Chapter 171: Earworm
"However, it doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t obey a direct order—an order given to you by my knight. Thomas is one of my own, you see. Should he ever give you an order on my behalf, I expect you to carry it out to the fullest."
Rose nodded her head. "I apologize, Your Majesty."
"What do you say?" Caius asked with a frown, not liking that she was quick to apologize but didn’t seem to agree with his words.
"It won’t ’appen again, Your Majesty," she replied with her head still bowed. "I will follow your order to the letter." Rose tried to keep anything that might show defiance or disapproval from her face.
"Good," Caius replied, the frown on his face easing. "I will let this go, this one time. Tomorrow he will be back. I’d better hear a good report."
"Yes," Rose replied dryly as she returned to the game.
It wasn’t hard to remember the sort of relationship they had, but times like this made it especially easy to remember she was just here to take his orders. Nothing more than a slave to do his bidding. A sex slave. Just because he played a few games with her didn’t change that.
Rose couldn’t remember what happened after the conversation. Her body moved the pieces, but her mind was elsewhere, which wasn’t a good idea when playing a game like chess. It wasn’t something you played subconsciously.
By the fourth game, she could see Caius’s expression darken, and she was sure he had run out of patience. She was almost glad about this. She would be back in her room soon. But surprisingly, the crown prince didn’t say anything about her poor plays; rather, he started to win as quickly as he could, no longer taking his time.
As much as she would rather do something else, Rose didn’t like the losses she was racking up, and without meaning to, she started to take it seriously, doing her best to drag it out as long as she could.