The Rose Of The South
Chapter 33: Le Lourd de La Couronne

Eleanor Winterthur, who was still in her disguise, smiled gently at Anna. The cold Northern Queen's impression disappeared from her face. He also paid respect to her. "It's good to see you again, Princess Anastasia. And. please, don't be so formal. It'd be nice if you'd be willing to be more relaxed with me." Eleanor looked around her. In no time, Riz was ready with a sword that came out of nowhere, Diana with two kitchen knives in both hands, and Constanza was ready with her bow and arrow pointing to Eleanor's heart. The arrow covered with Morta's poison. A sneering smile expands on the Queen's pretty face. "What a great welcome. But not enough." As he said that, all the weapons they held slipped out of their grasp and fell to the floor. The sound of the metal clashing of the weapon as it fell to the floor echoed throughout the room.

Constanza tried to take back the bow and arrow, but the two objects seemed to have been stuck on the floor. Can't be moved one bit. He also gave up. "How did you get in here, witch?" Constanza threw that hateful look at Eleanor.

Eleanor ignored that gaze as if she was already very used to the southern people who hated her. With a single breath, Eleanor changed her form. Her hair was blond again and her eyes were ice blue again. The form of the Queen of the Eternal Winter Country that was cold, beautiful and flawless.

"I just walked in." He shrugged his shoulders, without a care. His steps were light as he approached Constanza."All of them, your men, were on the spot and didn't know I was past them." Eleanor glanced at Diana and added with a smile, which was oddly, friendly, "Your daughters are really sweet. I'm so envious."

"Constanza, he's our ally." Said Anna.

Constanza looked at him in disbelief. "You invited the Witch Queen here? So he's an ally you're referring to coming to our aid?"

"We alone will not be enough to defeat the tower witches. Queen Eleanor will help us with her magic. We need it."

"So this Ice Queen includes guests as well?" Ask Riz. Anna nodded at him. In a moment, Riz and Diana had already regained their composure and sat down in their place. "Then, please sit down, Sire."

Eleanor thanked Riz and sat down on the chair beside Anna. "I just found out there's a couple of names for me in the south here."

"Ice Queen. Snow Witch. And the most popular of these days, the Witch Queen. I know only three nicknames." Riz.

"Don't you play too far from your house, Mr Navarro? I heard about Navarro's youngest son who went missing years ago. I'm not sure why your clan still hasn't dragged you back home until now."

The Navarrese clan of Westeria. Why did it feel like the name was familiar to Anna's ears. He tried to recall his lessons at the Palace concerning the most influential families in Westeria. Navarre. Amethyst Eyes. He was sure there was something he should be able to remember, but I don't know what.

"Riz, Your Majesty." There was tension in the voice, but Riz kept trying to look relaxed. He deliberately shied away from the topic about his family.

Diana poured another glass of wine and gave it to Eleanor. Politely and with a friendly smile, Eleanor rejected him. "Thank you, but, I'm trying to avoid alcohol for my baby." He said, subconsciously holding his stomach that had not yet looked enlarged. The Heir who secured Xavier's throne.

Diana looked surprised for a moment, not expecting that the woman with the thin and frail body was pregnant, but then she smiled gently. "I'm sorry if I'm being disrespectful, but if Her Majesty allows it, I'll make you another good drink for pregnancy. It's an inherited herb from my late mother that I used to drink while pregnant."

In silence Anna observed Diana and Eleanor alternately. If Diana had a simple, gentle beautiful face that could make anyone who saw her want to be her friend, Eleanor was the opposite. The Queen had a perfectly beautiful face that seemed cold like a goddess that could make everyone bend their knees to her voluntarily. But unexpectedly, Eleanor's gaze softened on Diana. At sincerity.

"I'll drink it, then. Thank you very much." The Queen said with a smile. Friendly smile.

Diana went to make a drink. Riz goes to follow him, to accompany his wife or to avoid Eleanor who seems to know something about her family. Maybe both. Meanwhile from the corner of her eyes, Anna could still see that look of hatred radiating in Constanza's eyes that was looking at Eleanor. Anna also looked at Eleanor, not with a look of hatred, but questioningly. There were so many things Anna wanted to ask, but she did not know where to start. The last time they talked in person was when they were sheltering from a blizzard at the Winterthur family's Villa, and when Eleanor asked him to disguise herself at the wedding announcement party. It felt like a long time ago, when it happened a few weeks ago. Or maybe it's been over a month. Anna herself was not too sure.

