Second Arc (His Art of War) - 74. Tangled
Once they arrived at the guest room, they quickly put Artheur on the bed. A doctor who was waiting for them in the room swiftly approached. But Rose raised her hand, ordering the doctor to stop.
"Let me treat him," said Rose.
The doctor stopped in his tracks.
"Your Highness, His Majesty has ordered the doctor to treat him," said Flare.
She shifted her gaze to Flare and glared at her.
"King Angelus' orders only apply to you but not to me," she said in displeasure.
Flare sighed. Even though Angel had allowed Rose to treat Artheur, because of the previous incident, she took the initiative to hand over Artheur's treatment to the doctor.
"Fine, but since Her Highness already knows what King Angelus' words mean earlier, I hope that Her Highness can treat Prince Artheur faster."
"You don't have to tell me twice," said Rose, turning her gaze back to Artheur.
Several servants undressed Artheur before she and King Eudon treated him.
Rose had checked his condition in the hall and had confirmed that his life was not in danger. But she knew it all because Artheur was a Fallensoar. If Artheur was a normal human, he should be already dead by now.
Her hands moved to treat Artheur, but her mind was lost in questions and her confused feelings. What had happened during these five years? Why did he become King of Euphorion? Actually, what happened in the war between Asteria and Euphorion? Why did her uncle say that he helped Asteria attack Euphorion? And that power ... Angel was a Reinheart, why did he have that dark power?
Her mind recalled today's incident and clearly remembered Angel's gaze turning cold. A gaze filled with killing intent. She even had thought that she would die today, but somehow Angel changed his mind and spared her and her uncle's lives, and even killed people who wanted to kill them.
"-se! Rose!" King Eudon called out her name.
"Yes?" she said as she turned her gaze to King Eudon.
"His wound isn't there," admonished King Eudon.
Rose realized she applied the medicine to the wrong place and quickly applied it to the real wound.
Seeing Rose's reverie, guilt rushed over King Eudon's heart. He did not expect his decision to give the poison to Ilex a few months ago would bring Zephyrus into a disaster.
"Rose, are you disappointed in me?" asked King Eudon suddenly.
"I'm just disappointed that you didn't say anything to me." Rose's hand stopped after she finished wrapping Artheur's wound and turned her gaze to King Eudon.
"Tell me, what have you done to help Asteria?"
"Ghost and Death" replied King Eudon regretfully.
Rose gasped in shock at those two words. Ghost was her family's secret poison that could mass kill just by spreading it through the air. Meanwhile, Death was her family poison that used to kill their opponent with one scratch.
"How much did you give Ghost?" asked Rose.
"Enough to kill a city." King Eudon's regret was clear from the tone of his voice.
Hearing his answer, Rose's heart skipped even faster, the news about the Pearl Gate City incident crossed her head, because until now Euphorion had not announced anything about how Asteria could destroy the city overnight.
"Uncle ... Then the Pearl Gate City incident ..."
King Eudon nodded his head slowly.
Rose lowered her head and threw herself into the nearest chair, all her strength disappeared. It explained why her uncle was so scared of Euphorion and forced her to get engaged to Artheur, it also explained why Angel wanted to kill both of them. In fact, this was one of the reasons why this poison was forbidden ... Because it would only bring misfortune to her family.
"Why did you give it?" asked Rose.
"I had to give it. Because, you have been caught by rebels and Ilex offered his help to save you."
Rose raised her head, looked at King Eudon in shock and confusion.
"What do you mean? I've never been caught by rebels before."
"Impossible, I clearly got a report that you were caught while you were taking care of Slyhelm Town's rebellion," insisted King Eudon.
"I sneaked into Slyhelm Town but had never been caught!" argued Rose.
"We did find a lot of oddities in that incident including the rebels' disappearance after the Asteria troops' appearance, so General Ferand wrote everything down in his report," she added. She even read General Ferand's report ahead to equate what happened outside the gates with what happened inside Slyhelm Town.
"What do you mean? General Ferand never gave me any reports about the incident," argued King Eudon.
"Impossible! I saw it myself. He gave it to ---" Rose's words stopped as she recalled Angel's words that there were too many intruders in her castle. It could be that someone took General Ferand's report and destroyed it, especially since some of the servants that Angel had just killed often served her uncle.
While King Eudon also drew the same conclusion as Rose after he remembered Angel's previous warning.
Rose and King Eudon stared at each other with the same thing in their mind. Asteria had tricked them!
"I didn't know this was King Gervis' or Prince Ilex's plan," said Rose.
Hearing King Gervis' name, King Esteve finally opened his mouth.
"Did King Gervis also offer you an agreement?" guessed King Esteve.
Rose and King Eudon turned their gaze to King Esteve in shock.
"Did he also offer an agreement to you?" said King Eudon.
King Esteve sighed.
"Yes."
King Eudon's face turned angry, he did not expect Asteria to involve so many kingdoms in the war against Euphorion. He waved his hand, ordering the servants and doctors to get out of the room and they obeyed.
Meanwhile Rose turned her gaze to Flare.
"General, may we ask for a moment for a private discussion?"
"Fine." Flare waved her hand to her troops.
Her troops immediately carried out her orders, but Flare did not leave the room.
"Why are you still here?" asked Rose.
"Your Majesty assigned me to protect you, of course, I won't leave. Besides, I do not know what you are planning."
"We will not run away," said King Eudon.
"Then you shouldn't be afraid of me." Flare stared at King Eudon with a defiant gaze.
"You can also ask about His Majesty to me," added Flare.
"What do you mean?" asked King Eudon again.
"I don't know whether you want to ask or not." Flare turned her gaze to Rose.
"But I'm sure Her Highness wants to ask a lot of questions about His Majesty, I will answer it as long as it is not classified information."
"How do you know that?" asked Rose.
Flare smirked.
"Your previous expression wasn't fear or anger but disappointment," said Flare bluntly. Even though Flare wasn't an observer like Frost but only from Rose and Angel's expressions, she could conclude that something had happened between them before.
They all turned their eyes to Rose with shocked expressions. While Rose's expression didn't change because what Flare said is true.
"I did know him five years ago ... But now I don't know him at all," said Rose.
"I see," replied Flare simply.