The Rose That Blooms In North
Chapter 29: Baiser de Guerison

"Daughter, what's wrong with you?" Xavier accidentally calls Anna after what Anna has long forgotten. Because Xavier knew that Anna was disguised as Eleanor, he learned of her from her heartbeats that had accelerated since she was in the party hall.

Xavier tries to touch her, but Anna pushes Xavier away. Xavier knew he had to calm her down at all costs. Xavier once learned about such reactions as post-traumatic reactions.

"It's just an illusion you see. You should forget about that incident. Whatever you see now, it's over. You're in a much better and safer place. You're okay now." Xavier tried to hold onto Anna's two hands which felt so cold, he clenched them. Xavier's hot body temperature can warm Anna. But the heart of the Fire Dragon within his body was beating very fast as he hugged her. Seeing Anna's tears spread made her whole body in pain, but she managed to hold it in. Her priority right now was to calm Anna down.

Anna rebelled in her arms. "Take me off! You're the same as those people, right? Don't be so nice to me! You're... You're the son of the pembun—“

"Stop." Xavier stopped Anna's words with a soft kiss on her lips. Something inside of him encouraged him to do it. Xavier's emerald eyes turned a bright red color. The warmth of the fire emanated from her, encompassing Anna like a thick blanket that made her feel comfortable and at ease. "Whatever you want to say, I already know that. So don't you say it again, Princess Anastasia." As she said that, Anna who had previously become Eleanor turned back into herself. The transformation magic would disappear if anyone mentioned his real name.

Xavier immediately grasped Anna's body that was about to collapse to the floor as the transformation magic detached from her. Anna was unconscious.

"It has been hundreds of years that rain has never fallen on Nordhalbinsel. I never asked you to do this, Elle." Said Xavier in a cold tone. Both of his eyes were still as bright as fire. He looked at the empty air around him. The empty air manifested, becoming his fiancee. Xavier looked at Eleanor angrily, a thing he would never do before.

"It was just an illusory rain that occurred in the Palace area alone. Not real rain." Eleanor, who had been using invisible magic since then, was now fully visible. "So you knew before that Anna was Princess Anastasia? Why didn't you tell me? Why are you hiding that from me? I prepared everything to tell you, to warn you. I've even learned magic brings down that rain of illusions even though it's very difficult."

"Have I ever asked for it? You don't have to go this far! Do not use this way. I know what I'm doing. So don't interfere." Xavier immediately raised the body of Anna who had fainted due to the release of magic from Eleanor. "You've put him in danger."

"If you already knew that she was Princess Anastasia, then why did you still let her be around you? Dangerous, you say? He could have put you in danger. He probably planned to kill you."

"He's not dangerous to me! He wouldn't be like that. If you don't know anything, you better shut up. I won't forgive you until something happens to him for what you did."

Xavier, still angry, leaves Eleanor and takes Anna to the Crown Prince's Palace. At the Palace, Xavier frantically asks the servants to immediately replace Anna's clothes and make her body-warming herbal medicines and calls the Palace's chief physician who usually only serves the King to examine her. When he was calmer, his emerald eyes returned.

“How is the condition?” xavier asked as soon as the doctor came out of Anna's room.

“Nona Anna suffers from psychological trauma that will sometimes appear when there are certain triggers. But besides that, Miss is fine. He has a high fever, but I've given him the best medicine. The fever will drop within an hour. Your Majesty need not worry. Your Majesty should also rest so as not to get a fever.” Said Doctor.

“Thank you very much.”

Regardless of what the Doctor told him to rest, Xavier immediately went to Anna's room. The girl lay weakly on her bed with both eyes closed. His skin color is starting to return to normal, not as pale as before. Xavier touched his forehead to check his still-hot body temperature.

"He still has a fever." Xavier said as he realized the Crown Prince's Palace butler had entered the room carrying medicine and water.

