The Rose That Blooms In North
Chapter 22: Le Chateau de La Reine

Three days later, they were already preparing to return to Nordhalbinsel Palace.

All the wounded soldiers have recovered. General Arianne has even actively led her army to leave the whole Montreux and Fiore area to find other 'patients' to be treated by Lucielle with help from Anna. Honey Welsh has regained consciousness and is still recovering. In her recovery days, Anna was always by her side to provide psychic support because Anna knew Honey must have felt very sad not being able to serve for a while. Honey eventually began to improve thanks to the support of Anna and began to show off her scar in the form of long stitches at the waist. Looking at the scar, Anna showed a scar on her back that was the stabbing scar of a member of the Black Mamba. They began to laugh at each other's wounds because they knew they would have difficulty finding a partner in the future if they had scars.

"In Nordhalbinsel, if you're a woman, and you have a scar, there won't be a gentleman who will marry you. You may still be able to marry a married man or an old widower from the countryside." Honey said with a laugh.

"You don't seem to have a problem with that." Anna said seeing Honey say that quite casually.

"of course. I'm not too interested in getting married. Look at our General, he still lives happily as a General with no marital status even though he can marry any noble man because of his high social status."

"Of course we are not comparable to him. But isn't there a dream guy you're interested in? I might be able to introduce you to someone at the Palace later if you pay a visit there." Anna offers. I don't know when was the last time he could talk about men with a fellow woman. Maybe it has never been. The only chatter friends can talk to about a man is his mother. This makes Anna miss Queen Isabella even more.

"There are only two." Honey says. "No, there are actually three, but one is very difficult to achieve because it is engaged."

"You said the three were 'just'?" Anna laughs. "Let me guess. The man who was very difficult to achieve because he was engaged was definitely the Crown Prince. My guess can't be wrong."

"God. Don't say it out loud. You're embarrassing me." Said Honey who greeted their laughter at the same time.

"What about General Elias?"

"He was very, very, very handsome like he wasn't from this world. But I heard he has a lot of lovers. Rumor is he has at least one woman in each city. I don't like unfaithful men."

"God. I don't know. He doesn't look like that. Who are the other two men?"

"Both are also difficult to achieve. One just decided to marry a Princess from another kingdom while I was unconscious."

"Prince Jeffrey? Gosh darn. I didn't know your taste was really high. It seems you only like men who are hard to reach." Anna said with a laugh.

"really. That's my problem. And lastly, oh, this guy's the hardest to reach because he's somewhere. I had never even met him in person and really wished I could see him someday even though I was too old then. He's my role model besides General Arianne, and he's like a living legend."

Anna did not answer him directly even though she knew who Honey was referring to. Honey has, even often told how much she likes the man even though she has never met him. Anna didn't say it right away because the man Honey was referring to was the man she also liked. His first love was always there for him in his joys and sorrows. The only person he can trust right now. He was the only man who refused to marry her.

"Oh, come on, you can't guess this one. It's very easy. He's from your country, Schiereiland. General who has the nickname Lion of the South."

"Leon."

"really. Isn't he very difficult to reach. The princess of the Kingdom of Schiereiland must have been very lucky to be able to see her every day."

"really. He must be very lucky."

"Anne." Someone called Anna from the door of the treatment room. It was one of the Nordhalbinsel warriors. "Crown Prince Xavier is calling you to his room." Said.

"alright. I'll be there soon." Said Anna. "Honey, sorry I have to—“

"It's okay, you need to get there fast. If you get fired for me, I'll regret it for the rest of my life." Honey said with a smile. Anna was relieved to see her friend's smile again.

***

"We're leaving this afternoon. And since there are no snowstorm constraints or anything, we will arrive at the Palace no later than three days later. Arriving at the Palace there will be a festive feast for three consecutive nights attended by all the nobles and representatives of the Kingdom of Westeria. So we shouldn't be late for the party to celebrate the success of all of us." Xavier said as everyone he asked to come into his room had gathered.

At that time in his study had gathered General Arianne and each leader of the group of soldiers of the Palace as well as Anna. Prince Jeffrey had left two days ago for Westeria to propose to Princess Eugene after receiving a reply letter containing the blessing of King Vlad and Consort Juliana, The mother of Prince Jeffrey, the King's third wife. Their wedding will be held soon today at the Westeria Palace with the presence of King Vlad and Consort Juliana as well as several representatives from the Nordhalbinsel Palace. Anna was actually hoping to witness the wedding in person, but of course they were unable to leave to complete the task in Montreux first. Meanwhile, General Elias has also left since when because without being noticed by anyone, the young General has been invisible for several days. None of them were aware of the young General's departure as well as none of them were aware of his arrival that night. Anna still suspected this as one of the magic possessed by the children of the Grimoire lineage.

Everyone in the room cheered happily when they heard Xavier mention about the festive party. But Anna can only think about the rescue mission of her Mother and Sister, because when they arrive at the Palace, Anna will be very busy finding out where her Mother and Sister are locked up and finding out the safest way to save them. Of course Anna was happy because their job was done in Montreux. But for Anna, it wasn't because of the party that awaited them.

"Not only that." Xavier's voice eased the happy cheers of the soldiers. "The party was also held to celebrate Prince Jeffrey's marriage to Princess Eugene. As well as a party to announce my marriage to Lady Eleanor which will be held a week after the day of her announcement."

