Of The Rose

Three

Jason

After that dinner Jason when straight back into his study, he still has a large amount of work to complete. He has to plan the meeting with two allied kingdoms, which requires a lot of paperwork, and figure out trading plans with neighboring kingdoms. By the time he was done with most of it, it was late in the night. If he goes to bed now he'll hopefully be able to have 5 hours of sleep, but that's if he's lucky. Jason has to get up early, wedding planning starts tomorrow, they've already gotten off to a rough start.

On his way to his room through the cold halls, typically what they always feel like this late at night, they're always freezing. Jason sees a figure moving within these frozen halls, can't make it out exactly because it's too dark. A window does illuminate some of the halls, as the figure moves Jason can see that it's her, the same woman who told off his parents at dinner. He almost didn't recognize her, she looks different. Jason takes this moment to maybe try and talk to her, take Isobelle's advice.

"Hello?" Jason said towards the figure. "Are you lost?" She moved towards him.

"No." Jason could see her face more clearly in the moonlight. "I'm fine. Can I help you?" If he could describe her voice in one sentence it would be honey with a bitter aftertaste, it sounds sweet and melodic at first but with a sour ending.

"No," Jason said. "But may I ask, what are you doing up so late and wandering the halls?"

As she drew closer Jason could see that she was wearing a simple white nightgown, and her dark hair was no longer pinned up, instead, left down where it glistened in the moonlight. "I'm sorry, is this banned?"

"It's not," Jason said. "It was just a question out of curiosity?"

"A word of advice, your highness," She said 'your highness' as though it left an unpleasant taste on her tongue. "It's best you don't stick your nose in other people's business. But if you really have to know then I shall tell you. I was told there's a garden in this palace, I decided to visit it myself. Satisfied?"

'What a charmer' Jason thought sarcastically to himself. "Yes." Looks like the files Jason read through were accurate, she likes botany. "Since we're exchanging advice here, a recommendation to you, go to sleep soon, we have a long day ahead of us, rest up and conserve your energy. Best not to waste it on minuscule things, the garden will be there tomorrow. As soon as we finish some planning you should have all day free to look at them."

She tilted her head a bit. "You should get going too," She crossed her arms across her chest. "If anybody spots us together at this hour they'll think we're up to no good. It'll only cause harm to our reputation as we're to be married soon. Out of context, this could be seen as highly inappropriate." She did have a point, she's in her sleep attire, and people have a funny way of twisting the narrative.

"Of course, we wouldn't want that. Until tomorrow."

"Until then, your royal highness. And, let's try not to make this a thing." She gestured to both of them using a hand before she walked away, disappearing back into the shadows, out of the moonlight.

Now Jason was the one tilting his head except this time it was in confusion. He didn't really know what she meant by that. Her words replayed in his mind over in over, to the point where he now is laying in bed, still thinking about it. "Let's not try to make this a thing. "Jason whispered to himself, repeating her words. He fiddled and fidgeted with his bedsheet in one hand and held the other behind his head as he tried to wrap his head around her words. There's a big possibility Jason's overthinking this, she's probably safely tucked in her bed sound asleep and here he is, awake, conscience, overanalyzing, staring at his ceiling.