Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 4. The Cold King Romance

As soon as everyone left and the door closed, Rose spoke.

"Everyone's gone. Now tell me, what does all this mean?" asked Rose without further ado. Her eyes looked at Angel seriously.

Angel secretly took a deep breath to calm himself. Although he had good reasons and everything he needed to convince her, her feelings were different things.

"As you can see, we will get married tomorrow. It's a political marriage between Euphorion and Zephyrus," he said in a calm tone.

"I thought you brought me here as a 'guest', not as your future wife. Doesn't that mean you go back on your own words?" said Rose in the same serious tone.

"Your uncle and I already have a deal about this. And we've made a new agreement." He decided to give her a simple explanation since King Eudon already explained everything in his letter.

'As expected...' thought Rose. There was a bitter feeling inside Rose even though she already knew it when she saw that dress and guessed that there must be a deal between them. Also, disappointed since both of them kept her in the dark and only told her this one day before she got married.

"Is this my uncle's idea? Or your idea?" she asked. She tried to ignore the fact that now she had turned into her kingdom's political tool but she couldn't deny this was the best way for her family and kingdom.

"Your uncle's idea," he replied.

Rose sighed as she turned her face the other way. Her annoyance was evident on her face, but what could she do but swallow it?

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" she asked as she returned her gaze to Angel. Her eyes glared at him.

But he remained calm.

"Are you sure you wouldn't have tried to escape if you had known this from the start?" he said straight to the point.

Rose averted her gaze to another place once again since she most likely would do it if she had known this from the start. But she couldn't shake off the disappointment in her heart. Weirdly, there was strange happiness in her heart as well as a sense of relief that from all people she would marry him. Even though she was getting married for the same reason when she got engaged to Artheur, somehow... She felt better about it. But only briefly, she quickly returned to her senses which reminded her that Angel in front of her was not the Prince of Asteria she met five years ago.

'No... I don't know his intentions yet. I can't put too much hope in him,' she thought. Although she wanted to know what the deal was, somehow she was too afraid to ask. No, not afraid of Angel, but afraid that her disappointment would be even greater.

Seeing her gloomy face, Angel decided to give King Eudon's letter to her.

"I want to give you something. It's---"

But Rose interrupted him.

"I don't need it," she said in a firm tone. She thought Angel was trying to bribe her by giving her something.

"Are you sure? It's your ----"

Rose interrupted him once again.

"I told you I didn't need it." There was an unbearable disappointment in her and rather than something, she wanted to go back to her room to calm herself down.

A breath escaped his mouth before he spoke again.

"Fine. I will keep your uncle's letter with me. Just tell me if you want to read it." He didn't expect her reaction would be this bad. She even didn't want to listen to his words, so he decided to give her the letter and speak again when Rose had calmed down.

Rose was quite surprised since she didn't expect that what Angel wanted to give was her uncle's letter. He just turned towards his changing room to change his clothes.

But as he took a few steps, Rose tried to chase him.

"Wait!" There was no way she didn't want to read her uncle's letter. She didn't deny that she was too stubborn before and thought too negatively about him so she turned him down before giving him a chance to speak.

Since she stepped too fast, she accidentally stepped on the front of her gown and almost fell. Reflexively, Angel turned and caught her. Her hands on his chest. While his hands on her waist.

"You should be careful," he whispered.

"Thank you," said Rose as she lifted her head and looked at him. Her face was flushed red without being able to take her eyes off him. Suddenly, her nervousness and her flared up feeling swallowed up her disappointment.

Their faces were so close they could feel each other's breath. Their eyes locked with each other. A nostalgic feeling dominated their minds as their heart beat fast. It was a similar incident when Rose treated him in his room five years ago. Unlike in the past, he was not pushing her away even though there was an undeniable nervousness in him. They were getting married tomorrow, even though it was just a strategy to lure the rebels, especially Ilex, since their marriage was legal, this wouldn't be a scandal for either of them.

As they stiffened in their position like a statue, the knocking sound came and Claire opened the door.

"Your Majesty, I have brought-" Claire's words stopped. Claire and some maids who carried trays of luxury boxes containing tiaras could only stiffen in shock when they saw both of them. Their jaws dropped, their eyes widened, they even thought they were dreaming or their eyes tried to deceive them. Previously, Angel had held Rose's hand when he had just arrived at White Moon castle. Now those royal couple's bodies were so close and their lips almost kissed. Was it their cold king into romance now? For them, that was even bigger news than his victory over three kingdoms.