Chapter 69: Chapter 69"Prince Zayne?" Brian asked, surprised by Zayne’s visit so late in the night. It had to be that Zayne was haunting them since they weren’t training like the other soldiers.

    "It’s general, you fool," said Zayne.

    Rose would soon discover that he was a prince with how much the soldiers kept slipping up.

    "General," Brian corrected himself. He only referred to Zayne as a prince when he was scared. "Is there trouble? You have never come this late."

    "I might not be long. Tie my horse and give it water to drink," Zayne said and then walked toward the house.

    From where he walked, Zayne could see light in some of the rooms so either Rose or Janice was awake. He would put his money on Rose still having trouble sleeping or pushing herself to get the house tidy at this hour.

    Zayned opened the front door and went up to the second floor where he walked by Rose’s room and went to the room he had shown her yesterday.

    As he expected, Rose was sitting at the top of the stairs with the door open and a blanket wrapped around her. Her gaze was on the sky and she was so focused that she didn’t notice him coming. It was a bit odd for Rose since the slightest sound had her jumping.

    The old floor gave his presence away when it creaked.

    Rose turned to the intruder and quickly relaxed when she saw Zayne. "Zayne? I do not understand. You were going back to your camp. Did you leave something here?"

    Rose pulled the blanket up to hide what she was wearing. She didn’t want to wear any of her dresses to bed in fear of ruining them faster so she made use of the shirts Zayne gave her. Janice was kind enough to cut an old pair of pants for her to wear with the shirts but the shirts were so large that Rose didn’t need them.

    Having Zayne here while she was wearing it was not in Rose’s plans. She could handle Janice stumbling upon her like this but not Zayne.

    "Graham is dead," Zayne said, choosing to be blunt. "I killed him just before the hour for dinner. He and a few of his guards."

    "You, why?" Rose asked, fearing that Zayne was now in trouble. He had helped her enough but now her problems would get him in trouble. "If the town guards suspect you, then you will be taken to be questioned. What would happen to you?"

    "Nothing, Rose. I was careful with disposing of him and it was late when he came. No one has used that road since my camp is there. Not that I mind," said Zayne.

    The locals started to take a longer route just so they could avoid seeing the terrible soldiers they heard of. Zayne welcomed not having to speak to any of them.

    Rose was still worried for Zayne. He was not from this land so he might be in more trouble. Many would not understand why he would kill someone for her sake. She was one of the people that others would let disappear without giving a care.

    Didn’t Zayne know that many in town would like for the women in the brothel to just disappear or stay where they belonged?

    Rose looked away from Zayne. He was right that she was the kind of person to bring trouble to his life.

    "Rose, you didn’t control my hands and make me kill him. I did that because I wanted to. Don’t give yourself credit for something I have done. The town is better off without him. Who would miss a man like Graham?" Zayne questioned, taking a seat at the bottom of the stairs.

    "Men like Graham," Rose answered. "His customers won’t be pleased to know he is dead."

    "They don’t care about who runs the brothel. They only care about whether the doors are open for them to go inside. I found the papers for all of the women at the brothel. They can take the ones that belong to them and run. No one is there to stop them from taking anything worth selling to help them," said Zayne.

    Rose looked at Zayne once more. While she was still worried about him, it was good news that the others were free. She wasn’t close to many of them but she was not evil to wish for them to stay in the brothel. "Thank you."

    "I have your paper for you to destroy," Zayne said, passing the folded-up paper to Rose. "Surely you didn’t think I forgot about you?"

    Rose thought for a second he might have. She didn’t need her paper as badly as the others since she was already free in her eyes, but now, she would truly be free.

    Rose was careful with how she moved to take the paper from Zayne’s hands. There was never a day Rose thought she would get her hand on this so she never tried to find it. Destroying it in the past would mean nothing as Graham would not just let her go.

    Rose slowly unfolded the paper and the only thing that stood out to her was her name thanks to Zayne’s recent lessons. She had yet to understand many of the words before her. She moved her hand against the paper, still not believing it was in her hands. "Why is this part marked out?"

    "You don’t need to see how much you were sold for. You are not worth that amount. Do not ask me to tell you as I know you will be stuck in your head about it," said Zayne.

    Zayne could already hear Rose thinking lowly of herself for the price.

    Rose smiled, grateful that he had removed it although she knew that she wasn’t sold for much. "Sometimes you are near when they discuss how much you are to be sold for. My memory of it is long forgotten so thank you."

    "I don’t know if I want to rip it up and then burn it or just burn it. I want to do whatever would leave no trace of it. With this gone, I no longer have to be called a slave," Rose said, her smile becoming bigger.

    If she left this town, then she could completely start anew.

    "You are free to walk around as you like but I don’t want you to go too close to the brothel. You still have your old friend to be mindful of and old customers of the brothel might recognise you. Those men might not consider you to be free and harass you," Zayne warned Rose.

    "I don’t ever plan to go back to where the brothel is. I can at least try to walk around the market when Janice goes. I have been studying the map so I know there is another market close by. I saw the symbol for a market just like you showed me. It would just take some time to walk there," Rose said and then started to count how many hours it might take.

    "And why would you walk there, Rose? Do you think of yourself as a horse to be making such a long walk? Or is it that you trust your quick movement as a bunny to get there fast?"

    Rose was too happy to be annoyed by Zayne calling her a bunny once more. She could let him get away with it just for tonight.

    "Your next lesson should be knowing how to ride a horse or learning how to use the cart Janice takes to get what she needs," Zayne decided.

    "The horse!" Rose exclaimed, surprising herself by how loud she was. "I’m sorry," she apologised. "I shouldn’t wake Janice."

    Rose put aside the paper and peered at Zayne’s hands. "I must properly thank you. Can I?" Rose asked, holding out her hand to Zayne.

    Zayne inspected the shaky hand before him that would not stay still. It was the first time she had ever offered to have them touch. She was still scared. He could see that clearly, but he also saw that she was trying.

    Zayne touched her hand, shaking it as Rose wanted. To his surprise, Rose started to shake his hand like she wanted to yank it off. "Rose, you are free but must you act so wild now?"

    Rose laughed as she continued to shake his hand. "I worried for nothing," she said, finding their handshake to be more comfortable than she anticipated.

    Zayne sat still as Rose shook his hand like he was a rag doll. "Is this the first time you have shook someone’s hand? A man’s hand?"

    Rose nodded her head. She had touched Janice’s hand but never a man’s hand without it being an order she had. "No, it is the first time it was my choice. It is fun, isn’t it?"

    "I’m sure with your hand not being pulled on like mine, it is fun," Zayne answered.

    Despite his response, he didn’t like that Rose let go of his hand and apologised. When would be the next time she was comfortable to hold his hand? S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.