had barely shut behind him when his mother started to yell at him. "How could you? What were you thinking? How could you do something so cruel to your own wife?"

By the third sentence, Caius couldn’t hear his mother anymore—only that she was yelling at him. He could guess what she was saying but couldn’t bring himself to actually listen.

"You are going to fix this. Tonight you shall go to her chambers," she stated.

"It’s too soon," Caius said almost immediately.

"What?" His mother looked as though she might convulse.

"It truly wasn’t my intention to do something so cruel, but I was caught off guard. I didn’t expect to see her in my room, and I also wasn’t alone. She is a princess; I have to do this the right way. It would be insulting to go to her room after I just embarrassed her, wouldn’t you agree, Mother?"

"No, you will be making amends."

"With coitus? Sounds vulgar."

Queen Violeta looked as though her head might explode. "We have this issue because you won’t touch your wife!"

"That’s not true. I am taking my time. She is my wife, and nothing will change that." Caius almost choked as he said these words.

"I would like to apologize formally before showing up in her room. I will do as you ask, Mother. I just ask that you let me deal with this."

"Haven’t you dealt with this enough?" she asked.

"You’re right," Caius replied. "I apologize for the trouble, Mother, but remember this marriage was sprung on me, and I have done my best to do as you like. Please, let me fix this."

Caius did his best to play the part of a distressed son who truly didn’t intend to cause any harm. He knew this was likely to work on his mother because despite the ruckus she caused, she was much easier on him than his father ever was.

"You’d better," she stated. "And you can start with getting rid of the whore."

Caius visibly flinched. He had hoped to be able to go through this without his mother bringing up Rose, but he should have known that wouldn’t be possible.

"Of course," he said with a smile.

"Not when you find a replacement. Now!"

Caius moved his hands behind him; it was either that, or his mother would see the fists they had formed. He smiled tightly. "I will keep my word."

With that, he turned on his heel and left the room before his mother could utter another word. He had no plans of getting rid of Rose; the idea had never occurred to him. He wouldn’t even do it to appease his mother or the princess. It was simply out of the question. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

However, he was willing to try to make amends, as long as it didn’t involve going to her chambers. He knew this marriage was going to cost him more problems than he had bargained for.

The worst part was that he couldn’t get out of it. He had hoped that his treatment of the princess would make her want to dissolve it, but she wasn’t acting as he would like.

He wanted to make this worse, but he had to avoid publicly humiliating her, as that was only going to backfire on him. If there were a way to end this marriage amicably, he would prefer that option, as he would rather not make more enemies for Velmount.