Second Arc (His Art of War) - 151. The End of The War

Days had passed. During that time, Ivetta kept trying to approach Angel by asking his permission to see him almost every day. While Angel responded with uncertainty. Sometimes he didn't mind meeting her, sometimes he rejected her. Sometimes he was cold and ended their meeting in less than five minutes. Sometimes he chatted longer than usual. But one thing for sure, Angel never let only the two of them in the same room to prevent a bad scandal that could tarnish his reputation and ruin his plan to marry Rose. As usual, Angel also kept his distance from Ivetta.

Meanwhile, Ivetta used so many ways to bring them closer. She once pretended to fall, but instead of catching her, Angel only used his dark power to prevent her from crashing to the floor. She also once pretended to faint when they were chatting, but Angel simply called the doctor and asked several maids and servants to accompany her and take her home after she woke up. Since none of her plans worked and her position became more difficult, Ivetta finally tried to find another way out and that's when she got a message from Ilex or rather an offer to cooperate. And Ivetta accepted it without hesitation since she didn't see any progress in her plans.

The message also exposed Ilex's spy's identity, who was disguised as one of the castle guards. As Angel ordered, Frost caught him and Angel used his Corruption of Mind on the spy. From there he learned what Ilex had offered to Ivetta. Unfortunately, she had escaped when his troops tried to catch her. Meanwhile, according to Gaia's information, King Gervis gave his full concentration to fix Asteria's economy and Ophelia, even though she didn't want to move out of the room before, she finally agreed since she understood Angel's good intentions.

Zephyrus and the Castle's conditions were also getting better, although Angel and King Eudon's assassination attempts happened almost every night. No, but almost every time. Which one of them almost managed to kill King Eudon, but was thwarted by Frost. On the other hand, secretly, Angel's Black Devils army managed to destroy the rebels' hideouts and provide Angel with lots of evidence regarding the nobles' involvement. With that evidence in their hands, Angel and King Eudon did not hesitate to give a death sentence to them. Some of them were publicly executed after King Eudon exposed their crimes to the public including their crimes of kidnapping and selling some villagers to other kingdoms. And the others were executed behind closed doors in prisons since there were too many of them. But one thing for sure, Zephyrus' guillotine was stained with blood almost every day after all the evidence was in their hands. After that, the assassination attempts subsided by itself.

Unfortunately, even with the evidence, Duke Bartlet and Earl Niall managed to escape through their residence's secret passage before Euphorion's troops caught them. Marquess Digory also managed to escape but he was caught three days later. Angel could already predict that Ivetta would run away to Ilex's place. While Duke Bartlet and Earl Niall would prepare everything for a full blow to attack either on him or on King Eudon.

For Artheur and Angel, even though their relationship couldn't be said to be good nor categorised them as 'friends', at least Artheur did not consider him as his nemesis again. Artheur knew that what Angel was doing was based on his obligations as king, not his personal interests. Even though Artheur couldn't deny ... He was quite jealous of Angel's current position since he had strong reasons to marry Rose, even more than his previous engagement. So even though what they did was limited to political interests, in the end, they were forced to understand each other's position.

On the other hand, Rose's trip to Euphorion also couldn't be said to be smooth since the rebels kept trying to assassinate her, especially attacking her while she was resting in her room, but Flare managed to thwart it. The rebels had also tried to poison Euphorion's troops several times through food and drink. But since they were always cautious by asking the servants to try their food one hour before serving it, they could detect it easily. Luckily, because of the rebel's defeat in the capital last time, also because they had to leave some of their camps and hideouts, they couldn't make any more big attacks like when they attacked Rose the first time. And finally, the rebels' attack stopped after their convoy entered Euphorion's territory.

One month almost passed and Angel's marriage was getting closer yet Angel's task had not been completed. After Zephyrus' condition was more stable, just like Angel promised after duelling Artheur in the hall. He escorted the Fallensoar family back to Draconis and left King Eudon and Frost to search for Duke Bartlet. In contrast to Zephyrus, even though King Esteve had acknowledged Euphorion's attack because he asked King Gervis for half of Euphorion's territory, his people still welcomed his return. Like the solid Fallensoar family, the Draconis nobles also supported King Esteve's decision and willingly signed their letter. It was much easier than when Angel handled Zephyrus. King Esteve was also willing to pay some compensation for this war according to their agreement.

Still, since it was too easy, Angel left Gale and his troops on Draconis to make sure everything was under control and the Fallensoar family had no intention of revolting. Additionally, to his surprise, Gale seemed to be enjoying his stay at Draconis since he said the cakes were better than the ones in Euphorion.

On the other hand, King Esteve had no other choice but to submit to Angel since King Eudon had given Angel his family's poison. Angel asked King Eudon for it before they left Zephyrus as an assurance since Angel had done half of their deal. What was left was to take care of the rebel's great leaders and deal with the villagers who had been trained by the rebels. Angel also decided to allow King Eudon to pay the compensation for the Pearl Gate City's incident in two instalments in two years while the rest would be paid by Asteria considering that Zephyrus was still recovering from war and rebellion.