The Rose Of The South
Chapter 11: L'amour est un Sacrifice

At midnight when everyone was asleep, when his turn to stand guard arrived, Xavier walked some distance away from their tent. They are still in the Nordhalbinsel region. The cold wind that froze that night blew fiercely. The wind froze the branches of trees he passed, freezing the remains of firewood in front of their tents, and the ground he treaded. But Xavier had never felt cold in the past as if he had been very friendly with the cold itself. Or maybe because he was the Great Fire Dragon.

After being far enough away from the tent and making sure no one followed him, he spoke to the empty cold air before him.

"Generic..." Call him as slow as possible.

In one breath, Elias Winterthur had already appeared before him. Not looking as usual, he looked tired as if he had not slept for days. He had obviously not slept that night because he was still wearing a full uniform when it was already midnight. Her blond hair looks messy. His eye bags are thick and dark. And his skin that was already as white as snow now looked very pale.

"Go home, Xavier." Ask him with a voice that sounds tired, without even saying hello first. "Elle needs you. We all need you."

"Report." Xavier Pinta. But his tone sounded more like a demanding command.

"When should we wait for you? Will General Leon even be willing to help you? Help us all?"

"Report, Elias."

Elias sighed, then reported the precarious thing first, "The ships belonging to the Orient are seen not far from the border. They may be arriving in our waters in two or three days."

Xavier's pupils dilated. When he asked for a report, he only intended to hear events that he could still deal with through petty orders to Elias. But the appearance of Orient's ships meant great things that could not be overcome by small commands. Although Xavier had expected it to happen, he did not expect the Orient to move that fast.

"How much?" He asked, as much as possible to keep his tone calm.

"Go home. We'll find another way to save your mother and destroy Selena." Elias' tone of voice was now much more pleading. "You can even take Princess Anastasia with you to the Palace if you don't want to leave her."

Xavier shook his head grimly. "The daughter of Anastasia is wounded."

"Dylan's dead." Said Elias. "Selena killed him right in front of Elle."

This time Xavier could not hide his surprise. Xavier could not imagine how Eleanor felt when it happened in front of the girl. "How is he doing?" Ask Xavier. Even if he knew it was a stupid question. Of course Eleanor is not okay.

"You're just asking now?" Elias laughed cynically. "He's busy, of course. He was exactly an undead clad in black and crowned with gold. Still beautiful, no doubt, yet thin and pale. As if dealing with the early trimester of pregnancy and the death of her lover had not been heavy enough for her, she happened to now serve as the sole Queen as well as the leader of the Magic Tower, she said, leading an empire filled with people who look at him cynically alone and prepare to face what Orient wants from our kingdom when the financial condition of our country is not ready for war. He tried hard to finish all the work you left in the Palace while you flirted with the Princess of another kingdom."

"I'm not—“

"Continue denying!" Elias' voice was rising. His gaze was sharp as if he was scolding his disputing younger brother. "While you're out here doing nothing, Orient is sharpening their arrows and aiming at your kingdom. Eleanor's position is still very vulnerable. Supporters of Selena's sons still exist even though the Empress has been exiled. Some of your father's concubines and your stepbrothers might be preparing to take him down. There was not a day he went through without the threat of murder. She didn't dare eat anything because everything served to her might contain poison so she cooked her own food, whereas we all know Elle can't cook. Not to mention the problem of Prince Ludwig and his younger brothers who disappeared somewhere. Your father's health condition is also getting worse. He won't last long."

Xavier knows that. From the very beginning he knew how precarious the state of his kingdom was. Nordhalbinsel can now be subverted very easily. It should have fallen if they had not mastered Schiereiland and fostered diplomatic relations with Westeria. Xavier didn't have much choice and didn't have much time. He knew he had to quickly return to the Palace and occupy the throne but his plan still had to be executed.

Eleanor always had a way of handling everything. Eleanor must endure. He certainly can. She was raised to be Queen as I was raised to be King.

"I've spoken to General Leon." Xavier said at last. "I made a deal with him."

This time Elias was surprised. "He's agreed?"

"Yet. Anna is currently injured. We still haven't reached Schiereiland. General Leon will not leave the Princess and Queen alone before making sure they are completely safe and safe to arrive in their home country. But I'll make sure he agrees. Wait a minute." Xavier. "And please ask Elle to make the potion she made for Queen Elizabeth, give the potion to my father. My father has to survive."

"Okay, Your Majesty." Said Elias while bowing. Although it sounded polite, Xavier knew that when Elias called him 'His Majesty' when there was no one around, it meant that he was really upset and angry with him.

Elias prepared to turn around to leave, but Xavier called out to him once more. "You've done everything I've assigned you?"

"It." He answered without looking at Xavier.

"What about the disappeared Imperial Princess Orient? Did you find it yet? How many months has it been since I gave you that assignment? Why is there still no news?"

This time Elias turned around. Looking clear from his face, he was holding back his anger. "Hard to find. The world is big, he can be anywhere. Maybe also dead. If you want to find a concubine, can't it not be the Princess of the Orient?"