"The doctor said that his fever would only drop after an hour. Please be patient, Your Majesty." Said the Chief Servant while putting medicine and water on the table beside Anna's bed.

"I'll be here until his body temperature returns to normal. You can go."

"Your Majesty is soaking wet. It would be better if you change clothes first so as not to get the flu. I'll call you—“

"No need."

"Your Majesty, please pay attention to your health. The King's condition is not good at the moment either. You have to stay healthy. It's all for the sake of the Kingdom."

"But, Anna—“

"I'll take care of Miss Anna and make sure her fever goes down. And if it still hasn't come down as well, I'll give it medicine. Your Majesty can rest."

Xavier sighed. The Chief Servant was right, right now he had to take care of himself to stay healthy in order to protect his kingdom. He knows it. But he wanted to remain beside Anna until the girl had fully recovered. She still felt guilty for even Eleanor doing all that to protect her. And Anna's words were still ringing in her mind. Anna suffered a traumatic event from the attack that night. And he could not be said to be completely innocent of the incident.

"Can I trust you?" Ask Xavier finally.

"I'll take care of him. Please trust Miss Anna to me."

Xavier nodded. Evelyn, the Chief Servant of the Crown Prince's Palace has been a servant since her father was a child of the King. So Xavier already knew his loyalty. He doesn't doubt it at all. He hesitated to leave Anna. Most wanted to stay next to the girl, but others said she had to go and obey the words of the Doctor and the Chief Maid.

"alright. Please inform me immediately if after an hour the fever still has not come down. But if the body temperature is back to normal, you can go back to rest. I'll change my own clothes so don't wake anyone. The kingdom needs you to stay healthy and rest enough to help us."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

After exiting Anna's room, Xavier realized that her clothes were completely drenched in the rain. He immediately went to his room to change his own clothes for not bothering the servants in the middle of the night when they were already sound asleep. But while taking off her clothes, she realized there was something different from her reflection in the mirror. All the scars on his body disappeared without a trace. There was not a single scar left on his body even the one he had just gotten a few days ago from the poisoned arrow.

“Elias..” Xavier called out in a soft voice that was nothing more than a whisper.

In an instant, a wolf that was about the same size as Iris, Xavier's white horse, appeared just like that. The wolf had snow-white fur and icy blue eyes. His long fangs looked terrifying with bloodstains filling his mouth.

“There is an urgent interest what this time?” Asked the Wolf in an annoyed tone.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot this was 'that night' huh? You're not supposed to be at the party."

The wolf snorted in annoyance. But then the wolf changed into a human form. A man with strawberry blonde hair and icy blue eyes. His face looked perfect like a painting and he was wearing a very neat noble outfit like he was going to a party. The wolf was General Elias.

“I was ready to go to the party. But, yeah, you know." Elias said as he cleared the bloodstains from his mouth. Blood from his prey that night.

"Yes, I get it. No problem." Xavier. "Looks like you got a good catch tonight. Full already?"

"Only a few monsters in the border region and a few Black Mages tried to break into Nordhalbinsel. Nothing special. But that's enough for tonight."

"Did the Grand Duke also go hunting? I didn't see him at the party."

"of course. If it wasn't for that he would have come to the party. My father doesn't seem to age. He's still as good as he used to be. He managed to catch—Wait a minute..." Elias stopped his words when he realized that Xavier was undressed, "Well, if I ask you why you didn't wear clothes when you called me?”

“I just want to make sure, did you see any scars on my back or anywhere else? Because I didn't see it. Is this an illusion or is it because I drank too much wine?”

Elias' eyes were wide-spun when he noticed it. “God... Youre right. No scars at all. What did you do to make all those scars that have been around for years disappear?” ask Elias.

“I didn't do anything. It just disappeared.” Answer Xavier. But then he remembered the incident in the greenhouse. And for a moment his face warmed up. “Ah, I might indeed do something. But it wasn't intentional. No, it couldn't have been unintentional, obviously I did it on purpose. I don't know why I did it myself. But I didn't expect the effect would be like this. This doesn't make any sense. It's really weird.”

