The King's Lover-Chapter 471: Mangled

Mara was in disbelief as she opened the door and saw the crown prince barely hanging over Rylen’s shoulder. She didn’t know what they had discussed in the library earlier, and her mistress wasn’t speaking to her, no matter what she tried.

"Prince Rylen," she called out in shock.

"Let me in, Mara."

Mara was too shocked to decline, and despite not confirming with her mistress first, she stepped out of the way to let Rylen in as he partially carried, partially dragged Caius into the room.

Caira jumped out of her bed as she saw them. She was dressed in nothing but a shell-pink-colored shift and barefoot as she stood on the carpet.

Rylen almost lost his grip on Caius, but he quickly looked away and, without saying another word to her, dragged Caius to the bed and laid him on his back. Then he turned to look at Caira.

She looked both surprised and pleased, and Rylen felt a distortion he couldn’t explain—as if someone had rearranged his organs and now his heart was in the wrong place. But that wasn’t true; he could feel it beating wildly in his chest, threatening to leap out as he watched the crown prince lie on her bed.

He couldn’t regret it now. He had brought Caius as she had wished. He didn’t know what her plan was, and frankly, he was too scared to ask, but she had insisted that this was the only way to fix the damage.

"I didn’t expect it to be so soon," she was saying.

Rylen glanced at her and worried that his expression showed his thoughts—that she would be able to see his heart breaking on his face.

"What do you intend to do?" he asked for the first time.

Caira wrapped her arms around herself. "It’s the only way," she said and looked away. She couldn’t look at his face.

Rylen closed his eyes briefly, then turned away from her and walked towards the door. He couldn’t be here one more moment.

"Rylen," she called.

Rylen stopped but didn’t turn around. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to stop; he had intended to keep walking, hoping his demeanor about the situation would deter her, but his legs had disobeyed, and he was stopping to listen to what she wanted to say.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Rylen was quite aware of where his heart was, because right now someone was stabbing a knife through it, but instead of taking it out, they slowly twisted it until it could twist no more, and the insides of his heart were all mangled.

He had hoped that he had misunderstood. After all, when she came to speak to him, she had held his handkerchief in her palm, gently squeezing it, but perhaps it didn’t matter to her. Only her duty did. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Rylen rushed to the door, reaching it before Mara, and nearly ripped it off its hinges as he made his way towards the stairway. He walked briskly, afraid that the thought he was keeping at bay would catch up with him.

Rylen stopped abruptly as he got to the bottom of the stairs and punched the nearest wall. He felt his knuckles crack, followed by intense burning pain that kept burning even after he pulled his hand away.

There was barely a dent in the wall, but only because the castle walls were built especially strongly. There was a tiny stain of blood from where he had cut himself, and bruising was forming on his knuckles.

Rylen shook his hand, feeling even more pain as he wiggled his fingers. He felt calmer and less on edge, but this didn’t please him; he wasn’t the sort of person to rely on violence.

However, he couldn’t stand by that now, not when he had drugged Caius and brought him to Caira’s room as she had requested. Rylen glanced at his knuckles one last time and pushed the matter away from his mind.

He had to go to the dining hall. He had taken too much time, and they must be waiting for both of them to return. He had a good enough excuse, but he couldn’t delay any longer, and most importantly, he couldn’t let out even an inkling of how he felt.

So Rylen kept his expression neutral and hurriedly made his way to the dining hall. Just as he was close to the door, an agitated Henry walked through the dining doors.

"Prince Rylen," he cried in relief when he saw him. "I was just in the drawing room, and there was no sign of you or His Highness."

"I had to take His Highness to his room. Please do not bother him for the rest of the night."

Henry nodded, immediately understanding. "I will make sure he isn’t disturbed."

Rylen nodded and walked through the doors. "I apologize for the delay," Rylen called out as he walked towards his seat. "I am afraid His Highness will not be able to join us for dinner. I hope you’ll understand that this is a very delicate time for him."

The lords nodded and whispered amongst themselves. Rylen wasn’t worried about suspicion; the lords had seen Caius drink enough wine to drown an adult. It was enough to make anyone incapacitated—but not Caius. If they knew him as he did, they would have been worried.

Rylen dropped into his seat, and the servants began to serve. He let out a breath as he let the lords discuss. He forced himself to pay attention, lest his mind wander towards what was happening in Caira’s room.

Rylen gestured for some wine. Filling it to the brim, Rylen drank the contents like water. He didn’t miss the stares that the lords sent him, but like Caius, they would assume he was also grieving. And he was—just not the death of the king.

"We apologize," Lord Charles suddenly said. "We were so engrossed in taking care of the late king’s burial processions that we forgot to offer our condolences to the family. I am sure no one is more affected by the death of the king than his family. I hope you will forgive us, Prince Rylen, and tomorrow we shall offer our condolences to His Highness."

Rylen simply gave a polite smile and mumbled, "Thank you."