CHAPTER 348: ASHES

"Why would you want to leave?"

The question hung in the air as Rose thought of all the numerous reasons she should leave. However, the question itself wasn’t the most worrisome part; it was the genuine confusion on his face. He clearly couldn’t see a single reason why she would want to leave.

"I-I want to leave because of..." Rose was unsure what she should say. She couldn’t exactly blurt out that she didn’t want to be here and that he had clearly brought her here by force and against her will. Why wouldn’t she want to leave? Not to mention, he was the reason her wedding fell apart. He had taken family, love, and friendship away from her.

But Rose didn’t say all these things. Rather, she slowly closed her eyes as she tried to think of something that would appeal to Caius but wasn’t a lie. She had to remember that, regardless of how tempting it was to speak her exact thoughts, this was the man who had ordered her beaten and had almost sent her father to the gallows.

"My father," she whispered as she opened her eyes. She didn’t meet Caius’s gaze; rather, she looked at the ground. "He is all alone, and I fear the w-worst with him being all by himself."

Rose didn’t mean for her voice to crack as she spoke, but the thought of her father, especially after the loss of her mother, was enough to make her emotional. He was her only family left; she didn’t want any ill to befall him.

"Your father," Caius replied, and didn’t say anything else.

He was still standing in her personal space with barely a foot between them. Rose slowly raised her head to look at him when he didn’t continue speaking, and she saw he was staring to the side with a peculiar look on his face.

It couldn’t be anger, right?

But it was. Rose recognized that dark look in his eyes and the tightening of his jaw, but it didn’t feel as though his anger was directed at her or her father.

"Your Majesty," Rose softly called. She didn’t like that she sounded worried. She didn’t care about the things that worried him.

Caius visibly snapped out of his thoughts, shaking his head before he turned to look at her. "You said your father?" he asked as though moments earlier he had not been thinking of something that angered him.

"Yes," Rose replied, her forehead furrowing into a frown.

"You’re worried about him being alone in Edenville?" Caius asked, but it didn’t really sound like a question.

Rose squinted her eyes and slowly said, "Yes." She didn’t know where the crown prince was going with this.

"If you win, I’ll take care of that," Caius said with a prideful look on his face.

Rose’s forehead furrowed some more. Something told her that the crown prince was planning something that would make her very uncomfortable, especially since it involved her father. The crown prince didn’t exactly have good intentions towards her.

He didn’t understand, and in more ways than one, he was incredibly myopic. He didn’t understand why she would want to leave. He didn’t understand that this was not how to treat anyone. He certainly would do something she would hate. He hadn’t done anything right before, she wasn’t expecting that to change.

She took a deep breath and tried to suppress the fear in her chest. "Y-your Majesty," she called, her worry creeping into her voice. "I apologize for asking so blatantly, but what does Your Majesty mean by ’you’ll take care of it’? What does that mean?"

"When you win," Caius said as he pulled away, "you’ll see."

Rose doubted this was a good thing, but it was clearly not something she could discuss further, and more importantly, Caius didn’t seem angry with her response. He considered her worry for her father a good enough reason why she would want to leave, and not once did he seem to consider that she might want to get away from him.

Rose grabbed her head. It hurt. The crown prince was mentally draining to deal with. Emotionally, he felt like a child while also holding all the power over her life. Rose felt crushed and stuck. She would think he would be sick of this toy already, but he wanted to keep holding on to her.

Rose slowly walked to the chessboard, her legs feeling heavy and her throat sour. She wanted to say something more, but she knew better than to poke the lion. Still, she couldn’t set aside her worry. Perhaps she should be happy because there was not a single chance she could win against Caius, but at the same time, Rose considered that she might. What then would he do to her father?

Perhaps she should have requested something else, something that wouldn’t have reminded the crown prince of her only family. If he were to hurt her father, just what would she do?

Rose sat on the carpet, the chessboard right in front of her. She could hear the fireplace crackling as she sat, the wood protesting against the flames but there was nothing it could do. As long as there was fire, it would keep burning until it turned to nothing but ashes.

Caius was seated on one of the chairs around the fireplace, just as he would be at the castle, and Rose didn’t like the symbolism of it. She tore her thoughts away from her helplessness and the enormous difference in their social standing. She tried to think about the game, to recall the rules, and to at least not lose in the first five moves.

"Ready?" Caius asked.

Rose wiggled her toes that were peeking out from under her dress. She slowly nodded her head as she locked eyes with the board. "Yes, Your Majesty," she replied.

"Make your move," Caius ordered.

Rose took a deep, loud breath and made her first move. She moved her king’s pawn two squares forward, opening the line for the Queen.

"Ah," Caius said and smirked.

He mirrored her move, and Rose immediately felt warm all over, and it had nothing to do with the burning fire.