Royal Princess: Doted On By The Mafia King

"I also need your support on something else," she said with a smile before appreciating his earlier offer.

"What do you want?" The king asked knowing fully well that she won't ask for a simple favour.

"I want to clear my mother's name," she replied him seriously.

Her father was very surprised. He had expected her to do that when she moves into the palace or become his heir but he never expected her to ask him to help her because after all, a lot of people believe he was behind it all.

"No one knows my mother as much as you do. From what I heard, you two were very close even before you thought about getting married to each other. You knew her long enough more than anyone else."

"Your mother betrayed me," her father suddenly accused her mother. "She went after someone else shortly before she died."

"Who did she go after?" Rose asked since this was news to her. She knew nothing about her mother committing adultery except the rumor that spread that time between her mother and Mr. Hart.

"You must have heard about Mr. Hart, right? Or perhaps you must have met him before too. He was the man your mother went after. She always had a relationship with him even before we got married.

"They remained close even after we got married and she went to him for help and forsook her husband. He made her not trust me anymore and perhaps that was why you thought she was paranoid.

"She was obviously scared him by him. She destroyed our marriage before she died because of the affair she had with him. That was why I did not defend her when everything went wrong.

"She was no longer the woman I married. She was a woman who was in love with her husband's best friend. I will not help you restore her past glory because I don't even trust that she did not betray the kingdom.

"You said she made a deal with someone about your safety. I want to know who that person is and you should also investigate that because whoever that person was, he or she knows more about who your mother truly was before she died.

"You might have been too young to understand then but your mother and I were slowly drifting apart."

Rose listened quietly while occasionally consuming her dinner, slowly masticating as her eyes remained fixed on her father's face as he spoke. She observed every single detail she could notice.

When he was done speaking, she could only come to one conclusion from what he narrated to her.

And that was, he was not willing to help her clear her mother's name because her mother had an affair with his best friend which led to them being in bad terms before her mother died.

She placed her cutlery down calmly without exposing the tornado of emotions happening in her little head.

"Did you kill my mother because of that?" she asked directly without beating around the bush. If it was in the past she would have been scared of asking but at this point, she has never been this brave.

She watched her father who was drinking water after his lengthy explanation choke on the water and his skin bright red like the slice of tomato in her plate.

He picked up and napkin and wiped his mouth as he began coughing violently.

Rose remained quiet as though the person who was almost coughing out his lungs was not her father.

When he was done coughing and getting composed once again like the king he was, he met her gaze that looked so calm and shuddered almost visibly.

He felt an icy feeling run down his spine in a manner that made him develop goose bumps under the sleeves of the white shirt he wore.

"Why will you ask me such a question?" he asked angrily as he rubbed his chest.

"Because I really want to know. I want to know so that I could know who is one my side and who isn't. It is certain that someone killed my mother because I was by her side when she died and I can still remember her last minute.

"I will go any length to find her murderer and put him or her six feet below the ground. I will kill the person with my own hands. That is why I want to know if you killed her," Rose asked calmly as though he would simply confess to the crimes because she asked if he was the murderer.

"You shouldn't ask such a question. You should not ask me such a question. Your mother might have betrayed me but I still loved her and hoped that one day she will return to my arms. That was what I was waiting for but she died without coming back and that was why I felt hurt," her father told her with his composure returned fully.

"Dad, that doesn't answer my question," she calmly reminded her father. "Did you kill my mother?"

The king sighed frustratedly as he picked his cutlery to continue eating. "You are really stubborn like your mother. I did not kill your mother," he replied in the most sincere tone she has ever heard her father speak in.

She exhaled and smiled. "I was so scared that you might have killed her because of her assumed affair. I did not want to fight against my father. Thanks for telling me the truth," she told him with a very naïve smile.

"Are you still going to be with Liam? Coming to the palace as the princess, the only thing that will help you with more support is an arranged marriage with someone from my hometown. That way, the council members will allow you become the heir without hesitation."

"If that is your suggestion, I might have to respect it. You alone know about my relationship with Liam. You can keep it secret for as long as it needed but Liam and I are married and they will have to accept that by and by. Doesn't this remind you of something?"

"What?" the king asked totally unsure of what she meant.

"My grandfather was against my mother marrying you but because she loved you, she insisted. The elders were clearly against it and threatened that they won't support her if she married but she still got married to you because she loved you. Perhaps I am equally too love stricken to think properly."

Her father could not say anything more as he continued eating when she told him that with a lovestruck expression.

Seeing the serious discussion was over, Rose smiled. "How was the blessing ceremony?"

"The old man is a very wise man," her father simply replied.

"Oh," Rose ohhed with a slight nod. She found herself getting very curious about they spoke about for her father to call the man a wise man.

The father and daughter continued eating their dinner after breaking the rules of table manner by having such an important discussion over their meal.

***

"Do you believe all he said to you?" Liam had to asked on their way back home.

"I haven't come to a conclusion. He might have not killed my mother but he might know who did," she replied without caring to ask how he knew what was discussed.

"You should be careful. You have made him aware of you desire to avenge your mother's death and he will surely find a way to kill you if you ever get close to your answer if he is the murderer," Liam reminded her.

"Do you really not understand what I was trying to do?" Rose asked baffled. She felt that above anyone else, Liam should know what she was trying to do by doing what she did.

"I know but he might not have thought what you want him to think. Your father is very good at putting up a show. You will never know what he is thinking."

"I am aware of that. He is very unreadable but I know I succeeded in control his thoughts to where I want it to go."

"You did good."

She gave him a slight smile to appreciate his compliment. She wanted to use a tough method to meet her father but from the moment he hugged her, she changed her mind immediately.

She could not use a domineering aura to harm a king especially her father it might only made her look arrogant in a way she did not want and since she discovered that, she decided to use that naïve arrogance to mask her seriousness.

"We will visit your mother's grave when you want to before you finally move to A city," Liam reminded her.

"Hmm. I did not forget.. I miss her more knowing I am going to back to the palace and she won't be there," she told him sincerely as she stared out of the window at the green grasslands.