The Rose That Blooms In North
Chapter 9: Le Loup Fou du Nord

It was the day Anna had been waiting for. The first stage of the election of Crown Prince Xavier's personal bodyguard was held in the hall of the Nordhalbinsel Palace.

Different from the time of registration, there were fewer people present in the First Stage Examination that day. But their numbers remained so numerous that the Palace hall looked crowded. Anna smiled in relief as her plan with Leon yesterday managed to cut down a bit from the participants.

Yesterday, upon receiving the information regarding the names of the participants in the Crown Prince's personal bodyguard selection, Anna asked Leon to come to the people she knew among the names. Leon immediately left at that moment to meet the people he knew to have them cancel their registration. I don't know what Leon told them, but he has succeeded and that's the most profitable thing for Anna.

"Participants please occupy each other's tables." There was a voice of a man from upstairs. Anna raised her head, trying to see the figure of the person. From his clothes, he looked like a bodyguard. But Anna wasn't so sure.

"Isn't that the son of Grand Duke Winterthur? Young Master Elias?" whispered someone behind Anna.

"really. I heard he will soon take his father's place as the General guarding the north."

Anna again noticed the figure of the man standing on the stairs. He was wearing a royal guard suit, complete with a sword on his waist. Her hair was blond with both eyes icy blue. The man named Elias looks like a flawless painting.

Perhaps conscious of being observed, Elias glanced at him. Their views meet. But Elias looked very surprised as soon as he saw Anna. The ice blue eyeballs were widened. His mouth was open as if he was going to say something, but he paused immediately.

Aware of her daydreams, Anna hastily takes up her position to take the writing test with other candidates.

***

The writing test was passed smoothly. Anna managed to fill all the questions well even though she was not one hundred percent sure that the answers were all right. At the very least, he did not feel that those matters were so difficult.

After the written test, the participants were asked to go home first and the results would be announced the next day. Anna hurriedly left the palace hall to return to her inn room.

"How's your test?" Asked Leon who was playing cards with Louis in their room. It was not dark at the time. But the sun has almost sunk leaving a tinge of orange color in the Nordhalbinsel sky which is usually gray.

"Not too bad." Anna answered briefly, laying herself on the carpet of her bed. Though he did not do any physical activity and just sat all day while answering questions, but somehow it feels tiring. He then recalled something and immediately sat back down, "Leon, do you know Elias?" Ask.

Leon placed the card he was holding and focused his attention on Anna. His expression was as if he was ready to beat up someone. "What's wrong? Quickly say. Is that wolf bothering you?"

Instead of answering her, Anna laughed at Elias. "You mean, if you're known as the Lion of the South, then Elias is the Wolf of the North? What's wrong with you beasts?" Laughter Anna.

"That's right, Miss." Louis also put his card and focused on Anna with a serious look that is not suitable for teenagers his age. "Young Master Elias Winterthur is known by the nickname Mad Wolf of the North. In fact the nickname was given because Young Master Elias was the son of Grand Duke Winterthur who was also known as the Wolf King of the North. He was indeed not comparable to General Leon, but as I heard, he turned into a very dangerous and unforgiving figure on the battlefield." Obviously Louis.

"really? He doesn't look like that. He looks like someone very friendly and warm." Said Anna.

“You should try to compete one-on-one with him once. I don't know too much about his abilities either. But I know General Wolfgang Winterthur's abilities. The Winterthur family were a family highly respected for their strength. When the extended family of the late Queen Irene is given the death penalty, King Vlad decides to keep Grand Duke Wolfgang Winterthur's family who are distant cousins of Queen Irene. Allegedly everyone, the King left the family because the greatest military force in the kingdom of Nordhalbinsel came from that family.” Leon said, taking care of the cards they had played before Anna arrived. He got up and extended his hand to Anna, “I'm hungry. Let's get ready for dinner.”

***

That morning, Anna was already in the back garden of Nordhalbinsel Palace. The park consists of three main parts, namely the Crystal Tulip flower garden, then in the middle there is a greenhouse where members of the royal family usually hold tea parties, and at the very end there is a labyrinth made of solid ice. Anna had never seen a labyrinth made of ice, but Anna was certain that it must have been made with magic. A few days in Nordhalbinsel led him to learn more about the land that relied on magic power for most of his work.

