The Rose Of The South
Chapter 3: Danse

"Goddess..." The Grand Duchess held her husband's hand, quietly streaming the illusion of serenity with her magic without anyone knowing. "I'll talk to him. You wait outside. You and Elias are hurt. You guys should get treated right away. Don't make a fuss again."

Wolfgang Winterthur obeys his wife's words. Lilithier's magic worked perfectly so her anger started to subside. So the Grand Duke and his son walked out of the room quietly as if hypnotized.

After everything came out and only Lilithier and Eleanor were left in the room, Eleanor knelt before her mother. His eyes filled with regret that was unspoken.

"Mothers... I'm sorry." he said softly.

"Because what?" Lilithier asked coldly. She wasn't really angry, but she wanted her daughter to know that whatever she was doing had to be accounted for.

"Because I have failed you. Because I can't be the perfect Crown Princess. Because I fell in love—“

"No." Cut directly. "You can apologize for anything else. But loving someone is not a mistake. You don't have to apologize for falling in love."

"What?" Eleanor looked up, looking at the face of her mother who was standing before her. Her mother is a woman who is good at controlling emotions. Never once in her life did Eleanor see her mother shed tears. But just then, when she saw the face of the Grand Duchess, Eleanor finally saw tears streaming from her mother's eyes.

The Grand Duchess hugged her daughter gently. "I must apologize to you, my poor daughter." The Grand Duchess let go of the sadness she had been enduring. All the tears that she didn't show in front of anyone, all the emotions that she had weathered over the years to show the perfect figure of a Grand Duchess Winterthur, she let go of them all. "I'm sorry, mother, daughter."

"I'm wrong, Mother. Please don't cry like this. I will accept any punishment. But I want to keep my son. I don't want to kill him."

The Grand Duchess wiped away her tears before looking at the only daughter she cared so much about. The daughter he has been leading to be the perfect woman. Her daughter who had to go through all the hardships to become the perfect Crown Princess in everyone's eyes. The Grand Duchess felt sore at the sight of her daughter having to go through all of those things, but at the same time, she had no other choice.

"My daughter, do you know about the Northern Palace?" Ask the Grand Duchess.

Eleanor hesitated. "I heard it's our place, the Grimoires will receive punishment for violating the terms of the treaty."

"No. It was the only place where Grimoires could live. After the liberation of the slaves and the invasion of the Northern Palace by the previous Grand Duke of Winterthur, We were unable to live outside the Northern Palace due to the Ancient Testament. If we exit the Northern Palace region, then we will lose our magic power, and slowly die."

"But Mother and Aunt Lilacier—“

"We made a pact with the Winterthur family. Grimoire Agreement with Winterthur. The agreement made by my father, the leader of the Grimoire Clan with the previous Grand Duke of Winterthur. Nordhalbinsel will not destroy our entire Clan and allow me and my twin sisters to live outside the Northern Palace if one of us marries one of the Sons of Winterthur. The Grimoire Clan who wanted forgiveness from Nordhalbinsel, and the Winterthur Clan who wanted to grasp the power of the great mages of the Grimoire Clan, both of which made the two agree to the contents of the Grimoire Agreement."

"So Dad and Mom also—“

"We are conducting a political marriage because of the content of the agreement. Lilacier, my twin sister, fell in love with a prince from Schiereiland until she had no idea he was being cheated. He was sentenced to death for allowing the Grimoire Sand Clock to be stolen from him. So the hope of the Grimoire Clan was only me. And I chose your father, the only Son of Winterthur who had no ambition whatsoever. She was the niece of the previous Grand Duke of Winterthur and was the last in line to succeed the future leader of the Winterthur family. So all Wolfgang wanted was a stable life, even though he had the extraordinary sword ability to become the guard general of the Northern border region. But when the entire Winterthur family was finally put to death after the death of Queen Irene, your father was made Grand Duke and he has since changed. His clan's only hope is him. She was the last Winterthur alive. That's why he's educating you guys so hard."

"And Mother made a Grimoire agreement with Queen Irene..."

"really. I did it to protect the Winterthur family, for your father and for you and your twin brother. From the very beginning I already knew that the Winterthur Clan had done a lot of misguided things. They are ambitious and greedy. They threw the newborn baby into another Kingdom because they did not want any disgrace in their family. So just in case the King finally learned of the rottenness of the Winterthur Clan and punished them all, I made a Grimoire agreement with Queen Irene. By getting one of my children to marry into the royal family, my family will survive the death penalty. I thought so."

