Second Arc (His Art of War) - 69. A Man Who Back From The Death
The morning sun was getting higher above Ironwall City's sky. In Scarlet Stone Castle, elegant white rose decorations with red carpet have been seen in the main hall. Today is a special day for the Kingdom of Zephyrus, because the engagement ceremony of Princess Rose Ambrosia Heart of Zephyrus with Prince Artheur Rayner Fallensoar of Draconis will be held soon.
Rose sat beside her bed, staring at a weapon case containing her beloved whip in her hands. 'I think this is a goodbye.' Her hand stroking the weapon that had accompanied her in the battle for so many years. She closed the box, put it in her side table and walked to the maids who were waiting for her.
With alacrity, the maids helped her to get ready, brush her hair, dress her up, make sure that everyone will be mesmerized by her appearance. "Your Majesty, I am sure His Highness will surely be enchanted by you today."
A giggling sound came out of the other maids' mouth. "Yesterday the prince didn't even blink when he saw her."
Rose just replied to them with a faint smile on her lips. Her eyes stared at the large mirror in front of her blankly. It's supposed to be her happy day, but her face didn't show it.
A moment later, a knocking sound accompanied by a familiar woman's voice came. "Rose, may I come in?"
"Come in, Ivetta." she answered.
Ivetta entered the room and approached her. "Look at you! You're so beautiful today!" Her excitement was clearly visible on her face.
She turned her gaze to Ivetta. "Thank you," she said with a bitter smile.
Ivetta noticed her grim expression. "It's been five years since that incident, do you still think about it?"
She looked down and fell silent.
Ivetta held Rose's hand tightly, this is her last day to act like a true good friend in front of Rose, so she will do her best. "I know this engagement isn't your will, but now Zephyrus doesn't have much choice. Besides, Prince Artheur is a good man. There's never been any bad rumors about him."
She let out a weary sigh and looked to Ivetta. "I know. It's just ... everything changed too fast." Only with Ivetta, Rose could complain. And soon she will go to Draconis, she will lose her precious friend.
Ivetta released her hand and looked down. "No one would expect the Kingdom of Euphorion to start a war with another kingdom like this, they even succeeded conquering Asteria in just one month and made the King of Asteria bend his knees."
Hearing the words 'Asteria', Rose's mind drifted away as she remembered Angel, but she immediately disappeared her thoughts as she had already promised herself to forget about him soon. "We don't know what happened between them and I also don't want to know about it. For me the most important thing is protecting Zephyrus." but despite trying to be strong, her sadness still seeped in her tone.
Another knocking sound came accompanied by a voice from outside. "Your Highness, the ceremony will start soon. Please head to the main hall immediately."
"I'll be there soon." She took a deep breath and turned her gaze at Ivetta with a forced smile. "I think this is also our goodbye."
Ivetta answered with a nod and hugged her once more. "Yes, this will be our goodbye," she said as an evil smirk emerged on her lips, since Duke Bartlet has brought his troops to infiltrate the castle and wait for her signal to attack.
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Meanwhile, a dark aura appeared in front of the castle wall. Slowly, Angel emerged from within the dark and stretched out his hand. The dark aura emanating from his hand spread out and covered the Scarlet Stone Castle like a dome, preventing the sound from the outside to enter.
The guards were shocked when they saw the darkness begin to envelop the castle but Euphorion's troops who had infiltrated the castle killed the guards silently, before they could report it.
Seeing that Angel's dark aura was already covering the castle, Flare and her troops emerged from their hiding place. She covered the guards' mouths and killed them with a single slash on their necks before they could make a sound.
The gate opened, the remaining Euphorion troops who were hiding in the forest immediately spurred their horses into the city. While the civilians ran in fear when they saw them. "Move!" Ordered the Euphorion troops who passed them.The civilians quickly hid in fear into the nearby building. The streets, which had been crowded, turned into the battlefield for the troops.
Zephyrus's troops tried to fight them back desperately but without a leader there was not much they could do. Their general was in the castle, guarding the engagement ceremony, while the other generals scattered throughout Zephyrus to keep the kingdom safe from rebels.
Meanwhile, inside the castle, the rebel's troops led by Duke Bartlet also started to move, killing the guards. General Ferand who was guarding the front hall noticed something strange as some suspicious sounds could be heard and decided to check it out. But just as he was about to move, suddenly Ivetta appeared from the main hall direction and approached him. "General, could you help me?"
General Ferand turned his head at her. "Is there anything I could do for you, Lady Ivetta?" he asked. Ivetta was the only noble who was close to the princess and therefore he did not suspect her.
Ivetta stopped right in front of him and smiled with a flushed face, her hand raised to touch General Ferand. But he immediately retreated to avoid it. "Lady Ivetta, I think it's inappropriate."
"I just wanted to pass a secret message from the princess to you," reasoned Ivetta. She leaned closer to General Ferand, her hands raised once again. Suddenly, from her dress' sleeve, a dagger came out and she stabbed it directly into his left chest, her other hand covered his mouth to make sure he didn't make any sound.
The others gasped in surprise and immediately took out their weapons when they saw their general collapsed covered in blood, but Duke Bartlet's troops came out of their hiding place and attacked them.
At the same time, Ironwall City is already controlled by Euphorion. Angel released his dark aura that covered the Scarlet Stone Castle and joined Flare and her troops to enter the castle.
But as soon as they arrived at the front hall, the scene before his eyes confused him. Zephyrus' troops were fighting each other while their general was dead in the middle of the room. 'What happened? Is there another attacker besides me? ' But this was a battlefield, all he could do was bring his troops forward. "Clean them up," he ordered.
His troops joined the battle, while he continued to step past them. In the corner of the hall, Ivetta and Duke Bartlet hid themselves, their eyes stared at the Euphorion troops around them in disbelief. "How could they be here?" whispered Duke Bartlet.
"I don't know either," whispered Ivetta. But it is clear that Euphorion's arrival has thwarted their plan to take over Zephyrus.
"We have to get out of here," Ivetta whispered. But just as she was about to run away, Ivetta's eyes were fixed on Angel who was walking up the stairs to the main hall.
Her eyes widened in shock, even though she knew Rose loved him, but actually she was the one who fell in love with him first. But since his death five years ago, she has decided to forget about him and turn to Ilex. But who knew now he'd reappeared as the king who conquered the greatest kingdom of the Andromeda continent. Duke Bartlet grabbed her hand, interrupting her thoughts. "We have to go now," Duke Bartlet whispered.
Without wasting more time, they immediately escaped.
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As Angel gets closer to the main hall, Zephyrus troops that are trying to attack Angel are getting more and more but before they manage to touch him, from behind, Flare's chakrams flies, cutting their necks, separating their heads from their bodies. While Angel walked among Zephyrus troops' bodies that had fallen around him indifferently.
Seeing the chaos, several of Zephyrus troops fled to report it to the king. But Flare quickly threw her chakrams, killing some of them. While Angel grabbed a bow that was lying near an archer' corpse and shot them. One of them collapsed, leaving one who ran towards the main hall.