The Rose That Blooms In North
Chapter 18: The Bloody Berry

"General Arianne?"

Anna was flabbergasted to see who was before her at this moment. The General was lying unconscious with various wounds on his face and limbs. Not far from him, a teenage boy— who then Anna finally realized it was Louis— who pounded something like a leaf.

Louis stopped what he was doing to see Anna in front of him. Louis stood up to greet Anna. “Yang Mulia—“

Anna hugged Louis. “Thank God you're okay. I missed you, Lou. Leon hasn't done anything to harm you as long as I'm not around, right?”

“No, Your Grace. General Leon treated me very well like his own son.” Louis said. As Louis said that, Anna saw Leon's face flushed in embarrassment. Anna held back her laughter. “He even taught me some simple swordsmanship so I could protect myself.” Added Louis.

Anna glanced at Leon.

“I don't know now that you've become so generous that you're willing to teach other students. Whereas in the past when I wanted to first learn you repeatedly rejected me.”

“The current situation is different Your Majesty. Danger can come at any time. Even our existence here is actually not safe.” Answer Leon.

“What do you mean? And what really happened to General Arianne? How did you find him?” There were a lot of questions in Anna's mind. But the more he tried to ask, the more he wanted to ask. So he stopped asking questions to start listening to Leon's explanation.

As promised, Leon began to tell everything from the beginning of Anna's departure in the morning when he was accepted as a personal bodyguard.

Leon and Louis had the day as usual. Breakfast in the tavern, then take a walk in the market while looking for information from the gossipers in the market. As night falls and Anna still has not returned, Leon begins to feel anxious. Louis also told Anna how Leon could not stop back and forth between their inn room and outside of the inn because he was very worried about Anna but also could not catch up with her to the Palace because if caught, he could not, so Anna's plan and her struggle all along will fail. So she and Louis went back to the tavern for dinner while looking for information.

From the tavern talks, Leon and Louis are informed that Crown Prince Xavier and his army, including his new bodyguard, are assigned by the King to go to work on the outbreak in Montreux. Leon also hears that a snowstorm is coming soon. So that night, Leon and Louis were already preparing to tidy up their belongings to go to Montreux. Because there is information related to snowstorms, Leon decided to take a different path through Westeria.

Just as they started to leave the inn, Leon saw some Nordhalbinsel warriors enter their inn. As the arrival of the royal soldiers to the seedy inn was very suspicious, Leon and Louis finally observed for a moment secretly before actually leaving Noord.

Sure enough, before long there was a sound of commotion from inside the inn. Apparently Leon's whereabouts at the inn were known to the Nordhalbinsel kingdom. So the soldiers destroyed the entire inn with fire arrows which then resulted in fires in some rooms in the inn. Seeing that, Leon could not keep quiet. So Leon immediately put on the mask he had just bought at the market this afternoon, then came out of his hiding place and fought the soldiers. Within a short period of time, the soldiers were downed, some fleeing back to the palace to report the incident. Leon helps extinguish the fire that has burned some of the rooms in the inn. Leon also convinces the innkeeper to go with him in order to save himself by promising to compensate for the fire-related losses at his inn. Afterwards, Leon, Louis and the innkeeper went to Westeria in a horse-drawn carriage owned by the innkeeper.

Although it was difficult to pass through the border area that was heavily guarded by the military of Westeria and Nordhalbinsel, but finally they managed to enter Westeria because the Inn Owner turned out to be from Westeria. In Westeria, Leon accidentally meets one of his acquaintances who is the personal bodyguard of Princess Eugene, Theana. Leon asks Theana to meet Princess Eugene. Although at first Theana was a bit hesitant, but because Leon was the one who had saved Princess Eugene's life when the Princess was a child, Theana finally complied with the request.

They go to Princess Eugene's hideout in a remote village not far from Fiore. Due to her close relationship with Princess Eugene in the past, and because Princess Eugene felt that she owed Leon her life, Princess Eugene entertained them with good food and a comfortable resting place. Princess Eugene also told why she did not live in her residence or in the Palace.

From the story, Leon learns that Princess Eugene once rejected the proposal of one of the princes of the Orient Empire named Prince Yi. Prince Yi, who already had 3 wives and had never been rejected before, was enraged at Princess Eugene's refusal.

Princess Eugene said that Queen Elizabeth suspects the Orient healer sent by Prince Yi under the pretext of always maintaining the Queen's health. Eventually Queen Elizabeth faked her health condition and spread the word among the nobility who liked to gossip that the Queen was seriously ill and dying. Since then, Princess Eugene has been asked to hide in a safe place. Due to having to hide for a long time, Princess Eugene's project, the manufacture of stamina-boosting drugs, was forced to stop. Princess Eugene can't send anyone a letter and can't get out of her hiding place.