"Mother..."

"I'm so selfish. I've taken your childhood and Elias. You must have struggled all along because you felt you had to be the perfect Crown Princess. I thought you might eventually accept the Crown Prince and truly love him as much as I do who ultimately truly accepted my destiny and loved your Father wholeheartedly."

"Mothers... The Crown Prince was very kind to me. He treated Elias and me like his own brothers and sisters. He even promised me the position of Queen and did not approach another girl in my honor as his fiancee. Our relationship has been great as a friend and partner. But he doesn't love me and I don't love him. I just love Dylan..."

"Then what are you going to do now? I'll support whatever your plan is if you think there's a good way out for everything."

"Mom, I have a plan. Please trust me with this. I will make all the higher-ups of the country take my side and make this child the next Crown Prince. I'll be Queen Nordhalbinsel and make sure Winterthur's family's good name stays up."

...****************...

Anna knew she was dreaming.

Lately, since what happened in the garden of the Nordhalbinsel Palace greenhouse, he often had strange dreams. And the dream became so clear that it felt real as if it was not a dream.

Anna was on the balcony of a room in Nordhalbinsel Palace. Anna knew it must have been located in the Nordhalbinsel Palace because Schiereiland Palace did not have a balcony of such a large room. The balcony was so wide that he could hold a dance party there. But there was no dance party even though he was dancing at the time. Her dance moves were a little different from what she was used to learning. The movements are more complicated but graceful. Anna didn't know she could dance that gracefully. Her dance partner also moves perfectly. The two of them danced as if they had danced together for many years. Their movements were perfectly aligned even though there was no music at the time. Only the sound of birds chirping in the morning although actually Anna was sure when they started dancing the sky was still filled with stars.

They said nothing and just kept dancing. But Anna was not tired at all. Although Anna knew it must have been a dream, but Anna could feel herself so happy back then that she did not feel tired despite having danced for quite a while. Anna herself was not sure how long they had been dancing. Until the sound of the morning bird chirp is no longer heard and replaced with the voice of an owl. The clear sky with the bright shining sun was replaced with a dark sky filled with stars and moonlight. Anna was so dissolved in her dance that she was unaware of the passing time.

It was only when the sky came back bright and the sun rose again that Anna realized she was wearing a dress she never wore. The dress is no longer made in any country because it is very outdated. The material is not as soft as today's dresses and from the design Anna knows the dress she was wearing at that time came from hundreds or maybe even a thousand years ago. A time when sewing tools were not invented and dresses were still made by being manually stitched by the hands of royal tailors.

Then as the sun rose higher and higher so that she could see clearly into the face of her dance partner, Anna recognized the pair of Emerald eyes that were staring at her. His face was as handsome as Anna had always remembered and the man smiled gently at her. His eyes were radiating his love. The man did not stop looking at Anna. No. gabe. Actually from the beginning they never stopped looking at each other and did not care about anything else. There were only the two of them enjoying time together in the endless dance.

"Xavier, how long have we been dancing?" Anna finally asked. Anna is surprised to call Xavier by his name. But Anna didn't think too much about it because she was sure it was just a dream. The man also seemed to have no protest hearing Anna call him by his name.

The man, Xavier, smiled at Anna's question. "We're just getting started. Tumben once you ask. Are you starting to feel tired?"

Anna shakes. "I don't feel tired at all." Said Anna. He was telling the truth, not because of his courtesy to his dance partner. She was wearing high heels and a heavy dress, but Anna did not feel tired at all. "But I seem to have seen the turn of night into day and day into night. Or is it just an illusion?"

Anna was surprised to hear that. However, it was unthinkable in his mind to stop their dancing. “Three days? Not three hours but three days?"

"Why are you surprised? Aren't we used to dance non-stop for a whole week?”

“Custom? We?”

Xavier lowered his voice so that it sounded like a whisper even though there was no one other than the two of them on the balcony. “We have even danced so long that the moment of awakening a month has passed. It was during our wedding celebration party five months ago.”

"Wedding?” Anna increasingly did not understand a single word Xavier. Even so, Anna wanted to continue hearing him speak. Xavier's voice was like a palanquin to him. It made him survive, and if he stopped hearing it, he felt like he could fall apart.

