The King's Lover-Chapter 450: Meddling Busybody

The ride to Lady Delphine’s was pretty quiet, and while the carriage moved over the uneven road, Rose’s thoughts drifted to the exchange between her and the crown prince from last night till this morning.

She couldn’t help but feel there would be consequences for her actions, but as soon as she unleashed it, it was hard to close the jar and seal her emotions. Rose winced, wondering if she should have tried to be nice this morning.

The crown prince did apologize and he swore nothing would happen to her father. She was also very happy he was within reach and not alone in the house. It must have been lonely being up there by himself. So it really wasn’t all bad.

"Is something wrong?" Thomas asked, breaking through her thoughts.

Rose shook her head. "No, I don’t think so." Her gaze held confusion at his question, wondering if anything in her expression gave him the impression that something was wrong.

Thomas did seem confused as he kept studying her. "Your Highness seems to think you don’t like that your father was brought to the capital."

Rose’s expression soured. Why wasn’t she surprised that he had asked Thomas, the meddling busybody? "What did you tell him?"

Thomas frowned, wondering if he might have done something wrong. "The truth..." his voice sounded unsteady with uncertainty. "Was that wrong?"

"No," Rose replied with a small smile. "I was just surprised he would ask you."

"Well, His Highness always asks for a report of our visits."

Rose tried not to act surprised. "And how detailed do you give these reports?"

"His Highness doesn’t like it when I keep anything out, but I try to keep it as simple as I can."

Rose didn’t know if she should be relieved or not. Still, she was not surprised Thomas doubled as a spy, but she never assumed it was for every little thing. For someone who was the future king, one would think he had better things to do.

Rose shuffled on her chair as she realized the crown prince knew she wasn’t completely unhappy with her father’s presence. In fact, she wasn’t unhappy at all, only worried. She wondered what his reaction would be when she got back.

Rose sighed and tried to keep the crown prince away from her mind; he had a way of stressing her. She would deal with him when she got back to the castle.

She didn’t regret what she had done and refused to beat herself up about it. She knew if she had a chance to change it, she wouldn’t. She didn’t want him to do things like this again that would potentially hurt her father.

They soon arrived at Lady Delphine’s manor and Rose was rushing out of the carriage as soon as it stopped. Her father was already out of the manor to welcome her and she jumped into his arms.

She asked him if he had slept well as they ventured into the manor, where she found Kali and Esme doing chores. She joined them, and when Lady Delphine woke up, she went upstairs to greet her.

After lunch, Rose decided to carve wood with her father. He tried to stop her, but she hadn’t done it in a while and was excited. He told her to be careful, but after some time of carving, Rose nipped her left index finger with the carving knife.

Her father panicked as she started to bleed all over the wood. It wasn’t a very deep cut, but it bled enough to require a thick wad of bandage to stop the bleeding.

Her father wouldn’t stop pacing as Kali helped her with her wound. Rose tried to assure him she was fine and wanted to get back to carving, but her father wouldn’t let her touch anything.

He ended up helping her finish the wooden figure for her while she sat pouting in the corner. Rose was carving a swallow. It was her favorite bird. She had to admit he did do a better job than she would have, but it was still annoying.

She had cut herself numerous times before while carving and he didn’t stop her then, but now he wouldn’t even let her touch it after one small cut.

After all was said and done, night fell and Rose had to return to the castle. She hugged her father tightly, sad that she couldn’t see him the next day, but promised she would come to visit in a few days.

He waved goodbye along with the other women in the manor and Rose waved back before she headed back to the castle.

She was relieved when she got to her room and there was no sign of Caius. She cleaned up and dressed in her nightdress before sitting at the desk; because of the incident the night before, they hadn’t done any lessons in a day.

When Caius arrived, Rose was still at the desk. She raised her head to look at him in his loosely tied robes. His hair was wet and there was a smug look on his face. He didn’t seem annoyed with her; rather, he seemed incredibly pleased with himself.

"Your Majesty," Rose whispered.

"My dear," he called with a tone that Rose could not help but find slightly annoying. "How was your visit to your father?"

That smug look was plastered all over his face. Rose wasn’t sure if she preferred he was angry when Thomas told him her reaction to seeing her father or this pleased look. Both of them were inherently annoying.

"It was fine," Rose said, forcing herself not to act too coldly. She already told him how she felt and he agreed to make amends.

"Just fine?" Caius asked as he slid into his seat beside her.

Rose cast him a sidelong glance, sharp with judgment. "It was fine."

"I am sure it was more than just..." The rest of his words trailed off as he noticed the bandage on her left index finger.

Rose was still processing his sudden silence when Caius grabbed her hand. "What happened?" he asked in horror.

Rose shrugged and tried to pull her hand from his grip. "A simple cut," she replied.

"A simple cut won’t be wrapped so thickly."

"It’s a small cut, Your Majesty. You don’t have to sound so alarmed."

"What happened?" he asked and lifted his gaze to look at her, but his hand didn’t let go of her as he lightly caressed the bandage.

Rose looked away at the intensity of his gaze. "I cut myself," she mumbled under her breath, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"What?"

"I said I cut myself."

"How?"

Rose sighed and stretched out her hand to pick up the tiny toy that was beside the books piled on the table. It was hard to notice in the candlelight.

"I was trying to carve this," she mumbled and handed the carved swallow to him.

"A wooden toy?" he asked with a frown as he studied the bird.

"It’s a swallow," Rose said, annoyed that he would call it that. It wasn’t his description she had a problem with; it was his tone.

"Are you sure?" Caius asked as he turned it around. "It just looks like a small bird."

Rose nearly snatched it from his hands. "No, it’s not. Look at the wings."

"The tail is pretty long."

Rose glared at him. "That’s not just its tail. Look closely. They are small birds with really big wings. I like to carve them with their wings closed."

Rose didn’t want to tell him that it was because that was easier, but it wasn’t just that. At first, it was, but now she was just used to seeing them like this. He wasn’t wrong, though; their tails are pretty long, but Rose didn’t want to agree with him easily.

"It’s pretty," he admitted. "Did you do this?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Rose shook her head. "Father did. I didn’t get far before I cut myself."

Rose saw what he was about to do, but she didn’t think he actually would; she thought he had pulled her hand closer so he could get a better look. However, Caius kissed the back of her palm and moved to her index finger. Rose was too stupefied to speak.

"Did it hurt much?" he asked gently as he pulled her hand away from his lips.

"No," she whispered with a dazed expression.

"I am glad," he mumbled.

Rose let him hold her hand for as long as he wanted. She was annoyed that his care had this much effect on her.

"I am keeping this," he suddenly said.

Rose snapped out of her trance. "No, Your Majesty. My father made that for me."

She tried to reach for it, but he stared at her with seriousness. Rose’s hand stopped moving before she could even think about it. He kissed her hand one more time before he slowly let go of her.

Rose wanted to argue about it, but she could tell it was not an argument she would win. She planned to hide it when he wasn’t looking, but Caius didn’t give her a chance, and the next morning he remembered to take it with him.