The Rose Of The South
Chapter 16: Honenetet

Xavier finally looked up at Anna. For a moment he felt like he saw Anna's golden brown eyes look bright red. But he knew it was just his shadow because the next moment after he blinked, those golden eyes looked back at him. Xavier did not answer. He's waiting. Anna was being very emotional and she knew that it was unwise to argue with her at this time. Xavier memorized the habit.

Great Queen Zhenra and the Great Fire Dragon were just like any other couple. They also often argue. Fight frequently. No one has ever recorded it in history. After all, the previous Zhenra was the only daughter of a powerful father. The Great Fire Dragon was the king of the dragons that was much older than Zhenra due to eternal life. After marriage they often fight and make up and then fight again. Sometimes they quarrel at state meetings, at war negotiations, even at court banquets. This is partly the origin of why most noble people do not marry based on love but because of political relations. Love can trigger disagreements because of caring for each other. Zhera who was then the Queen and hero of the country was very young and always fiery. When it was emotional, even the Great Fire Dragon preferred to be silent and wait for his emotions to recede before speaking.

And so is Anna at the moment. Xavier knew how disappointed Anna was. How Anna felt she had been lied to. But he still has an obligation to explain everything.

Xavier was half-dead hoping that they were not in the cave at the moment. If they were in the garden, drinking tea, in a peaceful atmosphere, it might be easier for him to talk well. Xavier might be able to prepare a sweet snack first to please Anna. But not so his condition at the moment. The talk they will do cannot be assuaged with just a cup of tea and a sweet snack in the garden.

"But not everything is true" said Xavier.

"But there's a point."

"I'm not Anna's bad guy." He said he was sorry and hurt. "Your accusation seems to imply I've planned all that. It's like I'm cruel and heartless, as if I've only been hunching, manipulating and using you as well as Queen Isabella and Alexis as bait to get Leon."

"Isn't that what you're doing?"

"Not."

"I don't know if I should trust your words completely. You even forbid me to trust you. I don't know anymore." Said Anna. He paused for a moment to take a breath, then continued, "The Sword of King Zuidlijk as well. You've been talking about the sword lately with Leon. Don't think I didn't hear it. Why?"

"The sword can break the most powerful black magic. Selena tied my mother to black magic. Queen Irene is alive. But if Selena dies, my mother will die too. That's why I can't fight Selena."

"So you want that sword... But Leon's sword teacher, who gave the sword to him, stated that only Leon could use it even though I didn't really understand what the reason was. So. You need Leon too. Now it all makes sense. Was that night's assault part of your plan? To take my mother and my sister in the Palace, to have Leon come to your palace? Was the murder of my father also part of your plan?"

"No." Answer directly. "Jeez, Anna. Is that as bad as I am in your eyes? I never thought my father would kill King Edward."

"But you've calculated that Nordhalbinsel will indeed attack Schiereiland. You know sooner or later it's gonna happen. And you didn't even try to stop it or warn us. You take that as your chance. Because from the beginning our kingdom was already hostile to each other."

"It was not I who attacked your kingdom. I didn't kill your father either. And I tried to stop him. I came that night even though I was late."

"That doesn't explain anything."

"alright. If that's what you want, let's just say I'm that cruel to the point of letting your father die. Let's just say I let my father's army invade your kingdom. But at that time I didn't know who you were. Or how important you are to me. I'm sorry, Anna. I'm really sorry until it feels like I've never been able to sleep quietly since then."

"You must have felt so unlucky to know that I was the woman you loved a thousand years ago. Is who I was in the past really going to make a difference, Xavier?"

"You're the most important thing to me. Since long ago, until now. I used to be the king of dragons and I was free to give up my power for you. Let you rule over dragons and the human race. To stand by you and support you fully. But according to your words, in this life, I belong to my kingdom. I have a Mother who is bound under black magic and I was born as a crown prince who is not entirely powerful. I took on responsibilities and duties that were not in my previous life. I want to save my mother and my kingdom from Selena's shackles without hurting anyone. I need Leon and King Zuidlijk's sword for that."

