The King's Lover-Chapter 534: Nothing Drastic

Rose was surprised she didn’t react when Edith told her what the Queen had done, but what difference would that make? She had the information she needed now, and that was more important than anything else.

Without another glance at Madame Edith, Rose marched out of the kitchen. This was a predicament. If they were just given chores, she could pull them away from it and assign another maid. However, an offense against the old hag made things slightly complicated.

Rose didn’t have any plans to back down. Besides, she thought it was not only petty but silly of the old hag to go after her maids instead of her.

Besides, since when did Chelsy and Isla do the old hag’s laundry?

"Might I ask for a favor, Lord Maximus?" Rose asked without looking at the lord or reducing her pace.

"Go ahead."

"I will need you to free my maids from the dungeons. I can’t believe they have been there since last night."

I hope they weren’t whipped.

"You don’t need me to do that," Maximus said.

"True, but no one willingly listens to a peasant regardless of whether I am putting on a crown or not. Your presence is the only reason things have gone smoothly."

"I would have to disagree. They might be stubborn, but they cannot refuse you. I speed up the process, but it doesn’t mean your authority is being questioned. They know better."

"I know, and perhaps if I had the chance to be patient, but I do not. My maids have been in the dungeons since last night, and I suspect without food or water. I don’t have the time to patiently wait for them to listen."

"I understand. What do you need?"

"Not much," Rose replied. "Just get them out of the dungeons."

This was her mistake, Rose could easily admit, but she didn’t expect the old hag to go this low. Another grave mistake. She also remembered exactly what Madame Edith had said—that she didn’t recall Rose having maids.

That was about to change.

They got to the dungeons, but Maximus didn’t allow her to step inside. Moments later, he stepped out with Chelsy and Isla by his side.

The two girls set off towards her as soon as they saw Rose, with tears in their eyes. They were only an inch away from her before they managed to stop themselves from hugging her, as they were both filthy.

But Rose didn’t hesitate, and even though she couldn’t hug them, she immediately touched both their faces.

"My girls," she cried. "Look at you."

Dirty streaks marked their faces, and there was a bruise on the corner of Chelsy’s lips.

"Who did this to you?" Rose asked, doing her best to put a lid on her anger.

"Queen Violeta’s ladies-in-waiting," Isla spilled before her sister could dismiss it as nothing. Isla had anger in her eyes as she spoke, and she wasn’t nearly done.

"They made us spend all day yesterday washing and re-washing the Queen’s clothes, and then said we ruined them. After we left you last night, they came for us in our room and took us to the dungeons. Then one of them slapped Chelsy three times when she tried to help me. They also spat on us and called us names."

The anger in Isla’s eyes died out, and she looked like she might cry. Her eyes pooled with tears, but she didn’t let them pour out.

"I will fix this," Rose said. "Come with me."

Rose was fuming, but she knew she couldn’t do anything drastic just yet. But she could make it known that these were her maids. It wouldn’t completely protect them from the Queen, but it would ensure that she couldn’t come at them so easily.

She was running out of time. It was already time for breakfast, and she feared that Caius would be in her room any moment now. She didn’t want to involve him, at least not yet. She needed to do this by herself.

She led them from the dungeons to the Royal kitchen and burst in, startling Madame Edith. However, this time around, she was quick to curtsy, as were the rest of the servants in the hall.

Rose paid no mind to this. Instead, she said, "These are my ladies-in-waiting. You do understand what that means, Edith? They aren’t my personal maids. They are my ladies-in-waiting."

A gasp echoed through the kitchen. Rose knew exactly what she had done, and their reaction was exactly what she expected. In fact, she wanted word to reach the Queen’s ears.

Ladies-in-waiting were mostly nobles. It was very rare for a commoner to rise to that level. She may have done something drastic, but she didn’t care.

"Lady Rose—"

"Lady?" Rose called with a raised brow.

"Y-your M-majesty," Edith looked as though she might bite her tongue. "You can’t make maids of their caliber your ladies-in-waiting."

Rose looked around and then back to Edith. "You seem to have our roles confused. I tell you what to do. These are my ladies-in-waiting. They are only concerned with my affairs, and should you dare speak to them disrespectfully or give them a task beneath their status, I shall assume your disrespect is aimed at me."

"I-I apologize, Your Maje—"

"Save it. As for my personal maids, Miss Chelsy and Miss Isla will choose. You are free to agree or disagree, however you please." She took a step forward, forcing Edith to take a step back.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty." Edith bent her head.

"Good! Don’t you dare give me a reason to doubt your competence," she looked at Edith from the top of her head to her toes and then back up. Making her threat as clear as day.

Without waiting for a reply from Edith, she turned around and left the kitchen, taking Chelsy and Isla with her.

"Can she speak to Madame like that?" one of the maids was asking. "She works for the King’s mother, not her."

"But she has the favor of the King. You all saw him scold his mother for her. Even his pregnant wife doesn’t stand a chance. It’s best not to get on her bad side," another maid quickly responded.

"Madame Edith did the right thing," another whispered.

"Can she do that? Assign them as her ladies-in-waiting?"

"Do you think any noble daughter would want to serve her?"

Another laughed. "Of course not. She isn’t even the real queen. This charade won’t last, but for now, keep your head down."

"Shut up and get back to work!" Madame Edith yelled.

She was fuming after what Rose had done to her in front of the servants, but all she could do was report to the Queen and hope that this was dealt with.

She didn’t have much hope in the matter when Rose had the confidence to speak to her in that manner. The peasant was quite aware of the power she wielded.

Edith winced, she couldn’t dare go against her orders, not with the crown on her head, and certainly not with Rose having the King’s favor.