Second Arc (His Art of War) - 136. One Cold Night II
"I'm just making sure you don't get cold," she said as she pulled her hand nervously. She didn't think Angel was still awake.
"By removing my mask?" asked Angel calmly. His mind wondered if Rose started to suspect him or was she just doing it out of curiosity.
"You fell asleep, so I thought I wanted to confirm it from your expression," she said in the same tone.
"Didn't I tell you as an elite soldier I can't show my face to anyone? If you want to check on me, you can wake me up and ask me directly," said Angel still in a calm tone. Somehow he was quite curious why Rose did it.
Rose knew she should have done that, but she didn't want to wake Angel up. Now ... The fact Angel caught her trying to remove his mask bugging her since she looked like she wanted to do something to him so she tried to keep her dignity as a princess.
"I thought you were tired so I didn't want to wake you up. After all, Euphorion has so many soldiers, though I know your face I won't be able to remember it," she reasoned.
Angel chuckled as he remembered how Rose recognized him immediately when he attacked Scarlet Stone Castle yesterday, even though she only spent a few hours with him five years ago. Somehow it made him want to tease her.
"Your Highness, I'm not sure if you can forget me after seeing my face," he said with a smirk.
Rose realized his smirk and was quite irritated by it, so she replied with another smirk.
"Is your face that ugly?" she teased. That way she hoped Angel would feel embarrassed and stop teasing her. But Angel gave her an unexpected reaction.
"Yes. My face is full of scars. That's why the king ordered me to always wear a mask even before I became an elite soldier," he exaggerated her tease.
Rose was speechless, she didn't know whether Angel was serious or not since she had seen how bad the scars on his hands were. It could be that the same scars were on his face and that could be the reason why the woman he loves rejected him.
"Then let me check it out." Angel had helped her a lot today. Even though she knew it was part of his mission, he had tried his best to find medicines for the villagers. That's why at least she wanted to do something for him. Rose had just reached out her hand, but again, Angel caught it.
"Should I repeat what I said? Or are you too curious about me?" he teased with a smirk.
She withdrew her hand in annoyance.
"I just wanted to help you, but I'm changing my mind now." This was the first time she was being bullied by a soldier.
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. But I don't need it," he said politely. Since he caught the annoyance on Rose's face, he decided to end his tease.
After that, there was silence between them. Their heads were leaned against the wall behind them and their eyes stared at the night sky. Even though Angel wanted to ask her so many things, he couldn't say it because he couldn't let Rose realize his identity.
"So ... How do you get these medicines?" Rose's voice broke their silence. She was so curious about this since Angel was able to get it quickly.
"I stole it," he replied lightly.
Rose's gaze quickly turned to him.
"Stole it? From whom? This is a small village and there aren't any nobles living around here," she said incredulously. She remembered how neat the labels on the medicines were.
"I never said I stole it from the noble. I stole it from the bandit hideout around here or rather robbed it. I also cleaned them up," said Angel in a relaxed tone.
"But ..." Rose was about to ask Angel why the labels were so neat, but she suspected that the drugs were probably the bandits' booty.
"But why did they rob medicines?" muttered Rose in confusion. Although drugs were expensive, bandits were not that smart. After all, bandits usually preferred money and valuables that could be exchanged for weapons and necessities directly rather than robbing things like this.
"I don't know. Maybe the person they robbed had nothing but the medicines. Therefore they had no other choice but to take it."
Rose looked at Angel with a frown. Even though the confusion was still evident on her face, she could only swallow it and decided not to ask any more questions. She returned her gaze to the sky and began to wonder ... What would happen to her later in Euphorion.
"Can you tell us a few things about Euphorion?" she asked suddenly.
Angel took a glance at her.
"What do you want to know, Your Highness?"
To be honest, she wanted to know everything, since she wasn't sure she could return to Zephyrus or leave Euphorion. Her eyes remained on the dark sky above her.
"Just tell me what you know. Maybe about Luminus City, White Moon Castle or--" She paused a moment when she recalled someone who had been making her feelings stirred up since she saw him again. "--About your king," finally she said it. Although Rose wanted to ask Angel directly, there was nothing wrong if she tried to find out about him from his subordinate. At least she could find out his subordinate's opinion about Angel.
A slight smile appeared on Angel's lips when he found out that Rose was interested in him.
"What do you wish to know about the king?"
"Tell me how he was able to take the throne and how Euphorion can accept him as their king even though he is ---" Rose paused in hesitation before continuing.
“--- a dark magic user.” Actually, the main question she wanted to ask was why Angel could have that power.
Angel was quite surprised by her questions, but from her hesitation, Angel could guess what she actually wanted to ask about his dark power since she mentioned the dark magic user.
"Do you want to know why he can have that dark power?" he asked straight to the point.
Rose turned to Angel in surprise.
"Do you know about that?"
"More or less."
"Then can you tell me what you know about it?" asked Rose curiously.
"Very well. But this may sound a little absurd."
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Honestly, I'm starting to question Angel's intelligence. When he said a few chapters ago that he had a cover story prepared to explain where he got the medicines from, I thought he had a better one than this. So, supposedly he conveniently finds a group of bandits that deep into the woods and they conveniently happen to have the medicines he needs even though bandits don't typically steal medicines? Did he think that many coincidences wouldn't cause Rose to get suspicious of that story's credibility?