"What's wrong with you today? Are you worried about the government? Don't worry about that. You have become such a good Queen that there is no problem whatsoever in our Kingdom. The Dragons will also take care of everything and ask you to take a long holiday and have fun."

Anna remained silent. He tried to digest everything Xavier said in his mind. But her brain refused to think and despite realizing that she had been dancing for three days without rest, she did not want to stop and continued dancing with Xavier.

Anna wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she still didn't feel tired at all. The longer Anna did not want to stop dancing. The sky had turned dark into night. Then night became day in a few times. I don't know how many days have passed, but when they dance together, the laws of time don't seem to apply to them.

"You're thinking about something, my Queen?" Ask Xavier finally.

"none. I didn't think of anything. It's just a dream anyway."

"Dreams?" Xavier stop. They stopped dancing and just stood quietly facing each other. Meanwhile, the sun began to set and the sky was orange. Anna was finally able to feel back the time that was running.

"Yes, it's a dream." Anna answered with confidence.

"What do you mean, my Queen? Why do you think it's just a dream?" Xavier looked at Anna anxiously as if she was sick. As if something was wrong with his brain. Although Anna was not entirely evasive either. Maybe something is wrong with him.

Anna was silent, unable to think of a proper answer. A part of him began to admit that this did not seem like a dream at all. Everything is too real to be a dream. But if this wasn't a dream, there was no way Anna could dance for days without getting tired at all. It was impossible for Anna to dance with Xavier on the balcony of the room that Anna had never seen before. And it is impossible that Xavier calls her Queen.

Anna remembered something. A flash of memory rushed at him and smashed at him, making his head ache. Anna whimpers in pain.

“Ratuku, what's up? You sick?” Xavier looked worried.

"Xavier, shouldn't we be dead? We fell off a cliff. Those guys... They killed us."

Xavier looked at her in surprise, but then smiled gently. Her smile brought calmness to Anna. A sense of calm that Anna could not explain where it came from. For a moment Anna felt nothing but a feeling of calm and peace.

"You had a bad dream apparently. Why are you telling me now? It was just a nightmare, my Queen." Xavier said as he hugged Anna and kissed her forehead. Anna was shocked to let Xavier do all that. I didn't think of rejecting it. “No one will be able to hurt you as long as I am alive. And I'll live as long as you're alive. So you can calm down."

"So it was all just a dream? And this moment is reality?"

"Yes. It was just a nightmare.” Xavier said, still clutching Anna and gently stroking her long red hair. Now that he realized it, Anna's hair was already long back. Just like before she cut her hair. No. gabe. Her hair was currently much longer than her previous long hair.

“If it's just a nightmare, I don't want to sleep anymore. It was all too horrible and too real. Too scary.”

“Lately you've been doing a lot of work. I understand there's a lot you have to take care of, but you can't be stressed. Stress is not good for your health and the health of our baby. Zuidlijk will cry if he knows his unborn sister is in pain because his mother is thinking a lot.”

“What? Whatchu mean? Why did you mention the name of the First King?”

The more things Xavier talked about, the more Anna couldn't understand them. Now Anna doesn't know which dreams and which ones are the reality. His dream is reality and what he has always considered reality is only a dream. It is as if the two are fused and melded so that the concept of dreams and reality is not limited by a real line.

“First King? So you've already determined the heir to the throne? It is legally Zuidlijk who is most entitled to be the heir, he said, but shouldn't you wait for our children to be born and let them compete healthily and fairly to determine who will be the next King of Schiereiland? Zuidlijk is 3 years old. Let him have fun as a kid. Don't burden him with any responsibility.”

Anna is confused. He sighed. The more Anna convinces Xavier that it is just a dream, the stronger Xavier's argument is that this is all reality. And the more nonsensical things he said.

“You're right. Looks like I'm sick.” Anna said while holding her head. Not because of the pain, but because it is too confused about what is really going on.

Xavier looked sad. He looked at Anna who was confused. The idea in his mind. “You want me to cure you?"

"cure me? How's it?"

Xavier smiled, bringing a sense of calm that had been lost before. "All the pain, all the wounds, all the bitter memories, all the nightmares. I can take it all out if you want it, Zhera." Said Xavier who then kissed Anna long enough until Anna woke up from her long dream.

If it was just a dream.

...****************...