"He's safe. Was fine. I gave him good food and a comfortable bed. I locked him up well in my house." Eleanor started a conversation between the three of them. His words were directed at Anna. The answer to a question that Anna had not yet asked.

"What?" Anna asked not because she did not know who Eleanor meant, but because she wished she had heard the last sentence wrongly. Stack it. Leon's locked. Constanza beside him clenched her hands as if ready to throw her punch at Eleanor at any moment.

But Eleanor was indifferent despite seeing Constanza's clenched hands. Calmly, she continued, "I gave some of my magic power to her so that she could face that black magic. But if he can't master it, then maybe he will fail in his duty." And die. But the word was not spoken by the Queen. Anna was grateful Eleanor did not say it. "So as long as I'm gone, I make sure no one can hurt him there. I locked her up with my magic in my house, far from danger. The same way that Xavier and I used to protect Queen Isabella and Crown Prince Alexis at the Queen's Palace back then. The same way Selena used to lock her mother's body, I mean, Queen Irene in her tower right now." Eleanor was silent for a moment and glanced towards Anna who was still silently listening. "Take this as training for him. If he made it out of there, then it means that he has managed to master my magic perfectly. And that means nothing will be dangerous enough for him. He must be able to master my magic. He had to untie the magic bond from Queen Irene. Only he can."

Anna doesn't know whether to be grateful for what Eleanor did for Leon. Eleanor does intend to protect him and train him, even giving him magic powers, but Leon is confined there. But once again Anna reminds herself inwardly that Leon will be safe there. Leon will return safely after successfully mastering Eleanor's magic and disconnecting Selena's magic to Queen Irene. Anna believes in Leon's abilities as does Leon who believes that Anna can get through this without him.

"How is he doing?" This time it was Eleanor's turn to ask him.

Anna knew who she meant. Anna had told Eleanor about Xavier's situation through her letters. He was eager to say that Xavier was fine. But he knew it was not time to lie. "Still dying. But he'll be safe there. You don't have to worry. There are many bodyguards guarding my palace. He'll be fine, I promise."

"You don't have to promise me, but... Thank you." Thank you." Eleanor said, her voice shrinking. "Thank you very much. Because they were trying to save him. Because I told me how she was." His voice now faltered as if he was holding back a cry. Anna looked at Eleanor's teary eyes as she looked at him. "I don't know if you've known this or not or if he's told you about it or not. Xavier's... He doesn't have anyone. It always has been so. When he was a child and sick, his father was too busy being a king, and his stepmother, either because of the poison or intentionally giving him stale food. The king's concubines used to conspire for the main heir to the kingdom to die young so that their son could ascend the throne. And they did not let any doctor treat him so that he might die as a child, as long as he still had neither the strength nor the power to resist. So usually Xavier would come to the Winterthur residence secretly, sick, even in the midst of a blizzard, to ask me and Elias to help take care of him. We are like a replacement for his parents. Because he doesn't have anyone. That's why while making a pact with me and Elias, he just asked us to help him and faithfully accompany him."

That deal. Anna knows what that means. The reason why Xavier insisted on Eleanor being the Queen, Xavier trusted Elias and Eleanor more than anything else. Eleanor had told him about the Grimoire agreement they had made since childhood through the letters.

But Anna has absolutely no idea about the story of the Little Prince being isolated in his own home. He's been told about Selena's treatment of Xavier since childhood. But he had no idea that all his family in the Palace treated him badly. He imagines a boy, with no one by his side, struggling alone to survive amidst the intrigue and politics within the Palace. His home is Nerakana. He was ignored by his father and hated by his stepmothers. No one was helping him and protecting him. The boy grew up well despite being treated unfairly by his own family. Xavier survives through it all until they can finally be reunited in life this time.

But he might not be able to survive due to meeting a girl he saved so many times. A girl who has been trying to ignore their relationship in the past and what is between them, because of the conflict between countries.

Anna wanted to ask her how she was through their channel. Wondering if Xavier was conscious. But he was afraid of facing their silent channels. Afraid to know that his efforts are free. Fear of emptiness that will interfere with his mind so that he becomes unfocused when they are on an important mission. So he shut down their channel tight.

Constanza still looked at him with hatred. He didn't feel guilty at all. Revenge was still flaring in his eyes. "You don't know anything. You won't understand what it's like."

