The Rose Of The South
Chapter 8: La Reine en Deuil

Late at night, and everyone was already asleep on some extra bed that Louis had bought this afternoon in the market, Anna quietly walked out of their little cottage. He wanted to see the Northern Lights once again before they returned to Schiereiland. He felt like he would miss that Northern Light.

"I don't think I want to go." Anna said, upon hearing the sound of footsteps approaching her. Without even looking, he knew it was Leon. Anna memorized the rhythm of those footsteps.

Leon sat down beside her, draping a thick blanket of fur onto Anna's back. "Aren't you supposed to be happy that you're coming back to Schiereiland soon? Don't you miss Schiereiland with its sunny skies and warm temperatures, Your Majesty?" Leon asked, looking at the night sky Nordhalbinsel.

"I miss him." Anna acknowledged. "It feels like a long time ago. Right now the roses in my garden are blooming. I could smell the scent coming into my room through the open window. I really miss those moments. But I was also afraid of what I would see there. My rose garden may have been destroyed and burned." Anna looked at Leon who was looking at her. Leon did not take his eyes off. "And I don't want to leave this house either. You bought it for me."

Leon laughed, "You still have the Palace in Schiereiland, Your Majesty. So is the summer palace on the beach Canaria. As well as royal villas in the Smirnoff, Kief, and Eastern Rantsoff regions."

"And the Palace of Anastasia in Eze, in Duchy Francis. Even though I never used it, it's still my palace."

"really. The palace that Nicholas gave you, your former fiancee. When compared with this house—“

"If compared to this house, the Palace is too..."

"big? Luxurious? Shimmering?"

Anna shook her head, "Not." He's trying to find the right word, "Too good for me." Said. The palace was his home since birth. But this house was the residence he had dreamed of. The house he once so desperately wanted to own to be occupied with Leon. "I'd rather stay in this house. With you."

"Your Majesty..."

Anna sighed, "You're still going to keep calling me that?"

"Yes." Yeah."

"All right."

"I'll answer it now. Your application at that time..." Said Leon. This time he looked at Anna seriously.

Anna was pounding for it, but Anna knew what that gaze meant. Anna already knew Leon too well not to expect the answer he wanted out of the man's mouth.

Anna turned her eyes away, unable to look at Leon when she knew what he was going to say, "You're going to reject me again right? Have you never seen me as a woman, even for a moment? Do I still look like the little sister you need to protect? Do I still look like a spoiled princess who only knows of a good and happy life in the Palace?"

"No. Not really." Answer Leon directly.

"What?"

"I like you. As a sister. The Princess Schiereiland. And as a woman."

Anna was silent, speechless. It doesn't feel real. It's not what he imagined. He wanted to hope, but was afraid of his own expectations.

"Then—“

"I'm sorry, Your Honor. I shouldn't have said it." Leon cut his words, kneeling before him.

Now Anna is confused. Leon liked. Not only as a sister or a princess, but also as a woman. But he apologized. "What do you mean?"

"We cannot be like this, Your Majesty. Be the strong Princess Schiereiland and take back Schiereiland. I'll help you. I promise to always be by your side as your sword and shield."

As my sword and shield, but not as my side. What was I expecting?

Anna swallowed her emotions. Not letting his voice shake. To give up all that hope that almost came.

I can't look sad and disappointed. It's good he's honest like that. This isn't the first time she's rejected me. In Anna's heart encouraged herself.

"alright. I get your point. It's okay." Anna forced a smile, "What matters is that you promised to always be by my side. The important thing is I know you can like me too and see me as a woman. It's okay if you reject me again as long as you keep that promise, General Leon."

"It won't change anything, will it?"

Anna laughed awkwardly, half expecting Leon to not notice it, "No will. After all I've been rejected once, the second rejection doesn't feel too painful. I'm getting used to it." Said. He grabbed the blanket Leon had brought back, starting to feel the cold of the night. Anna looked up at the sky to be sure. The Northern Lights that night did not come, there was only a dark sky and cold air. "In that case, I will enter first. Tomorrow early in the morning we will leave this Ice Country. I hate this cold air. Good night, Leon."

That night Anna couldn't really fall asleep. The second rejection was much more painful. He hid his head under a fur blanket and cried silently all night.

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

The Rapture Meeting of the Crown Prince Nordhalbinsel...

