Dark Moon Second Arc (His Art of War) - 82. Chaotic Kingdom (Patreon)

Second Arc (His Art of War) - 82. Chaotic Kingdom

The sun in the sky of Ironwall City was sinking on the western horizon when Angel was still examining some of the documents in King Eudon's study room, especially the nobles' profile and several important courts' results as he waited for Frost to complete his mission.

His hands were busy flipping through the documents and his eyes moved side to side reading the document. Several piles of documents were on the desk in front of him. While King Eudon's aides were busy tidying up the documents he had checked, their hands occasionally trembled in anxiety and fear since they were afraid of making a mistake that could make Angel take their lives. Traces of fear were still visible on the two aides' faces.
"Bring me the Ravenstone family documents," he ordered the aides without taking his eyes off the documents in his hand.

The Ravenstone family was one of the influential noble families in Zephyrus which was currently led by Duke Bartlet. But Angel found some irregularities in their support for King Eudon. In some cases, even Duke Bartlet agreed to King Eudon's decision but what he did was the opposite. Even though it wasn't too flashy, it was clear he acted differently from what was agreed upon. But it seemed like King Eudon could only reprimand and tolerate his mistake since he still needed Duke Bartlet's support. 

One of the aides gave Angel the document and he took it. His eyes shifted to the document he had just received while the aide stood beside him. As he read it, a knocking sound came.

The other aide went to the door and opened it. The head housekeeper with some servants in tow was standing in front of the room.
"Forgive my impoliteness for disturbing your work. But I had His Majesty's dinner ready," she said.

The aide turned to him and waited for his answer.

"I will have my dinner here," he said without taking off his eyes from the documents in his hand.

The head housekeeper bowed.
"I will deliver your dinner immediately."

The head housekeeper was about to leave but Angel stopped her.
"Wait!" he turned his gaze to them.
"Have the Heart and Fallensoar family had dinner?" he asked. He knew that with Artheur's condition and the castle and the city's state that were still full of rebels, they could not possibly eat peacefully in the dining hall. So it would be better for them to stay in one room until things get better.

"Right now they are having dinner in the guest room, Your Majesty," the head housekeeper replied.

"Very well." Then he returned his gaze to the document in his hand. While the head housekeeper bowed respectfully and left.

He drowned his mind in the documents when the head housekeeper and several servants pushed the small carts. One by one, the food was placed on the table not far from the desk. Then they stood facing him.
"Your Majesty, we have prepared your dinner," said the head housekeeper. Traces of fear still permeated in her tone.

Without saying anything, he lowered the documents in his hand, sat down in the dining chair and started eating as his mind was still lost in the documents that he was examining. He already checked about Ivetta's family background, especially about her father since Rose and King Eudon mentioned him. He must admit that Ivetta's father did have a great service to the Kingdom of Zephyrus. Although he wasn't a general, he was one of the nobles who led the royal army to assuage a huge rebellion who nearly destroyed Zephyrus during Rose's father's reign, the late King Azure. Ivetta's father died because of it, leaving Ivetta who was still seven years old at the time. After that, because of her father's merit, Ivetta's family had to live in fear since they became the rebels' target while the nobles who disagreed with the Heart family hated them. Even though the Heart Family tried to protect them, Ivetta's mother ended up committing suicide due to depression from the terror they had to face and the grief of losing her husband, leaving Ivetta alone.

To be honest, Angel felt Ivetta's fate was not far from him, who had lost his parents and had to grow up in a harsh environment since he was a child. Even though he felt sorry for her, but with her status as a rebel leader, he wouldn't be able to forgive her. If the Heart family as the royal family didn't do their job properly like the late King Xenos then they didn't deserve to become a royal family. But they wanted to get rid of them only because the Heart family was considered the weakest than other royal families. While according to his assessment, the Heart Family's ability was actually the most frightening of the other royal families, and because of that, no other kingdom had dared to attack Zephyrus for decades.

As he picked a slice of meat on his plate with a fork and put it in his mouth, another knocking sound came. The aide opened the door and Frost entered the room.
"Your Majesty," said Frost, bowing.

Seeing Frost, he drank a glass of water, wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up from his chair, ending his dinner early.
"How's the situation?" he said as he walked to the chair behind the desk and sat down there. While Frost followed him and stopped in front of the desk.

Meanwhile, the servants immediately cleared the plates and utensils before leaving the room.

"We have taken care of them, Your Majesty. The last squad has scoured every corner of this castle and made sure that the castle is safe. Likewise with the city. I have also ordered our troops for tightening the city and castle's security. The rebels that were caught are already in the castle prison right now. And… ” Frost's words stopped as he frowned in confusion to convey the oddity.

"Say it," he said.

"And they all say that they are royal troops assigned to eradicate the rebels," said Frost.

A slight condescending chuckle came out of his mouth.
"Are they trying to trick us with those cheap lies?" he smirked.

"I don't think they're trying to trick us, Your Majesty," said Frost with a serious expression.

Seeing Frost's serious expression, Angel also looked at him with the same gaze.
"What do you mean?"

"I didn't find any trace of lies on their faces. They all believe that they are the royal troops who have been trained and brought in from a hidden training camp."

"Hidden training camp?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes," replied Frost shortly.

Angel deep in thought. Usually, royal troops were never trained in a hidden camp since recruiting new soldiers and training them openly was proof of a kingdom's military strength.
'Is King Eudon preparing them secretly to face me?' But that guess immediately broke considering General Ferand's death and the Zephyrus army who were fighting each other when he arrived. Since if they were trained for a war against Euphorion they shouldn't have fought each other when he and his army arrived. As his brain tried to guess what was going on, he muttered.
"Interesting ..." This was the first time he took over a kingdom whose had chaotic internals like this. The aristocrats were divided into two, rebellions everywhere, royal troops fighting each other, intruders from other kingdoms and now rebel armies who thought themselves to be the royal troops.

"I will interrogate them myself," he said, getting up from his chair and walking toward the exit.