“Your Majesty please forgive this lowly servant so as not to understand what you are saying.” Said Elias, dramatizing.

"I don't want to tell you. It won't. I've made sure enough. You can go." Xavier said while wearing new and dry clothes.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me how all those scars are gone. Because if it's Eleanor's new magic, I might need it. I also have some war scars that I really want to remove."

"No, it's not Eleanor's magic."

"Then, what is that new potion that Eleanor created?"

"Then what?"

“I kissed him.”

“Who? Eleanor?" His voice is rising. "Are you crazy, Your Majesty? You guys don't really love each other, do you? That's so weird!”

"Not Eleanor."

"What's? Wasn't he? So you're saying you kissed another woman when you were about to marry my sister next week? Are you crazy, Your Majesty? Who's that woman?"

“Great Queen Zhenra reborn.”

“Great Queen Zhe—you mean Princess Anastasia?" Elias seemed at a loss for words. Xavier had already told him everything about his conversation with Saintess Lucia to Elias. So Elias already knew that Anna was the Great Queen of Zhera. However, Xavier asked Elias not to tell Eleanor. "How, I mean, why? I mean, what are you thinking? Alright, I know he was your partner—the pair of the Great Fire Dragon a thousand years ago. But that was a thousand years ago. You guys don't even really know each other now and you kissed her? Are you crazy!"

"All right! I might be crazy! But what's your business? You really have a problem with this, even though Eleanor has no problem with it at all. Who is engaged to me? You or Elle?"

Elias gasps. "So you mean Eleanor knows?"

Xavier breathed a long breath. He knew he shouldn't have told this to the twin brother of his fiancee. But Elias was the only person he could trust other than Eleanor. "Elle saw. He saw me kissing Anna. But he didn't comment anything on that and was just worried about my safety. He's worried about me." Xavier finally answered. Now she realized that her words might have hurt Eleanor's feelings. "Really... He always does. Worrying about me as if I were his son."

"God... Then where is he now?" Ask Elias.

Elias's question made Xavier aware that he should immediately apologize to Eleanor for his earlier remark. Without caring for Elias, Xavier immediately went from his palace to the greenhouse where Eleanor had left. But the girl wasn't there.

The party ended an hour ago. Everyone had already left the party hall. And now when Xavier entered the hall in search of Eleanor, she was not there either. The hall was empty by guests, but full of servants cleaning up the remains of the party. It was empty compared to the situation a few hours ago when she was dancing with Anna disguised as Eleanor. Seeing the party hall made him think back to the moment they danced for the first time. His heart suddenly beat again. His heart was racing, but Xavier would not let go of Anna's hand. She half wished Anna wasn't disguised as Eleanor so she could see both of Anna's golden brown eyes up close. Xavier involuntarily smiled as he remembered it.

"Your Majesty, is there anything you need?" Sebastian, the Palace's butler, asked.

Xavier immediately regained his senses from his daydream. In his heart he offended himself because he could have been immersed in that feeling when he had to find Eleanor. Xavier asks Eleanor whereabouts to Sebastian and some of the servants and ladies-in-waiting he meets who are still clearing the hall. But no one saw Eleanor.

"I saw the Crown Princess go up on her horse. But Her Highness the Crown Princess did not allow anyone to follow her and said she wanted to go alone. I have insisted that it is too dangerous for her to go alone, but Her Highness the Crown Princess used her magic so that we could not move until she was really far away." Said one of the Palace gatekeepers as Xavier asked him. From his face was a sense of fear for having let the Crown Princess go alone without an escort.

Xavier tried to make himself sound calm and not threaten to keep the guards from feeling depressed.

"Which way did he go?"

***

Xavier goes to a remote village on the edge of town called Northwood. The small village was built by the previous King for the slaves he freed from the Northern Palace many years ago.

