Second Arc (His Art of War) - 96. The Kings' Agreement IV
After Angel left the dining hall, King Esteve took the opportunity to have a chat with King Eudon.
"Eudon, are you not too careless?" King Esteve asked in a worried tone.
King Eudon let out a tired sigh and leaned his back to his chair. His forehead creased, his face clearly showed how heavy his burden was right now.
"I have no choice. My only chance is him." His position was very difficult, he was trapped between the rebels, the nobles who were divided into two and of course Angel as the current highest ruler of Zephyrus. He had to ally with one of them as soon as possible and among those three options, Angel was his best option, because the others clearly wanted to take him down while Angel was the only person he could still negotiate with. Besides, this alliance was done to protect Rose, that's why whatever happened, he still had to negotiate with Angel to take Rose from him.
"I understand. But handing your family poison to him is tantamount to giving strength to a 'Phantom Lion'," said King Esteve in a worried tone. Phantom Lion was one of the most feared monsters on the Andromeda Continent.
"We don't know whether he can keep his words or not. He could change his mind one day and decide to use your poison to destroy all the other kingdoms," he continued.
"That's why I chose to give the poison instead of leaving Rose with him," replied King Eudon.
King Esteve's eyes widened in shock.
"You mean ..."
"Yes. Rose also knows how to make my family poison. She has even mastered how to make all the poison and healing techniques since she was a teenager." King Eudon's concern was clear from his tone. This was also why he couldn't say anything when Angel asked what if Rose wanted to be with him and left everything up to her to choose. On one hand, King Eudon believed it would be good for his kingdom. Because it meant the Heart family would get full support from Euphorion. On the other hand, he realized Angel and Rose were the best and worst combination in the Andromeda continent's history. Angel had the ability to fight both in range and close combat by using weapons and magic, he also had good leadership skills. Whereas Rose had the ability to make poison and medicine, her kindness in helping everyone regardless whatever their status made her easily liked by anyone. In addition, she also could fight well as long as she had her whip or her poison knives.
If they could use their abilities to bring peace to the Andromeda Continent, then it would be a good thing. But if they used it to create the war then the Andromeda Continent would be in chaos because it would be very difficult to take them down. Even though that possibility was small, King Eudon didn't want to take the risk. It would be better for him to take Rose away from Angel before he really fell in love with her and didn't want to let her go. Meanwhile, even though King Eudon had promised to use his ability to help Euphorion, he planned not to give his fullest. He would choose whether his aid would bring disaster or not.
King Esteve also let out a tired sigh and plopped his back to his chair.
"That's why you insist on making him release your niece." He immediately realized King Eudon's difficult position.
"Then what're your plans for the nobles?" King Esteve had heard that Angel had invited all Zephyrus' nobles to attend a meeting this afternoon.
King Eudon let out a tired sigh once again.
"Actually I prefer to negotiate and get all of them to support me. But since things are like this, I have no other choice but to kill those who oppose me along with their families." By taking the opposing nobles to support him, he had a chance to fight Angel if Angel broke their agreement one day. But seeing this situation, King Eudon could already guess that the nobles would take the opportunity to make Angel overthrow the Heart family. Therefore the only option was to finish them off including their families. He knew this was a cruel act because it would be a mass murder considering the number of nobles who opposed him and this would also have a big impact on the Heart Family's reputation in public.
"At least this way you can take care of your enemies one by one. After you can stabilize your position in Zephyrus, you can gather your support once again to make sure he will keep his words," said King Esteve.
"That's all I can do now." King Eudon turned to King Esteve.
"How about you? What's your plan?"
"I want to maintain the nobles' support and loyalty to me. If he breaks our agreement, Draconis will fight him to the death." As King Esteve said it his hands were clenched into fists.
After that, they were silent as the pale-faced servants entered the dining hall to tidy up the table. But despite King Eudon and King Esteve already shut their mouths, their minds still wondered what would happen to their kingdom after this.