Second Arc (His Art of War) - 37. Be Honest To Me

Second Arc (His Art of War) – 37. Be Honest To Me

Angel sat on the sofa in a luxurious room in Golden Light Castle while staring at the night sky from a nearby window. The room he occupied now was in the royal family corridor. This was his original room before King Gervis exiled him to the back room.

Now, he had changed his uniform to casual clothes, his hand held several sheets of Asteria's trade transaction reports. It was almost midnight, he knew he should rest. But even though he felt tired, he could not close his eyes. His mind continued to drift away and his heart fretted. So he decided to check the reports to keep his mind busy, just to distract his guilt.

His eyes returned to the report in his hand, his eyes moved to read the letter and the numbers written there. Shortly, a ruckus was heard outside the door. The voices of several people were muffled but he could hear some of them.

"Please let me meet him for a minute."

"Forgive us, Your Highness. But His Majesty is resting. Please come back tomorrow morning."

Although the voice sounded faint, Angel could recognize the voice of the person who wanted to meet him.

'Ophelia? Why does she want to meet me?' He put down the document in his hand and got up from his seat to open the door. Even though he wanted Ophelia to hate him and forget about him, he also wanted to make sure everything was okay. That's why he decided to meet her.

When the door was opened, the guards who prevented her from entering and Ophelia stiffened.

"Tell me what you need. I only gave you five minutes," he said in a cold voice.

Ophelia clenched her hands, her heart was pounding when she saw him. Fears due to this morning's incident still remained but her curiosity prompted her to ask for an explanation. Especially after she returned to her room she realized something important... The hunter handkerchief's scent had the same scent as him.

"Ange-- Your Majesty, may we speak privately?"

Angel gave him a slight evil smirk.

"An unmarried princess comes to a man's room in the middle of the night. Aren't you afraid your reputation will be ruined?"

She glanced at the Euphorion troops who were around them.

"I just want to say a few things to you. But I can't say it here," she insisted.

"No. Say it here," he replied firmly. If he let her into his room, it would not only ruin her reputation but bad rumours also would spread. Asteria had just lost the war and was in financial problems. It only required a little spark, then disunity would occur and bad rumours from the royal family were the best material for it.

Ophelia looked down, actually, she hoped to speak more privately but what she could do now was to clarify that the hunter was him. She took out the handkerchief and gave it to him.

"I just want to return this."

Angel glanced at the handkerchief in her hand and recognized it as the handkerchief he gave when he disguised himself as a hunter.

'Does he realize that hunter is me?' He returned his gaze to Ophelia.

"That's not mine."

"Are you sure?" Ophelia said as she stared at him deeply.

"Do you doubt my words, Princess Ophelia?" he said in a cold voice.

She went silent as she rumpled the handkerchief in her hand.

'I'm sure it's him... I understand why he denied it. What I don't understand is why he didn't take me as a hostage at that time? Why did he protect me this morning? Why did he show his rude attitude to everyone when in fact was the opposite?' she thought.

Seeing Ophelia fall silent, Angel ended their conversation.

"Good night."

Angel was just about to close the door, but Ophelia spoke again.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"What you did to me in the hall."

He let out a slight evil chuckled.

"Because I'm your enemy. What else?" he said nonchalantly.

"No ... Why are you protec--"

Angel realized that Ophelia wanted to ask why he protected her in the hall this morning, but he couldn't let anyone else know that. Before she finished it, he interrupted her.

"Princess Ophelia, you are just shocked by what happened this morning. I think you should get some rest."

Ophelia immediately denied it.

"I do not---"

But he immediately interrupted her again.

"Guards, take Princess Ophelia back to her room."

"Your Majesty, please give me a chance to talk for a moment," Ophelia said as she tried to approach him but the guards swiftly stopped her.

"Good night," he said coldly as he closed the door.

"Angelus Raizel!" she screamed, but the door before her remained closed. She took a deep breath and looked down, she could understand his cold attitude. Her father attacked Euphorion, destroying his largest trading city and her brother executed him five years ago, of course he hated her family more than before. But even so, he still spared their lives and she was very grateful for his kindness.

A guard gave a gesture to follow him.

"Your Highness, I will escort you to your room."

Ophelia glanced at the door before her once more before finally following the guard who escorted her back to her room.

'Angel ... Can't you be honest with me even just a little?' she thought as she clutched the handkerchief tightly.