The dark aura covering him disappeared now that he was in the White Moon Castle study room. Angel walked towards the exit. As he came out of the room, two guards who stood outside looked shocked since they never saw him enter at all. Moreover, he didn't look in a good mood.

"Tell Chancellor Allan to find me a poison master right now!" he commanded to one of them, anger seeping in his tone, then he turned his gaze to the others.
"Summon the four elemental spirits back to the castle!" he commanded again .

The guards who still looked confused immediately bowed and carried out his orders. He never looked so angry like this before.

His voice was heard by Lady Ryia who happened to get lost nearby after taking a walk in anger since she felt defeated by another woman who said that the king smiled at her, accompanied her happily and even held her hands. Seeing him alone in front of his study room, she thought of it as an opportunity to approach him.

Angel was just about to reenter the study room when she approached him and bowed.
"Good night, Your Majesty ."

He was in a bad mood and was not interested in having small talk or doing something that he thinks is unimportant right now as his mind was already occupied by so many things. But he kept his anger under control and tried to be polite to her though. However, he still couldn't hide his anger from his face.
"Is there something you need?" he replied as polite as possible, but a slight of anger was still present in his voice.

"Your Majesty, I happened to meet you here. I'm lost and there are no guards who can accompany me back." she said with a smile, hoping he could accompany her back to the main hall so she could tell the others that she had just taken a walk with His Majesty and make other women envy her.

But he only gave the directions to her.
"Just follow this corridor and turn right."

She hasn't given up yet.
"Your Majesty, the party isn't over yet, how about we go back together."

"No, I have work to do," he said coldly as he kept tried to contain his anger.

"But tonight is new year's eve, do you have to keep working?" she insisted.

"Yes."

Not satisfied with his answer, Lady Ryia tried to convince him again.
"Your Majesty-"

But he interrupted her as his patience began to run out. His eyes stared sharply at her and his dark aura began to leak.
"If you cannot understand my duty as King, then you do not deserve to be a Queen." he said curtly and entered the study room without further ado.

He had already entered his study room but Lady Ryia was still stiffened from being shocked. His dark aura scared her to the bone. He has only said a sentence but she felt like she would die from it. Her body trembled, she could not speak as if her words were stuck in her throat. She couldn't move her legs. It felt as if there was a stone that bound her. She felt like he was a different person from the polite and warm man that she met a week ago.

*

*

*

Once he entered the study room, he plopped back on his chair and let out a sigh to calm himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose, before pressing his fingers to his temple. Then sank deeply in thought. Confusion filled his head, because when he checked the situation of Pearl Gate City with 'Evil Eye', there was no enemy in sight, nor outside the city, while he also did not receive any attack reports from any border.
"Who did this? The rebels? Another kingdom? But Euphorion has never had a problem with any kingdom. Moreover, traders in Pearl Gate City come from various kingdoms on the Andromeda Continent. Is there any kingdom that would willingly kill its own people?" 

He closed his eyes trying to think harder. He had ordered to tighten the guard of Northern trade routes since there were reports of strange movements from Asteria, but there were no other reports about them. Besides that, the poison that was used in Pearl Gate City was very strange, he had never seen it before. It's a rare poison that can easily spread in the air and kills quickly. He kept thinking about what was the culprit's goal. What does he have to do now? The only thing that occurred to him was the rebels, but if it's the work of the rebels rather than killing a whole city, it would be more profitable to take the civilians as hostages . They could use them later on as a bargaining tool or outright rob them to get more money to fund their troops. 

Suddenly he realized the most basic things , this was the strategy he had ever used to overthrow King Xenos.
"They used Pearl Gate City as a diversion." he muttered.
In the past, he put magic formations at the castle courtyard to make them think it was an attack from outside, when in fact he was attacking from the inside. Now it was the opposite. The enemy attacked from the inside to make it look as if this was the rebel's act. This means that there would be another kingdom attacking him.

"Asteria's movements are the most suspicious out of other kingdoms."

He closed his eyes again while continuing to think hard. His eyebrows furrowed remembering all the war strategies he had learned in Asteria, trying to guess what they would do next. A classic war strategy immediately crossed his head.
"Looks like King Gervis is planning to attack Euphorion without a declaration of war... But on what basis does he want to attack Euphorion? Is it because he knows I still alive? But I have cut my tie with the Reinheart Family, I have let go of my grudge. Am I wrong to stay alive even in exile like this?"

His mind continued to sink.
" Or do they still want me dead? But why? Why would they still want my life? Why would they sacrifice tens of thousands of innocent people..."

He clenched his fists in anger. Losing his largest trading city wasn't a problem. However, killing his people was unforgivable. The city can be rebuilt, but life cannot be replaced... His dark aura that leaked out from him was getting thicker and darker as he could no longer control his emotions.
"I lost everything five years ago... This time I will protect it... I will face them as a King of Euphorion."