Second Arc (His Art of War) - 147. Failed Plan

After leaving the dining hall, Angel spent most of his time checking some of Zephyrus' financial documents. Unlike Asteria, which was currently being granted concessions because of its financial problem, he did this to calculate the compensation he could take to rebuild his destroyed trading city and for his soldiers. But still, he wouldn't take everything and make sure he left enough budget for King Eudon to repair the damage and meet his annual budget. After all, Zephyrus got into this war because of Ilex. Meanwhile, after seeing the amount of money on the rebels' list, he decided to take it as his compensation since the rebels were one of the causes of this war. But of course, after he distributed some to the villages on the Erebus Mountain's foothill. Then he spent the rest of his time walking around the castle and city to ensure its condition. Besides that, Zephyrus was often hit by rebellions, so he planned to appoint a new General to replace General Ferand. Since this person would play an important role for the castle and capital's security, he and King Eudon had to choose it carefully. Especially since there were still a lot of rebel members.

Hours had passed, it was afternoon now. Angel, Ivetta and several servants were in the parlour room. Ivetta swiftly poured the tea whenever Angel's cup was running low to show her attention and interest in him clearly. She also tried to get the servants to leave the room several times, such as asking them to get certain tableware or asking them to retrieve her items in her carriage. However, Angel always prevented the servants from leaving since he knew that was only Ivetta's strategy to create a scandal between them. Also, instead of sitting on the long sofa, Angel chose to sit on the single sofa to keep their distance.
"I'm so happy you want to accompany this lowly noble lady despite your busy schedule, Your Majesty," said Ivetta. She deliberately said this to show that she was a special woman and also hoped that the servants would create rumours about this.

She had received a message that her assassination attempt had failed miserably. But weirdly, after she sent another Magic Messenger to one of the rebel's members to ask their condition, she didn't get any answer. In addition, she also had not received any answer from her Magic Messenger that she had sent to Whispering Forest. Feeling that something was wrong, she decided to approach Angel, no, not only to approach him but also to seduce him. She did this not only to take over Zephyrus but also to secure herself since her initial name was in several documents in the Whispering Forest. She had to do this because running away was not a good idea since Euphorion's troops were still on standby after their victory, so it would be hard for her to escape. Moreover, Slyhelm had been heavily guarded since Angel was so interested in that town's rebellion. After all, running away was tantamount to confessing all of her crimes and throwing away all her efforts. At least if she managed to make Angel fall in love with her, she could affect Angel's decision.

That's why for this meeting, despite this being only a regular tea time, she wore a slightly open dress. Although the dress was more suitable as an evening gown, she used a shawl to cover her upper half when she entered the castle, so no one noticed and only took it off after Angel arrived at the parlour room. Besides, the dress was not too flashy and she could use the excuse that she wanted to wear a proper dress to meet Angel.

"Don't mention it. I'm glad you want to answer all my questions about Princess Rose. I will get married soon, yet I don't know a lot of things about her. Your information is very useful for our relationship later." Angel without hesitation made Ivetta eat her own words. His hand placed the teacup in his hand casually after he took a sip with a smirk on his lips.

"I'm glad I could help you, Your Majesty," said Ivetta with a slight nod and gave him a forced smile. Since whatever she did, Angel didn't budge. Despite his politeness, he kept their distance, indicating nothing between them. Moreover ... Even though her dress showed a bit of her cleavage, Angel didn't even take a glance at it and acted naturally. Even though her dress made several young servants take several glances at her. And Angel was only talking about Zephyrus and Rose. It really pissed her off.

Angel got up from his seat.
"Thank you for your information. I'll end our conversation here," he said closing their conversation. At least they had been talking for more than half an hour. After all, he had to meet Artheur after this. Even though it was quite strange and too easy, King Esteve managed to convince Artheur to meet him in order to establish a good relationship with him. But since Artheur chose to meet him at the training ground, he knew, Artheur had another plan. But it didn't matter to him, since the most important thing was Artheur wanted to meet him and the rest depended on Artheur's response.

Hearing his words, Ivetta could say nothing but stand up from her seat.
"Thank you for your time, Your Majesty," she said as she bowed and swallowed her disappointment. But of course, she wouldn't give up yet.