Chapter 1

Regina, The 2nd Phoenix Princess

1st Day of Month of the 1st God

Year 9990, Era of the 11th Tower

The Phoenix-Dragon War that lasted for centuries has finally ended. Today, the leaders of the two mythical beast kingdoms have met on the Azure Plains to finalize the terms of the resolution of war.

I stood on a hill overseeing the plains. The carriage that brought me here was parked at the bottom of the hill away from the plains. The coach driver bowed at me as he noticed my gaze. I responded with a smile.

To my side was the maid responsible for all my needs. She had been my nursemaid since I was a baby, and now that I'm seven years old, she still continues to serve by my side. She had been offered other jobs before, but she declined them all. I asked her why, but she never told me the real reason, giving only vague answers like "I just like you that much, princess," or "Won't you be sad without me?"

That's right. I am a princess. My name is Regina Ignis Phoenias. I am the second princess of the Phoenix Kingdom.

I watched as the meeting proceeded on the Azure Plains. My father, King Aren Ignis Phoenias of the Phoenix Kingdom, had put on his majestic half-form. His head was that of a flaming bird, and his red cape was ablaze. He raised his arms and wings of flame appeared beneath them. The current royal family of the Phoenix Kingdom, which I belonged to, is a member of the Ignis clan who were known for their fiery flames that can incinerate anything to ashes.

On the Dragon's side, King Zoi Umbris Dragonica of the Dragon Kingdom walked towards my father. He had just succeeded the throne after usurping the previous dragon king in a civil war. He was the one who proposed to end the war in a peaceful manner. He, too, took on his half-form. His head was that of a black dragon, with wisps of black smoke emanating his skin. His figure was faint, and could be barely seen from a distance if it was dark. It was a characteristic of the Umbris clan, manipulators of shadows.

I held my breath as the the two Kings stood in front of each other. They were releasing battle auras that could be felt even on the hill I was on. When everyone present thought that they would attack each other, their hands suddenly moved and met. It was a handshake.

"The King really has a playful personality," the maid beside me said. I nodded proudly.

"Father is lucky to meet someone with the same personality as him," I said as I observed the black dragon king.

Six days has passed since the event on the Azure Plains, now popularly known as the Azure Peace Treaty. It was now the 7th day of the month of the 1st God.

I was in the royal courtyard taking a rest under the shade of a tree. The grass was cool, and it was the perfect place to take a nap. We had a bountiful lunch earlier, a side effect of the festive mood that had been going on the entire week. The people of the kingdom had presented plentiful gifts to the royal palace, most of which were wine, fruits, meat, and other food products. It was obvious that they were extremely happy with the conclusion of the war.

"Reeee-giiiii-naaaa~," a beautiful voice resounded from the courtyard entrance. Slowly, I propped myself up and looked towards the voice. With a smile I quickly stood up and ran towards her.

"Sister Angeline!" I called out as I ran towards the familiar figure wearing an extravagant white dress that accentuated her figure. Her flowing crimson hair swayed behind her as she swiftly walked towards me. She was Angeline Ignis Phoenias, the First Princess and current heiress to the throne. She was my older sister.

We collided and hugged each other. Using the momentum of my dash, she lifted me up and spun me around. Then, we fell on the grass together and laughed. Before I could sit up she grabbed my sides and tickled me so hard I thought I would die from laughing.

"I give! I give!" I managed to shout those words out despite my lack of breath from laughing too much. I took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Haha, you're still so weak when it comes to tickling," Angeline said. She was sitting beside me as I continue lying down on the soft grass.

"That was horrible, sis. I thought I was going to die." I said, pouting my lips and crossing my arms.

"I'm sorry, you're just so cute I can't help myself." She stroked my red hair then patted my head. I closed my eyes and smiled from the comfortable feeling. "Did you know that you have to be resistant to tickles when you get married?" she mentioned out of nowhere.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, not understanding what she really meant.

"Haha, you'll figure that out when you grow up. But for now, we need to train you for that moment." After saying that, she resumed her tickle offensive.

We went to the palace bath house after having fun in the courtyard. It was a huge building surrounded by elite guards outside. "No member of the palace wants to be attacked while taking a bath," father used to say.

I soaked myself in the warm water that was scented with a wonderful perfume. I dipped my head to wet my hair, and the maid who accompanies me most of the time immediately approached me from the side of the bath to apply scented soap on my hair.

Angeline who was also soaking in the bath next to me smiled at the maid and said, "Alice, I didn't expect you to still be my sister's maid, or did she not grow up as to not graduate from having a nursemaid?"

"That is not it!" I protested and thrashed in the water, hoping to hit my sister with some of them. This, instead, caused some of the soap on my head to enter my eye. "Alice! My eye, my eye!"

"Sheesh, you really did not grow up," Angeline said as she watched me have my eye washed by Alice with clean water.

"So, Alice, what is the reason?"

Alice made a sad smile. When her hands stopped moving on my head, I looked up at her catching a glimpse of that. Then, with a smile she said, "I made a promise to the royal queen, to watch over the second princess." And with a quiet voice, "in her place."

My mother, Taneia Glacies Phoenias, the Royal Queen of the Phoenix Kingdom died a few days after I was born. According to the doctors, it was already a miracle that she was able to give birth to two children, both inheriting the flames of the Ignis clan. She was, after all, a member of the Glacies clan, wielders of ice. Her compatibility with the king who was of the Ignis clan, was the lowest, yet the two loved each other and disregarded common sense. Their love bore fruit, and those were Angeline and I. This was the story I always heard from father whenever he talked about mother.