This time the cheers sounded even louder. This news quickly spread to the entire castle, then to the whole of Montreux. Anna believed that this news must have reached Nordhalbinsel Palace on the same day. Because as Anna had heard from the other soldiers, the marriage between Crown Prince Xavier and Crown Princess Eleanor had been delayed too often for the past three years. For the people of Nordhalbinsel, this marriage will be the most anticipated marriage. For Anna, it was a deadline she could immediately leave the Palace. Anna must successfully save her Mother and Sister and leave with Leon and Louis of Nordhalbinsel before the Crown Prince's wedding party takes place. Because then it would definitely be so crowded that it was too difficult for him to leave without being caught.

***

The journey home was much faster than the journey. On the first night of the trip, they had already passed through two cities and were outside the Montreux region. They rest in the Trivone area because in the area there is a Castle that was once a Castle that was only used for the holiday of Queen Irene. But since it had not been occupied for many years, the castle looked more like a haunted old building. It seems like the Castle was simply forgotten and there was no one to take care of it after the Queen's death. So before resting the night they all had to clean the castle and buy groceries at the market to cook.

After eating and cleaning the soldiers are welcome to rest and they will resume their journey before the sun really rises. Because Anna was the only woman among them, Anna was given a separate room that Anna thought was once the Queen's room. The room was on the second floor and was directly opposite Xavier's room. Anna decided to look through the contents of the room before going to bed.

The room was quite simple for the size of a Queen's room. Even so, the room is still very spacious and has many wide windows facing directly to the back garden. Unlike the garden in Nordhalbinsel, it, because it had not been taken care of for a long time, contained only the branches of trees, the old dry trees, some wild plants that can grow in cold areas and in the middle of the park there is a large fountain that is not working with a pool that has frozen. The dark night sky made the scene seem very sinister. Anna closed the curtains and began to notice the interior of the room.

The walls are white bones decorated with red rose ornaments with golden tendrils. On one of the walls, there are various paintings framed with gold frames. Anna looked at the paintings one by one. Everything looks like a happy family painting. But there was one painting that caught his attention. It is the largest of the paintings and sits right in the middle among the smaller paintings. It was a painting of a couple staring at each other with a look full of happiness.

A very handsome young man of about mid-20 years old who was very similar to Xavier. Anna almost thought the young man in the painting was Xavier if he didn't notice the color of his eyes. Not the color Emerald but the color dark black. But for the whole, the face of the young man was very similar to that of the Crown Prince. Next to her, a very beautiful young girl was wearing a white wedding dress. His black hair was allowed to naturally stretch to the waist. The young girl smiled lovingly at her husband. The eye color is emerald, just like the gems in the rings, earrings and tiers. Without even looking at the writing on the bottom end of the paper Anna already knew that the couple were King Vlad and Queen Irene on their wedding day when they were much younger.

But when she saw Queen Irene's face, she somehow felt that her face reminded her of someone. Anna had often seen that face. From the shape of his eyes, the shape of his nose and the shape of his lips. Even the way the Queen smiled was very familiar to Anna. It was as if he had known the girl in the painting for a long time.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps blowing his daydream. Anna saw the clock already showing midnight time. The castle was so quiet that Anna could almost hear the sound of the regular breathing of the sleeping soldiers. No one should have woken up by then. Anna prepared to put on her thick coat and carry her sword just in case.

With a silent step, Anna went down the stairs leading to the outside of the Castle. Anna followed the person silently from a distance as far as possible. The man's steps led him out of the castle gate to the wild trees in the forest that covered the Castle. The longer they walked, the farther they were from the Castle. Anna began to feel extremely cold as she was only wearing a thin nightgown behind her thick coat.

After they were quite far away from the Castle, that fellow suddenly stopped his steps right in front of an enormous old tree. Anna was unable to see the person's face because the person was wearing a black hood that covered her head.

"Why are you following me, Anna?" Ask the guy. Anna immediately recognized the voice as Xavier.

Anna immediately showed herself and took a few steps forward. "Sorry, Your Honor. I think there's an intruder in the castle. But, how could Your Majesty know that I am following you?"

"I can feel it."

Anna did not really understand what Xavier meant but she suspected it to be a special ability that belonged to someone who was already highly trained. Anna thinks so because Leon can also tell if someone is following her. It was a kind of instinct that Anna did not have.

"Go back. It's too cold out here." Xavier.

Anna was just about to walk back to the castle, but somehow she felt like she couldn't just leave Xavier. Maybe because the last few days Anna has been used to always being around Xavier as her personal bodyguard. Maybe Anna was just feeling sympathy for the Crown Prince. Anna knows that Xavier always has trouble sleeping at night and that the curse of the Grimoire Pen always haunts her. Anna felt unbearable when she had to leave him alone in that place.

"I will accompany Your Majesty. Out here too dangerous if you're alone." Anna said at last after deciding not to return to the Castle despite being cold.

"All right, it's up to you." Xavier.

Xavier sat under the old tree as if the cold air at night and the snow on the ground was not bothering him at all. Anna was still not used to the cold weather of Nordhalbinsel so she just stood still a few steps away from the Crown Prince.

"Anna, come here." call Xavier.

Anna walked over to him. And somehow, Anna no longer felt cold.

"Do you see what's engraved on that tree?" Xavier pointed at the old tree trunk.

Anna read. It was an engraving made by someone's hand. Someone was engraving those words on the tree trunk.

"Kris, I'm sorry..."

"My mother, Queen Irene wrote it years ago when she was not married to King Vlad." Xavier explained. It was as if the King and Queen he mentioned earlier were not his parents.

Anna silently listened. He wanted to ask Xavier, but worried that what he was asking was not something polite to ask because it concerned his late mother. The Crown Prince might be saddened if he brought back the story of the late Queen.

"Did you know that Queen Irene used to be known as General Irene in Schiereiland?" Xavier asked suddenly. "He was the leader of the army in every war that Schiereiland won under King Eustacius. His nickname was General Irene the Slaughterer."

***