Anna stepped towards the line of candidates. He no longer saw the faces he saw yesterday. Most of the people from the Orient empire had already disappeared from that line, and only a few from Westerian were left. Their number was about 25 and was dominated by the knights of Nordhalbinsel.

“Welcome to the candidates.” Elias greeted the candidates in the park with a friendly smile. “Congratulations to all of you who are in this park, because that means you have successfully escaped to the Second Stage.” Elias announced, who was immediately greeted by a standing ovation and cheers from the candidates.

Elias continued his words after the excited cheers subsided. “As Crown Prince Xavier is attending another event, the opening remarks of the Second Stage Election of the Crown Prince's Personal Guards will be hosted by the third Prince, Prince Jeffrey.”

All the participants applauded in greeting the presence of the Third Prince. Prince Jeffrey, like the other Nordhalbinsel men Anna had seen, had a very charming face. His skin was as pale as snow in the land. His eyebrows are thick, while his brown hair is trimmed neatly. Equipped with a charming smile that displays dimples that make the appearance of a man nearly two meters tall is more perfect. Prince Jeffrey stepped gracefully onto the podium to give his welcome. He was immediately greeted with a standing ovation from everyone who was there.

The welcome from the Third Prince was not too long, but it was so meaningful that it aroused the enthusiasm of the candidates. Not only was his beautiful face unusually alluring, Prince Jeffrey also had a soft, yet firm voice. Anna believes the Prince's age is not too different from hers, but from the way she speaks and evokes people with her words, Prince Jeffrey seems much more mature than her age.

"Gee, it's really amazing." Comment on someone standing right behind Anna.

Anna turned her head and looked at one of the Nordhalbinsel female knights she had seen on the day of registration.

"He's very handsome, isn't he?" He told Anna.

Anna simply nodded and smiled shyly. Inevitably, he must admit that Prince Jeffrey is the most handsome northern man he has ever met.

"I'm Honey Welsh." Said the girl while extending her hand and smiling kindly at him.

"Anna" said Anna as she shook Honey's hand.

"Anna Only?"

"All right, I'm not gonna ask you about that. By the way, you're not from here, right?"

Anna was wondering if she should be frank about her origin. He should always be careful. But he finally answered honestly, "No. How're you? Your accent is indeed very Nordhalbinsel-typical, but from your name, you seem to be from Westeria." Anna said, trying to shift the topic of conversation about its origin.

"Wrong. I'm pure Orient." Honey said proudly. "See the shape of my eyes and my skin? This is very typical of Orient people."

Anna had only first spoken to a person from the Orient empire who could speak her language with a perfect Nordhalbinsel accent but had a name like a Westerian.

"From your expression you seem to want to ask something but you doubt if it's polite enough to ask someone you just met, right?" Honey guess. He smiled kindly as if Anna was his old friend who had shared many things together over the years. "Don't worry. I already considered you my friend the moment you accepted my hand earlier. So I'll just tell you, yeah. That way... In short, my parents are from the Orient empire. They were a pair of explorers, that's what they said. Then they both ended up settling in Westeria when I was born. And I, who also loved to explore, ended up in Nordhalbinsel and worked for this kingdom as a legion of Montreux female knights under the command of General Arianne Montreux."

"Wow... That's so cool." Anna was stunned, "You're really amazing. It must not be easy away from your family and your homeland."

Anna looked at the girl before her in a different way now. He was amazed at the line of life that was destined by others that was far different from his life. What Anna knew after a few days of moving around was that it wasn't easy at all. To be away from the land of birth, away from home, and away from family is not at all an easy thing. But Honey, the girl he was before now, had already gone through all that and looked different from the people he had seen. Somehow, Anna seemed to be able to trust the girl.

"Just because I told you that, doesn't mean you have to tell me everything about you. Just tell me what you want to tell me. The rest, if to you it is the secret of your life, I will not force you to tell me. I hope after this we can become close friends even after this election is over."

"All right, buddy." Anna said, smiling. "By the way, your name in Westernia means honey, right?"

