Chapter 37: Chapter 37Zayne left Brian and Soren alone as Rose was quick to return for her rice. He poured himself a small portion of the stew and joined her to walk back inside. "There is a table here for you to use. You do not need to take your food to your room."

    Rose stopped on the first step. She had always eaten in her room since Graham had given her one for herself. It was quiet in her room and it helped her to avoid the women. She had forgotten that there wasn’t anyone here so she could eat elsewhere.

    "Are you eating there?" Rose questioned.

    "I am. If that will make you uncomfortable then I will eat somewhere else," Zayne replied.

    "No! How could I have you eat elsewhere when this is your home? But is it alright for us to sit together? You are my employer and I am your servant. I have never heard of employers sitting with their servants. I can eat in the kitchen," Rose proposed as it sounded more normal.

    Zayne had never sat with his servants, but he had not seen Rose as one though he had given her the job. "It is fine for us to sit together. I do not care about such things and there isn’t anyone here to bother us about it. Come quickly before the stew goes cold and I must leave soon."

    "Leave? Oh," Rose remembered.

    Zayne had his camp to get back to.

    She should be happy to have him gone since she would be alone and had one less person to worry about but she was already so accustomed to his presence. If she had any questions, he had been answering all day not seeming to ever be annoyed by them.

    ’You must learn by yourself,’ Rose thought.

    If Zayne were not by her side now, she would have to learn about the world on her own.

    Rose joined Zayne at the table in the dining room but she sat at the other end to not disturb him.

    Zayne didn’t pay any mind to it as he knew not to expect Rose to be comfortable sitting beside him. He tried to see it all from her point of view while living in a brothel where men came to touch women. He had questions but the timing wasn’t right.

    Rose picked up the spoon that was already placed on the table and dipped it into the steaming stew. She was excited to try it as she couldn’t think of a day she had such a stew with a lot of meat and vegetables in it.

    If she wasn’t careful, she was going to gain too much weight which wouldn’t be bad if she could afford to buy more dresses or leave to buy them.

    Zayne found it hard not to watch Rose as she tasted the stew and expressed her love for it with her facial expressions. He started to think that it was too little for her. He didn’t need to worry about her breakfast as she could enjoy the leftover stew tomorrow.

    The way she filled her cheeks with food reminded him of the little fat rodents with chubby cheeks he had seen some merchants selling as pets. It was wrong but he started to see why Graham was so infatuated with her. It was easy for Rose to gain anyone’s attention even when she was doing the simplest things.

    Life would have been troublesome for her if she had to take customers. He was curious about what she was to do other than to entertain Graham.

    Zayne tapped his fingers on the table as he thought about what might have been her duties. She was the most innocent person he had come across during his recent travels and to think that many people could have had the chance of ruining her innocence angered him.

    Rose noticed that Zayne had not started to eat. "It is not too hot to eat and it tastes well with the rice. Should I get a bowl for you?"

    "Why? I am enjoying the show of a little hamster enjoying its food," said Zayne.

    "Hamster?" Rose replied, puzzled by what animal this was now. "I do not know what you speak of."

    "You won’t know of it. I have only seen merchants who travel far around the seas with it. It is small like a rat, but they describe it as being cute," Zayne explained.

    Rose frowned as she did not see how a rat could look cute. "I do not like being called a hamster. Anything that is like a rat cannot be cute. How would you like it if I were to refer to you as an animal?"

    Zayne wouldn’t be offended. "I am curious what animal you would think of me as."

    "I shall think of the worst one that I know of," Rose stopped as it dawned on her how she was speaking to her employer. "I will just eat and clean up the bowls when we are done."

    "Rose, is there something troubling you that concerns me? You speak freely and then shy away. I cannot help if I look intimidating. I do not know what my face looks like when we speak. Do I scare you?" Zayne asked as even now she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

    "You are scary but I am less guarded with you than I am with everyone else. You are my employer so I shouldn’t speak to you as I please. I will treat you as you are to be treated so I will bite my tongue when I find myself speaking too much," Rose explained.

    Should Zayne’s home be filled with other servants they would think her mad for not only sitting with him but how she spoke to him. One day Zayne had to leave this town so she would have to work for someone else. It was good practice now that she learned to be in her place as a servant.

    "Then we’ve found ourselves a problem because I like hearing you speak," said Zayne.

    He enjoyed the side of her that wanted to learn, that looked at things he found to be simple to be interesting, how she shied away at times but then there were other times when she could go toe to toe with him when she spoke. Sёarch* The Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Rose could not understand why since she wasn’t saying anything important. She had thought of herself to be a fool since she knew nothing about the world. "You mustn’t say things to please me."

    "I don’t recall ever complimenting you without finding what I say to be true. I prefer to speak the truth even if it hurts someone’s feelings because I don’t have the time to keep up with a lie. I like hearing you speak, Rose. There is something about you that reminds me of why I turned to the army instead of my other duties," said Zayne.

    "Other duties? You were to be something else?" Rose asked, curious about Zayne’s life on the land he came from. There was much she had to learn about Zayne as he needed to learn about her but they could keep their secrets to themselves.

    "Yes. Now, eat your stew before it goes cold. I will leave as soon as you are done," Zayne said, wanting the show of Rose stuffing her cheeks to continue.