1. Prologue (His Past) - 14. Betrayal

The next morning, Angel and Ilex were already in the study room before the sun fully rose. In front of them, King Gervis was sitting behind his desk, his hands opening a map.
"Come closer," he ordered.

They approached him.

King Gervis showed them the map and pointed to an X mark.

"This is where your destination is, your mission is to find the rebel's hideout. This place is dangerous, so you have to handle this mission with caution. Even though I already assigned a platoon of elite troops to come along, you can't be careless. After you complete your mission, get out of there immediately and go back to South Point Town, do you understand? "

"We understand," they answered.

King Gervis turned his gaze to Ilex.
"Ilex, you are the leader of this expedition. You must be able to carry out this mission well and show your quality as a leader."

"Yes, father. I won't disappoint you."

King Gervis turned his gaze to Angel.
"Angel, I'll leave this map to you, show them the way. I know you haven't recovered yet, but this is an urgent mission. I'm counting on you," he said as he rolled up the map and gave it to Angel.

"I understand," replied Angel, his hand taking the map and placing it in his inner blazer pocket.

Ilex bowed.
"Father, we will leave now." Then he left.

Angel also bowed and followed Ilex.

They walked down the corridor to the castle's front yard. As they walked, Angel's attention was shifted to the sword on Ilex's belt, the handle was covered with a cloth and its shape was different from his usual sword.

"What's wrong with your sword? Did you replace it?" said Angel out of blue. He remembered Ilex said the royal blacksmiths had finished some weapons a week ago, so he guessed Ilex decided to try a new sword for this mission.

Ilex quickly covered his sword with his hand.
"It has nothing to do with you!" he said in displeasure before he fastened his pace.

Angel breathed in a weary sigh and ran after him.
'It's weird, why does he cover up his sword like that?' Some bad thoughts crossed his mind, but he quickly threw them away.
'That's impossible. There's no benefit for them for doing it ... ' A month ago, after he turned seventeen years old, they took him to his father's grave and forced him to make an oath that he would never take the kingdom of Asteria's throne. Apart from that, he was a prince, killing him would only tarnish King Gervis and Ilex's reputations. Moreover, everyone knew he had already won that hunting competition, wasn't their crime too obvious? And that would only destroy the Reinheart Family's reputation and would lead Asteria into aristocratic chaos. Therefore, judging from any point of view, eliminating him would only bring King Gervis and Ilex to a disadvantage. After all, if they wanted to kill him head-on, they should have killed him since he was a child.
'Am I thinking too much?'

The morning sun was getting higher, Angel, Ilex and the elite troops had left Eternal Harmony City a few hours ago. The nobles and ministers were already in the main hall waiting for King Gervis, Ilex and Angel to arrive, but none of them was present yet.

After waiting for sometimes, the nobles and ministers started murmuring to each other because as a royal family, the Reinheart Family had high discipline and an incident like this had never happened before.

"It's strange, the king has never been late like this before."

"Yes, moreover three of them are late today."

"Does this have anything to do with Prince Angelus' illness?"

"It could be. But I feel that there is something strange about Prince Angelus' disease. The last time we saw him after he won the hunting competition, after that he disappeared as if he was swallowed up by the earth."

"It's strange, this morning I saw Prince Angelus, Prince Ilex and a platoon of elite troops leaving the city in a hurry."

As their murmurs filled the room, the guard announced King Gervis arrival.
"The king has arrived!"

The nobles and ministers who had lined up bowed to King Gervis as he entered the main hall and walked to the throne. But different from usual, the nobles and ministers noticed that the king was walking slowly today and it was clear from his expression that he was enduring the pain in his body. Also, they realized he did not take his King's Sword with him and only came alone though he promised to bring Angel and Ilex to court today.

King Gervis sat on the throne and looked at the centre of the hall which was filled with people.
"First of all, I want to thank you for your attendance. Sadly, I have to announce that I have to postpone this court because something happened this morning."

The room filled with people's murmurs again. Their faces looked confused. One of them stepped forward and nodded slightly, asking King Gervis' permission to speak.
"Your Majesty, what happened?"

King Gervis sighed tiredly.
"It's about Angelus and Ilex. Something happened, so they can't be present now."

