The Rose Of The South
Chapter 27: Le Fantome dans Le Chateau

Leon thinks Violet is the cruelest teacher he's ever met. She's mistaken.

As a child, his math teacher at the Palace, the same teacher who later taught Crown Prince Alexis, was so strict with him that he dared not look him in the eye. The history teacher would even beat him with a twig if he didn't memorize his lesson, but Leon never told anyone, not even Princess Anastasia or Queen Isabella. If the Queen accidentally sees a bruise on her leg and hand, Leon would lie that he fell down the stairs due to lack of caution or fell while running in the yard or thousands of other reasons so that the Queen would not fire her teacher. But all the teachers in the Palace, no one defeated Violet, her sword teacher from Westeria. Violet kicked Leon out the first time she came to her castle where she taught some of her students from different countries. He cursed with Westeria, thinking Leon did not know the meaning even though Leon had mastered the Westeria language even though he was only six years old.

"Damn it! I don't want to teach a child! You south fuckers! How dare they send a child here!" Then Violet added with a stiff Schiereiland language, "Go there boy! Go back to your mother!"

In Leon's heart he said, "But I don't have a mother". He didn't say it out loud. It's free.

Despite being evicted, Leon continued to stand in front of the gate of Violet castle and did not move from there all day even though it was raining heavily. King Edward had warned him that the Westeria Swordsman was not an easy teacher to deal with and had a very bad temper. So Leon was not surprised at all at Violet's treatment of him and Leon was already determined to learn the sword to Violet.

On the second day, he gave up waiting. He's sneaking inside. The castle where Violet lived was an old, haunted-looking castle. From the outside, the castle looked like a haunted castle that was not occupied by anyone. There are no guards at all. Violet doesn't need to be guarded by anyone. He lived alone in that castle and there was no one stupid enough to sneak in with a bad purpose.

But Leon snuck in, not with a bad goal. After successfully entering, he hid and observed the average teenage Violet disciples into adulthood. They were all big compared to her six-year-old self. But they all looked extremely scared and shriveled before Violet. Though the old grandmother must have been older than the Queen Mother Mother of King Edward. Leon even thought that he might be a hundred years old. All of his hair that was cut was white, or maybe since the first time it was white, no one knew. Violet has a small posture that seems to consist only of bones, muscles and wrinkled skin. Leon thought his height was only a few inches taller than Leon. Within a few years, Leon must have surpassed the old grandmother's height. Even so, none of those disciples could defeat Violet.

"Who else! Let's get ahead!" Violet yelled at her students. None of them had the strength to go forward and come back against him.

So Leon went forward. It was then that Leon saw Violet's eyes clearly up close. It's bright green. Nope. Not just green. Emerald color. Like a jewel that shines when exposed to sunlight, it contrasts sharply with its rather dark-colored skin typical of westerners. Leon ventured to speak to her in Westeria. "I'll fight you. Please lend me a sword. If I manage to last up to five minutes, make me your disciple. If I don't manage to hold on before five minutes, you can kick me out."

Violet orders one of her students to lend her sword to Leon. Of course, Leon didn't last five minutes. In just two minutes, Violet managed to subvert it. But just then, Violet reached out to him and helped him up.

"What's your name, son?" He asked in Schiereiland language which sounded really strange. It took Leon a few seconds to understand that Violet was asking for her name.

"Leon."

"Family name?"

Leon was about to answer 'de Gratina', King Edward's last name. King Edward always introduced Leon by that name to everyone in the Palace as if he were really his son. At the time, Leon did not mention the name.

"I'm an orphan."

"All right, Leon." Violet's hoarse voice and her very inappropriate speech accent uttered a word of any kind in Schiereiland, it sounded soft and motherly at the time.

Leon never forgot the first time his teacher mentioned his name. She always dreamed of her mother—her biological mother if she really had— would probably call her that. Leon hurriedly brushed the thought off his head. Thinking of her two biological parents whom she never knew both her name and face always made her want to cry or get angry. One thing Leon believed, which he knew from King Edward, his parents had been instrumental in saving King Edward's life and helping the King win the war.

Violet's voice resuscitated Leon as she said, "I have the right to kick you out, right? You've failed to hold on for five minutes."

