First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 38. Another Rebellion in Zephyrus

One week after Ilex met Ivetta.

King Eudon sat on his armchair in his study room at Scarlet Stone Castle. He pressed his fingers against his forehead with a grim expression and thought hard. Before him, General Ferand stood, waiting for his command. It had been three days since a new revolt occurred in Zephyrus and this revolt was worse than before. The royal troops had been deployed, but the rebel forces were very slippery, strong and trained like military forces. Now their situation was exacerbated by the rebel's position that kept closer to the capital. They even had attacked Slyhelm Town.
'Whoever trains them is someone with good military skills... Who is the culprit behind all this?' thought King Eudon.

Shortly the knocking sounds accompanied by the sound of the door being opened broke the silence in the room. His aide entered the room and bowed to him.
"Your Majesty, Prince Ilex of Asteria is requesting to meet you. He is waiting for you in the parlour room."

King Eudon quickly turned his gaze to his aide as a frown started to appear on his forehead.
'Prince Ilex? Why would he come at a time like this? Is it to meet Rose? Maybe he can help me to solve this problem,' thought King Eudon.
"Call Princess Rose to meet him with me," he ordered.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The aide gave him a quick bow and left the room.

King Eudon turned his gaze to General Ferand before him.
"We will continue this later." Then he raised from his chair and walked out of the room.

Meanwhile, at Scarlet Stone Castle's entrance.

Rose got off from her horse and entered the castle, she was wearing her military blazer with her whip tucked in her belt, she had just returned with her army after taking care of a rebellion at Steelburgh Town, a town at the south of Ironwall City. King Eudon had forbidden her to come out of the castle during the revolt, but she didn't want to just do anything while watching her people suffer from the revolt. So she drugged her two knights with the sleeping drug, escaped from the castle and joined the troops to settle the Steelburgh Town's rebellion. She even said that she was sent by her uncle to help them. She no longer wanted her family to be demeaned as a royal family that only could fight on the backline. Even if she had to die to defend the honour of her family, so be it!

She knew that right now her uncle's position was on the edge, the nobles who wanted to take him down were increasing. Even one of the most influential dukes kept opposing him in court.

Rose had only entered the castle when she saw General Ferand walking down the corridor, without hesitation, she approached him.
"General Ferand, how is the Skyhelm Town's situation?" she said straight to the point, didn't even give him a greeting.

General Ferand shook his head.
"They are different and well trained. It seems like they have been preparing it for a long time."

Her worries started to grow after she heard his report.
'Ivetta's Residence is in that town and she can't fight, I'm really worried about her.'
"What about the town and the civilians' condition?" she asked again.

"We already closed the town gates to prevent them from entering, for the time being, the town and the civilians are still safe," he answered.

Suddenly a guard approached her in a hurry and bowed.
"Your Highness, the king is waiting for you at the parlour room."

'Parlour room? Do we have a guest?' she thought in confusion.
"I'll be there soon," she answered, then she turned her gaze to General Ferand.
"General Ferand, I'll take my leave."

General Ferand nodded in response.

She walked to the parlour room and found King Eudon was standing in front of the room anxiously, but his face brightened after he saw her.
"Rose! Where have you been?" he said worriedly.

"I just went out for a short walk, " she replied with an innocent smile.

King Eudon let out a heavy sigh quietly, of course, he knew she wouldn't go out just to take a walk. From her clothes, he could already guess she had just joined the troops to settle down the rebels. But he would put that aside, for him as long as she could back home safely without any injuries that were more than enough.
"We have an important guest waiting for us today, " he said, giving gestures to follow him to the room.

King Eudon knocked on the door before him and opened it, followed by Rose who was still guessing who was the guest who came to meet them at this crucial time.

Her eyes widened when she saw Ilex already sitting on the sofa in the parlour room.
'Prince Ilex, why is he here?' she thought.

Ilex quickly stood up from his seat and bowed as soon as they entered.
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Princess Rose. Forgive my sudden arrival."

King Eudon approached him.
"Prince Ilex, what brings you all the way from Asteria here?" he said, sitting on the sofa followed by Rose and Ilex.

Ilex cleared his throat as he pointed his eyes at the servants around him, as a request to speak privately.

King Eudon noticed his request.
"Leave us," he ordered the servants.

The servants immediately gave him a quick bow and left.

"Your Majesty, my father sent me to ask for your help to make poison for us," said Ilex, starting their conversation.

"Poison? For what?" asked King Eudon.

"We just received news that there's a kingdom that wants to take down Asteria and they're ready to attack us. Therefore we need your poison to win this war."

"No," answered King Eudon without hesitation.
"The Heart family will not make poisons for another kingdom especially for war purposes. We don't want another kingdom to abuse our poison." He didn't even want to know which kingdom Ilex meant.

'As I thought, uncle will reject it... War is the last thing we want. Our kingdom is in an emergency, giving poison to another kingdom will only complicate things,' she thought.

"Your Majesty, please think again. If anything happens to Asteria, the peace alliance will fall apart. It will increase your difficulty," said Ilex tried to convince him

King Eudon was silent as he deep in thought.
'Right now, all the nobles are eyeing my position in Zephyrus. If the peace alliance falls apart, I will have more difficulty in establishing cooperation with other kingdoms.' He took a glance at Rose.
'At least... Before I can no longer hold my position, I want to marry Rose to another royal family. She will be safer living in another kingdom than in Zephyrus.'

He almost agreed to Ilex's request but he recalled how terrible the poison effects were.
'I can't... Giving poison to another kingdom for war is the same as waging the war itself...'
"Forgive me, Prince Ilex. I really can't help you. Zephyrus doesn't want to interfere with other kingdoms' war."

Ilex sighed in disappointment.
"Well, it's a pity you can't help us. Then I hope you can keep today's conversation a secret." He raised from his seat.
"Then I'll take-"

Suddenly, a guard rushed into the room.
"Bad news, Your Majesty! The rebels have taken over Slyhelm Town and taken the entire people as their hostage. "

King Eudon stood up in shock.
"What?!" he shouted angrily.

While Rose gasped.
'Ivetta!' Ivetta was her childhood friend and the only person where she could speak her mind and tell her heart content, of course, Rose was afraid to lose her.

"Deliver my command to General Ferand to bring our elite troops and retake the town," ordered King Eudon.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said the guard. Then he quickly carried out King Eudon's order.

She stood up from her seat.
"Uncle, I will lead our elite troops to settle them." Without further ado, she quickly moved out of the room.

A slight evil smirk began to develop on Ilex's face when he saw Rose ran out of the room.

"Rose!" shouted King Eudon as he tried to chase her, but he stopped after a few steps and turned to Ilex.
"Prince Ilex, forgive me I can't accompany you any longer. As long as Slyhelm Town is under the rebel's control, your route to return to Asteria will be closed. I will ask the head housekeeper to take care of your stay. I'll take my leave." Then he returned to chase her.

Ilex answered him with a quick bow. Then he stared at King Eudon who was walking in a hurry to leave the room.
'Princess Rose, you will be very disappointed if you know that the person you want to save is your enemy.'