The King's Lover
Chapter 39: You Thief

Chapter 39: You Thief

"You t’ief!" Rose shot back, turning around to face Martha with her flute in hand. "Is this yers?" she asked, anger blazing in her eyes.

Martha stopped in her tracks immediately. "No, but I’m pretty sure you stole it, it doesn’t belong to you, she scoffed. "You had no right to go through my things."

"I could say the same t’ing about ye. Ye stole from me. After accusin’ me, ye are the thief."

"It’s you, not me. And I wonder what people are going to say when they come into the room and see you with the evidence in your—"

"Where is it?" Rose didn’t care about anything else that would come out of Martha’s mouth.

At first, she had thought Martha was simply jealous of the crown prince’s attention toward her, which she thought was silly. There was nothing to be jealous about—she would trade places in an instant. However, now she was pretty certain Martha was cruel and enjoyed being mean to her.

"What?" Martha asked with a sneer. "Speak properly; I can’t hear you. And how dare you speak to me like that? Just because my uncle favored you earlier today doesn’t mean—"

Rose’s ears rang, and her vision started to blur. "Where is it?!" she asked clearly this time.

Martha looked taken aback. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Mi swallows on a branch. The piece mi father carved for me. Where is it?" Rose’s voice rang out in the small room, her dialect more obvious.

"That’s not yours either, and you can never get it back," Martha proudly stated.

Rose tossed the flute toward her bed without even looking. She needed both hands to be free. "I’ll ask ye one last time. W’ere is it?" Rose walked closer to her. .com

Martha didn’t like the fear she felt. Rose was just a commoner who had barged in here. She was beneath her, and yet her uncle had punished her for someone like that, even though Rose was clearly a thief. She tried to regain control of the situation, puffing her chest and scoffing. There was no way she would let the whore intimidate her.

"I burnt it. You’re lucky I didn’t burn the flute. I was going to—"

Martha didn’t get the rest of the words out before she felt a slap across her face. Spittle flew out of her mouth, but she didn’t even get the chance to react before Rose grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground. She sat on Martha’s chest, pinning her to the floor and locking Martha’s arms with her legs as she slapped her repeatedly across both sides of her face.

Martha screamed, kicked, and struggled, but she couldn’t seem to push Rose off, and she couldn’t kick her with the way Rose had her pinned. It only took her a few seconds to realize she couldn’t get out of this, and instead of struggling any longer, she started to cry for help.

Rose didn’t say anything, just kept striking her across the face—right, left, right, left. Her reaction was visceral; she was so angry she could taste it. It was one thing for Martha to come after her, to lie about her and throw her in the dungeons. It was something completely different for her to steal presents from her father and even go as far as to burn them.

Rose’s ears rang, and her vision blurred as tears poured from her eyes. She couldn’t even see what she was doing, but she didn’t stop, striking even when her hands started to hurt and feel numb. She didn’t even hear Martha’s constant screams. It wasn’t until someone pulled her off Martha that she snapped out of it.

"Rose!" Edna called. She and another girl had been the ones to pull Rose off Martha. It was a struggle. "What are you doing?"

Rose wasn’t nearly satisfied, and she made to rush for Martha again, but Mistress Edith’s voice stalled her movements. "Have you lost your mind? How dare you attack another maid?"

Rose didn’t say anything; she just bowed her head. When the two girls saw she wasn’t struggling anymore, they let her go.

"Punish her, Mistress Edith! I came to the room and saw her ransacking my things. When I asked her about it, she attacked me." Martha clutched her red face with both hands as she spoke. Her lower lip was split, and blood poured from it. She pulled her knees up as she moved to a sitting position.

"Kneel!" Mistress Edith ordered.

Rose dropped to her knees without hesitation. She already knew it looked bad, and she was pretty ready for the consequences. It couldn’t be worse than what had already been done to her, but she couldn’t just do nothing while Martha destroyed something so important—something her father was to complete when she returned. She shot a glare in Martha’s direction, and the woman jerked.

"Has the crown prince’s favoritism gone to your head?" Mistress Edith’s voice thundered through the room. "Surely, you don’t expect this to go without punishment?"

"I think Martha is lying," Edna blurted out. The girl next to her looked shocked, as though she didn’t expect Edna to say anything.

"What are you talking about? Can’t you see her clothes are scattered everywhere, and she was clearly attacking Martha when we came in here?" Mistress Edith asked Edna with a stern look on her face.

"Yes, I know, but Rose wouldn’t attack Martha needlessly. Even when Martha threw her into the dungeons on false accusations, she didn’t try to hit her. Martha must have done something she couldn’t absolutely forgive."

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Mistress Edith asked.

Rose didn’t reply. The way she spoke made it harder for people to listen to her, and Martha had been here longer. Not only that, but her uncle was also the steward, so she was likely to gain more favor.

"You best speak, young lady. I don’t have the patience for this. I’ll throw you into the dungeons and report to the Queen that you’re nothing but a nuisance that should be severely punished."