It was in that village, long ago, six years ago, that Eleanor asked Xavier for permission to date an ordinary folk who had made her fall in love for the first time. Xavier had never met the man in person. He only saw her from a distance and knew her from Eleanor's stories. There's not much Xavier knows about his fiancee's lover. But Xavier knew his name was Dylan and like most commoners in Nordhalbinsel, Dylan had no surname. Dylan also had no family and lived alone in a very modest house. Xavier knew exactly where Dylan's house was because Eleanor often went there whenever they had the chance to go for a walk out of the Palace.

So that night, around midnight, Xavier rode Iris to Dylan's house in Northwood Village hoping to find Eleanor there. If his fiancee was there and was with Dylan, Xavier would feel calmer. He wouldn't try to bother them and let Eleanor be with Dylan because maybe that's the man she needs most right now. So he'll just come to make sure.

Xavier got off his horse before starting to enter Northwood Village as the footsteps of the horses would wake up the villagers who might have started to fall asleep. She wore a black robe with a headscarf that hid the royal clothes she was wearing and her face that everyone recognized because of her rare eye color. Just in case he carried his sword in the form of a small dagger that was hung on his waist.

Dylan's house is far from the rest of the house. It was even closer to the desolate forest and not many people dared to enter the forest at night.

As Xavier got closer to Dylan's house, Xavier lowered his footsteps and sharpened his hearing trying to find Eleanor's voice from inside the simple house.

“So you're a Grimoire? How you lied to me."

"Sorry.I'm sorry, Dylan. I never meant to lie to you.”

It was Eleanor's voice. But his voice sounded blocked as if saying it while crying.

"You know what your clan has done to my family? They slaughtered my whole family! They took all the children and made us all slave witches in the Northern Palace for many years. They tortured us and made us experimental materials for their magic."

"I didn't know my Clan did any of that. I never—“

"Of course you don't know! Do you know what? You live happily in the palace. Since childhood your life has been perfect and loved by many. Of course you don't know what the witches are doing. You've been lying to me for years and saying that you love me. If you really loved me you shouldn't have lied to me in the first place.”

"But I really love you sincerely, Dylan. My happiness is not in the Palace, I never felt truly alive before I met you. I am only happy when I am with you. You are my freedom from my stifling life."

"Shut up! Basic Witch—“

Just then, as Dylan had already raised his hand almost to slap Eleanor, Xavier barged inside and firmly gripped Dylan's hand. His emerald eyes looked at Dylan before him in anger.

"What are you trying to do with my fiancee?"

Dylan was shocked to see who was before him at this moment. Just by looking at those emerald-colored eyes he knew.

"P-Crown Prince..."

"The Royal Family had generously freed the slaves in the Northern Palace and gave them a decent life in Nordhalbinsel. Is this how you thank us?"

Xavier gripped Dylan's hand getting stronger so that the sound of Dylan's hand bones began to break.

“Xavier, stop!” Crying Eleanor.

"Sa-I beg your mercy, Your Majesty." Dylan.

Xavier released Dylan's hand and then drew his sword into Dylan's neck. "Anyone who endangers the life of a member of the royal family will be given the death penalty. How dare you—“

"Don't! Don't do it, Xavier. Please, spare him. Let him live." Eleanor begged while kneeling before Xavier.

"He almost hit you, Elle. He made you cry. What right does he have to do that to you?"

"I won't forgive you if you kill him. Lower your sword, Xavier!” Eleanor raised her voice. He looks very angry now.

Xavier followed Eleanor's words. The sword returned to being a small dagger.

Xavier turned to look at Eleanor who was just looking down, avoiding her gaze. He wiped the girl's tears with his handkerchief. “Your eyes are too precious for him. Let's go home.” Xavier said, holding Eleanor's trembling hand, taking her away from the house and leaving Dylan alone.

***