Shortly after the news spread, word was heard that the drug manufacturing site had exploded. Princess Eugene knew that Prince Yi was behind all this to get the Princess out of her hiding place. But it did not stop there, the explosion of active ingredients in the drug turned out to contain something that can damage human nerves if inhaled. Prince Yi acted like a hero by evacuating all the villagers around the drug-making site to get the Westerians to support him to become Princess Eugene's partner who would soon ascend the throne if Queen Elizabeth died.

Before Leon leaves to continue his journey to Montreux, Princess Eugene pleads for Leon to protect him from Prince Yi. Leon says that there are other people he should protect and he has promised him. But Leon reassures the Princess that he will return as soon as possible after making sure the person he has to protect is okay. In exchange, Leon asks Princess Eugene to make the Innkeeper one of the workers at the Princess Palace. The Innkeeper was very happy when he knew he was going to work for Princess Eugene and forgot about his half-burned inn.

Leon and Louis finally continue their journey to Montreux after a two-day stay at Princess Eugene's hideout. The princess presented them with a black warhorse, which was the horse her father used before he died. Because the only way to get to Montreux from Westeria is by passing through the great forest at Fiore, so Leon and Louis are riding through that forest. It was then that their horses faced off against the horse of General Arianne who had lost control. General Arianne fell from her horse and fainted while her horse went missing somewhere. Louis immediately treats General Arianne at Leon's request because Leon recognizes the General.

“Then I went to fetch water and fruits for our dinner.” Said Leon.

“And that's when we met.” Anna smiled at Leon.

“True. That's when we finally met.” Said Leon who was smiling because he could look back at Anna's smile after a long time.

"But, we haven't heard your story, Your Majesty. What has happened to you in the past few days?" Louis asked as he flattened the finished medicinal plant pounded onto some bruises on General Arianne's body.

Anna finally told me everything. About his journey to Montreux, about the knife given by Leon which turned out to be Xavier's magic sword, about the relationship between Xavier and Duke Francis that he had just learned from Eleanor, about the relationship between Xavier and Duke Francis, as for the alleged provisional cause of the Montreux outbreak, the letter that Xavier sent and that Anna sent and the reason for her went to the forest of Fiore.

"So you're saying, that Winterthur Mad Dog is around this forest?" cut off Leon when Anna told him about his departure to this forest with Elias.

"He's a Mad Wolf not a Crazy Dog, General." Louis.

"He's not that bad, Leon."

"He's gotta beat you up for that. Now, don't worry about Elias first. I must take General Arianne with me before the General is fully realized." Said Anna. "Louis, roughly how long will it take for the General to regain consciousness?"

"I'm not really sure, Your Honor. But it seems like it won't be long. Because the impact on his head wasn't too hard." Answer Louis.

"Then we have to hurry." Anna said, then continued in a quieter voice as if afraid that someone would listen to their conversation. "Listen, I sent you that letter, Leon. But if you're here, and the inn is empty, who's gonna find the letter?" Ask Anna.

"I think maybe if the soldiers came back to search the inn, then one of them would find it." Said Leon.

"But it looks like they won't be coming back because they clearly see we've left the inn." Louis said.

"All right, I hope no one gets the letter. But I'm really worried about the second letter Xavier wrote to King Vlad." Said Anna. Various thoughts filled his head. He was worried that his true identity would be exposed because of the letter.

"Your Majesty, you look very upset. Eat some of these. I once read about Westeria's rare Bloody Berry that said it could calm human nerves." Louis said while giving some red wine-like fruit that Anna had seen before near the waterfall.

For some time, Anna was fixated on the fruit. Moonlight bounces on the fruit so that it makes the berries look radiant. The fruit is no bigger than wine. The shape is perfectly round. It's as red as blood. After noticing her again, Anna felt like she had seen her somewhere. Anna took one of the Bloody Berries and ate it. For a moment, it didn't taste anything, just a refreshing sweet scent that came out of the Berry's skin itself. That scent was what Anna breathed earlier when she was near the waterfall. Then after the Berry began to disintegrate in her mouth, then Anna felt the taste of the Bloody Berry. It tastes sweet, but does not make nausea. The sweet taste feels so thin and rich and meets the senses of taste. For a moment Anna completely forgot what was on her mind and there was only calmness. Anna felt very relaxed and everything felt very comfortable for her. The cold night air around him felt warm, rocky ground and full of wet grass in his seat felt as soft and as plump as his bed in the palace. Slowly, Anna began to feel sleepy. Anna had not slept enough for days and the trip to Montreux drained her energy so she felt very tired and sleepy. Or maybe the berry has indeed calmed his entire nerves.

