Dark Moon : Rise of The Dark King

Second Arc (His Art of War) - 90. Her Departure

Second Arc (His Art of War) - 90. Her Departure

The morning sun began to appear on the eastern horizon of Ironwall City. The city still looked quiet with traces of battle everywhere. In contrast to the city, Scarlet Stone Castle looked crowded. A Royal carriage was ready in the castle courtyard, along with a platoon of Euphorion's cavalry.

Rose looked at her reflection in the large mirror in her chamber expressionlessly. The maids around her were busy tidying up her dress. She wore a red royal dress, a typical princess of Zephyrus formal dress. Even though she knew that this dress would clarify her status as a princess of the enemy kingdom after she arrived at Euphorion, she hoped she could take this outfit with her as a reminder of her status, that she was a respectful princess of Zephyrus and not just a political prisoner who had to submit to the king of the enemy kingdom.

After a while, the maids moved away.
"All is ready, your Highness." Their voices sounded trembling, holding back their sadness. Their heads bent down to cover their sad faces.

She turned and looked at the maids.
"Why are you sad? Wouldn't it be the same if I got engaged to Prince Artheur?" Rose knew the maids were worried about her so she tried to cheer them up.

The maids sobbed.
"Your Highness, we know, even if this war does not happen you still have to go. But your departure to Draconis is a joy. Prince Artheur is a good man and I am sure he will take good care of you but now you must go to the enemy's place… ”The maid glanced at Flare who was waiting for her to get ready on the sofa before continuing her words again in a lower voice, almost whispering.
"You will go to that frightening king's place. We don't know what he will do. It could be he ..." Her words stopped there. But everyone understood what she meant 'Angel could have given her a death sentence and killed her for no reason.

Rose turned to Angel's blazer, which folded neatly on a tray in a maid's hands as her mind returned to last night's incident.
"I believe His Majesty King Angelus will not do anything unreasonable." Angel had already spared her life twice, if he wanted to kill her, he should have done it since yesterday.

A maid walked up to her and bowed.
"Your Highness, your breakfast is ready."

She answered with a slight nod and walked over to the small dining table in her room. Unlike usual, this morning she asked the servants to prepare her meal in smaller portions and all of this food was Zephyrus' speciality. She sat on her chair and turned to Flare.

"General, aren't you going to have breakfast before we go?" she asked. She realized that Flare was guarding her all night and didn't sleep in a blink. Even though she was the enemy kingdom's General but she was quite worried about it and she was surprised by Euphorion Kingdom's strict rules.

Upon her name being called, Flare got up from her seat and bowed.
"Thank you for your offer, Your Highness. But I am an elemental spirit, I don't eat and sleep like an ordinary human."

'Euphorion's elemental spirit ...' Rose had heard that the four great generals of Euphorion were elemental spirits contracted by the king. But since she heard that elemental spirits were similar to humans so she thought they also behaved like humans. This was also what caused the kingdom of Euphorion to become so powerful under Angel's reign. What she knew, the previous King of Euphorion made a contract with elemental spirits to cover his weakness since even though all of Moonfall's descendants were great magic users, they were weak in close combat, but since Angel could do both close and long-range combat, he made them as his trustee subordinates to handle so many things, especially in the military. Of course, this had a big impact on Euphorion's progress since they were the king's right-hand men so they couldn't possibly betray him. Angel could manage everything easily from within the castle, while these four elemental spirits were the executors.

"Fine." Rose turned her gaze to the food on her table and started eating, savouring the taste she might never taste again. The maid swiftly poured water into her glass. While the others just bowed silently, as if this was her last meal before she was executed.

It felt like Rose wanted to stay longer to enjoy her breakfast, but she knew she couldn't because everyone was waiting for her. She put down the glass in her hand, wiped her mouth with a napkin and got up from her chair.
"Let's go."

She took Angel's blazer and walked towards the exit followed by Flare. While the maids lowered their heads deeply in sorrow. Some of them could not even hold back their sadness and started crying. Even though Rose was a princess with her demeanour that made her look like a prince, she always treated her maids and subordinates well.

Rose left her chamber and the guards followed her. As she took a few steps, a loud voice came from behind her. They stopped in their tracks and turned back to where the sound came from. The guards immediately got ready with their weapons.

Two men dressed in Zephyrus' knight uniforms in red dashed towards them with shuffling steps, not even a single weapon in their hands. Behind them, the Euphorion troops pursued them.
"Your Highness!" they screamed.

Rose recognized them. They were her trusted knights. She advanced towards them in worry but Flare blocked her.
"Sir Rowan! Sir Niel!" she shouted. She knew they were still badly injured but now they were desperate to break through the enemy forces.

The Euphorion's troops caught up and surrounded them. The knights' hands pressed their wounds, their red uniforms couldn't cover the colour of their blood that soaked it. Their breaths were panting and their eyes were on the Euphorion troops that surrounded them, trying to find a gap to breakthrough. They knew that without weapons they had no chance of winning, so all they could do was dodge and run as fast as they could. Unfortunately, even though they had tried hard to sneak up to save Rose, the castle guard was too tight.

Seeing that they were so desperate, Rose gave her orders without hesitation.
"Sir Rowan, Sir Niel, I command you to stop and surrender!" She knew that if they continued to fight, Euphorion's troops would not hesitate to kill them. Even though Flare just stood in front of her in silence, one of her hands had almost grabbed her chakram on her waist, with just one movement she could kill them from a distance.

Rowan and Niel stared at Rose with trembling eyes.
"Forgive us, Your Highness. We can't." They knew Rose was ordering them to stop to save them.

"It's an order!" she said again in a firm tone.

"Your Highness!" they said with a pleading look, their feet moved, trying to get closer to her but the Euphorion troops' weapons blocked them.

Rose clenched her hands. Her eyes glanced at Flare's hand that was already gripping her chakram tightly.
"If you don't obey my orders you don't deserve to be my knights!" she said again.

They stiffened in shock, their hands shaking with emotion. The Euphorion troops quickly took the opportunity to grab their hands, restrained their bodies and kicked their legs, forcing them on their knees. While Rose could only be silent watching all of that without being able to do anything. For her what was important was their lives.

She stared at her two trusted knights. She knew that for a knight, it was a great honour if they had succeeded in protecting their master and they had failed.
"Listen to my last command!" Rose smiled gently at them.
"Protect His Majesty King Eudon for me," she said in a softer voice.

They lowered their heads deeply.
"Yes, Your Highness."

After hearing their answer, she turned around.
"Let's go. I don't want to make the others wait." Flare removed her hand from her chakram and followed her.