Anna understands. He would do the same for his mother. For sister. For his kingdom and the people. But Anna doesn't want Leon to be in danger.

"There's another way." Said Anna. "You said a dragon's heart could revive a dead man."

"really. But my heart can't. Right now I can't tell you the exact reason, but I can't. And I don't want to sacrifice any other dragons. Just like you don't want to use dragons. Consciously or not, you love dragons, don't want them to be hurt, it's an innate trait of you in the past. Same as me. If there was any other way to save my mother without hurting the dragons, then I would."

"By using Leon."

"Soliciting his help." Xavier.

Anna realized something. Xavier and Leon have been talking a lot lately during their vigil together. Leon even knew that Xavier wouldn't go to war.

"Leon knows." Anna concluded. But to what extent Leon knows about Xavier's grand plans, Anna still doesn't know.

Xavier nodded. "I've already spoken to him."

"Will he do it? Is he going to Nordhalbinsel?"

"I don't know yet. He can't be sure yet."

"Will it harm him? What effect would it have on Leon if he agreed to help you?"

Black magic, Anna thought. It can't be that it's harmless.

Xavier's quiet. Anna knows what that means. But he still wanted to hear it directly.

"My answer." Indict Anna. "In honestly."

"It shouldn't be dangerous."

"shoulda?" Reload Anna.

"I still don't know."

"So there's a chance it's dangerous."

"true."

Anna should have gotten used to it. Leon often goes to meet danger and always returns safely. Leon had gone too often to any battlefield or battle and came home victorious. And Anna had been waiting for him a lot while constantly worrying about him. Hope Leon returns safely. And his hopes are usually granted.

Nordhalbinsel is famous for his magic. Fiancee—not, Xavier's current wife is one of the outstanding witches. If black magic is indeed that trivial thing, Queen Eleanor should be able to eliminate that magic. If it is not dangerous, Xavier should have been able to save his mother for a long time and cut off the black magic. Eleanor Winterthur's sorcerer class alone can't deal with it, so how can Xavier ask Leon who is completely foreign to magic to break the black magic.

Thin smoke—not smoke, the thin multi-colored fog reappeared in his view as Anna lowered her head down, snaking long until heading outside the cave. His head felt somewhat dizzy, perhaps the effect of all this talk was too shocking for him. His mind refused to process all this new information. His emotions overlapped, between anger, disappointment, worry but also the part of him that he hated, unable to blame Xavier completely. It wasn't his fault. But he should have been able to tell me from the beginning.

One of those thin, red-colored mists stopped around Xavier who was still standing before him. Anna blinked a few times until the thin fog of her shadow completely disappeared from view.

Anna looked up, looked up at Xavier and said, "You remember saying you would grant me anything I wanted in return for everything I did in Montreux?"

"Yes." Yeah." Answer directly.

"I don't want nobility or nobility. It's my wish, I want you not to ask Leon to do things that might make me lose him. Find another way to break the black magic. Find another way to defeat Selena without killing your mother. I hope you really hold your word and grant my request."

Xavier couldn't say no to any request that came from Anna's mouth, but back then, he couldn't agree either.

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

When Anna and Xavier came out of the cave, it was dark. They did not even realize they had been in the cave all day. And Anna was even more surprised when she found Leon on her horse already in the place where they came out with two other horses.

"A green dragon removed the rocks at the mouth of the cave. Louis and I made it out thanks to the dragon." Leon said after the three of them were now on their respective horses, towards where their horse carriage was waiting.

"That's Earithear. Earth Dragon." Obviously Anna. He glanced at Xavier who was riding somewhat behind them. "I and Xavier met him in the cave. You seen her?"

Leon nodded. "Just a moment after he flew into the sky. I thought you didn't want me to catch it so I let the Dragon go." Leon observes Anna, knowing that the wound on Anna's leg has completely healed but he worries that a new wound has been obtained after coming out of the cave, "You okay?"

"Earithear has healed me. Now we can continue on our way."

"Not a cut on your leg I mean." Said Leon. He then glanced at Xavier suspiciously. "You don't intend to explain anything?" Ask Xavier.