"Oh, do you understand Westernia?"

Afterwards, Honey tells her about the origin of why her parents gave her that name. Anna and Honey chatted for quite a while before the time for the Second Stage to begin. For a moment, Anna was able to dispel her fear and worry. For a moment he could take his mind off everything that had happened over the past few weeks. For the first time, he felt he had found a friend. Real friends.

***

The second stage begins when the sun begins to sink. Before it began, candidates were allowed to familiarize themselves with each other and get to know the other candidates. They were entertained with a special banquet of the kingdom of Nordhalbinsel. That lunch was the most luxurious lunch Anna had eaten in the past three weeks. Anna no longer ate bone soup and hard bread as her lunch. Although the meal was no more luxurious than her daily meal at the Palace, Anna enjoyed it very much because she had not eaten such a nutrient-packed meal for a long time.

As Anna knew from Leon, Nordhalbinsel's typical foods are meat and dairy products such as cheese and cream. So at the banquet, most were meat-based foods. Not much fish or poultry meat was served, but there was enough for all the candidates there. Moreover, even though Anna knew it was very difficult for the Nordhalbinsel people to get fresh vegetables, that afternoon Anna was finally able to eat the vegetables she once disliked. Being away from where he lived and long in Nordhalbinsel made him miss Schiereiland's special vegetable food.

After lunch, they were allowed to look around the entire park in addition to the ice labyrinth area. There is not much to see in the park. But Anna was so amazed when she saw the garden of Tulip Crystals. Unlike the garden in his palace, the Rose Garden which was a gift from King Edward for the birth of Princess Anastasia, the garden looks clear and shining. The Crystal Tulip petals that looked like layers of ice reflected the sunlight so that the garden looked like a piece of land full of shining diamonds.

Anna no longer thought about Nordhalbinsel's cold weather. The food was enough to keep his body warm. But what made him not feel the cold weather was the light reflected all over the crystal Tulip as the sun was about to sink. A reddish gush from the afternoon sky, making the flowers seem to have colors that no one has ever seen. The entire park is now glowing sky-colored twilight, orange, reddish yellow, to bright red, especially the bright red color that dominates other colors. Seeing that scene, Anna immediately recalled the color of the Fire Dragon eyes she had seen in the village of Kleinesdorf.

"Honey, do you know anything about dragons?" Anna asked suddenly as they both fell silent enjoying the twilight.

"Of course." Answer Honey Welsh. "All the citizens living in Nordhalbinsel must know about Dragons. We all believed in the existence of that majestic being even though none of us had ever seen it in person."

"What's? You mean, the Dragon has never been seen in Nordhalbinsel?"

"No. I heard the last Dragon ever seen flying over the Nordhalbinsel sky was the Great Fire Dragon. And it happened in the last years of the reign of King Nordlijk. Before he died, people swore they'd seen a dragon flying in the sky. Since then, there has never been a single dragon in Nordhalbinsel."

***

Crown Prince Xavier walks past the balconies of the Palace whose windows face directly towards the crystal Tulip gardens. That twilight, the Crown Prince had just returned from his duties. He observed his personal bodyguard candidates from a distance. Elias Winterthur, who had been beside him, observed the scene Xavier was seeing.

"He made it into the Second Stage?" xavier asked as his eyes caught the small figure of someone familiar to him.

"Yes, Your Majesty. He almost answered the whole test correctly." Elias answered formally. "He's a genius."

Xavier smiled as if it was something very proud of himself. "So far the plan has gone well. You prepared what I asked for, right?"

"All are available in your room, Your Majesty."

"All right, then. Please prepare the Second Stage well. The Survival Test was not something that was easy for anyone. So make sure everything goes well."

"Okay, Your Majesty." Elias saluted Xavier before heading to the park where the candidates were gathered.

Meanwhile, Xavier was still standing on one of the balconies observing the figure of the red-haired girl who had since seized his attention. The girl seemed to be chatting merrily with one of the Nordhalbinsel female knights.

"Finally you came too, Anna." Xavier smiled at him. It was strange and unusual, but at that moment, it was visible on the look on the face of the Crown Prince, as if an unstoppable longing was vividly painted from the look in his eyes. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."

***