"The great family of Winterthur was put to death on the day King Vlad announced that we were the cause of Queen Irene's death. We were slandered, but that was Selena's doing. Even before that, on my mother's side, most of the Grimoire family was slaughtered because of the actions of some people in our clan who practiced black magic that could harm our people. And not too long ago I had to watch my loved ones being burned alive and I couldn't even scream or move a finger to save her. I know what it's like to lose my family and loved ones." Eleanor looked at Constanza and Anna. There was pain and suffering in that gaze. He then continued, "I am well aware of what is happening in your homeland right now. But I can't do much either. Right now my country is also on the edge with the threat of attack from Orient. We will not be able to save anyone if we continue to hold grudges and blame each other in a state of grief. We can only survive and keep working together. That's why I agreed to your invitation, Princess Anastasia. I want to try to fix everything. To be a better queen."

Anna nodded. "I knew. Xavier told me you weren't in a safe position either. I don't blame you at all."

"Who can we blame? Who is it that our country is like this if it's not their Queen's fault?" Constanza raised her tone.

"Your future mother-in-law, Lady Smirnoff. He built the tower without my knowledge. I was so preoccupied with internal conflicts, transitions of power and the coming of the Orient that I let my guard down and did not know that they, the witches under Selena's power, were erecting towers and holding children."

Before Constanza opened her voice again, before they fought any further, Anna immediately spoke up on behalf of Constanza. "They are no longer engaged. Or at least Constanza has returned the ring to Prince Ludwig."

Eleanor was surprised to hear that. In Nordhalbinsel, engagements with members of the royal family cannot be annulled for any reason. "You southern girls are so easy to call off an engagement like it's nothing." But she then turned to Anna, "Well, by the way, did you leave that ring to her?"

Anna knew what the ring meant. He didn't tell anyone about his pledge. "It has. But he still didn't recover when I left him."

"What about the potion? Did he drink it?"

"It."

Eleanor hesitated for a moment before asking Anna again, her voice receding, "Why don't you... Youknew... I meani... I'm not gonna meddle"

"Oh, believe it or not, I've been trying." Anna said immediately after finding out what Eleanor was trying to ask. Of course Eleanor already knew about everything. Anna had told him in her letter because Eleanor had suggested it. "He forbid me to kiss him."

Constanza, who did not understand what they were talking about, choked on the wine she was drinking. Eleanor hurriedly used her magic to clean up the wine spills in Constanza's clothes and the fur carpet of the animals they were working on.

"Who?" Constanza asked Anna. "Who are we talking about?"

"It's a long story." replied Anna directly.

"He forbids? So he's conscious?"

"voice only. On our channel. I'm sure I told you about it in the last letter." Anna then glanced at Constanza who was still demanding an explanation, "I'll tell you everything right away if you really want to know."

"I really don't understand him when I've known him since birth." Eleanor's forehead was wrinkled confused. "Why did he refuse? I really don't understand. So you still haven't given him that 'magic cure?"

Anna looked down in shame when she heard Eleanor talk about 'magic healing' which Constanza definitely did not understand. Her face was hot, blushing red as she recalled the kiss she gave before leaving this morning. His heart was racing for some reason. He replied as slowly as possible, "Already. But I don't know how he is at the moment." Anna then realized who she was talking to. Although only on paper, Eleanor's current status is Xavier's legal wife. He felt strange talking about this to Eleanor. "I should have apologized to you"

"No." Eleanor replied directly before Anna finished her sentence. As if I knew what was on his mind. "God. There's absolutely no need to apologize. You must have known our relationship wasn't like that. I'm just thankful that she finally met someone." Eleanor looked at Anna, her smile meaningfully.

"Our relationship isn't like that." Anna imitated Eleanor's speech. He himself wondered exactly how their relationship was.

"Why not? You are destined for each other. You are a couple living together. At Schiereiland there may not be much to know, but the story of you is very famous in my country. If the reason is because of me, you should know that I intend to file for divorce as soon as he returns to Nordhalbinsel and becomes King. I always dreamed of living free and traveling the world. I plan to remove my crown immediately. Too heavy."

"You guys are really talking about something I don't understand." Constanza finally commented. His hands were folded in front of his chest, demanding an explanation.

"I promise to explain everything to you if you're really ready to hear it. But later. After we finish business at the tower."

"And before that..." Diana suddenly entered the room with a tray and a glass of a deep brown liquid like tea. Anna can smell the scent of vanilla and cinnamon from a distance. "Please drink, Queen." Diana said as she placed the glass before Eleanor.

Eleanor did not even seem suspicious at all when she saw that deep brown liquid. He did not ask anyone to taste his drink first. He drank it right away. He believes there is no poison in sincerity. "Thank you very much. It's really delicious. Can I have a prescription?"

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