The Flower Of Eternity
Chapter 4: The Smirnoff

Ruins of Schiereiland Palace, Schere, Schiereiland

The ruins of the Palace look familiar to Leon. The palace was once destroyed and burned down, a year ago, when King Vlad killed King Edward. It all starts now. But now it's much more terrible than it was then. Even Leon himself was very confident that no one would be able to survive the tragedy that occurred at Schiereiland Palace.

After hours of searching with the wolves, they finally found some body parts that allegedly belonged to Alexis because the wolves recognized him from his scent. Alexis did not survive the bombing tragedy. Leon will tell Anna this sad news, but it's late and if he tells her now, Anna won't be able to rest tonight. So Leon decided he would tell her in the morning. Leon goes to Smirnoff's home, far from Schere, to inform Grand Duchess Smirnoff after she orders all the wolves back to Nordhalbinsel.

"Oh, look who's coming... The lion who leads the wolves." Constanza greeted him as soon as Leon was at the entrance of the living room of Smirnoff's residence. “What need did Grand Duke Winterthur come here this late? It's almost midnight! Don't you think that I want to enjoy this night alone with my husband after all day I've been in Schere dealing with the problems there?"

Leon didn't wait for himself to be allowed inside, he went straight inside. "Prince Alexis passed away" he said directly after they sat in the living room of Smirnoff's residence.

Constanza could not hide her surprise. "You found the body?"

"If the hand and foot pieces could be called his corpse, then yes, I have found them."

"Does the Queen know?" Ask Constanza.

Leon shakes. He himself was still thinking about how to tell Anna this tomorrow. Anna would be very sad.

"Don't tell him. At least wait until she gives birth. Don't give her any bad news for now." Constanza.

"The king ordered me to tell him no matter what. I agree with you, but Xavier has a point. He deserves to know. Alexis is his only real family. He'd be very upset if I didn't tell him about his sister's death." Leon then moved off the sofa, preparing to leave. "Tomorrow to gather all the nobles for Alexis' funeral."

"Where are you going?"

"The Winterthur Residence."

"Don't go yet." Just before Leon teleported home, someone came into the room. His white hair looked messy and he was still wearing his glasses with a roll of paper in his right hand and a cup of coffee in his left hand. "I need to talk to you."

"Ludwig!" Constanza warned her husband, "We need sleep. You need to sleep."

"I won't be able to sleep tonight. I'll be in my office all night. It would be great if I shared this burden of thought with interested people. My brother seems to be very busy in Montreux. But I think my brother's sister has some free time. Isn't that right, Grand Duke Winterthur?"

"Prince Ludwig—“

"Grand Duke Smirnoff." Constanza corrected Leon's words.

"Grand Duke Smirnoff, is this related to the plane that bombed Montreux and Schere?" Ask Leon.

And when Ludwig nodded to confirm the allegation, Leon did not return to the Winterthur residence.

...****************...

Smirnoff House Workspace, Schiereiland

The workspace was Ludwig's, while Constanza's workspace as the head of the family was elsewhere. Ludwig's workspace is a fusion of an ancient library and a magic laboratory. Piles of very old books were piled up on his desk. Various glass bottles filled with strangely colorful liquids lined up on wooden shelves on one side of the room. Meanwhile, some papers with messy writing were scattered on another table that was supposed to be the table where Ludwig received his guest in his study. Leon sat down in front of the table.

Constanza poured wine into three glasses of wine for the three of them, while Ludwig sorted between the piles of papers.

"Constanza, did you see that blueprint?" Ludwig asked while still searching among the stacks of paper. "I remember I put it around here."

"Where do I know! You always put everything just like that."

"What do you mean this blueprint?" Leon asked as he observed the paper before him. The paper that Ludwig had previously held while they were in the living room.

Ludwig hurriedly approached her, "Right. It's." Said.

"When you've been holding it since. Basic forgetfulness." Constanza said as he handed Ludwig a glass of wine, then kissed his lips.

Ludwig took a glass of wine from Constanza, "Thank you, baby. You must be tired. Rest in the room."

"No, thank you. I'm curious about this. You haven't explained anything regarding the results of your investigation." Constanza then sat down beside Ludwig to observe the paper.

"What's this?" Ask Leon. "Whose is this?" He changed the question.

"Orient. It's not wrong anymore." Reply Ludwig.

"Orient is preparing to sign a peace pact. Their new empress wants peace between Orient and Nordhalbinsel." Refute Leon.

"The one attacked wasn't just Nordhalbinsel. Schiereiland. In fact, I think they must only intend to attack Westeria, but accidentally destroy Montreux which borders directly with Westeria." Ludwig. He then moved to another room to pick up something.

"They don't seem to dare touch Nordhalbinsel. I don't know why." Constanza also commented. He crossed his legs. Sipping wine. "I think they deserve to be angry at Prince Yi's death."

"Constance..." Ludwig returned with a blanket and covered Constanza's exposed legs by putting the blanket on his lap. Constanza seemed to be holding a shy smile. "Queen Anastasia actually had a friendship with the new Orient Empress. Elias Winterthur is still in the Orient. So I don't think there's any particular reason for the Emperor and his Empress to bomb those two great territories."

"But you said it was Orient-made." Said Leon.

