Second Arc (His Art of War) - 137. One Cold Night III

"Your Highness, have you heard about the previous King of Asteria's death before?" Angel started his story.

"You mean the late King Renart? Yes, I've heard of it." Angel's opening words made Rose's curiosity even higher since she had suspected that this had something to do with that incident.

"The king once said that his father was killed by a mysterious shadow. That shadow also inserted a strange crystal into his body. Although King Angelus did not feel any changes, the current King of Asteria said that he had seen the king (Angel) kill an expert magic user in the castle. After that-- "

Before Angel finished his story, Rose interrupted him.
"Wait for a second," she said with a frown.
"I've heard that the late King of Asteria's killer hasn't been found yet. But that incident happened 15 years ago, King Angelus was only 7 years old. How could he possibly kill an expert magic user? Especially in the castle?" She let out a short awkward chuckle.
"You're kidding, right?" she said in disbelief. Every castle was protected by a Magic Shield, no one should be able to use magic there. After all, how could a child as young as seven years old ever kill an expert magic user?

Angel sighed, of course, he had guessed Rose's reaction since his story didn't make sense.
"That's why I told you this story was a little absurd. If you don't believe me, just pretend this conversation never happened," he said in annoyance. He didn't expect Rose or anyone to believe him in the first place, so he hardly ever said this to anyone. But since Rose had asked him, he hoped she would at least hear it till the end. He had just leaned his back and closed his eyes, but Rose turned to him and tried to wake him up.

"It's not that I don't trust you. But ..." Her words stopped. Confusion filled her head. After all, the story sounded like a lie mixed with reality and she couldn't possibly believe a strange story just like that.

A breath escaped Angel's mouth as a condescending smirk appeared on his lips without opening his eyes. His hands held his blanket to cover his body.
"I understand," he replied nonchalantly.

Rose looked at Angel who looked annoyed by her. Guilt took over her. Even if it didn't make sense, wouldn't defeating three kingdoms in just a few months also didn't make sense? Yet Angel did it. Apart from that she also just remembered that Angel could use his dark power at Scarlet Stone Castle yesterday.
"Um ... I ---" A breath escaped her mouth as she swallowed her pride.
"Forgive me if I offend you. But, can you continue your story?" She couldn't help but be curious, so she decided to listen to Angel's story even if it didn't make sense. Besides, she could ask Angel the truth later.

But he did not immediately respond.
'Did she just apologize to me?' thought Angel. Rose was a princess and currently, he was a soldier, with that status, it was taboo for Rose to apologize to him.

Since he didn't answer her, she shook his body to wake him up.
"Rai, wake up," she said with a frown. In her lifetime, this was the first time a soldier dared to play around with her like this, but somehow she still wanted to find out more about Angel from him.

A smile formed on his face since he couldn't help but feel weird about this. There was a sense of annoyance since Rose did not believe his words as well as a tingling feeling since he realized Rose's great curiosity which made her apologize to him so that he would continue his story again. He opened his eyes and turned to her.
"I'll continue, but if you do say the same thing. I won't say anything else."

"Fine."

"After that, the Asterian royal family doubted the king's identity. His family treated him differently, although the King of Asteria never showed it openly to the others. When he turned seventeen, his family slandered him and killed him after he won the hunting competition because they didn't want him to become the crown prince. " Angel looked at Rose seriously, indicating he was not playing around with what he was going to say next.
"But the crystal brought him back to life."

"That's im ----" Rose pressed her lips and swallowed the rest of her words, even though it sounded crazy. Angel was definitely not undead, he was alive. But people who had died couldn't live again. That's why, previously, Rose guessed that Angel faked his death to escape Ilex.

"After that, somehow he was able to use the dark power that had been stored within him." Angel paused a moment as he could remember how he nearly lost his sanity and walked aimlessly through the Death Forest.
"That strange crystal --- not only revived him but also gave him the power that allowed him to use magic spells. That's why he can fight using swords and magic now. As for taking over Euphorion ... He did it since the previous King of Euphorion was cruel to his own people so he decided to kill him and he did it alone without any help," he gave a short explanation.

Rose paused. It was hard for her to accept Angel's explanation since the story didn't make sense. Her hesitation was clearly visible on her face. There were many questions in her head but she was confused about how to say it without offending him.

Angel noticed it.
"If you have a question, just say it. I won't be offended."

"Did he ever say anything about his identity? Did he fake it?"

"The king never faked his identity. It was the crystal that made his family misunderstand."

"Did the king ever say how he could kill that expert magic user fifteen years ago?" This was the most absurd statement.

"He didn't remember anything about this." Since this was a statement from his uncle, it could be that King Gervis was lying. But Asteria had already lost when King Gervis said it. There was no benefit for telling it to Angel.

"Then does the king know where the crystal came from?" she decided to ask the weirdest part of the story.

"Unfortunately, no..."

Rose's expression turned grim. Her doubts grew, she didn't know if the man in front of her was lying or those were what Angel told him.
"Rai ... If that's what the king said to you. Do you believe it?"

From her words, Angel knew Rose didn't believe him, but what could he say? After all, no one had believed it. He looked at Rose in the eyes.
"Even if I say I believe it, I'm sure you won't believe it."

Rose pressed her lips since that's how she felt.