The Rose Of The South
Chapter 36: Le Prince de Glace Sans Coeur

"We have to save those kids." Eleanor insisted. But there was no longer the commanding tone typical of the Northern Queen from him. He seemed to be begging Ludwig.

"Can you help us?" Anna begged. He has no other choice. Their arrival to the Schere Tower, the great risk Eleanor faced, all of it should not be in vain. "I'd do anything if you helped us free those kids."

Ludwig shook his head. "I can't bring them back to how they were." Then he turned back to Constanza after loosening the grip of his hand. Constanza pulled his hand from Ludwig. "Your sisters are in my house. You know which house. You're the only one I told the place about. They were safe and untouched by the witches. You're always welcome there." Ludwig turned back to Eleanor who was now getting pale. "Quick get Queen Eleanor out of here! Trouble would have gotten worse if they saw him here!"

"Constanza, get Eleanor out of here. I'm gonna stay here and figure out a way to free these kids."

"Don't you hear me? There's no way! They can't—“

Ludwig's words stopped, because suddenly the sound of waves. The sound of waves. No, after Anna had listened more carefully, it was not the sound of the pounding waves as Schere was far away from the shore. It was a beautiful singing voice. The song that her mother sang. With the background sound of waterfalls and birds chirping in the morning. The sound of the spring breeze and the rustling of leaves on the newly growing tree. The sound of light rain at night. The sound of dance music that sounded familiar to him. Xavier's Voice. Then there was the sound of laughter from the two brothers' sons running around in the palace courtyard on a sunny afternoon. The voices seem to call him.

Anna was so dissolved in the voices that she almost forgot the current situation. Almost forgot who he was and where he was.

"What's that sound?" Constanza's voice brought him back to reality. Constanza had already moved away from Ludwig, holding Eleanor, helping her to her feet, preparing to leave at Anna's behest.

"Close all your ears! Don't listen to that voice." Eleanor's Command. Order of a Queen. All immediately obeyed his words, closing their ears.

"What's that?" Ask Anna. He did not know if the others also heard the voices he heard. Because the others seemed to be frowning while covering their ears as if they heard a disturbing and deafening sound.

"The Flute Beatrice Grimoire." Ludwig answered it. He quickly put up a magic protector between them. The protector is like a giant bubble of anti-sound. The sound from outside could not be heard with the shield.

Anna lowered her hand, testing the anti-sound protector. The pleasant voices he had heard were gone as if they had never existed.

Constanza did the same. He no longer looked at Ludwig with a hateful gaze, but was full of questions. "You mean like the ones in those kids' fairy tales? Beatrice and the Missing Children?"

Anna knows the fairy tale. Queen Isabella used to read her fairy tales before going to bed. One of the most he remembers is a fairy tale from the north, the story of Beatrice and the Lost Children. He remembers the fairy tale because he thinks the story is dark and not as beautiful as the usual fairy tales. Fairy tales from the north usually have a darker and creepy story but at the same time realistic and keep a mystery. In the story, Beatrice is a girl from a village that is so remote and seedy. The population lives in poverty and is beset by hunger, the village is full of suffering children. Beatrice wanted to entertain the children in her village, so she played her flute to comfort the starving and suffering children. The children were indeed amused, and they always wanted to hear the sound of Beatrice's flute. The boys kept on following Beatrice wherever she played the flute. Beatrice takes the children away from the village and disappears forever. That way, there were no more children suffering in that village. And all the adults in the village were said to have died with bleeding ears.

Anna had absolutely no idea that the fairy tale was real. Beatrice's flute actually exists.

Eleanor nodded, answering Constanza's question. "The "flute was one of the long-lost magic items of the Grimoire Clan. It was Beatrice Grimoire who made it hundreds of years ago and she was also the one who eliminated it while bringing the village children in the story. Right, she is also a witch from my clan. The flute only called out to those whose souls were still holy. Like those kids. But for an adult, already stained with sin, his voice can be deadly or mad."