"Is Prince Angelus' condition that bad, Your Majesty?"

"Angelus---- Nghhh" Before finishing his sentence, King Gervis grimaced in pain, his hand on his right shoulder.

"Your Majesty, are you all right?" The whole room was worried about King Gervis' condition since it was so obvious that he was in pain.

"I'm fine," said King Gervis. But despite his words, as soon as his hand released his shoulder, a big bloodstain was visible from his white uniform.

Everyone looked surprised by this. King Gervis spent more of his time in the castle lately. That's why they were sure that the one who injured the king was a close person, in other words, there was a traitor in the castle.
"Your Majesty, you should rest. We can postpone this court," said one of them worriedly.

"Your Majesty, does this have anything to do with Prince Angelus and Prince Ilex?" guessed another.

King Gervis' eyes looked at the fake blood on his left hand before returning his gaze to the people in front of him.
"Yes, I have to admit this has something to do with Angelus and Ilex." He sighed in disappointment once again.
"Angelus ... tried to kill me this morning," he announced.

The whole room looked shocked after hearing the news.

"As you know, some of us still doubt Angelus' identity, so I ordered my trusted troops to keep an eye on him during the hunting competition. Some of them caught him cheating to win it, he even dared to use Ilex as bait so that he could win the competition easily. I know, without evidence, I wouldn't be able to say this carelessly. So I decided to confirm if he is a real Reinheart to ensure that Asteria's throne does not fall into the wrong hands. That's why after he got better this morning, I decided to give him a final test to prove that he is Reinheart. I asked him to draw the King's Sword. Unfortunately ... "King Gervis shook his head side to side in disappointment.
"He used that opportunity to try to kill me. Luckily Ilex was with me and managed to thwart his plan. But, he managed to take the King's Sword with him and ran away. Right now Ilex and my elite troops are chasing him." Although the King's Sword could prove the Reinheart Family's blood, King Gervis never allowed Angel to hold or touch it. It was the Reinheart family's important sword, he didn't want Angel to taint it with his dark power. If Angel could melt someone without a trace when he was seven years old, who knew what he could do to that sword? Angel could have used that opportunity to destroy that precious sword.

The people's murmurs filled the room again. Some of them did see Angel, Ilex and the elite troops leaving the city this morning, but they thought it was just a normal emergency. But, on second thought, their departure was a little odd. Because Angel spurred his horse at least 100 meters in front of Ilex and the elite troops as if he was their guide, though they had equal status. Unexpectedly, at that time Angelus was running from Ilex and the elite troops.

"I know without clear evidence many of you may still doubt my words, so I hope you can wait for Ilex to bring Angelus back to the capital to face the royal court," said King Gervis again. Of course, he had another plan and was not planning to bring Angel back.

The people in the room exchanged glances and nodded their heads in agreement with King Gervis' wise decision. They needed to know this matter clearly, of course, they needed Angel and Ilex testimonies.

"We will continue this court after Ilex and Angelus return. The court is dismissed," said King Gervis.

Meanwhile, Angel and Ilex continued to spur their horses through forests, towns and villages. But different from the usual mission, this time King Gervis didn't allow them to spend the night in the inn since this was a secret mission. Therefore every time the sun went down, they had to build a camp as a place to spend the night.

The expedition route was long and dangerous. Difficult terrain, monster attacks and bandit ambushes kept delaying their journey. It took five days of travel and when they arrived, it was already dusk.

Angel swung the reins around his hand and pulled it to stop his horse.
"According to the map, it should be around here," he said as he looked around his surroundings.

Ilex stopped his horse beside him.
"Are you sure?"

He took the map from his blazer pocket and gave it to Ilex.
"You can check it yourself. Our destination is in the Southern border area near the Death Forest." He pointed to a forest that was filled with dead trees with black soil and surrounded by an evil atmosphere, around one kilometre from them.
"That is the Death Forest, if we pass through it, we will reach the Kingdom of Euphorion's territory. This should be the place, but why aren't there any signs here?"

"Then we'll search for it until we find it!" Ilex said as he raised his clenched fist and lowered it, ordering the troops to get off their horse.

Angel also followed Ilex's order and came down from his horse.
"I don't think this is a good idea, the sun is almost set and this place is dangerous. If this is a trap, we are at disadvantage."