"I didn't do anything that could hurt him." Answer Xavier.

Leon turned to Anna again, "I heard your screams in the cave, Your Majesty."

"I'm not yelling." Anna doesn't want to lie to Leon. But Leon used to hide secrets from her. And Anna doesn't want to tell Leon what kind of pain he feels when Earithear tries to restore all his memories. "That cave is a bit weird, isn't it."

As Anna says that, Leon stops his horse. Something he saw on Anna just now seemed to surprise him. "Your Majesty..."

"Why?" Anna stopped her horse. Xavier behind them did the same. Anna looked back, towards Xavier.

Xavier sees it, which makes Leon stop his horse. Although the forest was dark and although there was only moonlight to illuminate them, Xavier was quite certain to see Anna's golden brown eyes turn red, just like the color of her hair. Just like the color of Zhera's eyes. This time he was sure it was not his delusion because Leon saw it as well.

Anna looked at Leon and Xavier alternately. The two looked equally shocked but Anna did not understand what they were seeing. "What's wrong? You're scaring me."

When Leon again saw Anna's eyes, the color returned to how it was. "It's nothing." Leon said, as he went back on their way. "So, I think I saw it wrong. Your eyes were like red."

"Leon, your face is pale. How many days have you not slept? You need to rest. We should immediately go to the nearest residential area and rent a room for a short break."

"I'm fine, Your Majesty. I must have just mislooked."

"I saw it too." Xavier said behind them. "Anna, your eyes were like—“

"We saw it wrong." Leon threw a sharp glare at Xavier. "Maybe His Majesty is right. We need to rest."

"Where are Mom and Louis?" Anna asked, trying to shift the topic.

Leon did not answer. His mind was still thinking about the sound of Anna shouting in the cave earlier. He couldn't have heard wrong. He knows that voice very well. Leon also knows he didn't look wrong when Anna's eyes turned very red. But Leon doesn't want to talk about it anymore. He did not understand the changes that were slowly beginning to happen to Anna. Anna was still the Princess Schiereiland she knew, but also somewhat different. And Leon can only hope it's not a bad thing.

"Leon?" Anna breaks Leon's daydream.

"Ah. sorry. Her Majesty was exhausted so she rested in the horse carriage. Louis is with him."

They continued the night's journey towards the nearby village. They rented two rooms on behalf of Louis and parted ways with Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt turned down the money given by Queen Isabella as his payment, but the Queen had secretly put a bag full of gems in Mr. Schmidt's briefcase.

Anna slept in the same room as Queen Isabella. They could not immediately fall asleep even though the inn was quite good and the mattress was quite soft when compared to sleeping in the tent. Being in Schiereiland back and being with his mother feels like a dream. They chatted until one of them fell asleep and the other fell asleep.

The next morning, when the sun was just peeking a little and the sky was not yet completely bright, Leon knocked on the door of Anna's room and Queen Isabella. They had indeed agreed to go back to continue the journey early in the morning. They're already in Schiereiland. Although this is a small village on the edge of town near the border, anyone can be there and recognize the face of Queen Isabella and Leon.

After cleaning up and buying bread for the ride, they continued on their horseback. Through hills and forests. Pass through clear rivers and wildflower gardens. Passing through some deserted countryside with citizens working as farmers in the fields. But there was no sign of torture even though Schiereiland felt quieter than Anna remembered. Perhaps because they are still in the Cleteland region which is an area that borders directly with Nordhalbinsel.

Before the sun really shone high above the sky, before it was time for lunch, they paused in a wildflower field in the middle of the forest to draw water from the very clear river Scheine. The colorful assortment of spring looks like a living painting all around them: blue irises and pastel pink hortensia meet the cosmos orange and yellow flowers and green shady apple trees against the bright sky of Schiereiland and its golden shining sun that reflects on the surface of the river The Scheine. Anna smiled brightly enjoying the sight, enjoying the fragrance of the various spring flowers she breathed at every breath. He felt ready for whatever was going to happen in the future. Anna was washing her face with refreshing river water when she heard Leon's footsteps approaching.

"Your Majesty, fight me."

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