The King's Lover-Chapter 272: Lady Deana
Rose didn’t sleep a wink after the crown prince returned to the room. She hated how she was aware of his presence—every turn, every deep breath, every movement—and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fall asleep.
She was glad when the sun rose. At least she no longer had to be in the same bed with him. He barely spoke to her and it was pretty awkward even as they headed for breakfast together.
Breakfast was uneventful, and the air seemed pretty tense. Rose didn’t know much about Caius’ plans, but he obviously planned to go after the bandits today.
Lady Deana had smiled at her as soon as she walked through the dining room doors, and Rose had curtsied in return before taking her seat. Conversation was non-existent. Caius and Rylen looked too serious to speak, and Lord Leopold didn’t even try to start anything.
Breakfast was barely over before the three of them left the room, leaving Rose with Lady Deana once again. Her children had also finished breakfast just as quickly and had rushed out to do their tasks for the day.
"Did you rest well?" Lady Deana asked.
Rose’s first instinct was to reply truthfully, but she quickly suppressed the urge and nodded her head. "I did, thank you very much."
Lady Deana smiled again. "Do you have any plans for the day? I don’t know how today might go, but don’t hesitate if you need to do anything."
Lady Deana stopped eating for a moment to look at the door and unconsciously rubbed her arms, her face etched in worry.
Rose could understand how Lady Deana felt. This situation was dangerous. She didn’t know much about it, but if they were going to battle bandits, there was a high chance of it going wrong and a lot of people getting injured. Rose could understand her worry.
"Thank you," Rose started to say. "Would it be alright if I took a look around?" she asked.
If this were a normal situation, Rose might have been content staying indoors all day, but that wasn’t possible today. She had to move fast. If the bandits were dealt with sooner, there would be no chance for her to escape—she had to do it as soon as possible, and to do that, she had to move around and see exactly what she was dealing with.
Lady Deana tore her gaze from the closed doors. "Look around?" she asked with a frown.
Rose shook her head. "I apologize, I spoke out of turn. I’ve just never been to a town this big before, and while I was in Hearthgale, I never left the castle. I just thought it would be nice to look around town for a little while."
Rose knew she was being audacious, but Lady Deana had done a few things to show she was nice—or at least nice to her because of the crown prince. It would be careless of her not to take advantage of this.
"Yes, you’re right," Lady Deana cried, some of the tension on her face easing. "We could go to the market. I need to buy a few things for the house and some fabrics. I could send Beatrice, but going out will help. I also need some air."
Rose smiled back. "Is it okay if I come with you?" she asked.
"Of course," she grinned. "This is your idea—it would be unfair if I left without you."
Rose was taking advantage of the situation, but she couldn’t help feeling strange. She started to wonder if Lady Deana didn’t know she was a commoner.
However, even as she had this thought, she had no plans to correct the woman. She needed to leave the estate and check around the town to know which route was best and also ask questions. This was not an offer she could refuse.
Rose smiled at her and continued eating. She didn’t think she had a lot of time left. If she knew her way around, she would have left today, but she also knew it was too soon and couldn’t try something so dangerous without enough preparation.
"You can find your way to your room, right?" Lady Deana was asking her after breakfast was over.
"Yes, I can. It was a wonderful meal. Thank you."
Lady Deana smiled. "You don’t have to thank me for every little thing. It is my pleasure. Now, take a few moments. I will send for you when it is time to leave."
Rose curtsied one more time and started for her room. A few servants bowed to her as she walked past them, and Rose couldn’t help but smile. There was no way she would be treated in this manner in the castle. If only she could revel in it for a bit.
She got to her room and immediately locked the door. She rushed to the wardrobe and quickly searched for the map. Rose laid it out and went through it, recalling the names as best as she could. It was more memorization than reading.
The map was certainly smaller than the territory actually was, but that was expected. She traced her hands along the path. She was able to trace the roads they had taken while coming to Futherfield. It was a major road that, if they had kept on it, would have led to Stonefield Pass.
Rose knew this was the road she was supposed to avoid, but what was on the top of her list to do was to get out of Futherfield. Rose could see some paths leading out, but she couldn’t just blindly choose one. There were bandits to worry about, which made the marketplace such a great place.
She was bound to hear gossip between traders and learn which roads the bandits weren’t attacking, while also figuring out how to escape Futherfield unnoticed.
Rose was still intensely staring at the map when she heard a knock. She got off the bed like a projectile and bolted for the wardrobe. Returning the map to where she had kept it, she walked to the door and opened it.