Ilex turned to him and gave him a sharp stare.
"As I remember this expedition's leader is Ilex Ferris, not Angelus Raizel. You do your job, I do mine. Understand?" he said in a displeased tone and left.

"... Fine," said Angel and tailed Ilex from behind. Actually, he was quite annoyed with Ilex's attitude, but he couldn't deny it because that was his uncle's order. He was only a guide, he even didn't have to fight along with Ilex and the others. His mission was he had to show them the way. He guessed this was why his uncle had assigned the elite troops, because his uncle was really worried about Ilex.

After half an hour of searching, a member of elite troops approached them and bowed.
"Your Highness, we didn't find anything."

"Impossible, there should be somewhere around here. Isn't there anything else you found?" said Ilex in disbelief.

"We only found the Moonlight Sunrose field under a cliff near the forest, Your Highness," the elite troop answered.

"Moonlight Sunrose? With infertility soil and a bad atmosphere around the Death Forest, I think that plants can't grow there," said Angel doubtfully.

"Take me there!" ordered Ilex.

After a ten minute walk, they arrived at the top of the cliff and could see the white roses field below them.
"This is not Moonlight Sunrose, but Whitedevil Rose." Whitedevil Rose was a carnivorous plant that ate humans and other animals, to be precisely sucked out its blood. This plant was very poisonous and had a similar shape to Moonlight Sunrose to lure its prey. After getting their prey, the flowers' colour would turn red by their victim's blood. This was the best place for an ambush, because if the rebels managed to push them off the cliff, even if they outnumbered the rebels, they would surely die. He stood up and turned around facing Ilex.
"We must leave immediately. This plant is very dangerous," he added.

Ilex looked at Angel who stood before him as an evil smirk began to appear on his lips.
"There's no need, this is the place I'm looking for."

Angel frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?"

"The rebel is standing before me right now. I'm just looking for a suitable place as his grave." Ilex raised his hand and waved forward, ordering the troops to advance. In an instant, Angel was surrounded by dozens of elite troops.

Angel swept his gaze towards the troops who surrounded him as his hand approached his sword before returning his gaze back to Ilex.
"Ilex, what does this mean?" he said in a displeased tone.

Ilex glared at him.
"The king's order! The second Prince of Asteria, Angelus Raizel Reinheart, tried to start a rebellion. His crime was unforgivable. Therefore he must be executed immediately!"

His eyes widened in surprise as what he thought earlier came true.
"I don't even have any army. How could I possibly rebel? Besides, I gave up my right to be a king and made an oath before my father's grave for it. You were also there," he reminded Ilex.

Ilex gave him a condescending look.
"Your crime by pretending to be my cousin is obvious. If you don't think about rebelling and destroying the Reinheart family, what else would you do ?!" he snapped.

"I told you, I am the real Angelus Raizel and I am not lying! I am willing to prove it by drawing the King's Sword in front of everyone, yet you have never allowed me to do it!" retorted Angel.

"Really?" scoffed Ilex. He knew from his father that the man in front of him had the dark power, therefore he was sure Angelus Raizel in front of him was not the real Angelus Raizel.
"Sadly --- I can't believe anything that you said. Moreover, after you won that hunting competition," he said in a cynical tone.

"This has something to do with the crown prince's position, right? I told you I have no interest in being a king! If you want it, take it," Angel tried to explain.

"So you already know about it." Ilex let out a short condescending chuckle.
"That's why you ignored my father's order."

Since Angel already knew where this conversation would end, he changed his tactic.
"Take me to the royal court, I am willing to tell everyone that I give up the throne," he tried to bid.

"Why would I bring back someone who's clearly guilty?" said Ilex.

"If you kill me here, it will only tarnish the Reinheart Family's reputation. You will lose the nobles and the people's trusts, as well as making a new spark for the rebellion," Angel warned of the consequences if Ilex insisted on doing this.

Ilex let out an evil laugh.
"Thank you for your warning. But we already have a way to solve the problem. So please grant my last request ..." He raised his index finger, ordering the swordsmen to get ready.
"Die!" Then Ilex waved his hand forward, ordering his troops to advance.