The King's Lover
Chapter 68: Still Missing

Chapter 68: Still Missing

Maids shook their heads as they looked from one person to the other, whispers floating through the air while Martha fought to keep her expression neutral. She had expected this, but Edna was starting to be a real pain in the ass.

She had finally been able to get rid of the clothes. Burning them would have been suspicious, so she opted to bury them, and no one had batted an eye when she set out toward the forest area. Edna had been busy at the time, so she knew she didn’t have to worry about Edna seeing her, but here she was, causing another problem.

Other than Edna, Rose’s absence would have gone unnoticed until the crown prince decided to call her up. After all, Rose no longer had to do chores, and the other maids didn’t like her. Martha would have had the time to enjoy Rose’s absence without the dramatics of her being missing so that she could do exactly as the Queen had suggested when the time came and tell everyone she had seen Rose leave. But Edna was currently stirring things up before there was even any need. fre ewe bnove l.com

Silence soon settled in the room, and everyone turned to look at Martha. She wasn’t surprised by this. She shared a room with Rose—if anyone would have seen Rose, it would be her.

"Are you sure you haven’t seen her today?" Edna asked again, directing her question to Martha this time. f|re(e)web.n\ovel. (c)o.m

"I already told you. Besides, you were the one who woke me up this morning. You would know more than me. You should know more than anyone here—after all, Rose was closest to you!" Martha said, spinning it on Edna.

Edna sighed and looked around. This was starting to get concerning. She didn’t know where Rose was, and no one seemed to know. She knew she had to inform Mister Henry, but before that, she would search around as long as she could.

Edna turned and headed out of the kitchen. She first headed for the courtyard. Servants weren’t allowed there unless summoned, but she didn’t have much choice. There was no sign of Rose. Then she checked the south wing and outside the castle, but her search proved futile.

Rose didn’t have places she went. All she did was sit in her room, especially now that she didn’t have any chores. She had never even seen the young woman take a walk. It was clear to anyone that she wished she could leave and didn’t want to be here so she mainly kept to herself. Therefore not being able to find her was very odd and Edna couldn’t shake the image of how empty her section of the room had been.

When she got tired of looking without finding anything, any clue, Edna gave up and decided to go speak to Mister Henry. First off, she wanted to find Rose, and she would be able to do that quickly with his help. And secondly, if something was wrong, Mister Henry needed to know about it as fast as possible. Edna hoped it wasn’t the latter.

It took a while to get a hold of Mister Henry, as he was busy with the duties around the castle, and she had to send a message through one of the guards. She made sure to include that it was about Rose and that she couldn’t find her.

Edna was in her room resting when she heard a loud knock on her door. She scrambled to her feet and walked to the door to pull it open. She jerked in shock when she saw Mister Henry standing in front of her, a concerned expression on his face.

"What do you mean you haven’t seen Rose all day?" he asked before she could even say anything.

"Mister Henry," she said as she bent her knees.

"None of that matters now," he said. "Come out, tell me what you know." He pulled a handkerchief out of his inner pocket and wiped his face.

Edna nodded and stepped out, closing the door behind her. She started speaking, giving Mister Henry a quick summary of what had happened that morning and how far she had gone to look for Rose that afternoon.

"At this point, I don’t think she came back after she went to the crown prince’s room," Edna finished.

"No," Mister Henry said, shaking his head. "She came back. His Highness would never let her spend the night in his room. However, I can easily confirm that with the guards."

Mister Henry only said that out of hope. He had been in the crown prince’s room as soon as it was time for the prince to get ready for the day, and there was no sign of Rose in the room. If there was anyone who would have seen Rose leave, it would be the guards.

"Have you asked Martha?" Mister Henry suddenly asked. "They share a room." He could remember this clearly, and if there was anyone else who should know about Rose’s whereabouts, it was Martha.

"I did," Edna stated. "She said she had no clue and that she wasn’t Rose’s babysitter."

"She said that?" Mister Henry asked with clear irritation.

Edna nodded. "She did."

"Come with me. Let’s get to the bottom of this quickly."

Several thoughts were running through his head that he didn’t want to think about. He was hoping this was just a misunderstanding and Rose would turn up soon enough. However, if that wasn’t the case, he needed to confirm swiftly and inform the crown prince before he caught wind of it. As much as he was likely to lose his head, it would be much worse if the crown prince found out from someone else.

"Edna," Mister Henry called as they got closer to the room.

"Yes, Mister Henry," she replied, her voice soft.

"Do you think there is a chance that this isn’t a coincidence and that she was hiding?" His voice shook a little as he spoke, showing just how stressed he was by the situation.