Chapter 135: Recap

Rowan slowly got used to the work of a servant even though he clearly could not do it properly. The royal housemaster trained him harshly and while most of the servants adapted quickly because this was what they depended on to survive, Rowan was different from them and his progress remained slow.

He was reckless with almost everything, breaking things, spilling trays and failing simple tasks repeatedly yet he never seemed bothered by any of it, almost as though whatever happened to him did not matter anymore.

He barely spoke to anyone around him and whenever the servants tried engaging him in conversation, he ended it almost immediately before walking away.

He kept entirely to himself.

While one brother sat upon the throne ruling Eryndor, the other had already been reduced to nothing, ordered around, disciplined and punished however they saw fit because the king had deliberately placed him beneath the authority of the royal housemaster.

After the first year passed, Rowan at least became better at doing servant work even though he still could not bow properly or kneel willingly, and eventually the housemaster decided to ease up on him a little. Then the second year arrived and Rowan had made some improvements. He had been raised to a higher servant position because he had become more useful around the palace but even then, something about him still felt different from the others.

Sometimes he heard strange voices in his head, voices that sounded familiar even though he did not know who they belonged to. And while moving through the palace corridors, he often found himself knowing exactly where certain hallways led without understanding how he knew it in the first place.

His memories were yet to return to him although there were moments when he sat alone quietly and fragments appeared inside his mind, unclear voices, blurred images and feelings he could not explain no matter how hard he tried.

It was around the time the king took in another mistress, probably the fifth by then, that Rowan was running errands through the palace carrying a tray when someone suddenly collided straight into him.

He had already been in a bad mood that day and immediately irritation rose inside him. At first he assumed it was one of the maids again. The girls within the servant quarters had tried countless times to speak to him, bumping into him purposely or finding excuses to linger around him.

Despite being only a servant, Rowan still possessed an unusually striking appearance that drew attention naturally. But he never paid any of them the slightest bit of interest.

So when the collision happened, annoyance had already crossed his face before he even looked properly.

It was another woman.

He caught the scent of her immediately before the tray slipped from his hands and the ceramics crashed loudly onto the floor.

His jaw tightened at once as he already knew he would be punished again if the royal housemaster heard about it, but the broken things stopped mattering the moment the woman lost her balance and almost fell directly to the ground.

Without thinking, Rowan caught her quickly.

For a second everything around him seemed to disappear.

She looked up at him and his eyes met the brightest hazel eyes he had ever seen. They were warm, wide and impossibly beautiful, and for reasons he could not understand, his heart skipped at the sight of her.

She felt warm inside his arms too and although Rowan rarely paid attention to women at all, something about this one instantly unsettled him in a way he had never experienced before.

He found himself staring at her.

She looked different from everyone else in the palace with her sun-kissed skin, soft features and warmth that made her seem almost out of place there.

Then suddenly she snapped, "Let go of me."

Rowan immediately realised what he was doing and released her quickly.

She fell straight onto the ground.

For the first time in a long while, embarrassment crossed his face because that had not been his intention. The woman quickly gathered herself while glancing around nervously as though hoping nobody had witnessed what happened between them, and when their eyes met again, she looked at him with narrowed eyes.

Rowan lowered his head slightly before she finally asked where the ladies’ quarters were.

He directed her there quietly and only after she walked away did he realise she must have been another one of the king’s mistresses.

That evening after returning to the servant quarters and preparing to sleep, Rowan found himself unable to stop thinking about those bright hazel eyes and it irritated him deeply because no woman had ever managed to affect him that way before.

Not long after, he was on duty again when he saw her entering the throne hall escorted by guards while the king waited inside alongside the other mistresses.

The moment Rowan saw her, the strange feeling returned immediately and his heart skipped a beat, but she did not notice him standing there.

Usually Rowan never paid attention to matters involving the king’s women and was always quick to leave without lingering around unnecessarily, but that day he remained there for reasons he could not explain even to himself.

He watched as the woman read something that had been handed to her and moments later the king approached her. From where Rowan stood, it seemed there had been some sort of misunderstanding between them.

Then suddenly the king kissed her.

And for the first time, Rowan was completely stunned when the woman raised her hand and slapped the king across the face.

The king was a real menace.

He was not someone who hesitated to kill and Rowan knew exactly how dangerous he was, which was why his brows had raised the moment the woman slapped him across the face. For her bravery, she had stirred something inside him unexpectedly and for her stupidity, he knew punishment would follow immediately because no one dared humiliate the king and walked away from it.

Yet to Rowan’s surprise, she was not punished.

Instead, the king had pulled her into his arms afterward and that was when Rowan realised the woman truly meant something to Alaric.

Before long, Rowan was summoned by the royal housemaster and told not to continue his usual duties for the day because he had been assigned elsewhere.

"You are to serve the new mistress, Lady Rosalind," the housemaster instructed.

Rosalind.

So that was her name.

Rowan said nothing and merely followed the order, where he was positioned directly in front of one of the doors.

He remained standing outside the door quietly and after some time, he felt someone staring at him. The gaze lingered long enough for him to turn and the moment he did, he caught Rosalind peeping at him from the slightly opened door.

She immediately cleared her throat and stepped out.

Rowan had barely opened his mouth to introduce himself before she slammed the door directly in his face.

For a second, he simply stood there staring at the closed door.

Then he realised she was most likely furious about being monitored now.

Over time, from serving her and following her around, Rowan began understanding the type of person Rosalind was. She was stubborn but kind-hearted and she spoke whatever came to her mind without fear. She hated feeling trapped and constantly searched for ways to escape the suffocating life within the palace walls.

And slowly, against Rowan’s wishes, something inside him began shifting because of her.

He hated it.

He knew exactly who she belonged to and he was not foolish enough to forget that she was the king’s mistress.