The Forgotten Princess Rose
Chapter 169

Chapter 169: Chapter 169

Alexander examined the place Rose had once been. She had always been much closer than he realised and knowing that left an unsettling feeling. Had he been more determined he could have found Rose when he returned. They could have left long ago and started a new life elsewhere.

’She has a family,’ Alexander thought.

How was it possible that after so many years Rose had found her family? Were they good people? He could not dismiss thinking this since Rose had been sold by someone.

Alexander didn’t have any interest in finding his family. He had few memories of them that would not leave him since unlike Rose he remembered who sold him and for how much. No matter how hard he tried, those memories would not vanish.

"So, you’re an old friend. I am more of a recent friend. My name is Finn," Finn said, offering his hand to Alexander.

Alexander only stared at Finn’s hand. It was quite bold of this man to make such a gesture. "Why are you so friendly?"

Finn took down his hand. "You’re a friend of Rose. That means you can’t be so bad. I happen to like Rose but not in the way you are thinking. She brings me joy since she messes with someone here. She is a good woman. No one here troubled her if that is what you are worried about."

"I will know when I see her," Alexander replied, preferring to hear from Rose.

Finn shook his head as he laughed. "Shouldn’t you be thanking us? We did what you failed to do and I don’t even mean with you as her friend. As a soldier of this kingdom, you failed to save someone. What’s worse is that you were once in her position. Shouldn’t you be at the front to get your king to do something about the slaves?"

"Or were you hoping to hide that part of your past so that is why it took you so long to find Rose? Aren’t you a little too confident?" Finn questioned, enjoying how Alexander turned to him like he wanted to fight. "If you can’t handle how I speak to you then you shouldn’t be going to Zayne right now."’

"A little warning since you will be my entertainment for the morning," Finn said, stepping closer to Alexander. "Zayne is the one who likes her and I would place my money that he will win against you so, save that anger for him. I’m just the man on the sidelines enjoying the show."

Finn couldn’t wait to see the two men argue over Rose. If only she were here for him to witness who she would pick.

Finn opened the door to the study Zayne was using and announced, "General! You have a visitor. One of Rose’s friends."

Zayne looked up from the map to Alexander already glaring at him. "You are late. I permitted you to come to my camp to see her and now is when you show?"

Zayne walked around the table to block the map with his body. He folded his arms, taking a good look at the sorry excuse of a friend to Rose. "Why are you always late?"

"I am not late. No one told me she was going anywhere-"

"You would have known if you came after the festival," Zayne interjected. "If the woman I was searching for finally stood before me it wouldn’t take days for me to get to her. My opinion of you is unchanging. You’re always late."

"I do not care for your opinion of me. I had things to do before I came to Rose. What family did you send her off to? It might not be safe for her there. She was once sold," Alexander said, worried since Zayne might not know much.

Zayne smiled, amused by how Alexander thought he could swoop in to question him right now after everything was said and done. "Rose is safe with her family. You don’t need to worry about her. Now that you know she’s safe, you can move on."

"I will not move on," Alexander raised his voice. "I promised Rose that I would return for her. I am not going to leave her side now that I have found her. No matter what you try to spew to her, I will always be her friend. The boy she first loved."

"You say that like it would make me give up. I don’t care about the past. What matters is the present and from what I see, you have missed your chance. Perhaps you were the one meant to save her but like I said, you were late," Zayne said, sticking to his opinion of Alexander.

If this was one of the fairytales his sister liked to read, Alexander was the hero meant to save Rose but he never showed up.

"I tried my best. I can’t help that it is not enough for you. Tell me where Rose is," Alexander said as he was only here for Rose. "If you are so confident that she will not pick me, tell me where she is."

Zayne did not consider Alexander a threat to his relationship with Rose but it didn’t mean it wouldn’t bother him to know Alexander got to enjoy being close to Rose while he was here. "Instead of going to Rose, why don’t you make yourself useful? It upsets her that the king wants to hide there are slaves. You know the truth."

Zayne decided to test Alexander. "If you care for Rose like you say, will you help me to expose the truth about slaves? Would you be willing to tell your story so others like you can be saved? Or are you like your pathetic friend in the palace?"

Alexander knew all too well that nothing could be said to the king to make him free those taken as slaves. "It is no use speaking to the king since he is aware of slaves. He benefits from it as it is his peers who run secret businesses. That is why the town guards only speak to some nobles."

"You have known this but decided to stay silent. You are pathetic," Zayne concluded. "Rose is with Lord Ambrose. Tell her what you told me about the king. Maybe her disappointment will make you wake up."

"I have done more for the kingdom than you know. It is just tricky to convince the king to speak out about slaves. Anyone who mentioned it to him is sent out of the palace and we all know they are killed. It is not that I don’t want to change it but the king will not allow it," Alexander explained.

"All I hear are excuses. You know that with the king’s recent orders, should he find out you were once a slave he might kill you to stop you from speaking of it. No matter how much you have helped the kingdom you would die. Rose would have died if she ran to the town guards. Admit it, you only follow the king’s orders," said Zayne.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.