“Yang Mulia.” Leon patted her on the shoulder and resuscitated her from the long daydreams and illusions Bloody Berry had caused. “You don't remember ever eating this in the Palace?”

Now Anna remembered it after Leon mentioned it. When she first had to part ways with Leon because Leon was assigned to go to war, Anna felt restless every day for fear that Leon could not return safely until Anna could not sleep. Then the Queen asked the palace herbalist to give Anna a medicine that could make her calm down to sleep again. It was then that Anna knew about the Bloody Berry fruit which was a rare fruit that could only be grown in Westeria.

“Leon, can you bring me more of this fruit?”

***

At the top of Reux, there is a small house made of wood. Around the house, growing a variety of plants with a variety of shapes that can not be found anywhere. Although Mount Reux is located in Nordhalbinsel, and the mountain itself is a mountain covered in thick snow as well as other places in Nordhalbinsel, the mountain itself is covered with thick snow, but the top of Reux mountain looked very green filled with grass and various herbaceous plants. Even though it was night and it was completely dark, but the moonlight illuminated the beautiful place. A green field at the top of Reux mountain is filled with plants that are infested with various night insects including purple fireflies, there Lucielle, who is, the former Royal Herb Expert Nordhalbinsel lives after being expelled by the King for failing to save the life of Queen Irene.

Not far from the small house, in the dark night sky of Nordhalbinsel, a dark and large figure was flying out a pair of wide wings. The dark figure was getting more and more obvious. It was a flying Dragon swooping down from a height towards the top of Reux mountain. The dragon was almost as big as a castle, so when it managed to land not far from Lucielle's house, the Herb Expert could not help but look at the Dragon.

Lucielle was reading a book with a fireplace lit nearby and was very comfortable with a sofa whose skin was made of fleece, immediately stood up from his seat and hurriedly ran towards the front door of his house while subconsciously throwing his book. Lucielle knelt before the Dragon.

"Great Fire Dragon, my loyalty to you who lived thousands of years ago. I always believed that you would come back someday. I only pledge allegiance to the Dragons and their Great Descendants." Lucielle, speaking the ancient language of Halbinsel.

The Great Fire Dragon walked over towards Lucielle. "Stand up, Saintess Lucia." Said.

Lucielle, who was delighted that the Dragon remembered her old name and who she really was, obeyed the words. Lucielle stood up and looked at the two bright red eyes of the Dragon. He could not stop staring into those eyes that looked majestic as well as terrifying. But Lucielle finally saw that the Dragon's body was covered in wounds. Lucielle screamed in horror. "For the Gods! Who has wounded you, O Great Fire Dragon?"

"Saintess Lucia, know that I am now living again as an ordinary man. So that whatever happens to my mortal body, it will happen to my body as well. I've been through a lot of bitter, painful things in my life since I was born, but you don't have to worry about me. This wound makes me stronger and braver."

The Saintess nodded in understanding. Shortly thereafter, he asked a question. "If you come back to life, will the precious Daughter of the Celestial Goddess, Zhenra the Great, also come back to life?"

"You'll find out when you see it later. If you will, I will meet you with him. But the girl still doesn't remember me and I still doubt if it's her."

"What about the other dragons? Did they rise again?"

"You'll find out soon." Said the Dragon.

Before Lucielle asked back, the Great Fire Dragon before her let out such a bright blinding light that Lucielle had to close her eyes tightly. Then a young man appeared in the same place as the Great Fire Dragon disappeared along with the loss of that blinding light.

The young man was tall and handsome like a masterpiece perfectly sculpted by the Gods. He was wearing royal clothes. A small knife was slung in his belt on the right. Her skin is as white as the cleanest snow in Nordhalbinsel. Her hair is as black as night. But from the overall appearance, the thing that kept Lucielle glued for so long were her two Emerald-colored eyes. Lucielle smiled in welcome.

"Your face is very similar to the young King I served a few years ago. But your eyes are not as dark as my king's. Your eyes are very similar to the eyes of my Queen that I failed to save her life." Lucielle. "Who are you?"

"I am the Crown Prince of Nordhalbinsel, the only son of King Vlad and Queen Irene, and I am the Great Fire Dragon."

***