That afternoon, the Main Palace was filled with state officials who would attend the appointment of Crown Prince Nordhalbinsel. The atmosphere in the room was particularly tense after Crown Princess Eleanor Winterthur and Prince Ludwig and Empress Selena entered the room. Even before the meeting began, the nobles present at the meeting already consisted of two camps: those who supported the child of the late Crown Prince who had not yet been born, and those who supported Prince Ludwig.

"Where's Elias?" Eleanor asked her bodyguard when she realized her twin brother was not in the meeting room. He tried not to look panicked.

Although it was a very important meeting day for her, Eleanor still wore a black dress. The mourning tradition in Nordhalbinsel requires that people in the kingdom wear black for three days after the death of Crown Prince Xavier. But as her partner, Eleanor had to keep wearing a black dress for an entire year to signify she was still in mourning. Tradition is still better than the tradition that states that the woman whose husband or fiancee left behind must wear a black dress for the rest of her life.

"I'll be looking for him soon, Your Majesty." Said the guard.

"no need. You should be here. They'll be suspicious if anyone comes out during the meeting."

The news of the Crown Princess' pregnancy was already known to everyone at the meeting. Even so, some of those who were supporters of Prince Ludwig doubted the truth of the news. The doctor who handled Eleanor was called to testify and prove that the Crown Princess was indeed pregnant with a baby boy.

"But even so, the Crown Princess has not officially married the late Crown Prince. Isn't this a bit embarrassing and inappropriate." Said Empress Selena.

His words made the nobles present start whispering. Grand Duke Winterthur seemed to be holding back his anger.

"We love each other. Anyway we should have been married three years ago." Eleanor.

"really. I suppose. But it's still delayed, isn't it? Maybe the Crown Prince doesn't really want to marry you, Her Highness the Crown Princess."

"It is not our will to continue delaying the marriage, Your Majesty Empress Selena."

"A child born out of wedlock cannot be a successor to the throne." Said Selena, again managed to make the nobles present in the meeting room began to noisily whisper. "That's also if it's true that child is the son of the late Crown Prince." He smiled cunningly.

Selena knows. How did Selena know? Eleanor began to panic.

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Grand Duke Winterthur no longer seemed to be able to hold back his anger.

"Bring the boy in." Selena's orders.

A few of Selena's bodyguards came in carrying someone whose face was covered. The guards then opened the man's face. Eleanor was shocked when she saw his face.

The sea-blue eyes briefly glanced at her, but the man instantly turned his face away as if he was avoiding Eleanor's gaze. His face was covered in wounds. Not just her face, now Eleanor saw a blood patch on her clothes. Someone tortured him. Eleanor refrained from rushing at him, hugging him, treating him and asking him what had happened and punishing anyone who dared hurt him. He held himself back from letting his emotions beat his wits. It's still in the meeting room. The situation is not right.

"His name is Dylan. He was a slave from the Northern Palace who now lived in the countryside. You probably know her, Your Highness the Crown Princess?" Hardik Selena's.

"What the fuck? Why did you bring in just anyone to this sacred meeting room?" Ask Grand Duke Winterthur. He's obviously wrathful.

Selena giggled, "Now people? Is that so, Your Highness the Crown Princess? Are you sure you don't know him? Even though a despicable slave he still had a handsome face that would be hard to forget." Selena's smile spread across her face. "It's not exciting if I just ask Your Majesty. How, son? You want to say something to your girlfriend?" Selena asked Dylan.

Dylan looked at Eleanor, then said in a flat tone, "I don't know why I was brought to this place. I don't know him." Then he looked back down, staring at the glittering marble floor of the Palace beneath his bare, bloody feet.

Selena pulled a pinch of her dark gray hair so that Dylan looked forward, towards Eleanor. "Take a good look, son. She's a witch, so she might change her hair color and eye color. But it's impossible that you didn't recognize him. Such a face could not be found anywhere else." Selena's words are full of threats.

"I don't know him. Please let me go. Empress Selena said she would give me some money if I wanted to pretend to be the mistress of the Crown Princess. I said no, but Empress Selena tortured me and threatened to kill me. If I may be honest, I actually do not know Her Highness the Crown Princess at all. I just saw it this time."

There were whispers again among the nobles when they heard those words from Dylan.

Grand Duke Winterthur kicked down the table and stood up, "Empress Selena. It's an insult to our family." The Grand Duke protest.

"Mother, please don't be like this..." Whisper Ludwig, beside him. But Selena ignored him.

"Well, if that's the case." Selena. He flicked his finger and in a moment, flames ran through Dylan's entire body. Dylan roared in pain as the flames devoured his body rapidly. In a split second, his charred body was completely devoured by the flames and only the ashes remained where he had stood. Selena flashed a smile as she looked at Eleanor's extremely shocked expression.

