The King's Lover-Chapter 429: Whatever He Wanted

Rose was anxious all day. She heard nothing more from her maids; they had no new information to give her and no new rumors. She was worried that the crown prince had finally driven the Queen to her last nerve, and she was likely to do something to her.

However, nothing of that sort happened, and by nightfall, Rose started to breathe easier—not because she thought the Queen wouldn’t come after her, but rather because Caius would be with her.

It was weird how she was so sure he would protect her when he was the reason she was in danger in the first place. If only he would just let her go. She would go back to her father and her little town. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

But that wasn’t going to happen, not by a long shot. Unfortunately, she was stuck with the crown prince, who was fiercely protected and couldn’t understand her plight. Couldn’t comprehend why she would want to leave him. It was almost humorous, but it was her life, which made it hard to find the humor in it.

Rose didn’t lift her head from her desk when she heard the wardrobe open, nor when he stopped in front of it. "Your Majesty," she mumbled her greeting without looking at him.

She was trying to find the courage to bring up the matter that had been ringing in her head all day. She knew it was the right thing to do. The crown prince would listen, and he would most likely throw an angry fit again, but she couldn’t allow herself to get drawn into normalcy again, not with this new development.

He appeared at her side and pulled out his seat. Rose’s neck felt hot; she could feel his gaze through her skin. It was usually hard to tell what Caius was feeling or thinking, but right now she knew he was not pleased.

"Shall we begin, Rose?" he called her name with more inflection than he needed to use.

"Before that, Your Majesty," Rose said and slowly lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.

"Is something the matter?"

"Your Majesty," Rose called as she took a deep breath. "I heard what happened yesterday."

Caius’s expression barely gave anything away, only a mild tic in his jaw. "And what exactly did you hear happen?" he questioned.

"The Princess," Rose blurted out. She was already here; it was best to get it all out.

"And what about the princess?"

Rose felt as though she was being interrogated, and she knew it was because Caius wanted her to drop the topic. "She went to your room last night, and you sent her away."

Caius leaned back, folding his arms, doing his best to appear unbothered, but Rose could see how tightly he was folding them enough to make his muscles pop out of the sleeves of his robes.

"And how did you come by this information?"

Rose didn’t like how threatening he sounded, and for a moment, she feared for her maids.

"It doesn’t matter. It happened, right? Your Majesty, please. It has been a week already. You can’t keep coming here every night. You have to let me—"

"Pick up your quill," he said. He didn’t raise his voice, but there was a finality to his tone that silenced the rest of her words.

Rose understood that this was a topic she was not allowed to discuss. Her worries, her troubles, and concerns, were none of his business. Her only role was to do as he wanted without complaint.

She was his to do whatever he wanted with.

Rose did her best to pay attention, but it was practically impossible, and she kept making mistakes and getting distracted. Caius didn’t get angry, and she wondered how it was he was so lenient with her when it came to teaching, but everything else had to go his way, and she couldn’t step away—not even a little—from the path he wanted.

"Let’s call it a night," he said after some time.

It wasn’t a question, and Rose didn’t bother answering; she just made her way to her bed and climbed in. Caius joined her, and even though she had moved as far as she could, he grabbed her and pulled her to himself.

"Goodnight, Rose."

"Goodnight, Your Majesty." The words felt like heavy stones in her throat.

The next morning when she woke up, the crown prince was gone. His side of the bed was warm, and it was clear she had just missed him. She wondered if the sound of the secret passageway closing was the reason she woke up.

She groggily got out of bed. They had barely had any conversation the night before, and she didn’t feel any different than she had the day before. Her situation was neither better nor worse.

The only silver lining was that today she would head to Lady Delphine’s residence. But with the way things had gone between her and the crown prince, Rose wasn’t so sure about that. He might cancel just to spite her. She couldn’t predict what he would do.

Her maids arrived soon after to help her get ready for the day. They had just finished putting on her dress when they heard a knock. They all simultaneously looked at the door with shocked expressions on their faces.

"See who it is," Rose said to no one in particular, but it was Chelsy who made her way to the door.

"Lord Thomas," she said with a curtsy as she opened it.

Rose stood up from the dresser at his name and rushed to the door. The young lord was dressed in a dark blue tunic, breeches, boots, and had a sword by his side. His hair fell forward, hiding his brows and only showing his eyes.

"Lord Thomas. Is something the matter?" she asked, shocked to see him so early.

"No," he shook his head and rested his left hand on his sword. "His Highness sent me here to take you to Lady Delphine’s residence, as you requested."

Rose could barely hide her surprise. She had truly thought it would be canceled, as she had made Caius angry the day before, but he was going to keep his word.

"Really?" she asked, still in shock.

"Yes. Are you ready to leave now?"

"Just one moment," Rose said and rushed back into the room. She opened her wardrobe, found her satchel, and placed both the empty drug container and her flute inside the bag. Then she added a book from the table to avoid suspicion and went out the door with Thomas, waving her maids goodbye.

Just as she shut her bedroom door, the princess’s bedroom flew open. There was no time to hide, no time to reopen her door and slip back in—it would be too suspicious. So Rose grabbed the sides of her dress and bent her knees.