Leon was unable to take his eyes off Violet's pair of emerald eyes as if he was judging them. King Edward once mentioned that there were several clans living in Westeria, which had jewel-like eye colors: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst and Amber. King Edward tells her that the people with the jeweled eyes are not like ordinary humans, they are something else, which may only exist in the most terrifying fairy tales. But Violet's emerald eyes weren't at all terrible.

"Are you going to kick me out? Do I really not have the potential to master the swordsmanship of you?"

Out of the blue, Violet laughed. The old grandmother laughed at him in front of her other students. None of the students laughed. Everyone there was staring at Leon in amazement. At that time Leon did not understand the meaning of their gaze.

"How old are you, son?" Violet asked later, in a quieter voice so only Leon could hear her. This time it seemed like the old granny had already given up on using the Schiereiland language. So he used Westeria.

"Six years. Maybe seven. I don't know for sure. I don't know my birthday." Leon also let her talk. The conversation was only between the two of them and the other students who were far enough away from them could not hear what the six-year-old boy was talking about with their old teacher.

"And you're from Schiereiland, right?"

Leon nodded. Then he recalled the royal manners lesson, so he replied politely, "Right."

"Then why is your Westeria pronunciation so perfect?"

"Because I've learned it."

"Why did you learn Westeria?"

"Because I want to be able to talk to you using the language you speak."

"You're six years old, you say? And have you mastered the Westerian language, mastered royal manners, and the foundation of swordsmanship? You said you were an orphan? No orphan was taught a level lesson with an heir to the throne of such a kingdom. Did Edward send you here?"

"King Edward." Leon. "I heard about you from King Edward. But I came here on my own accord."

"Why?"

Leon frowned confused by the question. "I'm sorry?"

"Why do you want to learn to sword?"

Leon had never prepared himself for such a question. He asked himself why he wanted to learn to sword. That's his natural instinct. He just wants to do it. But that was not what made him come to the Westeria language teacher, beaten several times for mispronunciation and come all the way here. Not because of a trivial thing like he really wants to learn to sword.

"I have a sister." Leon said at last. His Hazel-colored eyes seemed to sparkle as he said so.

This time Violet was the one who frowned confusedly. "Then, what does this have to do with learning to ride a sword?"

"My sister is very small. He was almost a year old, but he was still very small. She's so sweet." Leon recalled the face of the little princess who was crying as she was about to leave for Westeria. Unknowingly, he smiled. "I want to protect her."

Leon shook his head quickly. Then it was recalled back to the royal manners lesson, "I don't have any. Not yet."

"You can borrow anything. It's in the armory in the room." Violet pointed at the room behind her. "Quick grab one then get back here." Violet then circulated a glance to all of her students who were still stunned to see Leon and their teacher from a distance. "Basic slackers! Get up and make a line!" He screamed in a snarl. The students were in disarray forming a precise and neat line.

"Can I practice?"

Without turning her eyes to Leon beside her, still watching her students running around forming a line, Violet said, "My disciples are, comes from a family that makes swordsmanship as a legacy. The rest are candidates for knights. I don't carelessly allow people to learn from me, son. They were all selected after a rigorous selection and they have studied here for at least two years. Among all my students, no one has ever held out against me for more than a minute." Violet then turned to look at Leon, "You, son, hold on for two minutes."

And so Leon becomes one of Violet's students. Later becomes the only student of Violet who succeeds in inheriting all her knowledge. He inherited King Zuidlijk's sword which Violet kept for the rest of her life. As well as being the only student of Violet he told and was proud of all his other students even after so many years had passed.

But training with Violet has never been easy. Cruel words always came out of the old grandmother's mouth. At that time Leon established Violet as the most cruel and difficult teacher to face. But now, that position has been shifted by Eleanor Winterthur. Magic teacher.

At least Violet gave him a break of eight hours a day. Let her eat quietly when it was time to eat. Give him a month off every five months so he can go home to Schiereiland. But Eleanor is not like that. He did not let Leon rest before mastering his magic. Even while eating, Leon is given books of magic theory for him to study. Eleanor, who was born a noble and is now titled as Queen, never uttered a harsh word like Violet once said, but there are other words that are more terrible for Leon.

'Again', 'Repeat', and 'Not'.

