The King's Lover-Chapter 447: At Least Deny It

"Was something not to your liking?"

Rose sat upright as though she had been waiting for him to ask. She was speaking before she could even think about it.

"Why would you bring my father here without asking me?"

Caius visibly flinched. No one had ever questioned his actions that directly. Rose, in particular, had never spoken to him in this manner. She was chiding him, but it felt very different from the last outburst she had.

She was angry—there was no doubt about it. Caius had seen her angry a few times, but never this angry. He frowned; he was still confused as to why she could possibly be this angry.

There was nothing wrong with his actions. She had complained about her father being alone and away from her, and he had eliminated the problem.

"Your Majesty," Rose called when he took too long to reply.

"I wanted to surprise you," he spoke truthfully.

He had imagined how happy she would be when she was reunited with her father. If it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t go with her, Caius would have accompanied them just to see her reaction.

"That is not something you decide to do on your own. You can’t do things without asking me, especially things that concern my family. This is my father; he is the only family I have left, and you bring him to the capital where his life could be in d-danger. Understand, Your Majesty, that we are not like you. We are simply commoners who can be disposed of quickly."

Rose’s heart was pounding in her chest as she yelled at him. She didn’t care about the consequences; she didn’t think about them. She was just furious. Now that she was away from her father and no longer feeling the overwhelming happiness of his presence, Rose was able to clearly see the disadvantages of having him here.

"No one would dare harm him."

"Listen to me, please. Don’t treat our lives on your whims." Rose couldn’t help but think he was being dismissive; she wasn’t even sure he could hear her. "You may trifle with me as you wish, Your Majesty, but do not involve my only family. Goodnight."

She lay on the bed and rolled away from him, still feeling her heart pounding against her chest. Rose couldn’t believe she had just said that to the crown prince, but she found that she wasn’t terrified.

"Rose," Caius called and tried to touch her.

Rose shrugged his hand away. "Please, Your Majesty, understand that I don’t want to speak to you tonight."

"I apologize; I don’t want you to be cross with me."

Rose turned her head to look at his face, a little shocked that he would readily apologize. She was raising her voice at him, and not once had he asked her to shut up or threatened her rather he had apologized. Rose was stunned.

"Does Your Majesty understand what he is apologizing for?" Rose asked. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Caius blinked. She was speaking to him like a child. He found that he wasn’t angry; he was amused. She wouldn’t dare speak to him like this if she were terrified of him.

"Sort of."

"Sort of?!" She threw her hands in the air as she sat upright again, exasperation in her tone.

"I shouldn’t have brought your father to the castle before considering if that’s what you want."

"Not considering, confirming."

She was pushing it, she knew, but Rose wanted to make this clear. She feared the rest of her life would just be the crown prince doing as he liked. She didn’t mind that when it came to her, but her father was more important than anything else in the world.

"But you talk about him all the time, and I figured—"

"You’re making excuses, Your Majesty!" Rose couldn’t exactly explain what came over her, but she didn’t care. She was livid.

Caius’s expression was a mix of disbelief and shock. He couldn’t recall any time someone had spoken to him in this manner, except his father during his younger years.

Caius found that he was delighted and weirdly overjoyed. Rose didn’t see him as a figure of authority, but rather someone she could scold. Still, he never would have imagined this; he had never seen this side of her, or anything close, for that matter.

Was this what she was like when she was furious? His eyes blinked rapidly in excitement.

Caius realized he was taking too long to respond, so he closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around her. Rose fought as she tried to escape his grip, but Caius only held her tighter.

"How do I make amends?" he asked as he buried his face in her neck.

His words deflated her, and Rose found that she wasn’t as angry anymore. Why was he being so agreeable? She didn’t hate it, but Rose didn’t know if this meant he was actually listening.

"Shall I take your father back?" Caius asked when she didn’t reply.

"No," she replied. "You already brought him here."

Caius raised his head to look at her face. "He doesn’t hate it here?"

Rose glared at him and pulled away. Because Caius was not expecting it, she slipped out of his grasp and lay on the bed with her back to him. "Take this seriously, Your Majesty."

"I am, Rose," Caius said and moved closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. "It pains me that you think I did this to trifle with you. It pains me that you are displeased with my actions when all I wanted to do was help."

"That is untrue. You just wanted another reason to keep me bound to you."

Silence.

"At least deny it!" Rose cried as she once again tried to get out of his grasp, but he didn’t let her go.

"I don’t want to lie to you."

Rose was still struggling to get out of his grasp. "I already agreed to stay; you didn’t have to bring my father."