Anna saw for herself the evidence from Eleanor's statement. The children were—the children without hope that— slowly one by one began to rise. Their gazes were still void, but they stood up and started walking out of their prison. They all walked towards the outside of the tower, following the sound of the Flute.

"Go away." Ludwig. Anna looked at him. Ludwig still gave them that shield so that none of them were affected by the Flute.

Without waiting for further orders, Constanza had already walked quickly and helped Eleanor walk with him while giving the Red Queen members orders at the entrance to escort the children and fight anyone who tried to block the path them.

Anna realized that the members of the Red Queen were also unaffected by the sound of the Grimoire Flute. Ludwig gave them all the protectors with his magic. Ludwig protected them all.

Just as Anna was about to step up to follow them all after the last line of children stepped out, Anna turned her head back to her back. Towards Ludwig who was still concentrating his magic power to make a magic protector while looking at the door where he last saw Constanza go.

"Come with us." Take Anna.

Ludwig seemed surprised by the invitation to the point that he did not know what to say. He opened his mouth to say something, but immediately paused it.

"You helped me free my mother. You helped Constanza by saving her sisters. You could have attacked Eleanor earlier, but you didn't. And now, you're also helping us free those kids. Come along."

Ludwig laughed cynically. "I'm not helping you guys." His voice came back cold. The voice of the Prince of the Heartless Ice Country. "I'm just doing what I think is right. Although sometimes my opinion is not the same as my mother's opinion."

"Then what's the reason you helped me free my mother from the Queen's Palace that night? Or maybe it's part of your and your mother's plan to have Xavier leave the Palace so it's easier to send out hitmen for him? Is that all you did to help your mother kill your own sister? Are you happier now that your brother's dead?"

There was something from her gaze that made Anna unwillingly think of Xavier. It was in the cave, after his meeting with Earithear. Anna remembers the accusations she made against Xavier and how Xavier felt guilty and sorry for her. Ludwig was currently showing the same emotions. They were really brothers even though they were born from different mothers.

"I'm not..." Ludwig seemed to be refuting, but he immediately paused it. "really. That's part of the plan." He admits. Then hurriedly added, "But I didn't know that they were going to try to kill you either. At first I thought their target was just my brother. Xavier could always survive somehow, so back then I believed he would survive. He's not gonna die. I was wrong." Anna couldn't have heard wrong. Ludwig really sounded sad and regretful. "And I never had the intention to get you dragged into this. You should have run away that night. I told you to go, didn't I?"

"Why?" Ask Anna again.

"If you survive... If you and Queen Isabella survive, Constanza won't be alone at least. At least I can be sure he won't be alone in facing it all. And also..." There was a short pause before she continued with the words that Anna could least trust, "You remind me of my mother."

"What?"

Ludwig smiled bitterly. Her eyes were teary as she talked about her mother. "A royal princess with a perfect life. His entire family was slaughtered in one night. His kingdom was forcibly taken. And the Princess had to survive alone. Without anyone, only with grudges and sorrows. So he infiltrated the kingdom, approached the Crown Prince for revenge, and unfortunately, ended up falling in love with him instead. But the Crown Prince instead married the woman he had chosen for him. Up here, does that sound familiar, Princess Anastasia?"

Anna gasped, not knowing the story. "Your mother... a princess from another kingdom?"

Ludwig nodded. "Princess Laluna of Clera, a small kingdom that worships science and peace more than anything else so her military is weak. It was in the middle of the Tygriss ocean, but it is now not depicted on any map. Clera is still there, a small island, but it's so small and remote that I'm sure no one lives there. My mother was much younger than you. He's still very small. He had been the maid of the crown prince for many years. She grew up in the Palace as a servant even though she was a Princess. She's just a naive young girl. So when the Crown Prince whispered words of love to her, she believed. He believes they are in love with each other. Love makes him forgiving. He began to forgive all the deeds of the royal family because that love under the pretext of the Crown Prince would not be as evil as his father. He could almost wipe out all his grudges when the Crown Prince promised to marry her and make her Queen when she took the throne later. He was even allowed to learn magic and become the most talented magician ever. But then his dream ran aground. She's disappointed. Crown Prince married Irene Winterthur and they became King and Queen." There was a deep wound when Ludwig told Anna all about it. "I never hated my brother. I regret his death. But I am my mother's son. I will always be my mother's son. And because of that, I became the most hated figure by Constanza."

