The Rose Of The South
Chapter 22: L'anneau du Coeur de Dragon

An hour later, Anna was already in the horse-drawn carriage to Anastasia— Palace, which Nicholas gave as their engagement gift located in Eze, near beach—in a wedding dress exactly like the one Rumelle was wearing. Her face was still covered in veil which also hid her red hair that was rolled neatly over her neck.

Xavier in front of him was still stunned, forgetting how to breathe or blink. Xavier silently pecked as if in such a way that his heart could beat with a normal rhythm back or stop beating altogether. Of course that doesn't work. Anna's figure wearing a wedding dress made her unable to think clearly nor think of the next step in their plan. All the initial plans he had drawn up were suddenly gone from his mind. For a moment she regretted her own plan—plan disguised as Duke and Duchess Francis—by making Anna wear Rumelle's wedding dress, making her remember their wedding day long ago in her previous life. But only in that way could they go to Anastasia Palace without any suspicion by the citizens who had already lined up along the way.

There were only the two of them in that horse carriage. They managed to trick the residents and disguised themselves as the couple Duke and Duchess Francis who were heading to the Palace of Anastasia. The citizens were not allowed to approach them as they rode the horse carriage so that no one could see their faces clearly. However Anna still covered her face with veil.

"You know, you can already open it. No citizen of Duchy Francis has seen." Xavier said, pointing at the veil that was still covering Anna's face. He was trying to be normal.

"I look weird." Said Anna. "Shameful."

Xavier opened the veil, revealing Anna's already-self-contained face. There was not much time to decorate it so they just put it on blush and rough lips. "You look amazing."

"Stop." Anna's face blushed.

They've been married. Xavier had already seen her wearing a wedding dress that was much more beautiful than this one, which was made from a strand of flowers from the Earithear, she said, the ocean waves of the Aquinier and the wind gusts of Aerinear are complemented by the light of his eternal flame. Dresses that only exist in their legends, which cannot be compared to any dress, which people would only ever hear of as a mere fairy tale. But it happened in the past. And seeing Anna back in a wedding dress, but not on their wedding day, makes her claustrophobic somehow.

"Nick's stupid. He didn't know what he was releasing from his grasp." Xavier muttered to himself. "No. Should I thank him?"

Xavier seemed to be reminded of something, for a moment later he seemed to notice the surroundings, making sure there were really only the two of them inside the horse carriage. She then pulled out something hanging from her neck, a necklace that Anna only realized was worn by her that morning. Not necklaces. It was just a silver chain with a ring as its pendant. Rings with ruby gems.

Xavier took the ring and handed it to Anna. Anna was surprised not to play. His pupils widened when he saw the ring.

"What is—“

"I'm sorry if the time is not right, the atmosphere is also not good..."

Anna refused to see the ring up close. Try to get as far away as possible from the ring that was proffered to her. Not without reason he did. At Schiereiland, giving a ring meant proposing. And the ruby gem ring has another meaning, not just proposing, the gift of a ruby gemstone ring means that the person gives all his heart, soul and body only to the recipient of the ring. Giving up his life and death and can not be canceled with a divorce. A pledge that is even deeper in meaning than a marriage pledge.

"Don't be afraid, this isn't a proposal. I don't intend to marry anyone again anytime soon." Seeing that Anna was still away from the ring, she then continued, "I'm sure in Schiereiland there was a special ceremony done for the royal family's proposal, so this is not it, just calm down. If this is a proposal—which is actually not even though I want to, I will do it according to the customs in your kingdom, in a better place when the situation between us and our kingdom has improved and I've made sure that you won't glare at me like that." Xavier smiled faintly as he watched Anna's gaze soften and not as shocked as earlier. Anna sighed as if she had just come out of an extremely stressful situation. "I've been wanting to give you this ring for a long time."

Anna did not accept the ring. He just watched her up close. The ring is no ordinary ring. Because Anna could see the fire blazing inside the ruby gem. Or maybe it's just the light effect.

"What's that?" Anna asked, referring to something that looked like fire inside a ruby gem.

"My life." Xavier said lightly as if it was nothing. "The Great Fire Dragon's heart that he said could revive a dead person."

Anna's pupils widened again. "Your heart? But—“

"No. Not really my heart. My heart is still here. Tightly ticking. Painful and troublesome as always." He said pointing at his chest. "What's inside that ring is the core of my heart, which serves to revive the dead, or at least that's what's said in the various books I can find. Elle managed to separate it and took it out with magic and put it inside this ring just before we left the palace that morning. The process is quite painful and not all magicians can do that. Elle is strong enough, other witches might not be able to do it without dying." Xavier opened Anna's clenched hand and placed the ring on her palm. "I'm not used to accepting rejection especially after I directly completely gave up my heart to you. Just take it."

