Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 54. The Royal Dinner IV

"You want to accompany me to Pearl Gate City? Are you sure? That place is terrifying, even for me," Angel repeated in disbelief. His eyes that looked at Rose showed how serious he was. His brain could recall the terrifying scene he had seen on the night of the tragedy. The blood, corpses with horrific positions scattered everywhere, both humans and animals. And they were still in their original position since he hadn't done anything but create that barrier. It even nearly made him lose control of himself and made his anger control his mind. As for the decaying corpses process, it also stopped since that poison also acted as formalin on everything.

"Moreover the requiem..." He paused for a moment, trying to find a way to convey this without offending her. Unfortunately, he didn't find it.
"I'm not sure they'll be happy to see you there," Angel added in a serious tone. The Andromeda's requiem was no different than the cries and sad hymn that represent what they felt and how they missed the dead. With tears, people hoped that the dead's grudge and anger would dissipate so they wouldn't turn into the undead to hunt the living. Some important people would also give their speeches about the city, mostly about their lament. Which would be followed by poetry readings and chants to entertain the dead. And lastly, it would be closed by a long prayer. Angel decided to do this for a full week since the time gap between the tragedy and the requiem was too far. Not to mention he left their corpses for months.

Although that event aimed to calm the dead, Angel believed the requiem would affect the emotions of all those who attend and if they couldn't control themselves, there was a high possibility that they would spill their anger on Rose which would make the requiem end in chaos.

Rose quickly caught what Angel meant. The poison had already dealt massive damage to Euphorion and killed his people. Even though most of his people welcomed their political marriage, that didn't mean they could forgive her family's crime. Her presence would cause chaos at the event. But... At least she wanted to pray for the dead once, help him scatter the antidote and make sure the city was safe before Angel cancelled his dark power.

A solution crossed her head.
"How about this? I'll accompany you to scatter the antidote. The city air is so poisonous, I'm sure no one will oppose it if I say I only want to accompany you. Besides, we can tell them that we need a special technique to use that antidote and only I, who can do it. As for the requiem... When do you plan to perform it?" she asked. A requiem was usually held one week or one month after the funeral was over. But since there were a lot of corpses in the city, she didn't know when it would be finished.

"I'm planning to mobilize about 10 platoons of my soldiers and give about a month to complete the evacuation. But I'll give another half month extra, in case they encounter some difficulty. So the requiem may be held around 2 months later, after the evacuation is complete," he explained.

"Then I can disguise myself and attend the event as someone else. That shouldn't be a problem." Since the time gap between spreading the antidote and the requiem was quite far, they could simply say that Angel did not allow Rose to participate in that event and ordered her to stay in the castle.

"That's not the main problem, Rose. But that city's scene... Are you sure you're ready to see it?" Angel confirmed. About the requiem, he had a solution from the start if she insisted on following him. But the scene was something different. He was sure it would give Rose a traumatic experience.

"Yes," answered Rose without hesitation. She had made up her mind and hoped for the worst from that place. So she decided to do it no matter what.

Their eyes locked with each other for a while before Angel finally sighed and agreed.
"Fine. But promise me, we have to get out of there right away if you can't bear it." From her seriousness and determination in Rose's eyes, Angel knew that no one could change her decision.

A smile developed on Rose's face and she bowed politely.
"Thank you."

"Is there anything else you want to talk about?" asked Angel.

Rose paused to think for a moment.
"No, that's all," she replied. Despite there being so many questions in her head, she knew she could only get those answers if she became his real wife. So she decided to hold her tongue.

"Then do you mind accompanying me for some wine tonight?" Angel decided to make his move.

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