And indeed those were the only three words that the Queen spoke during her magic lesson. Leon will try to make an object disappear, or fly, or move places. And every time it failed, Eleanor would only say those three words. Not telling what he did wrong or how to do it right. The beautiful witch made an excuse by saying, "If I tell you, you will soon forget about it. You have to figure out for yourself what you've done wrong, then fix it. That way, you will remember it forever. Repeat that one."

Their training sessions always ended past midnight. Eleanor brought all her work at the Palace to work at her house so she could keep working while overseeing Leon's training. And when Leon had mastered invisible magic, levitation magic and teleportation magic, Eleanor allowed him to rest.

"Good night." Eleanor said without turning her gaze to her pile of work. As cold as the Queen may be, saying good night is a basic courtesy that is mandatory for the northern people. While the people of the South only say 'good night' to a close friend, lover or family.

"You're not sleeping?"

"I still have a lot of work."

Leon is about to say that pregnant women should get enough rest and enough food for the health of their fetus. But given what kind of person Eleanor was, given what she saw through Aletha as the crystal ball exposed all of her secrets, Leon preferred to go to his room and sleep. Eleanor won't listen to him, she knows it.

He had not slept for an hour, and suddenly he heard the sound of crying. At first Leon awoke thinking he heard Princess Anastasia's voice crying. Then he remembered he was not at Schiereiland Palace and there was no Princess Anastasia around. So he ignored the voice and tried to go back to sleep.

But the voice was heard again shortly afterwards. This time with a scream. So Leon hurriedly came out of his room, took his sword and went to look for the source of the sound.

The voice again vanished as he was stepping along the passageway. He sharpened his hearing. His training as well as years of experience on the battlefield, allowed him to hear the slightest sound. The crying sounded again. This time it was slower, as if whoever was crying, had been crying long enough to not have the strength to cry anymore.

The house was so big and dark at night that Leon could even believe it was haunted. But Leon knew it wasn't a ghostly voice.

It was Eleanor's voice. His voice came from the space of the strange objects where Aletha's crystal ball was located. According to Eleanor, there should be no one else to see or enter other than the Winterthur family. Leon called it Warehouse because it was like a warehouse.

The Queen in a black dress appeared to be sitting on the floor facing the window, barefooted, and hugging a glass jar filled with ash only illuminated by moonlight. Leon did not see his face, only his back, but Leon knew the Queen was crying. And Leon knew whose ashes were in that glass jar.

"Dylan..." Eleanor's voice whispered, but Leon could hear her.

Leon knows that name. Aletha reveals all the secrets of Eleanor Winterthur. Including that name. His beloved ex-girlfriend, who was killed, burned Selena's magic in front of him. The father of the baby Eleanor was carrying.

"I want to die... I want to be with you... Take me away from here..." Eleanor said in her tears. "You should have told me the truth then. Tell me you know me. Tell them all that you are my lover. Let them know everything. So you don't have to die. Why do you have to die? Why!" His crying voice grew louder.

"What are you doing here, sir?" The sound of air blowing that night shocked Leon.

Leon turned his head, found one of the maids—the head of the house's servant—standing there.

"Spying Queen?" Ask again.

Leon did not answer. He simply turned around, and walked silently back to his room. There's nothing he can do anyway. There's a reason why Eleanor chose to cry in the middle of the night in a room only Winterthur could access.

But the butler continued to follow him from behind. Leon didn't turn his head, but he knew he was being followed. He can feel it.

"You hear it? Crying sounds? A broken heart scream?" Ask the waiter.

Leon ignored.

"Every night we heard crying from the wall over there. Sometimes the scream. A lady. It was always a woman who cried and screamed like her heart had just been crushed. There is nothing or anyone. People think this house is haunted."

"Oh.. that's it." Leon's comments without stopping his steps or turning around.

"I know you can see it. Every night, the Queen walked up to the wall, then disappeared. The Wolves say that in this house there is a secret room where only Winterthurs can find out and enter. So I think the Queen must have gone there every night to weep for the late Crown Prince Xavier. The queen seemed to feel so devastated because of her sudden death that she could not sleep and would not eat. It's so sorry for him."

Nope. It wasn't Xavier he cried for. Leon said in his heart.

Leon then turned around before re-entering his room. He was about to say that he did not want to be followed and that he wanted to sleep in peace. But when he turned around, there was no one behind him. There was no sign of the presence of the butler, who, according to him, had been following him.

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