"really. Because I did get it from Orient." Ludwig. "I happen to know a beautiful thief who stole my poison." He then turned his head towards Constanza meaningfully.

Constanza played with him. "And steal your heart too."

"When I was still replacing Xavier, and Constanza was still disguised as Anastasia, we had a visit to the Orient." Ludwig. "Constanza managed to infiltrate the secret room and found this blueprint. He handed it to me and I duplicated it with magic so that no one would suspect that this thing would suddenly disappear."

"alright. So it belongs to Orient." Leon nodded in understanding.

"But it doesn't belong to Haru." Ludwig. "Constanza didn't find this in the Emperor's study."

"Where did you find him?" This time Leon asked Constanza directly.

Constanza replied, "In the room of the Queen Mother. Mother of Emperor Haru."

"Xavier knows?" Ask Leon again.

Ludwig replied, "I told him. He had already ordered some of his men to find out about this. I think he also has suspicions about Orient. But he softens when he finds out Haru intends to make peace with his kingdom. He stopped the investigation into this thing."

"Could it be that the peace plan was just the reason for Haru's disappearance? Maybe he had planned this all in the first place."

Constanza speak up. "I doubt." Said. "That sparks the idea of peace is its Empress. Lee Yeon-Hwa's. Queen Anastasia's close friend."

"So Emperor Haru doesn't want peace, does he?"

"Emperor Haru wants whatever his Empress wants." Constanza.

"I'm still debating this with Constanza" Ludwig said. "I think Haru was just using Lee Yeon-Hwa."

Constanza snorted dejectedly, "You didn't see how she looked at Yeon-Hwa who was dancing that night? He fell half-dead in love with that woman so he made her his Empress."

"Some men can pretend to be in love in order to achieve their true goals." Ludwig. Constanza just wanted to speak up again, but Ludwig continued, "I'm not like that, baby."

"So let me set this straight" said Leon. "This blueprint belongs to the Queen Mother. Xavier found out, but halted the investigation as soon as the Orient Empress initiated him to sign a peace pact. Haru, supposedly Constanza, agreed to the peace."

Constanza.

"But why did the Queen Mother do it? Why did he design this and bomb Montreux and Schere?" Ask Leon later.

Ludwig and Constanza were both silent, not knowing the answer to the question. Constanza glanced at Ludwig because usually, among them, it was Ludwig who could answer all the difficult puzzles.

"Orient has been designing this since Haru was still the Crown Prince. Do you know that?" Ludwig said, pointing at the top left corner of the paper. The entire paper contained handwriting using Orient letters that were difficult to read for strangers. But the date listed there is understandable to anyone.

"They made this when Haru was a teenager." Leon said as he looked at the date listed there. "The design of this flying ship has nothing to do with Orient's grudge over Prince Yi's death." Leon concluded.

Ludwig nodded. "They're producing this thing in large quantities. And they can use it for air strikes. If they succeed, they can win the war."

"If there is a war." Constanza added her husband's words.

"There will be no war, Orient wants to make peace with us. At least their Emperor and Empress wanted to make peace." Said Leon.

"I agree with you. But Ludwig and I still don't agree on this." Constanza. He is now dealing with Ludwig. "Emperor Haru actually intends to make Orient as a Republic. So why did he create war?"

"Republic?" Repeat Leon.

"You know, a system of government where people can choose their own leaders not by the King's bloodline or anything like that." Ludwig.

"In short, the people can be the leaders of a country if elected." Constanza added.

"I know what a republic is. I learned it too. What I do not understand is why Haru wants to change the Orient government system which has been established for hundreds of years as a prosperous empire and wants to make it a republic. Wouldn't that hurt him? How do you know this information?"

"It's actually a secret. I found out from Yeon-Hwa. We somehow became friends." Constanza. "But isn't that a very noble vision? To stop his own dynasty for the benefit of the people?"

"The nobles may disagree with the noble vision of their Emperor." Ludwig refuted Constanza's argument.

"alright. So none of you really know why Montreux and Schere were bombed. And you're both not sure if Haru planned all this. We'd better negotiate it with the King and Queen." Leon said, which was immediately welcomed by the approval of Ludwig and Constanza. Leon then voiced the question he had wanted to ask since. "But how do they fly something this big? It must be heavy."

"Magic?" Constanza asked, looking straight at her husband.

Ludwig shook his head. "There is no such magic. You know, I'm a Clera. And the Clera people don't usually believe in myths. We believe more in science and what is written in books. But... have you ever heard of the Wind Dragon? One of the four dragons in the legend that can summon storms and control the wind."

"It's just a strange ancient legend." Constanza. Then he recalled the incident at the Schere Tower. "Although it seems like I've seen one dragon."

"It's not just a legend." Said Leon. He looked at Ludwig and Constanza in turn, wondering if he should tell them what he knew. "I happen to know well two of the four in the legend."

"You know two dragons from legend?" Constanza asked to make sure.

Leon smiled arrogantly, "I even know the Queen of dragons." Before Ludwig and Constanza asked further, before the sun really rose after that long night, Leon hurriedly moved from the sofa about to return to the Ice Country while rolling back the blueprint. "May I bring this blueprint to Xavier?" Ask Ludwig and Constanza.

"Please."

...****************...