1. Prologue (His Past) - 18. Bad Rumour

One week had passed after Angel's death. The sun was still shining brightly over the sky in Eternal Harmony City, the residents were supposed to be busy but not that afternoon. Many of them were standing by the side of the street and chatting in groups, disappointment and anger visible on their faces. Not only that afternoon, but also several days before, especially since the news about Angel's betrayal began to spread in the city and became everyone's topic of conversation in Eternal Harmony City, even throughout Asteria, for both the nobles and commoners, although the news had not been proven yet, showing that King Gervis had succeed spread the rumours, especially in the capital. He deliberately did this to facilitate Ilex's excuse for his mistake 'since he couldn't save Angel'. In addition, King Gervis also spread rumours about how Angel suddenly attacked him and almost succeeded in killing him and taking the King's Sword from him, luckily Ilex was with him and succeeded in thwarting Angel's rotten plan. With these bad rumours the nobles who support Angel would be cornered by the other nobles and the public's opinions, so in the end, they would have no other choice but to support King Gervis' decision.

"You know, I'm really disappointed in His Highness, Prince Angelus. Even though he didn't talk much, he always did his duty well and always came back with victory. I thought he was an excellent knight and deserved to be the next king of Asteria. But it turns out he is nothing more than a greedy man. "

"He's not greedy. He was afraid that the king would find out his identity as a fake Reinheart. That's why he attacked His Majesty and took the King's Sword away. I guess that traitor has taken the real Prince Angelus identity since the late King Renart died," replied another.

"What made you think like that?" the man turned his head with a serious face.

"Do you remember how good King Renart and King Gervis' relationship was? Everyone knows that King Gervis loved Prince Angelus more than his own son, though Prince Angelus often made trouble in the castle."

"Ah ... I remember it. The late king was furious when Prince Angelus messed up his reports and gave him a harsh punishment. But King Gervis requested his brother to reduce Prince Angelus' sentence and was willing to help the late king take care of the reports, though he just came back from a long mission. "

"Now, you mention it. Since King Renart's death, King Gervis has changed his attitude towards Prince Angelus."

"Yes, I also realized about it. It seems the king already knew something was wrong from the start, but he had to hold himself since there were nasty accusations at that time."

"What accusations?"

"Some say the king killed his brother to take over the throne. But as you know, the late King Renart and King Gervis were very close, they even often fought together. Why did they kill each other? After all, the wounds on King Renart's body indicated that he was killed by one of the ancient Dark King's followers. Isn't it strange? That dark magic user killed the late king but he left the prince unharmed? "

The man thought for a moment.
"Indeed it is strange ..." Then he remembered something.
"Ah! Talking about taking over the throne, it could be that the king slandered Prince Angelus because he wanted Prince Ilex to be the king."

"Hush! Watch your mouth!" replied the other in panic and that man immediately covered his mouth with the same expression and looked around.
"Everyone knows that Prince Ilex is the crown prince's strongest candidate. Even though Prince Angelus' abilities are much better than Prince Ilex, his relationship with the nobles is not good. He is only suitable as a fighter, not a leader. That's why King Gervis never entrusted any army to him. Unlike Prince Ilex who is able to lead his own army. " The commoner never knew that the crown prince was determined by the hunting competition, that's why King Gervis could manipulate this rumour easily.

The clattering hooves sounds interrupted their conversation and turned their gaze to the street. Ilex and some of the elite troops spurred their horses with grim expressions. And from their numbers and Angel's absence, it was clear that something bad had happened since they knew King Gervis had sent them to capture Angel.

"Looks like ... The king will get bad news soon," said the man.

Meanwhile, at Golden Light Castle, King Gervis was presiding over the court since he had postponed several discussions due to 'his wound'. Since he had felt better, he decided to open the court earlier to discuss some other important matters. One of them was to increase their western border security since he got the news that the rebellion in the kingdom of Zephyrus Kingdom was quite bad.
"For time being, shut down all the routes to Zephyrus and send reinforcement to the western border outpost. If the rebels try to enter our territory, kill them!" ordered King Gervis angrily. King Gervis really hated rebels and traitors since his father died after his trustee knight betrayed him. That's why he hated Angel because King Gervis saw him as a future traitor. Ironically, he had to use a similar cunning method as the rebels got rid of his father to Angel.

"I understand, Your Majesty. I will immediately prepare the reinforcements needs," replied Chancellor Vello.

Just as those words left the Chancellor's mouth, suddenly knocking sounds came and a guard entered the hall. He stepped into the centre of the hall and bowed.

"Your Majesty, Prince Ilex has returned and he's requesting an audience with you."

"Let him in," answered King Gervis.

The guard bowed once more before he opened the door for Ilex.

