The Forgotten Princess Rose
Chapter 144

Chapter 144: Chapter 144

As the group started to walk around, Rose worried about Zayne being annoyed by the attention he was receiving. She hadn’t thought of how he would stand out because of his eyes.

"Should we have brought something to cover your face? I would have joined you in covering up so you wouldn’t be alone," said Rose.

"You want to make me the reason you get to hide. I don’t mind the attention, Rose. Let them look," Zayne replied, looking ahead at the others instead of the crowd. "Some seem curious about you. You resemble your mother."

"I was hoping they wouldn’t be curious. Anna was right that it was too soon but I wanted to explore. I," Rose paused when their hands touched. She was mistaken in thinking Zayne was trying to hold her hand to calm her. Their hands had only brushed against each other.

Rose was more puzzled by what his words meant now. Was he only trying to tease her then or distract her from thinking about her memories? He did nothing for her to have to prepare for and now she felt like a fool for overthinking it.

"Your father is leaving the others," Zayne noticed.

"What business do you think the lord has? It must be something grand to afford the expenses of the manor. There is so much to learn. I will need more than one tutor," Rose said, excited.

"You’ve dropped me as a tutor already?" Zayne asked, looking down at Rose.

"You have dropped me as your maid," Rose retorted.

Zayne smiled, enjoying her fiery responses. "That is true but there are many things I can teach you which others cannot. I am not a tutor you should drop, Rose."

"Aren’t there tutors for everything? I don’t want to bother you as now you can go back to focusing on the palace. You have spent plenty of your time helping me and I have felt guilty about it. I don’t want to take any more of your time from your soldiers," said Rose.

"I have not once avoided my duties with my soldiers because of you. If you are thinking about me being here with you instead of at the camp, the king needs time to fix his kingdom or I will not join with this kingdom. This trip is allowing me to find some beauty in the kingdom," Zayne said, looking around the quiet market.

"If your family wasn’t so against the king, you should visit the king to be personally thanked for me not attacking."

Rose raised her brow, confused by what Zayne meant. "I do not understand. I have not helped with anything. As Connor told us, I have made it bad because I told you of slaves."

"We are against slaves and my ships waiting would have attacked by now instead of seeking peace. I have held back giving my command and instead gave the king the chance to fix it. I have considered you would not find your family amid war and seeing such loss would not help with your fears," Zayne revealed, his annoyance slowly growing as strangers started to get close.

Rose laughed, not believing Zayne would do as he said. "It is funny. You would not go ahead with your plans for war because of me? I am not worth stopping a war for."

Zayne became curious about his humour as King James took his honesty for a joke as well. "Is it the way I speak that makes everything seem funny? I have not given my command to attack because of you. I would have killed your king the second I got to the palace if I hadn’t met you."

Rose’s laughter ceased. "You are serious. Are you ill?" She asked, making Zayne stop so she could tiptoe to touch his face.

"I thought you would be happy to know there isn’t any war. Yet," Zayne added. James would never impress him and this kingdom in the state it was now did not align with what they wanted for an ally.

Rose touched her forehead to be certain that she was not the sick one. "I do not understand."

"I said that I like you. What is it that you do not understand?" Zayne questioned.

"Everything about it. Why would you stop your plans because of me when I had nothing to offer you until now and why you told me to prepare when you have done nothing? Oh," Rose bit her lip. She didn’t mean to say so much.

Rose turned away from Zayne, attempting to catch up with her mother and Anna, but Zayne did not allow her to leave.

"That was fast. I thought it would have taken you far longer to question why I have not done anything. What did you think I was going to do, Rose?" Zayne asked, his hand pulling on the sleeve of her dress he managed to hold. "You are terrible at running away now or are you slower so I can catch you?"

"It is neither. I am not bad at running away and I don’t like that you catch me. Please forget what I said and I will forget what you said. I don’t want to know of your plans with the king," Rose whispered.

What if someone were to think she was an accomplice in wanting the king dead?

"I-" Rose started but could not get the rest out as someone brushed by her, something poking her head.

Rose touched her face where there was a pain that needed to be soothed. Her vision of Zayne was blocked by a parasol which had to be what hit her. Rose admired the pattern of flowers on the parasol but then had to focus on the pain.

Rose stepped back to get away from being hit again as the lady with the parasol kept spinning it.

"You are one of the foreign soldiers," Rose overheard the lady.

"Yes and you are in my way," Zayne answered, going around the little annoying lady to get to Rose. "You were hit?"

"Rose was hit?" Madeline questioned, her voice laced with worry. She gave Rose and Zayne distance so they could speak but her absence somehow resulted in her daughter being hit. "Let me see. Have they apologised?"

"Lady Ambrose, please forgive my mistake," the young lady curtsied, handing the parasol to her maid.

Rose was now able to see a pretty young woman most likely close to her age or Anna’s standing beside them.

"Olivia," Anna greeted her friend. "You should apologise to Rose, not to my mother."

Olivia glanced at the young woman she had not seen before. She was confused by the young woman’s resemblance to the lady but smiled as she first had to correct her mistake. However, she didn’t think it was her fault when the young lady was in the way. She had to be the first one to approach the soldier.

"My apologies. You are miss?" Olivia questioned, needing answers to pass along to others.

"She is my daughter. You must watch where you are going before you injure someone with that parasol. It doesn’t have a bruise. Thank goodness," Madeline sighed in relief.

"Daughter," Olivia repeated, surprised that the missing girl was now home. "Forgive me, I did not know your daughter had been found."

"If I had not been her daughter, it would have been fine for you to go without apologising?" Rose blurted out.