The Book Of Flowers
The World Leaders Meeting
*Tap tap tap!*
The sound of the footsteps belonging to the entire Hortensia family was roaring loudly in the hallway of Rose castle, as they were in a hurry
Nothing else and nothing because they had an important meeting today
They look very hasty as if their lives are being bet. Edwin who had not even fully recovered was forced to join by Rosalia to attend this meeting, replacing Jael who should not be shown his existence to those people
Their servants began to bow respectfully to them as they passed in front
But they dare not be too visible to the family, especially by Rosalia who looks very angry and leads her family to the meeting room
"My sister..." Damien said softly with his nerves
"Silent brother. Just move your feet up there"
Damien kept silent, did not speak, and just kept going
After a long while they walked in the hallway of the sizable castle, they finally reached the largest meeting room in the place
Inside it was seen once already filled by various noble families from all over the continent, accompanied by their trusted generals. Those who had been busy talking to each other instantly fell silent when they saw Rosalia and her entire family coming in
They took their own seats, with Damien sitting on a chair at the end of the table as the leader of the meeting
Rosalia tried to keep her posture so that no one would suspect what she was feeling right now
"Sorry for our delay. Now, we have to open the meeting"
The meeting was officially opened with Damien already in the room
Rosalia sat right beside Damien, widening the fan and covering her face with it
Just as the meeting began, another noble family raised their hands as high as possible
A King from the kingdom of Borneo, Lao Continent, raised his hand and prepared to ask a question
"sorry. But, why do we all have to be gathered in this place at once?" She asked
"We'll explain it later, Your Majesty Leiwan. So, please sit quietly and listen to King Damien speak" Rosalia replied
"Well... But please get to the point. I still have a lot of business in my kingdom"
Rosalia immediately glanced at Damien, and signaled for him to quickly explain the purpose of this meeting
Damien, who was nervous, was forced to start the meeting without enough mental preparation
"K-We intend to gather you here to discuss about the Elf attack that recently happened to us" He said in a nervous and quivering tone
"really so. The Elves attacked us a few days ago at night, although they did not cause any casualties" Rosalia took over
"Then?" Ask King Borneus again
"Every thing you do has a reason. And I'm sure they're doing it for a reason"
All the other nobles whispered to each other, wondering what the reason was
"Excuse me. But what's the reason?"
The one who raised his hand and spoke was none other than Supreme Court Justice Yuriel representing the kingdom of Crux
His king who still looked very young just sat beside him, silent, and did not look amused by anything
Responding to Yuriel, Rosalia plucked her finger at a servant carrying a beautifully engraved box
The waiter placed the box on the table in front of Damien, then opened it as all eyes went there
And in it, there was a stone of some kind of crystal, dark blue in color and giving off a sparkle that attracted the eyes. In fact, the previously inconsolable King of the Crux kingdom, nailed his gaze at the stone
"... Ahem. I'm sorry, but what is this?" Ask another king, this time from the kingdom of Orion named Julius
"This is the core of their Tree of Life. More precisely, this was the essence of the spirit of an extremely powerful Elf" Rosalia said
"B- Ehem. How did you get that beautiful stone from the Elves?" King Orion added
"That's coincidental. I have a trusted man. One day he brought me this stone and told me what it had to do with the Elves. So we kept it for the royal sorcerer to research all this time, and we also had the results of his data. It's been copied for each of the kings in this place. Please read" Rosalia explained, as all the servants inside handed over copies of the data
From that data, they could tell all about our relationship to the core of the tree, and were led to think that we were ravaging the castle because of the stone now in Rosalia's hands
The atmosphere in the room was instantly silent as the kings were busy reading the results of the data carefully, except for the king of Crux who was replaced by Yuriel to read the data containing 3 sheets of writing that has a detailed explanation
Damien also had to read it because he didn't even know that Rosalia had moved that far
But, she had to put a face mask on and be nice in front of Rosalia so she could stay alive, so she had to play like a good doll in her sister's hands
"Hows it? Do you understand my sister's explanation?" Damien asked them all
"And we've got one thing that's surprising about all of this" Damien added, making everyone focus on him
"I got a report from that trusted man, that my sister, Verdea Hortensia, was alive and working with the Elves to ravage Lily's castle. Plus my other brother, Collin"
Everyone immediately flinched, but they looked unconcerned then
"Then? Isn't your brother just a kid? What's his power even if they get an extra one like him?" Ask King Borneus
"I hope it's that easy to say, but my brother has something that makes him as scary as the Oberon of today"
Everyone again gasped at Rosalia's words, then looked worried about the state of their kingdom
"Letting my sister be in the enemy army completely unsettled me. I don't know what happened to them so they joined the enemy forces..." Rosalia said, taking a step as if she looked sad with tears slightly visible on her eyelids
It succeeded in making some of the kings feel pity with the feelings of Rosalia today
"Then what should we do Mrs Rosalia?" Ask King Orion
Rosalia slowly rubbed her eyes first, then went back to talking
"Given that those Elves even dared to attack us, there is no guarantee that they will not attack you either. So, we have one proposal"
Rosalia glanced at Damien so that he would let her know of the proposal
"We want to attack the Kingdom of the Elves directly, with the combined help of the armies of the kings in this room" Damien said in a loud voice
Once again, everyone whispered in confusion at the proposal that came out. But...
Tubs!
All eyes were on the person who hit the table all of a sudden. And after knowing that the man was the King of Cassiopeia, they were determined to hear the answer
"I accept it"
Everyone was instantly silent hearing one voice that unhesitatingly answered the proposal
"... Then I too" the King of Borneus said
"Me too..." The king of Crux said, followed by a smiling Yuriel
One by one the kings agreed to the proposal of the Hortensia family. Except...
Two of the kings
Both are from the Lao continent
"I... Can't follow that proposal"
The shocked voices belonging to the people were heard throughout the room, followed by a whisper directed at the King
"me too. This will obviously make my kingdom miserable" A second king followed. The king whose head was the shape of a white lion's head just silently lowered his head with a thoughtful mind
"Huh!? What could make your kingdom miserable other than the Elves' attacks right now?" The King of Borneo
"Hold His Majesty Leiwan. They must have had their reasons for not agreeing to the proposal" Rosalia interrupted, then turned to the two kings sitting next to each other
"Her Majesty Lev, Venerable Zen. Does this mean that the kingdom of Bestia and the kingdom of Gong will not follow this combined army?"
"... My only reason is because I can't guarantee that my troops will survive the war. Unlike humans, Beasts do not have large numbers. Losing just one might make us lose" King Bestia said
"I am too. My kingdom is just a small kingdom that cannot even be juxtaposed with the Xiang kingdom on the same continent. We don't even have a strong enough army compared to any kingdom. I as the king of the Gong kingdom do not want to take a single life away from the people of my kingdom, as long as they are still happy" King Gong continued
...
"I have no problem with that reason. After all, we didn't force it in the first place" Rosalia said with a sweet smile to them
"... Forgive me Miss Rosalia" King Gong said
"I'm sorry for not being able to follow this" King Bestia added
"It's okay"
Rosalia then plucked her finger again at a servant carrying a piece of document
"You who agree should sign this, declare that you will not withdraw your troops and have unanimously followed this joint force" Rosalia said, as long as the document is handed over to King Crux first
Those who are sure sign it. That way, the meeting was completed after 2 full hours discussing other strategies
The kings also paid to their rooms, while waiting for their invitation to be prepared so that they could return to their respective kingdoms
Rosalia closed the meeting with a smile on her lips, as her family just looked down in fear, not daring to say anything