Ilex entered the room with a gloomy face and bowed to his father, the King's Sword in hand and a plaster bandage covering the wound on his face.
"Father, I have returned from my mission." He held the sword with his hands carefully and raised it to show it as he lowered his head to cover his regretful face.

"Bring the sword to me," said King Gervis.

Ilex nodded, went up the stairs to the throne and gave the sword to his father as he kept his head down.

King Gervis took the sword and asked again.
"Where's Angelus? Didn't I order you to bring him back?"

"Forgive me, father ... Though I managed to take the sword from him, I couldn't bring him back," said Ilex apologetically.

- Tak!

King Gervis hit his chair handle angrily.
"So you let him go ?! Aren't you with a platoon of the elite troop? Why are you unable to catch him ?!" he snapped.

Immediately, Ilex knelt down in regret.
"Forgive me, father. I've been trying to catch him but ..." He looked hesitant to say it.

"What do you want to say ?! Speak up!" said King Gervis in a firm tone.

"I can't save Angelus ..." continued Ilex.

As soon as they heard his words, the entire room was filled with murmurs. They exchanged glances with each other in shock.

"What do you mean?" asked King Gervis with a frown.

"We've cornered him near The Death Forest and even made him sign his confession. But when we were about to arrest him, he refused to return to the castle and refused to face the royal court... That's why... He committed suicide by jumping off the cliff," replied Ilex in the same tone. Suicide was the most cowardly act for a knight since it meant Angel ran away from his responsibility.

Again, the people's murmurs filled the room.

"Then why don't you bring his body home?" asked King Gervis in the same tone, as if he was mad at Ilex.

"He fell into Whitedevil Rose field. We have tried to retrieve it but we failed, even some of our soldiers have become those plant victims." Then he took out Angel's badge that covered in blood and the confession letter and showed it to his father.
"This is all I can bring from him."

King Gervis took the gold badge that was stained with dry blood and looked at it sadly before taking the confession later and opening it.

"Forgive me, father ... I'm willing to accept my punishment," said Ilex again.

"You said this was a confession? Why was the signature only his blood stamp?" asked King Gervis.

"He resisted when we tried to catch him. He even managed to kill most of our elite troops. We had to take him down to make him surrender."

"How bad did you injure him?"

"We had to stab his hands so he couldn't hold the sword for a while ..." Ilex said apologetically again.

“You!” King Gervis stood up in anger. While the other nobles looked shocked at Ilex's confession. Since taking away a royal family member's ability was a big sin.

"I know I was wrong, but I have no other choice. Besides, I didn't hurt him that bad. It was just enough to prevent him to hold his sword for a while so he signed the letter with his blood stamp," continued Ilex.

King Gervis sighed tiredly and sat back to his seat.
"How many elite troops are left?"

"Only five of us ... Angelus killed most of them and some died after they tried to retrieve his body," replied Ilex.
"If anyone doesn't believe what I say, I am willing to take them to the place where Angelus died."

King Gervis' expression turned shocked, this time his expression was genuine since he didn't expect Angel to kill so many of his troops. And of course, he was grateful that Ilex returned safely.
"Get some rest. We'll discuss this later," said King Gervis.

"Thank you, father." Ilex stood up and bowed before walking out of the room.

King Gervis' gaze returned to the people in the hall.
"As you can hear, it looks like this is more complicated than I thought."

The nobles and ministers sighed. Their faces were filled with confusion and disappointment. Ilex could have lied, but if he was lying why would he be willing to prove it. Besides ... If they looked at Angel's previous mistakes, indeed this was the most possible thing that could happen since even if Angel managed to return to the castle, there was only the death sentence waiting for him.
"We will leave this decision to you, Your Majesty," they finally decided.

Some nobles looked disagree or even angry with all this. But they could only remain silent without being able to say their opinion. Since after the news about Angel's betrayal spread, the court situation changed rapidly. The nobles who supported Angel decreased after many bad rumours tarnished his name. Moreover, they did not want to be considered conspiring with a traitor.

With Angel's victory in the hunting competition, it should be clear that he had the right to become the crown prince and despite his lack of leadership experience they still supported him. Unfortunately, his betrayal news revived old rumours that said he was not a true Reinheart. Besides that, with his attack on King Gervis and Angel's attitude who always took distance from everyone, the nobles who supported him quickly changed their decision to support Ilex since none of them knew him personally. After all, Angel was dead, so he couldn't testify, not even his corpse could be brought home for an autopsy. Whereas if they tried to get to where Angel died, it would be tantamount to suicide, since everyone knew how dangerous the southern area was, moreover that area was near the Death Forest. Even if they could find the body, what could they do if they weren't able to bring it home and prove it? They realized that whatever they did, it would be hard for them to find out the truth.

"Very well," said King Gervis.