Shocked was a word too simple to describe what Eleanor was feeling at that moment.

"What are you doing!" Raung Eleanor's. He wanted to immediately run and tear Selena apart, exert all her magic power and attack Selena right then and there. He wanted to go on a rampage, destroying the entire room with a magic explosion and letting Selena be buried inside. More than that, Eleanor wanted to run to the ash of her lover and collect it, and find a way to revive it. But the remnants of common sense he still has forbid him to mess with this meeting. He turned to his right side where his father and mother were sitting tensely. His family name is at stake. His father, his mother, Elias, will all be put to death if he messes up. If he did even a little suspicious action, then his entire plan would fail. His family's life is at stake. Also the life of the baby it contains. The son of the man who has now become ashes.

Eleanor was sad, angry, scared and lost her way. The man she loves, the only place she can be herself, the father of the baby she contains, the person he still loved so much that even though that person was angry with him because he had kept his identity a secret all this time, that person was burned to death before his eyes. But Eleanor can't do anything. Heart hurts. Her chest feels tight. She wanted to cry, but she held back those tears.

Cold as ice, sharp as a wolf's fang, unbreakable as a sword. Eleanor remembered her father's words. Winterthur is not weak. Winterthur shed no tears. That is how he was educated from childhood.

Eleanor loves Dylan. The man was like an oasis in the desert of his life. And now there is only an endless desert left.

Selena laughed, "Isn't it clear, Your Majesty? I will only destroy those who will give false testimony in this sacred meeting. After all, he's a nobody. Only the despicable Northern Palace slaves were not recognized by anyone."

Suddenly the door of the room opened wide. Elias Winterthur entered the room with a small crate in his hand.

"Sorry to be late, but I just found this hidden in the late Crown Prince's room." Said.

All eyes in the room were on him. The small chest was handed over to the nobles who were still on the neutral side. Theyopenit. Inside the box, there were several letters that were still folded. Some papers have started yellowing, but there is also a new paper. They took the topmost letter, the most recent letter. The nobles read the contents of the letter and observed the writing.

"It's..."

"The official letter of marriage registration was signed by the late Crown Prince before he left that day." Elias said, explaining. "And the other paper on the crate was a love letter from the late Crown Prince to the Crown Princess that he never sent. During this time the late Crown Prince always wrote letters he had hidden for the Crown Princess before he was assigned to leave the Palace. He always told me that he could have died on duty and wanted the Crown Princess to find the letter. Under the marriage registration letter was a letter stating that she already knew that the Crown Princess was pregnant when she was leaving that day. That was why he signed the marriage registration letter before leaving just in case something happened to him. As we all know, the late Crown Prince really loved my twin sister." Elias' icy blue eyes seemed to be glazed as he said so. "She has officially married him by signing the letter."

All the nobles who were there seemed touched by Elias' words and the contents of the letters.

But only Eleanor knew that Elias was lying. So far, it's his best acting.

"Generic..." Eleanor looked meaningfully at her twin sister. There was a lot he wanted to ask and say, but not yet.

Elias just nodded at Eleanor, hinting that everything would be fine. That Eleanor only needed to entrust this to him.

The nobles in the room were very curious and ended up reading the letters one by one. Love letters written by Xavier were never given to Eleanor. Their eyes glazed over as they read the letters. They could feel the sincerity of the words in those letters. The whole room is talking about the letter. They completely forgot what Selena said before. They forgot whose ashes were still in the room.

"This is really the handwriting of the late Crown Prince. I recognize his handwriting."

"really. This handwriting is impossible for anyone to copy."

"His words are also very beautiful, these are really words written by the late Crown Prince himself."

"Then isn't this letter alone, meaning they're officially married?"

"Meaning the baby in the womb of the Crown Princess is indeed the Royal Son."

As all the nobles were busy reading and talking about the heart touching contents of the letter, Selena quietly moved from her seat, about to leave the meeting room. Elias soon realized it.

"Ah, wait a minute, ladies and gentlemen. There was a distinguished guest who wanted to attend this sacred meeting." Said Elias. She rushed towards the door, so Selena paused her intention to leave. Elias ordered the guards to open the door wide. "Please come in, Queen."

Everyone turned towards the entrance to see who Elias was called with His Majesty.

