The King's Lover
Chapter 184: No Message

Chapter 184: No Message

Another night passed, and Rose still wasn’t summoned by the crown prince, nor did she hear anything from him. Rose wasn’t mad about it, as more than anything, she needed to be alone last night. She still couldn’t believe Edna was leaving so soon.

They hadn’t been able to converse much on their way back, and Rose regretted not giving her a hug or at least a proper goodbye. But it didn’t take until this morning for her to be less upset about it enough to regret it.

"Rose is awfully quiet," a voice said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Rose jerked her head upwards to see that Welma hadn’t left with the other maids; rather, she was standing beside her, staring down.

"What are you still doing ’ere?" Rose asked, shaking her head slightly as she picked up the fork to eat.

"I decided to keep you company. I’m sure you must be lonely."

Rose turned to look at Welma, her expression blank, showing Welma she didn’t share in whatever amusement she thought this was. She turned away without another word.

Welma snorted but didn’t go away. Rose couldn’t understand what the maid’s deal was. She was tempted to ask what she wanted, but she was certain that would give Welma exactly what she wanted. She would keep ignoring her.

"Thomas won’t come today," she blurted. "Are you sure you don’t want my company?"

Rose’s eyes widened, but thankfully, her gaze was locked on her food, so Welma didn’t see her reaction. She found this information a little hard to believe, but Welma had told her the crown prince wasn’t coming before, and he didn’t. Something else that bothered her was how Welma knew all this. fr.eew eb novel..com

Rose didn’t say anything to this, nor did she act as though she’d heard. She just kept eating her food, and not long after, she heard the door open. She turned her head in the direction of the door just in time to see Welma walk out and shut the door behind her.

Rose dropped the fork and took a deep breath. She rested her elbow on the table, even though she could vaguely hear Lady Delphine at the back of her mind telling her not to do that.

She was truly stuck in this room today with nothing but her thoughts. She had planned to ask Thomas to let her see Edna again when he came around. She was sure it would be difficult for him to agree, but if she involved the crown prince, he might give in again. However, it didn’t look like she would get a chance to do that. She wanted to say a proper goodbye this time.

True to Welma’s word, Thomas never showed. Not after breakfast, not at noon when the sun was high in the sky and her room grew so warm that she needed all the windows open, and certainly not after lunch.

Rose sat at the foot of her bed. Chess pieces were scattered about, but she was already sick of playing, and it certainly wasn’t the same when she played by herself.

It was mid-afternoon already, and after some time, the sun would set and she would be served dinner. Going by what the past few days had been, there was a very high chance she wasn’t going to see the crown prince.

It wasn’t that she wanted to see him—it was just a little odd. No message, just nothing. It was so strange she found herself starting to worry about him. It didn’t help that even Thomas wouldn’t be coming either. Was something wrong with the crown prince and no one was telling her?

Rose narrowed her eyes. The only way she would know anything would be to ask the maids, and that in itself was a bad idea. Either they wouldn’t answer her, or Welma might get whatever she was trying to do.

Rose stood to her feet. Perhaps this was good. She was sick of having to deal with Thomas’s attitude in the first place. It was nice to have some peace and quiet being just by herself.

Night fell quickly, and Rose wasn’t called to the crown prince’s chambers again, nor did anyone tell her why. Since she had spent more than half the day sleeping, it was a little hard to do the same at night, and she once again didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

"Are you sure you don’t want my offer now?" was the first thing Welma said as soon as she walked through Rose’s bedroom doors in the morning, bringing breakfast.

Rose once again didn’t respond to her taunts. She was annoyed that it reminded her Thomas really hadn’t come the day before. However, it was a thought she could push aside, as there was something more important on her mind. Today was the day Edna would be leaving.

"Ignoring me is not the way to go about this," Welma said as Rose approached the table.

Rose narrowed her eyes but didn’t take the bait. She knew Welma wasn’t trying to be friendly. Her behavior was too contradictory. Besides, she doubted any good would come from being friendly with the maid. The last time that happened, Edna was punished. freeNovelFire

"I will be back to take your dishes," Welma said as she went out the door.

As she had said, she did come back when Rose was done eating and tried to strike up a conversation again, but Rose couldn’t even pretend to be interested.

Sometime after the maid left, Rose heard a knock. She was on her feet before she could even think about it. Was Thomas finally here? He probably just needed a break the day before. Or perhaps it was Welma back again. The maid was starting to feel like a fly refusing to go away—and no matter how hard she tried to kill it, it evaded all her swats.

Rose pulled the door open forcefully, feeling the strain on her hand. "Your Majesty!"