Xavier sighed. "He was about forty years old, Elias. Who wants to find a concubine? The princess of the Orient might be able to prevent the outbreak of war between our kingdom and the Orient if you manage to find her."

"It's hard to find a Princess who disappeared twenty years ago. Especially if you only have her hairpin as a clue. Why don't you just tell me to find a dragon? At least I can instantly find one of the four dragons."

"I really wanted to send you to find Alexis, but I knew you wouldn't. At least you won't be ready. So I guess finding Princess Orient who should be the imperial throne will be easier and more fun for you."

Elias sighed because again Xavier was right about him. Between finding the young Crown Prince Schiereiland, clever and difficult to handle or looking for the Orient Princess, of course Elias will prefer to find the missing Orient Princess. "I'm still working on it. I've deployed our wolf army to track him down."

"To keep watch if the wolf army is in trouble... One of General Arianne Montreux's men was a girl from the Orient. If not wrongly named Honey Welsh. He is intelligent, speaks many languages and his sword skills are outstanding. Not to mention he seemed to know quite a lot about his home country. Meet him and work with him to find Princess Seo-Hwa. I trust you." After making sure Elias really listened to his orders, Xavier added, "I'm sorry, Elias. Really am. I'm sorry to you and your sister. But I can't go home now."

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

Anna woke up the next morning in a much better state, her legs still hurting but feeling better than yesterday. The voice of Queen Isabella who called her name gently made her almost think she was back to her childhood in the Palace where her mother would come to her room in the morning to wake her up instead of having the butler wake her up.

"Anastasias... My daughter..." Call the Queen.

Anna tidied up her blanket, but she did not go back to sleep when she sensed her mother's approaching presence. From childhood Anna could feel her mother everywhere. He opened his eyes slowly and the first thing he saw was his mother's smile.

"Mother?"

Queen Isabella helped Anna sit on her bed, holding her, Queen Isabella said, "Spring has arrived, my daughter. Look at..."

Anna looked out from the balcony window of her room, the snow was gone. Leaves began to appear in his garden. Then the flower buds slowly began to appear when previously there was no. Anna blinked her eyes thinking she saw it wrong. The buds slowly opened and widened. Roses bloomed in his garden.

"Is that magic?" Ask Anna.

Queen Isabella smiled. "Not."

"Then, is mother a fairy? As in the fairy tales of Westeria?"

Now her mother laughed. As she laughed, Anna saw more and more flowers in the garden popping up. If Anna looked a little further, she could see the apple trees were beginning to flower and the trees that lined the path to the Palace were getting shady.

"Better than that." Mother Said. Queen Isabella gently stroked her daughter's red hair, and from her between fingers, appeared a sprig of red roses without thorns. Queen Isabella gave the flower to Anna. "This is mom's secret talent. Now this is gonna be both of us's secrets."

The memories were vaguely remembered, but Anna was not sure if what she saw back then was real because she was still very small back then. Anna believes that her mother did a little trick to bring red roses out of her hair. Tricks he never knew how.

Anna hoped that once she opened her eyes, she had already returned to Schiereiland Palace. Wishing all that had passed was only a dream and he would wake up to welcome the arrival of spring in his palace. Looking back at the roses blooming from the window of her room. But as soon as he opened his eyes, that little hope instantly disappeared. He was not in his room in the beautiful Schiereiland Palace filled with many flowers, but in a tent in the middle of the snowy forest of the Richterswill region. Cold air blew, as if telling Anna to start accepting reality.

Anna did not get out of bed. He just lay there staring blankly up, remembering his dream last night. But it didn't work. He knew last night he was dreaming. Almost every night he had been dreaming lately, but he himself could not remember the dream of what it was once awake. Part of him wanted to recall the contents of the dream because somehow, the dream felt important. It might be a clue regarding the whereabouts of the dragons. Anna wondered if the other three dragons would also recognize her the moment they met her. It was possible that the other three dragons were also looking for him. But Anna still did not know what she was going to do once she met the other three dragons. Anna did not want to take their heart out. Although it could bring her father back to life and restore her peaceful life as a daughter of Schiereiland.

"My daughter, are you okay? Does your leg still hurt?" Queen Isabella asked as Anna frowned while trying to recall her dream.

"I'm fine, mom. Doesn't hurt." Answer Anna directly.

"The horse-drawn carriage has arrived. Let's get ready."

After washing her face with snow-melted water, cleaning up the dust stuck to her clothes, Anna, aided by Queen Isabella, came out of the tent. There was a new face that he had never met. An old man with a friendly smile whom Anna believed came from Schiereiland for not having the snow-white typical of the Nordhalbinsel people. From her speaking accent, Anna is increasingly convinced she is a citizen of Schiereiland. The man greeted Anna and Queen Isabella in informal language. Anna reminds herself that others do not know that she and her mother are members of the royal family. The man did not seem to recognize them. That's a good thing for Anna.

"Greetings, Sir. I'm Bella, Louis' maternal aunt." Greet Queen Isabella kindly, adjusting her style of speech to the style of ordinary folk speech. Anna was amazed at how quickly her mother could adjust to her interlocutor. Even his lies about his identity sounded very natural.

