Second Arc (His Art of War) - 104. Another Stage of The Game

In his room, Angel who sat on his sofa, smirked.
'Looks like my plan is going well.' As before he used his Evil Eye to spy on Ivetta and Duke Bartlet.

"Did everything go well, Your Majesty?" Frost's voice came from his side. After Frost finished checking and preparing for castle security, he returned to Angel's room since he just got a message from Gaia. Besides, Angel also wanted to talk about his next plan.

He cancelled his spell as he opened his eyes.
"Even better." Then he turned his gaze to Frost who was sitting on the separate sofa beside him.
"Lady Ivetta plans to get rid of Princess Rose. Meanwhile, Duke Bartlet plans to get rid of me. They will start their plans at the meeting."

"I'll send a Magic Messenger to Flare to warn her," said Frost.

"Very well." Angel took the teacup in front of him and drank it. Meanwhile, Frost was still waiting for his next order since instead of worrying about Princess Rose, he was more obliged to protect Angel.

Noticing Frost's serious expression, he realized what Frost was waiting for. He put back the cup on the table.
"Let them approach me," he said in an indifferent tone.

Frost objected to his plans.
"Your Majesty, you don't need to be a bait. We already have Princess Rose as our bait."

"Princess Rose is Lady Ivetta's bait but I'm Duke Bartlet's bait. Besides, I have to give Lady Ivetta a chance to get close to me."

"You will give Lady Ivetta a chance to approach you?" asked Frost in confusion.

"Yes. I'll use a push-pull strategy on her. We'll see how she responds to it." (Push-pull: Expressing interest, then disinterest to increase attraction and curiosity). In this case, Angel wanted to use this to make Ivetta and Duke Bartlet attack each other.
"I wanted to see how much information she could give me and how far she could go." Then he returned his gaze to Frost as he remembered that Frost wanted to report something to him
"Is there anything you want to report?"

"Gaia has replied to my message. He said, Prince Ilex has been in a bad mood since yesterday afternoon and spent his time drinking all night," said Frost.

From that report, Angel concluded that Ilex already knew his plan had failed, which meant that there were still other spies in the castle.
'I have to find out who the spy is.'
"What about King Gervis?" he asked.

"King Gervis is focused on improving Asteria's financial condition and spending more time in the study room. Meanwhile, Princess Ophelia ..." Frost's words stopped. With Angel's cold attitude, Frost never thought that Angel had a complicated love triangle.

"Did something happen to her?" Traces of worry sounded in his voice.
"Nothing. It's just, now she doesn't want to go back to her room, but stays in yours."

"Which one?" As long as he lived in Asteria, he had two rooms. In the royal family corridor when his father was alive and in the back corridor.

"Your room in the back corridor, Your Majesty."

Angel exhaled in exhaustion. That room looked like an intermediate soldier's room and too close to the barracks. That place was not fit for a princess like her.
"Did King Gervis say nothing about it?"

"King Gervis could not prevent her so he only ordered extra security for that room."

He fell silent. Even though he knew there was no single soldier would dare to touch Ophelia but her reputation was something else.
'I think King Gervis is spoiling her too much,' he thought as a breath came out of his mouth.
"Find out who is Prince Ilex's spy and finish him. Also send my orders to Asteria to empty that room and burn all my things in it, make sure there is nothing left. And change the room into the elite Euphorion troops' resting place, "he ordered. Angel deliberately placed his troops in that room, so even if Ophelia was still trying to get into the room, they would kick her out regardless of her status as a royal family. Even though this sounded cruel, he had to do it for Ophelia's reputation. Besides, the longer she was there, the more difficult she would be to forget about Angel.

"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Frost.

"Is there anything else?" asked Angel.

Frost shook his head.

"Alright, we just have to wait for another stage of this game," Angel smirked again.
'Your grand plan has failed. What will you do now? Ilex Ferris? '