The Forgotten Princess Rose

"I wouldn't do that," Rose replied, fearing he might have the wrong impression of her. She did not go around setting things on fire. Not unless he planned to keep her here against her will.

"I shall take your word for it. Excuse me," Zayne said, turning around to go back to his work.

"Are you not putting someone at the door to guard me?"

Zayne stopped as her question confused him. "Do you want to be here as a prisoner or a guest? You don't seem satisfied when I treat you well or when I don't treat you like a prisoner. Are you spying on me?"

Rose took a step back as Zayne returned to the opened door. "N-No," she answered. "I do not care about the war."

The corners of Zayne's lips curled as he found her response to be interesting. "Well, you are stuck in your small world with your troubles. I don't expect you to want to spy on me, but should you think that will be your way to get money and change your life, you won't make it out of her alive if I catch you snooping around."

She would make a grave mistake thinking he was the same as Graham. It was easy to get rid of spies here and not worry about the king being upset with him for spilling blood when he was meant to be here only to speak on behalf of his king.

"I won't snoop," Rose replied. 

"Good. Though there isn't a guard outside your door does not mean that you are not being watched. Where is that knife you had?" Zayne questioned, searching for the little thing that could not do much damage. 

Rose didn't know if she should share what she had done but then again, with the blood in her room and Jonathan having a nasty wound that wasn't there before, it was easy to guess what she had done. "Someone tried to hurt me so I used it."

"You hurt someone with that little thing? Well done," Zayne applauded her.

Rose wasn't expecting a compliment for hurting someone. "You are giving me a compliment for injuring someone?" 

It was the strangest thing she had ever heard.

"It was your life or his. Most people don't have it in them to fight back. Do you want me to scold you for fighting back? Wouldn't that be silly?" Zayne asked.

"It would be," Rose softly answered. It was just that she had never reached the point of being able to stab someone and after doing it, it was hard to settle with the fact she could have taken someone's life.

Jonathan would have deserved to die but she had yet to get over what she did. She always thought herself prepared to kill someone if needed but the thoughts that followed weren't pleasant. It made her feel more of a monster and Rose hated it because Jonathan was deserving of death. 

Zayne could not understand her. She was the most confusing person he met since he came to this land. "You seem to be the one that everyone wants. There was a soldier who wanted to chase you but I stopped him. It looked like you two recognised each other. Is he one of your admirers?"

Rose was stuck on Zayne revealing that he had stopped Mathias. "You followed me from the storage room?"

"No. I couldn't go around the front of the storage room so I went that way and found you squeezing yourself through the gate. Fear not as you do not have another stalker to add to your list. Now, answer my question," said Zayne.

"He is not one of my admirers. He is not anything," Rose smiled. 

Zayne noticed how the smile didn't reach her eyes. There wasn't any warmth to it. She would have been useful if she had some sort of relationship with those soldiers. Rose ran so she couldn't be on good terms with the man he saw going after her. 

"If you recall that he is something, please inform me. I might have some use for you that will give you some money in return. Nothing that would need you meeting with him," Zayne quickly added to end the fear she showed. 

For some reason, Rose reminded him of a helpless bunny surrounded by predators. In his way, she should run away from him as well.

"I've kept you from getting rest long enough. Excuse me," he said, leaving her once more. 

Rose flinched when the door closed. Nothing had changed though she was outside of the brothel and she didn't think it ever would so she went to the door to lock it. Anyone could have the key but she felt safer knowing that she had locked it. 

Rose looked around the large room that was more than enough for her. "It is only for a moment," she reminded herself, not wanting to get used to this.

…

Away from the soldier's camp, Graham sat with a half-empty bottle in his hands as he listened to his guard's report of where Rose might be. It was the fourth bottle he got his hands on since he was informed that Rose was missing.

"A fire and then Rose goes missing. It is not a mere coincidence," Graham spoke up, his words dragging as he wasn't in his right mind. "She calls for a man in town and then she goes missing. Do they take me for fools?"

Graham didn't think Rose was a fool to run away from him when she knew that she belonged to him and him only. She made a few attempts to run from him but never ran out of the brothel since the mistake she made when she was young. 

Someone else had stolen his thing. The woman he had made clear would only belong to him. Should he have marked his name on her head or all over her body for these fools to understand?

"We searched nearby and questioned everyone about where they last saw her. We have not found out why there was blood on her floor-"

"I told you not to come to me unless you found something or found her!" Graham yelled, throwing the bottle at the fool before him.

Graham stood up, his body swaying because of his drunken state. "Find her before the day ends or I will have your head. Someone came in here and stole what belongs to me! I will not have the town mocking me. Find a soldier named Mathias and ask if he was here last night."

Graham didn't find it to be a mere coincidence that the king's soldiers came here and Rose suddenly went missing. The young boy who slipped his fingers years ago returned and thought he could steal from him. 

"I own that bastard so bring him to me," said Graham.

"Yes, Master Graham."

Graham was yet to have Rose after waiting all these years. If he couldn't have her then he was not going to allow another to have her. Once she came back, she would not see the light of day as she would be chained to his bed.