The woman had an exotic brown complexion, her long black hair looking smooth smeared behind her back. His eyes that were blue like Sapphire gems stared at the entire people who were there warmly. A sweet and graceful smile was painted on her face. She looked extremely beautiful in a green dress as well as a necklace of emerald gems that simultaneously reminded them of Crown Prince Xavier's eyes. Next to him, holding his hand, Prince Jeffrey.

The woman was Queen Eugene of Westeria.

At once everyone bowed to him respectfully.

"Our cordial greetings to Her Majesty Queen Eugene of Westeria and Prince Jeffrey."

Queen Eugene immediately took a seat at Eleanor's side. Eleanor was surprised at the arrival of the young Queen from Westeria. Still half in disbelief, Eleanor invited him to sit down. Queen Eugene then cast a glance at Elias, hinting to close the door, and that all would go according to his plan. Eleanor caught the small gesture between them. Eleanor knew what was going on.

Queen Eugene invited everyone to sit down, then said in Nordhalbinsel with a typical speaking accent of the northerners, "I came here to witness firsthand the meeting that will determine the future of Nordhalbinsel, he said, a kingdom that has had good relations with Westeria for many years. But you all need to know, because of the good relations between the two kingdoms, I hope this meeting goes well without any fraud. I'll be watching the meeting today."

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

The meeting went well despite the dispute between the two camps. With the presence of Queen Eugene of Westeria who showed full support for Eleanor as the Sole Queen While Nordhalbinsel who would run the affairs of state in place of the dying King Vlad and the baby boy she contained as The new Crown Prince Nordhalbinsel then the meeting ended. With a huge margin of votes, Eleanor was soon crowned Queen of Nordhalbinsel.

Queen Eleanor gave her first edict, the punishment of Empress Selena, who had defamed her family by bearing false witnesses. Queen Eleanor also prepared a restraint for Selena so that she could not use her magic at all.

After the meeting, Eleanor was immediately preoccupied with various documents that she had to check immediately. Various things he had to do because of the absence of King Vlad and Xavier all this time. As well as various needs for his coronation that will be implemented soon.

Eleanor still vividly remembered the moment the flames from Selena's magic burned Dylan before her eyes. The incident kept ringing in his mind but he must not show how devastated he was. She should still look strong in the presence of people while continuing to do her duties as Queen.

I'm a Queen now. If I look weak, my kingdom will be weak.

The night came, and Eleanor returned to her room at the Crown Prince's Palace. He was reluctant to occupy the Main Palace as well as the Queen's Palace. The people of the Palace took him and assumed their new Queen was still grieving the death of the Crown Prince so that she could not leave the palace.

"Where is he?" Eleanor asked immediately as Elias walked into her room. Eleanor asks the people to let her talk alone with her twin brother. "Where is Xavier? Why didn't you bring her here?" His voice shook, still holding back the cry.

"Elle, relax. I can't tell you anything like this."

"The woman killed Dylan right in front of my eyes! You think I can calm down?" Her tears are starting to spill. Everything he's been holding all day he's been putting out. His anger towards Selena, his sadness at seeing the man he loved being killed in front of him, and his great disappointment at knowing that Xavier planned all this, knew that Xavier was still alive, but choose not to come and let Eleanor face all this alone without her.

Elias immediately hugged Eleanor, who shed all the tears she had been holding.

"If Xavier had come, today's events might never have happened. I might be able to save Dylan. Dylan doesn't have to die. Where exactly did he go? This is his kingdom, why did he leave it to me?" Eleanor said as she continued to cry. He looked at his twin brother and asked, "The letter... You must have gotten it straight from Xavier, right? He planned all this, right? The arrival of Queen Eugene as well. There's no way you're doing everything yourself. He's still alive. Don't you?"

"For now you must consider him dead. I can't tell you anything. Really, I wanted to tell you everything, but you know the contents of the deal. I can't... What matters now is that you managed to become Queen according to your plan. Xavier kept his promise, he made you Queen, so we have to keep our promise."

Hearing Elias mention the covenant, Eleanor knew that it meant Xavier was still alive. Xavier may have his own reasons why he told Elias but kept everything from him a secret. It has always been so. And Eleanor inevitably had to take it for granted.

"He's still alive." Eleanor concluded. Elias cannot say it, but Eleanor can draw her own conclusions. "Where is he now?"

Elias shook his head, refusing to tell his twin sister anything. "Let's hold on until he manages to gain General Leon's trust. You know, that was his goal all along. It was somewhat changed from the original plan due to the presence of Princess Anastasia. But we stick to our main goal. Until then, you must maintain your position as Queen."

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