Chapter 169: Disrespectful
Caius was meeting with his father’s advisors when a knock could be heard at the door. No one in the room stirred, nor did they act as though they had heard the knock. Conversations continued as usual, which was the advisors mostly telling him what his father wanted and Rylen briefing them on what they had done.
There was rarely ever a need for his input, but unfortunately, this was not a meeting he could refuse to attend, even though he thought it was unnecessary and a little roundabout. Thankfully, it didn’t happen often enough for him to lose his marbles.
Caius watched as one of the guards walked toward the door after some time to see who was interrupting the meeting. The guards present at the meeting were not stationed here by him. Only he and Rylen were allowed to attend on his end; everyone else was assigned by his father.
Caius didn’t care about those tiny details. He was only here because it couldn’t be avoided. If his father had decided to bring in the circus for this meeting, he would still feel the same way, he’d rather be somewhere else.
The guard in question opened the door, and Caius caught sight of the knight Thomas. Caius raised a brow as he immediately stopped listening, wondering why Thomas was here, not that he was listening much to begin with. He had given Thomas a task, and yet the boy was here when, by the timing, he should still be busy with Rose.
The fact that he was here instead meant he wasn’t with Rose. Caius found himself curious as to what had gone wrong. The meeting was suddenly uninteresting—not that it ever had been. If Rylen wasn’t here to give the report, he would probably make sure never to attend, but his cousin made things much easier for him.
The guard shut the door as he stepped out of the meeting room and took some time before returning. When he did, he headed straight for the crown prince, making sure not to draw any attention to himself. Once close enough, he leaned forward and whispered into Caius’s left ear.
"Thomas said she refused to come with him and just slammed the door in his face," the guard said, and pulled away after giving the crown prince the message.
Caius threw his head back and laughed. Why did that not surprise him? He hadn’t expected her to refuse, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised.
He turned his attention to the table to see that Rylen, who was seated across from him, had stopped speaking mid-sentence and was now staring at him, as were the rest of the people in the meeting room. His loud laugh had interrupted them.
"Your Highness?" Rylen called, a concerned look on his face that bordered on annoyance.
"Carry on," Caius said, waving his hand dismissively at Rylen.