Second Arc (His Art of War) - 129. Do You Love The King?
Minutes passed, slowly the broken bones in the man's body reconnected and his wounds began to heal.
'Just a little more…' thought Rose. Her eyes focused on the man's last wound, her hand glowed in red as she continued to exert her magic power to heal it. Sweat started to appear on her forehead and fatigue began to creep into her body. Previously, she had applied the medicine to that person's wounds before covering the wound with her healing skill. Since even though she could heal the wounds and connect the broken bones, she needed the medicine to kill the bacteria and germs that had entered through the wounds. If she did it without any medicine, all she did would only worsen the patient's condition, so she always carried emergency medicine in her whip handle. Unfortunately, she didn't bring it with her.
Meanwhile, Angel looked at how Rose treated that dying man in amazement. His hands continued to press around the man's wound.
'This is crazy…' he thought. The wounds on the person's body were barely left, not to mention the broken bones had also been connected and his breath slowly stabilized. That person's wounds healed even faster than when Angel healed himself with his dark aura. His gaze turned to Rose, who still looked serious.
'A princess who can fight and has rare healing abilities…' Secretly, he smirked. Somehow instead of making her his political prisoner or his concubine, he wanted Rose as his queen since he saw Rose have that quality, though she sometimes acted recklessly. But of course, it was a difficult thing if Rose didn't want it, since a queen had the authority to manage the castle and take part in government decisions. Rose came from an enemy kingdom and she clearly still showed her grudge so giving her authority was the same as destroying his kingdom from within. He let out a quiet sigh.
'If we met earlier, everything might not be as complicated as this ...'
"What are you thinking?" said Rose as she noticed his smirk. The glow on her hand was getting dimmer as she pulled her hand away from the man, exposing the man's wound which had completely healed and left only a few scars.
"I'm thinking of a woman," replied Angel. His hands also moved away from the man's body.
"Is it your wife?" she guessed. Her hand took the damp cloth and wiped the remaining blood on the man's scar.
"I'm not married yet, Your Highness."
"Your lover?" said Rose as she wrapped the man with a blanket and turned her gaze to Angel.
Angel chuckled.
"It will be nice if she falls in love with me. It will make things easier. "
"So it's one-sided love?" She guessed.
"More or less." Then he smirked again, his eyes fixed on Rose.
"But I still don't want to give up on her."
Rose smiled. Somehow it was nice to see a man who kept struggling for his love, especially if it was love between commoners. Since without status, formality, and heavy responsibility everything would be much easier than the love between royalty and nobles which usually ended tragically.
Noticing Rose's smile, Angel decided to ask her.
"How about you, Your Highness? Are you also in love? "
Rose exhaled a long breath as her expression turned grim. Her hands, which had stopped before, moved to put the medicines into the bag. Swiftly, Angel helped her.
"Did my question offend you?" asked Angel since he noticed the change in Rose's expression.
"No ... it's just --- I don't know how I feel for him." Of course, she meant her feelings for Angel. Before Angel invaded her kingdom, her love for him was clear. But now… her feelings were mixed. She realized her feelings were still there, but other feelings mixed in her heart. Confused, anxious, disappointed, angry, sad as well as various of her inner thoughts that continued to reject her love developing in her heart. Especially after her kingdom defeat.
Seeing her puzzled expression, Angel's mind returned when he saw Rose kissing Artheur with his Evil Eye spell.
"Is it that lucky man is Prince Artheur?" he said out of blue. Somehow there was bitterness in his heart since even though he won the duel, he couldn't win her heart.
Rose turned her gaze to Angel and smiled bitterly.
"Things will become easier for me if I fall in love with Prince Artheur."
Her answer shocked him, his heart started beating fast since he also knew the rumors between Ilex and Rose were fake, which meant what she was thinking… was him.
'But why did she kiss Artheur before?' Andromeda Continent did not have the kissing habit as a farewell or goodbye, also it was done when Artheur was passed out. Unfortunately, even though his curiosity filled his head he could not ask it directly.
Rose's words brought his mind back.
"Just forget it. A royalty love story isn't a pleasant thing to tell or listen to. We have too many considerations and burdens to think about. Our love and marriage are only based on political interests. " Although she knew her relationship with Angel would bring benefit to Zephyrus and Euphorion, in the end, she married for political reasons, not because of her feelings. And even though Angel had treated her well, she still didn't know what his true intention was, especially because he had changed. It could be that he just wanted to use her, not love her. Moreover, she knew he planned something.
"What if the political interests are in line with those royalty's feelings? Isn't that better? "asked Angel.
A tired breath came out of her mouth.
"What nonsense is that? Politics is worse than you think, Rai. Sometimes the person you love can turn into your enemy in the blink of eyes just because of power and revenge. "
"But-" Angel was about to retort, but he remembered with his position as a commoner he didn't have the right to say it.
Seeing that Angel couldn't reply to her words, she stretched out her hand to him.
"Let me examine your hand."
"It's fine. After all, it's healed, "said Angel in a nonchalant tone.
"It's an order," insisted Rose. Even though she only touched it briefly, Rose realized that the scars on Angel's hand were so severe, so she was quite curious about it.
Angel was stunned hearing her words for a moment before turning his head the other way to cover his laughter.
"Pffft!" He immediately bit his lower lip to hold his voice out of his mouth.
'It's an order she said.' He knew, right now he was just an elite soldier, not a king but still… it sounded too funny for him since a political prisoner dared to give an order to the enemy king.
Noticing Angel was laughing at her, Rose took and pulled his hand in annoyance. Even though Angel realized it, he didn't resist since he caught Rose's annoyance. A princess being laughed at by a soldier was definitely disturbing her pride.
"Why are you making things difficult?" Rose's irritation was clear from the tone of her voice. Her eyes examined the scars on Angel's hand, her fingers touched the scars to find out how deep it was.
'It was a deep wound…' Only from the scars, Rose could imagine how it was before, and even imagine why it was there. She could imagine a sharp sword piercing his hand, tearing apart his flesh, crushing his bones and nervous system. With such injuries, he supposedly could not hold a sword anymore. No… not only couldn't hold a sword, but he shouldn't be able to move his hand anymore. Curiously, she took his other hand and examined it, again it was the same wounds. While Angel just looked at her with a slight smile.
"Then what about you? Why are you making things difficult? " he said out of blue.
Rose turned her gaze to Angel with a frown.
"What do you mean?"
"Since you said that you didn't love Prince Artheur it means that the man you love is His Majesty, King Angelus, right?" he said straight to the point. His eyes were on Rose.
As soon as he mentioned his name, Rose's heart pounded wildly.