The King's Lover
Chapter 67: Have You Seen Rose?

Chapter 67: Have You Seen Rose?

"Rose," Edna called and knocked lightly, but when she noticed the door was unlocked and she wasn’t getting a response, she pushed the door open, and walked into the room.

"At this rate, you’re going to miss breakfast—," she started to say as she walked in but stopped speaking when she noticed Rose wasn’t in bed.

She stopped in her tracks and looked around the room. Martha looked to be slowly waking up. She moved to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. Edna turned her gaze to Rose’s side of the bed again. She hadn’t seen Rose all day, and it was a bit odd she wasn’t in bed. Or was it that she didn’t return after she met with the crown prince the night before?

"What are you doing in my room?" Martha asked with a yawn.

Edna frowned. "Where is Rose?" she asked, ignoring Martha’s question.

Martha yawned again, stretching her hands to the sky. "How would I know?" she asked back.

"You share the same room," Edna said, a little angrily.

"Yes, but I’m not her babysitter," Martha scoffed and started to rise to her feet.

Edna rolled her eyes. "Also, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the south wing?"

Martha paused and dramatically turned around to look at Edna, then smiled. "How is that any of your business?" she asked.

Edna’s eyes narrowed. The words Martha was saying didn’t match the expression on her face, and it was particularly distracting when she had flecks of dirt on her face and hair.

"Why is there dirt on your face?" Edna asked instead.

"Dirt?" Martha asked in horror as she palmed her face. She quickly turned away from Edna to ransack her bag.

"If you are done here, you should leave. I need to clean up for the day," Martha said with her back to Edna.

Edna frowned and looked around the room again. "When you see her, tell her I am looking for her."

"Whatever, leave."

Edna sighed and walked out of the room. She knew she couldn’t count on Martha, which meant she had to look for Rose herself. The only other place she could think of that Rose would be in was the washroom.

Gathering her dress in her hands as she briskly walked, she made her way there. There wasn’t a lot of time left before she had to do her chores, but she at least wanted to make sure Rose ate. She was worried for her, especially after yesterday.

Edna was just about to enter the washroom when she saw a different maid coming out with a bucket in hand. "Is Rose in there?" she asked.

"The redhead?" the maid asked with a frown.

Edna nodded.

"No, no one was in there with me," she explained and started walking away.

Edna almost didn’t believe her, but she knew the maid had no reason to lie. "Have you seen her at all? I have been looking for her."

She shook her head and kept on walking. Edna sighed, worry etched on her face. She looked left and then right. She might have to check the well. No one else seemed to have noticed Rose’s absence, but she would still ask around. If she had known Rose would be so hard to find, she would have asked the maids in the kitchen.

"Edna!" a maid said, holding a huge basket of clothes. It was big enough to cover her vision, and she could barely see as she walked.

"Lily," she returned. Lily was one of her roommates. She was unsure what Lily thought of Rose, but she hadn’t seen or heard her say anything mean to Rose. fr.eew eb novel..com

"We have linens to wash, dresses and coats too," she said, stopping in front of Edna.

"Yes, take them with you. I will be right there."

Lily frowned, her chin lifting slightly to see over the basket of clothes she held. "Okay, don’t stay too long. The faster we can finish this, the better."

Edna nodded, walking in the opposite direction of Lily. Then she stopped abruptly and turned around. "Lily, have you seen Rose?"

There was a bit of silence, but Edna just assumed Lily was thinking about her response. "No," she finally said. fre ewebno(v)e\l.(c)om

"Thanks," Edna called out to her and continued on her way.

She went back to Rose’s room to see if she had returned while she was searching elsewhere, but the room was empty. Not even Martha could be found. She turned around to leave the room but noticed that Rose’s side of the room felt a little too empty. She didn’t give it too much thought and turned around to go do her duties. Lily was right; they had quite a lot to do today. f.re(e) w.e(b)nov el.c.om

When Edna returned at lunchtime and finally had some free time, she rushed to Rose’s room, and the first thing she noticed was that it was exactly as she had left it. Edna felt her stomach twist, and she rushed out of the room. If she didn’t think something was wrong before, she was sure now.

She ran into a servant on the way, nearly colliding into her. Edna didn’t even apologize before she blurted out the question. "Have you seen Martha?"

"The kitchen," the maid said as she tried to gather herself.

Edna rushed and burst into the kitchen. Her loud and sudden entrance stopped the noise, and everyone turned to look at the doorway. Edna’s eyes scanned the room, spotting Martha almost immediately.

Martha wouldn’t meet Edna’s eyes and pretended to discuss something with the maid next to her, even though the maid was looking at Edna, concerned about her frantic appearance.

"Is everything okay?" a maid sitting by the table closer to the door asked.

Edna ignored her and walked to Martha. "Have you seen Rose?" she asked.

Martha stopped talking and slowly turned her head to look at Edna. "I told you, I am not her babysitter," Martha replied, glaring at Edna.

Edna frowned and turned to the whole kitchen. "Has anyone seen Rose today? Anyone? Even if you just caught a glimpse of her. I haven’t been able to find her at all."