Anna looked at the ring. The fire within his jewel seemed to be twitching like a beating heart. "Why did you give it to me? Can't your mother be saved with this?"

"can't. I've tried. My heart has its owner." Xavier said as he looked at Anna meaningfully. His smile was sad and painful.

Anna mute. He did not dare to think about what else to guess. He did not want to know even though deep down Anna did already know who the owner meant even without Xavier saying it. Anna finally understood, that was the reason she came back to life after a thousand years.

Anna doesn't know about it. There was nothing in his memory because he was already dead. He did not know how the fate of the Great Fire Dragon was or what he did after his death.

"I don't know... Not recorded in the history—“

"Who can write it down? No one knows what happened except the Goddess of Heaven and myself."

Anna recalled the image of herself becoming a corpse. Pale, silent, lifeless. And again the sound of despairing whispers was ringing in his ears. Xavier's voice begged.

"Not long. Maybe not an hour." Answer Xavier. His eyes seemed to be staring back at that moment. As she said that her voice was as desperate as the one Anna heard on the day of her death. "You think I can survive longer than that without you?"

Anna didn't say anything. He doesn't know what he's got to say. He had never thought of her before the reason why she could come back to life.

"What are you doing?" when he asked that, his voice was hoarse as if something had stuck up his throat and his heart now felt sore.

"I did the only thing I could do back then to see you come back to life."

One Dragon Heart can revive a dead person. The Four Hearts of Dragons can make eternal life.

Anna wondered who had said those words the first time. Probably been told a thousand years ago. Maybe the dragons themselves told the humans. In fact, those words proved to be true. One Dragon's heart can revive a dead person. But it is not said how long it will take until the dead man comes back to life.

Not to come back to life. Reborn.

And it took a thousand years.

Maybe that's why Xavier didn't use any dragon's heart to revive his mother. Other people didn't know, but he knew that it would take him a thousand years until the person he gave his heart back to life.

"But you're supposed to be immortal." Those words were spoken out of Anna's mouth before she could even think of the answer. He is not eternal. He gave up his heart as well as his immortality.

"Not eternal anymore." Xavier. His gaze was attached to Anna, making sure on her own with both eyes that the immortality she had released a thousand years ago was indeed worth it. He had no regrets even if he had to become a mortal that could die at any time.

"Is this the first time I've come back to life since then?"

"true."

"What about you?"

Xavier did not answer. It seemed to be considering whether he should tell it or not. He seemed to be looking into the memories left over from his other life.

"I vaguely remember it, another life I lived before this moment. Mostly I was born as a noble, once also as a commoner. But I always die young—in those lives my wounds don't heal fast. And you've always been nothing. Unconsciously, even in those moments I always feel incomplete, like losing something and always looking for something. And die before I find what I'm looking for. In this life, I finally know what I'm looking for, and I finally get to meet you."

"Sorry..."

Sorry for leaving you. Sorry for making you suffer so much. I'm sorry it took so long until we met.

Sorry for not knowing everything you've done for me. I'm sorry that at first I hated you for what your father did, there was even a time I ever wanted to kill you. Sorry for being mad at you.

I'm sorry I still don't know how to behave with you.

But Anna didn't say it. There were too many things he wanted to say, too many apologies. And his chest felt tight as if he felt what Xavier felt.

"There's no need to apologize for things that weren't your fault. But maybe it's better we don't talk about it anymore. It's just the past." She smiles. And Anna knew that smile to calm her down so she wouldn't have to feel guilty. Xavier continued, "And please don't look at me like that, I'm really fine now. I live, and so do you. Even though the situation between us ended up not being very good because of my own fault."

It's not entirely your fault. Its alright. You've been trying to fix everything. We're trying to fix everything. But Anna didn't say it either.

Anna nodded in understanding. He also felt unable to continue the conversation. Unable to imagine the amount of sacrifice Xavier had made for him in the past. "So what's your plan?" He switched topics. The ruby ring that was still in his grasp, felt throbbing and warm.

"For now? There aren't. We just need to wait until we arrive at the Palace. And wait for the Nicholas men I've ordered to pick Louis and Queen Isabella up from the inn." Xavier looked at the tired-looking Anna, "I heard it took all day to get to your palace. Rest up. Because after this, we'll be very busy."

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