The King's Lover-Chapter 472: Her Duty

Caira stared at the crown prince who lay on her bed. She never thought this would ever happen but most especially in this manner. She didn’t know how Rylen had been able to pull it off, but she had known he would be the only one who could do it.

She didn’t want to think about how he felt that was irrelevant, just as she was ignoring her feelings in the matter. All that mattered was doing the proper thing. She had let herself be led astray by her emotions.

"My lady," Mara softly called as Rylen shut the door. "Why is the crown prince here?"

"Mara," Caira started to say without looking at her. "I need you to leave me for tonight. You may return in the morning, but perhaps not too early. Breakfast. You may return during breakfast."

Caira sounded distracted as she spoke, as though she fought to keep her thoughts cohesive.

"My lady, you didn’t answer my question. Should I be worried?" Mara asked softly as she stepped forward.

Caira turned to look at her. "No," she simply stated.

"Is this because of Prince Rylen?" Mara asked. "I don’t think this is—"

Her words cut short as Caira closed her eyes. She knew what this meant, so she simply bowed her head and slipped out of the room.

When Caira opened her eyes again, her maid was gone, and the only sound in the room was the crown prince breathing. It was annoyingly loud.

Caira looked to the wall that connected her room to Rose’s, and she wondered if Rose knew. She didn’t know why she felt bad; this was what was supposed to happen. The mistress was simply a delay.

She had trained all her life to be the perfect wife to Caius. Her entire childhood and teenage years had revolved around making sure she could follow her husband’s wishes to the letter.

Her needs didn’t matter. She was going to be married to a future king; future queens didn’t have time to worry about other things except their duty.

Caira didn’t know what she had been thinking. She thought back to the library, and she couldn’t believe she had done that simply because Rylen spoke a few nice words to her and gave her his handkerchief.

With this, the crown prince would have no reason but to get rid of his mistress, and she could put the whole escapade with Rylen behind her. She would do what she was meant to do; her kingdom was relying on her.

She couldn’t begin to imagine the scandal that would arise from what she had done, and what if she got pregnant? The crown prince would know what she had done, and then everyone would, and she would no longer just have failed—she would have made everything much worse.

Caira forced herself to move. She had to get to work; she knew what she was supposed to do. She had been taught enough, but not only that—she knew just what he might react to because of Rylen.

She winced. She couldn’t keep thinking about him while about to lie with another man. What she had with Rylen was a mistake she should never have encouraged.

She wasn’t some fairytale princess who could go off with the love of her life and ditch her duty. Her kingdom was relying on her, and the crown prince was about to be crowned the new king.

Caira stopped moving as she thought about Rylen for the umpteenth time. She knew something had been off about him, especially since she couldn’t reach the Queen as often as she used to, and she figured it must have something to do with the king.

She had noticed his glum expression as she told him what she wanted, and even when he brought the crown prince, Caira couldn’t even look at him. It wasn’t until after lunch that she discovered the King was dead.

But what was he expecting her to do? End her marriage and run off with him? He was the next king’s cousin, for goodness’ sake. This would be an even worse scandal. If only things were easier.

Regardless of how she felt about the crown prince, it didn’t change the fact that they were married, and as Rylen had said, if he didn’t want to marry her, he would have ended the engagement a long time ago.

But he didn’t do that. Rather she had lain with his cousin.

Caira shook her head as she tried to shake off her thoughts. She got onto the bed and began to unbuckle his belt. She pulled so it could slide free through the loops, but it was a little hard with Caius’s weight on it.

She eventually got the belt free and tossed it to the ground. Next, she took off his doublet. It took energy; with the crown prince asleep, he was especially heavy, and by the time she took off his doublet, she was panting hard.

Caira noticed the huge scars on his back as she took off his doublet, and she couldn’t help but stare. She wondered if he had gotten them from war, but they didn’t look like knife wounds.

Would Rylen have similar injuries since they had battled together?

Caira realized she hadn’t even seen his chest; they hadn’t exactly been in a place where they could undress. She internally smacked herself as she realized she was thinking about Rylen again and forced herself back to her task.

Next, she took off his boots and then slid his pants down. This part was easier, but it still took a lot of energy, and Caira had sweat on her face by the time she was done.

She looked at the crown prince, who lay completely naked on the bed, with only the covers over his lower half. She couldn’t bring herself to look and had covered him up as soon as she undressed him.

Caira then slipped out of her clothes and climbed into bed with Caius, sliding underneath the covers. She shut her eyes as she stretched out her hand to touch him, ignoring the image of the way Rylen’s shoulders had slumped before he stormed out.