The King's Lover-Chapter 494: Whatever You Decide

Rose aggressively cut into the wood with the tiny knife. She didn’t care what she was trying to make; she was just digging into the lump of wood with enough force to break the knife. Her hand moved too fast as she chipped at the word without purpose.

"You will cut yourself if you aren’t careful, Rose," her father scolded.

Rose stopped, looked at her father, and then she put the knife and the wood away. She had told her father no to his offer, once again. But this time around, it wasn’t because she was worried about his health or the toll of the journey or the fact that they would be punished if they were caught.

Rather, because she didn’t want to leave Caius. She told herself it would be cruel to leave now. His father had just died, and many other excuses she could think of.

She told her father now wasn’t the right time to leave, and he simply nodded and went back to work. She had then picked up this wood and the small knife and was venting her anger towards it.

She was also angry at her father. He didn’t tell her what she was supposed to do, and he kept asking if she wanted to marry him. Rose was annoyed because she couldn’t say no, and her father could see that.

There was nothing more to discuss. She wished he were more helpful. "Will you give me some advice, Father?" Rose asked with an exasperated tone in her voice.

Vallyn stopped working on the wood and lifted his gaze to meet his daughter. "You want me to tell you to marry the King or not to marry the King?"

"Yes," she replied eagerly. "I don’t know what to choose."

"You do know," Vallyn said and turned his head away. "I am sorry, my dear, but tis is not a decision I can make for you."

He had already given her a choice, and she was unwilling to leave the King. Vallyn had no intention of making any decision for her. If it were up to him, he would take her away from here and everything that had to do with the King.

However, he didn’t have that power, and it was not hard to miss Rose’s hesitancy to leave. She seemed conflicted about marrying him, but she was comfortable staying.

They had a complicated relationship—that was easy to see—but his daughter didn’t hate the King, and in more ways than one, she had made a community here more than she ever did in Edenville.

Yes, it was a brothel, but Lady Delphine and the girls were the nicest people he had ever run into, and he could see how much they loved Rose. So much that it extended to him.

At least the one thing he had been worried about wasn’t true. His Rose wasn’t unhappy here.

Rose picked up the wood and knife and started carving again. Vallyn peeked at her sitting in the corner, and after making sure she wasn’t at risk of cutting herself yet again, he turned his gaze away.

Rose sat in silence, digging into the wood and ignoring her thoughts. The fact that her father wasn’t saying more made it worse. It was as though he knew what her answer would be, but was it really that simple?

Should I really say yes?

By the time Rose put the knife away, she had a short stake. She had chipped all the wood off until it made a point. She tossed it to the side and stood up.

Rose approached her father who stood by the table and carefully watched him cut into the stump of wood that was slowly taking shape.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked. She felt slightly better, but her problem wasn’t solved yet.

"Carving a wolf," Vallyn explained as he brushed a chip of wood off the front paw of the animal.

Rose nodded as she stared, turning to the side to get a closer look. Her father had only just begun, and it still looked like a stump of wood with the carving of a paw.

"For Lady Delphine?" she asked.

"Not exactly. It’s a job."

"A job?!"

"Aye. One of her many clients requested a wooden statue of a wolf. He is willing to pay fifty gold pieces if it’s done well." There was subtle pride in her father’s voice as he spoke.

Rose’s eyes widened. That was a significant amount of money. This was serious. "I am glad," she said with a smile. "I’ll leave you to it."

Vallyn stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "Are you going to be fine?"

Rose nodded. "I will be."

"Whatever you decide, know that I support you, always. And don’t worry about me so muc’."

Rose let out a smile and nodded. "I will come back later."

Rose slowly withdrew from the shed. She was glad and relieved. Her father was settling in quite well. She never expected him to get a job so quickly, and one as expensive as this. He must be so proud. He has never even gotten paid a single gold coin for his numerous works, yet he was getting paid fifty.

He didn’t help her make a decision, but he assured her that she could make one without thinking about him. Rose didn’t know how she was going to do that, but she couldn’t ignore how relieving it was that her father was fitting in. She had been worried he would have a problem with the capital, but that wasn’t the case. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Rose walked out of the shed to see Maximus standing exactly where she had left him. The sun had moved, and there was no more shade where he stood, but still he didn’t move. As soon as she walked away from the shed, he approached her, walking beside her.

"You don’t have to cling to me," she said without looking at him. "I won’t go anywhere."

"I am not worried about you escaping, but it is better to protect you if I can see you. I won’t go where you don’t want me to, but it would be best if I remain close by."

Rose glanced at him and sighed. She didn’t have the energy to argue with him. She was still worried about the one decision she hadn’t made.