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Dark Moon Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 346. A Better Chaos
🕑 Added 2024-11-14 17:09:19 +0000 UTCThird Arc (Fallen Heart) - 346. A Better Chaos
Rose moved closer, her gaze sweeping over the papers cluttering his desk. She could see the strain in his face, the faint shadows under his eyes. He was pushing himself too hard again, and she knew he would never admit it. “Even so, you’re not helping anyone if you exhaust yourself. You need to eat, Angel. You need rest.”
He gave her a small, weary smile, but she could see the reluctance in his eyes. “You know I can’t just… stop. There’s always something that demands my attention.”
Rose shook her head, determined. She picked up a plate from the trolley and placed it in front of him. “Then consider this an order from your future queen. Eat. Just for a few minutes. Besides, didn’t Chancellor Allan take care of most of it?”
Angel sighed, looking at the plate she’d set before him, but the hesitation was still evident in his eyes. “Yes, Allan has done more than his share. But I just want to make sure everything is perfect.” His gaze fell back on the scattered documents on his desk. “This coronation… It's very important, for both of us. For our future.”
Rose moved to the chair across from him, taking a seat as she watched him. She could see the strain etched in his face, but she could also see something deeper—a worry that went beyond his usual attention to detail.
“When we got married,” Rose began gently, her voice soft but steady, “were you also like this? Planning everything until late at night? Feeling restless?”
Angel looked up at her, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He shook his head slowly. “That wedding's main goal was to lure the rebels.” His gaze grew distant as he thought back to that time. “I didn’t think much about anything else, honestly. There were so many other concerns, so many urgent matters. But this coronation… this is different.”
Rose nodded, listening quietly.
“I want them to accept you,” he continued, his voice lower, almost as if he were speaking to himself as much as to her. “I hope that they can come to see you as I do. Just like they accepted me.” He took a breath, his gaze troubled. “But I know it won’t be as easy. When I came to the throne, they had been desperate, worn down by years under Xenos. They accepted me because… well, I was better than the chaos they had lived through. I was a solution to a problem.”
Rose could sense the vulnerability in his words. She reached across the desk, her fingers brushing his hand in a gentle reassurance. “Angel,” she said softly, her gaze steady and warm, “you can’t make everyone happy. No matter how hard you try, there will always be those who resist, who refuse to accept what’s in front of them.” Her voice was firm but compassionate.
Angel looked down at her hand resting over his, his expression softening.
“I know,” he replied, a weak smile flickering at the corners of his lips. “It’s just… if I can ease even a fraction of what could go wrong later, it feels worth it. The coronation is so much more than ceremony; it’s setting the tone for everything that comes after. I just want to make all this less troublesome in the future.”
Rose couldn’t help but smile at his logic, a touch amused by the way he tried to justify overworking himself as though he could plan away every possible issue. “If you don’t eat,” she said gently, “and if you keep yourself buried under work until dawn, you’re just trading one problem for another. Tomorrow’s problems won’t be any easier if you’re exhausted.”
Angel chuckled at that, the sound low and warm. “Make sense.” Finally, he picked up his fork and took a few bites, his gaze still drifting to the documents on his desk, the many details left to address. Rose watched him eat, content in the small victory, but she could still see the tension in his shoulders, the faint lines of worry etched into his expression.
Seeing him this way, she felt a surge of empathy, knowing it wasn’t just for his own reputation or comfort.