Mr. Schmidt, the owner and coachman of the chariot, shook the hand of Queen Isabella. Things that Anna had never seen before because everyone facing Queen Isabella would usually kneel, or bow, or kiss her hands. Anna again reminded herself that they were now ordinary people. Not a member of the royal family.

"It's nice to meet you. I didn't know Emma had a sister. I never talked to him. But Mr. Blanc and I were close friends before I married Jerenia a few years ago and decided to stay in Nordhalbinsel." Said Mr. Schmidt. He then glanced at Anna, "This must be your daughter. So you're Louis' cousin's sister, huh?"

"really. I'm Anna, sir." Anna shook Mr. Schmidt's hand with a smile as natural as possible.

"And this handsome man must be your son." Mr. Schmidt said when he saw Leon who had been just silently watching. "Well, you're so dashing, son. Reminds me of myself when I was young. You must have been accepted immediately if you auditioned for the selection of the personal bodyguard of the late Crown Prince Nordhalbinsel held a few weeks ago. Poor Crown Prince, he died at the hands of his own personal bodyguard."

Anna was still not used to hearing the gossip even though she knew that the news of the bird was spread among the people. That his personal bodyguard Crown Prince Nordhalbinsel who turned out to be a woman from Schiereiland killed him and washed his body in the river so that it was difficult to find.

"He's my oldest son who's handsome and dashing, his name is Leon." Queen Isabella said, avoiding the topic of the Crown Prince's murder. The Queen sounded obviously very proud when introducing Leon as her son.

The embarrassed Leon heard the words of Queen Isabella, shaking Mr. Schmidt's hand, felt very strange about the situation, but still tried to adjust. Anna held back her smile.

"Oh, you even have the same name as that proud General Schiereiland. Too bad, I heard that the General died with the Princess while trying to escape from the Nordhalbinsel army that night." Said Mr. Schmidt.

At least Anna learned what her people knew from Mr. Schmidt. Apparently people believed he and Leon were dead that night.

Mr. Schmidt turned to Xavier, and in a moment they all froze. "And you..."

Anna soon realizes how different Xavier is from all of them. He was clearly not from Schiereiland. She bears no resemblance to Queen Isabella. His snow white skin seemed to firmly announce that he was from Nordhalbinsel. Even his face was too noble so it was seen that he was not from the ordinary Nordhalbinsel people. Especially Emerald eyes are very rarely found anywhere even though most people in Nordhalbinsel have gray or dark brown eyes. It would be very strange if Queen Isabella said that Xavier was also her son, Xavier too looks like a northern noble rather than an immigrant from Schiereiland. But they also do not want Mr. Schmidt to know that Xavier is the Crown Prince who is rumored to be dead.

Queen Isabella finally spoke up, "Uhm... Please keep this a secret, sir. As you can see, he is indeed from among the Nordhalbinsel nobility. But he was willing to leave his family and move to Schiereiland for my daughter."

Anna almost choked on the cold air she breathed upon hearing Queen Isabella's words. He looked at Xavier who only smiled awkwardly because he did not know how to. But Queen Isabella looked calm. As if everything he said was true.

"Oh. I understand son." Mr. Schmidt patted Xavier on the shoulder. "I also left my father and mother in Schiereiland to marry my Jerenia. They've crossed my name off the family list for marrying a girl from an enemy country. Love is hard and sacrificial." Mr. Schmidt nodded sympathetically. "So that's why you want to go to Schiereiland? All right, I'll help you guys. You don't even have to pay me. I'll be happy to help."

"No, Mister. We'll keep paying." Queen Isabella said directly.

"Come on, we are both citizens of Schiereiland. Although the country has now been destroyed because it is controlled by Nordhalbinsel—“

"Destroyed?" Ask Leon.

"How long have you not heard from Schiereiland?" This time he nodded. "That's it. You'll know when you get there. Now, let's all get on the horse-drawn carriage. We shouldn't linger in the area near the border."

They all boarded the sizable horse-drawn carriage and proceeded towards Schiereiland. All of them, except for Leon who insisted on staying on the Onyx at once just in case their horse carriage was suddenly attacked. Queen Isabella surrendered after repeatedly asking Leon to join the horse-drawn carriage.

On the way, Queen Isabella apologizes to Xavier for the story.

"It's okay, Queen. I understand." Xavier. "That's one of the tricks to get sympathy and loyalty from the interlocutor in a book written by Francessa Muller. I know Her Majesty took advantage of Mr. Schmidt's background of marrying a woman from another Kingdom and moving to another Kingdom for the sake of that person, then make a similar story as if we have a similar fate with it. So Mr. Schmidt will not be suspicious and instead sympathize with us which will eventually be very helpful if someday we experience obstacles when crossing the border."

The Queen smiled with satisfaction at Xavier's words, "Right. We read the same book."

"Thank God, Mr. Schmidt seems to believe in the words of Her Majesty." Louis said.

"It's hard not to believe anything a Queen says." Anna Timpal.

"My daughter... Study it." This time Queen Isabella specifically spoke to Anna. "It's a kind of special ability that the women who become Queens have. We are good at theatrics and sweet-tempering, but we can also be very strict and cruel when required."

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