Anna wanted to convince him. Invite him again, tell him that he is not as bad as people think about him. Constanza will forgive him. That he would be accepted to Anastasia Palace if he was willing to come along. But all of his solicitation sentences were gone and he only asked one thing.

"You really ever wanted to leave your kingdom and go settle in Schiereiland for Constanza? Even if it means you betrayed your mother's attempt to make you king?"

Long Ludwig was silent. As if it was a difficult question. Not because it was a difficult question for him. But he had trouble answering honestly. Anna knows that. Ludwig has been playing his role perfectly for too long. Role of evil prince, son of magician, usurper of the throne and so on.

"I've known him since childhood. He does not want a throne. He just obeyed his mother's words." Xavier's words were ringing in his head.

"I still want that. Always." Ludwig admitted honestly. His voice trembled either because he ended up telling the truth about his own desires, or because of the difficulty of making magic protectors for all of them. "But I can't. Queen Eleanor was not entitled to her throne. It belongs to my brother and only his descendants can occupy it. Not an illegitimate child in the womb of Queen Eleanor. Nope. That throne belongs to my late brother. But now that he is gone, even though many people oppose him, even though I myself do not want this way, even though I have to give up all my desires, I have to fulfill them. I have to be ra—“

"What?" This time Ludwig looked completely shocked.

"I can't tell you where he is. But he's still alive." Anna then remembered something. "Morta. The poison. Did you make it?"

Ludwig nodded reluctantly. "That's my unfinished research—“

"So you have the antidote?"

He shook his head, the look on his face still implying confusion. "none. I still haven't made an antidote, but they hurriedly took the poison from my lab for as their weapon and sold some of it to the Orient."

"Orienti?" Reload Anna.

"My mom asked me this question... You know how to take revenge against the land that dumped you? The kingdom that betrayed you?" Ludwig smiled bitterly. Anna did not want to hear the answer. "Make another country attack that country. With their military might, the Twin Dragons serving their Emperor, as well as Morta's poison supply from us, Orient will destroy Nordhalbinsel."

When Anna was just about to say something, suddenly the floor she was on shook. The whole tower is shaking. The rocks began to fall almost on him. He tried to avoid falling rocks, looking for shelter or a way out, but nothing. The only way out is covered in ruins. The tower will collapse and he will be buried in it.

It was hard to walk as the ground continued to shake and the lanterns in the dungeon went out. Standing up, he had trouble. Anna tripped over the rubble as she was about to go looking for another way out in that scanty glare. He did not see when a huge rock fell on his foot. Anna screamed, feeling her bones break.

Ludwig who also seemed to have trouble standing, tried to run towards Anna. With her magic, she lifted the stone from Anna's feet.

"Can you stand up?" Ask while extending a hand. There's blood on his head. I don't know when one of those stones hit him.

Anna tried to stand up, though it was difficult. One leg was broken. She had to bite her own lips to hold back the screams while trying to stand up. But the other leg that is not broken can still support it. Ludwig beside him now held onto him.

"The truth will be destroyed." As he said that, his thoughts floated on Constanza, Eleanor, the Red Queen and the children they were supposed to save. Even at Feyna, the magic disciple who was previously a slave. Did they all make it out of the tower? Will this all end up in vain?

"I know." Ludwig said, while trying to make a protector with his magic around them so that no more stones hit them. "You ever teleport?"

Anna shakes. "I've only ever flown." With sister. But Anna didn't say it.

"It'll be a little dizzy for beginners, but hold it."

