The Knight's Rose

Chapter Thirty-Six ~ The Roots of a Rose ~ Part Two

Chapter Thirty-Six ~ The Roots of a Rose ~ Part Two

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Rose's POV

"You'll have to excuse his anger," King Zaros spoke, looking after the door with a stoic expression. "He has shown more loyalty than I can say for most knights."

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. I couldn't just relent and allow myself to get married to Levon just because he had shown my father an endless amount of devotion.

Not when that devotion had led to my ruin.

"He was just a young child when they brought him to train as a knight. His parents were taken by the plague and he was left without any relatives. You can already imagine how he was raised, especially with no standing. But he still managed to climb up the ranks and secure himself a spot on the Royal Guard," Zaros continued, and I grimaced when I felt a small grain of sympathy for Levon's past.

I still hated him, but I can see how his past could affect the way he was now.

"Are you positive there is no changing your mind?"

"No," I said, abruptly before catching that my tone may have been rude. "I'm sorry, but no."

"It seems like you've already promised yourself away to the King of Chuvaria," Zaros said, with an amused smile. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks at the statement and could only turn my head to the side.

"Come now, Rose, you can't be embarrassed by my words after your passionate speech," he said, chuckling. "It seems like he has no faults. Perfect even. Sounds unrealistic to me."

His expression turned dark as I understood his word with an even deeper meaning. He was speaking as if Nikolai was pretending with me.

"That isn't true. Nikolai isn't perfect. Far from it actually. But it's his flaws that make him perfect to me. He's quick to anger and quite stubborn on certain matters. He can be cruel when he wants to be and isn't as forgiving when people wrong him. He doesn't allow a lot of people close to him and he can be very closed off," I rambled off, my mind drifting back to the times I spent with Nikolai.

"Physically, you can see the small imperfections that don't make him perfect but all the more beautiful. The scars that litter his arms from his battles, the small crook of his nose, his cold eyes, and I can go on. But those things don't make him any less in my eyes, instead they make me love him even more. It makes him more real."

"Again, your ardent words are very touching."

I smiled softly at the remembrance of my previous words before I felt the sharp pains of Nikolai's last words that he had uttered to me.

"I have to go fix your father's mess."

"He is a man that has loved me and healed me at my worst. I fear that he won't ever forgive me for the losses I have caused him," I spoke, my voice laced with grief. Zaros narrowed his eyebrows in confusion before a look of realization took over his countenance.

"You cannot have the Rose without her thorns."

I blinked for a second, taking in his words. Well, I wouldn't say I was sharp around the edges but the experiences I have gone through could replicate the sharp shards of a thorn. It was almost... sweet.

"What? Surprised I can come up with adages? You come to acquire these skills through sheer murderous boredom. Believe it or not but it is pretty lonely in this big castle."

I bit my lip as my brain began to think of how lonely it would be to live in this castle alone with only your subjects as company. Even then, there would be a fine line they wouldn't be able to cross without being disrespectful.

Yes, it would be lonely indeed.

That is why I couldn't help but ask him.

"Why did mother leave?"

It was silent for a minute, and I could feel the air tensing with Zaros's darkening aura. His grey eyes steeled themselves before slowly dispersing into a pool of melting sadness.

Whatever had happened still affected him to this very day.

"The first time I saw her, she was hanging white sheets on a line in front of her family's home. She had the prettiest brown eyes, ones that match yours, and brown curls that ran wild down her back. Her face shone with excitement even when she was doing such a tedious task. That's when I fell in love with her. "

"Don't let my kingdom fool you, Rose, we are nothing but people of peace. But back then, that's how Ceasian gained it's harsh reputation. My father, the king before, was the definition of darkness and it tainted the poor soul of my mother. She managed to escape him through death while I did not. Every action he took against me, he told me it was for the benefit of the kingdom. To make me stronger. More resilient. Heartless."

"When I met your mother, her village was on the verge of extinction. The people were hungry and they were suffering from a terrible drought. Because of the drought, the people weren't able to produce crops. No crops meant no trading which in turn meant no tax money,"

"The old king relied heavily on the tax of the people and would punish the townspeople heavily if they did not pay their taxes. My father had sent me out that day to retrieve the tax money as a means of training. I jumped at any opportunity to escape these castle walls. It had become more of a prison than a home. 

"I had strict instructions to destroy the village if they did not pay the tax money. Back then, I understood that it was cruel for us to take the lives of our people. It wasn't their fault that they couldn't grow crops. But when I mentioned it to my father, he beat me so hard I can still faintly remember the biting pain."

He let out a broken chuckle that made my heart pinch painfully. I couldn't bear to imagine the abuse that Zaros had gone through under his father's hand. A man that was supposed to act as a protector and provider, but instead took satisfaction in beating his own blood.

I was disgusted.

"When I stumbled across their village with my company of knights, ready to destroy and leave it burning in my wake, that's when I noticed her. I wanted her from the second my eyes met hers. Even when she stared at me with hatred that made her eyes glow with fury. 

"I soon learned that she lived with her sickly grandparents. My father had stripped their family from everything which led to her father hanging himself and her mother perishing right after. She blamed me for their demise."

Shock filled my veins at the heart trending past my mother had. The way she had smiled didn't let on any pain that she had endured.

"My Rose, my beautiful Rose," my mother sang, stroking my hair. "How beautiful you will be."

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Welp.

That's the first half.

Hope you're ready for the second.