Chapter 170: The Line
Days had passed, and Zethan had not returned. Rose sat quietly in the garden, sipping her tea as the morning breeze gently brushed against her skin. She missed him—she would be lying if she said she didn’t.
After that talk with Fredrick, even though things hadn’t remained the same, she was glad she told him the truth. She had shared everything—the conversations they had, the dreams they planned. It had all been real. But it seemed that fate had different plans, and perhaps they were never meant to be together after all.
She had told him as much, too. That maybe he was meant to meet someone else. And that seemed to be all he needed to hear. He didn’t take it too seriously. He simply said, "Thank you for telling me the truth."
Since then, the atmosphere between them had settled. It was no longer cold and distant, but warm and respectful. They respected each other. If Rose asked a question about the castle, and if he could answer it, he usually did. And if he couldn’t, he’d tell her gently that it wasn’t within his duty to say—that it was for someone else to reveal.
Through all of this, everything had been fine... or so she kept telling herself.
But the truth she refused to admit—was that she missed Zethan. Deeply.
Her dark hair flew to the side as she blew softly on her hot tea before taking a sip.
"Queen Roselina, would you like me to prepare your bath now, or should I wait a bit?" Clara, the maid, asked gently.
"That would be later" Rose spoke as the lady replied with a respectful bow.
Rose had blamed herself earlier when she realized she didn’t even know the name of the woman who had walked beside her. She had finally decided to ask, wanting to know more, even though the lady had once said her matters were of no importance to the Queen, who was Roselina, and that she was merely a maid.
"I also want to inform you that His Majesty will be arriving today," Clara added.