In one blink of an eye, they were already far behind the tower building. Anna almost vomited because as soon as she opened her eyes, it felt like the world was swirling. But at least the forest air at night felt much more refreshing than the air inside the dungeon earlier. From where she stood, Anna saw the tower in front of her crumbling and crumbling against the forest at night. The view looked haunted and horrible. Did everyone manage to save themselves? Did the witches make it out too? How many died? When Anna turned to thank Ludwig for bringing him out before he was buried alive, Ludwig had already disappeared.

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

The dawn had not yet dawned and it was still dark, though it felt like they had been in the tower all night. Anna picked up a piece of tree wood from the ground, enough to prop him up and help him walk. He took a detour to the front of the tower where Constanza and their troops were waiting. Constanza immediately hugged him as soon as she saw him coming closer.

"Thank God you're out." Constanza. "Why your feet? What's going on?"

Anna hugged him back. After everything they faced that night, she needed a warm hug from her cousin. It was a relief to see Constanza and the others make it out safely. Her tears almost came out but she held it. Constanza wouldn't cry in front of anyone, so she didn't want to lose either. Anna laughed to herself when she realized a year ago she would not have expected to get this close to Constanza. "We succeeded. We survived."

"Don't laugh. You seem to have been hit by the tower ruins and gone crazy."

Anna tightened her embrace. "Thank you for holding on and choosing not to give up. It must be hard for you... Thank you very much, Constanza."

Constanza didn't say anything, but Anna knew. Anna knew her too well that she knew Constanza was holding back tears. So he patted his cousin's back slowly, calming him down.

While taking off her embrace, Anna could see there were words that her cousin had not yet spoken. A question. And Anna knows what it is.

"He disappeared. Right after I took me out of the tower. But he survived. That's certain. Don't worry." Anna answered a question that was drawn from Constanza's gaze. The girl nodded briefly, looking unwilling to look too caring. But his gaze could not lie. Constanza is worried about her ex-fiance.

"I still want that. Always was. But I can't." Anna recalled Ludwig's words, and wanted him to tell Constanza everything back then. But at the moment there is something more important.

"Orient will destroy Nordhalbinsel."

Anna wanted to tell Eleanor immediately. But he could not find the Queen anywhere.

Anna looked back, towards the tower that had now been destroyed.

They managed to free the children thanks to the Grimoire Flute. But the moment they all came out, the sound of the Flute disappeared. Constanza testified that he did not see anyone playing the flute outside around the tower.

Anna did not know the full story because when the children came out of the tower, Anna was still in the tower with Prince Ludwig. So Constanza told me everything. The children were as if they had just woken up from their long slumber so much as breathing free air outside. They all cried and hugged when they found out they were finally free and were able to return home. Eleanor regained her magic power after coming out of the tower and the first thing she did with her magic was to re-exert all of her magic power to protect them all from the attacks of the magic tower guards.

The Wolf Army belonging to the Winterthur family and the Queen's Army that Anna had prepared at the site near the tower came to join the Red Queen and fight the witches. Some witches ran away and disappeared. But some of them managed to disable it thanks to Eleanor's magic that made the witches unable to use magic for a few minutes so as to give time for their troops to attach magic seals to the witches. Eleanor orders the Wolf Army to track down the escaped witches, while Constanza, according to the plan they've put together, tracks down the witches, ordered the Queen's Army to secure the children and take them to Anastasia Palace to be given medicine, food and clothing.

"So Eleanor also destroyed the tower?" Ask Anna.

"I haven't gotten to that story yet. You need to be prepared for what I'm about to tell you. You won't believe." Constanza. "Queen Eleanor was not there when it happened. He got emergency news from one of the Wolves to immediately return to the Palace. He looked hurried and confused as he left. He actually disappeared very quickly along with those captive witches. Queen Eleanor promised to make them all pay for their crimes."

"So it wasn't Eleanor who destroyed the tower? Then who?" Anna asked, impatient.

"Dragon."

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