"That is the first time I heard that," I complained, then lowered myself in bath, the water reaching up to my nose.

"I'm sorry, I did not want you to remember sad things about the queen," she apologized and bowed her head.

"Do not worry about it too much. My little sister is just being a child."

"I am not a child anymore!" I retorted and stood up. With my hands on my waist and standing astride, I pushed my chest out. Two small bulges were present. I breathed air out of my nose as I humphed proudly.

Angeline and Alice both laughed.

"That is a lot of growth, little sis---pft!"

"I'm so proud of you, princess---pft!"

"RAAAAAA!" I screamed madly at them and splashed them with water.

It was now dinnertime. I stared at the huge grilled fish on my plate. It was one of the rare goods available in the kingdom, a freshwater fish that live deep in lakes and can only be caught during the Month of the 1st God.

"Looking at Gin's face that seems to want to gobble everything including the plate, I guess we just have to start dinner now to prevent such a disaster," King Aren said with a chuckle. He was now in his handsome human form. The servants waiting for instructions as well as the elite guards also made small laughing sounds. That was how it was in the palace. Servants and guards were treated like family, and because of that they respected the King and served him with utmost loyalty.

"True that, father," Angeline said. Father raised his glass of wine, and we also did the same. As he took a sip of his wine, I immediately dug through the food on my plate. He smiled at me warmly.

"So, how was it?" King Aren asked Angeline.

"It tastes great, father. As usual, the food prepared in the royal palace can't be compared to anywhere else," she answered. Father laughed as he heard her answer.

"No, I did not mean the food. I was asking about the work I assigned to you."

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"Oh, haha." She laughed at her misunderstanding and stuck her tongue out. Then with a serious face, she said," The dwarves are extremely stubborn and greedy. They did not want to process any of the ores without receiving at least half of them. If you saw how their eyes glinted when they saw the ores, you would have laughed at how pitiful they looked."

"Hmm, that can not be helped then. We will need to ask the other races, then. The humans or the elves might have some experts who can deal with the ores and process them." "And not be greedy with it," he added with a mocking smile.

"The Northern clans are afraid. The blight have been slowly creeping through the forest. The scourge might march at any moment," father said as he looked at his glass of wine, stirring its contents by swaying the glass.

"And because of that we need those ores to be processed and turned into weapons and armors as soon as possible, keeping a balance between quantity and quality. The dwarves may be the best smiths, but if they took half the ores, the amount produced would not be enough to supply the Northern clans." Angeline made a wry smile as she said that. It seems like the situation isn't too good.

"Can we not ask help from the Dragon Kingdom?" I asked, butting into their conversation. Even though I couldn't understand most of what they said, I tried to provide a suggestion based on what little I could understand.

"Goodness, dear, no," father answered while laughing. "Unlike us, they suffered from internal conflict while waging war against us. They still have a lot of reconstruction and reorganizition to do."

"I-I see." I felt a bit sad for being unable to help.

"Do not worry, Gin. I appreciate the thought," father said as he walked over to my seat and lifted me into his arms. "Are you full, now, dear? Let us get you to your room and prepare to have you go to bed. You have a big day tomorrow."

He carried me out of the dining hall, but before leaving he looked back at Angeline and said, "We'll continue in my study."

"Yes, father. Goodnight Regina," she said with a smile.

"Goodnight~" I replied.

The next day.

We were having breakfast inside the royal carriage. It was currently parked beside the road. I quickly finished my meal then left the carriage to play outside.

"Be careful, princess," Alice said as she followed behind me. "Don't get your clothes dirty."

"Geez, Alice," I complained, "I'm not a child anymore!"

"Say that when you know how to put on you own dress."

"I-I can put it on my own!"

"Right, if you call getting entangled in a mess of laces, then bawl out while crying, 'Aliiiiiiice, help meeee~'"

I shut my mouth and glared angrily at her. She made an apologetic smile and said, "I'm sorry, I think I went too far."

"Hmph, I shall forgive you, since I am not a child anymore."

We went a short distance away from the carriage and watched the small animals in the forest. I asked Alice to catch a rabbit with strange red lines on its body that faded and appeared every now and then, and she did it so swiftly the rabbit did not know what happened. I held it in my arms as it looked around it confused, the red lines on its body disappeared completely. Then I ran back to the carriage to show it off to father.

"What, is that for dinner? I did not know you liked rabbits. I will tell the palace cook to prepare rabbit stew when we get back," he said with a teasing smile.

"No! Wiggles is not food!" I protested loudly.

"To give it a name already..." Alice was at a loss for words.

"Hmm," father looked at the rabbit closely.

"No! I am not letting you eat Wiggles!"

"Hahaha. No, dear. I am not planning to eat the poor fellow. You can keep him."

"Yey! I love you!" I hugged father and went inside the carriage to give Wiggles some food.

We proceeded with our travel and finally arrived at our destination. It was an abandoned town on the border of the Dragon and Phoenix Kingdoms. Another carriage was already there, and it also let out a presence of grandeur. When its door opened, I was surprised to see the current Dragon King in his human form come out.

"Well met, King Zoi," father said as he also stepped out of the carriage.

"Same to you, King Aren," the black dragon king said. The two then shook hands the same way they did during the Azure Peace Treaty.

"It has been a while, has it not?"

"Did we not meet a few days ago?"

"No, not that. I meant before that." King Zoi had a knowing smile on his face.

"Haha, I thought you had forgotten. Here I was wondering why you suddenly sent a messenger and asked to meet in such a dubious place."

As I stepped out of the carriage, King Zoi noticed me and murmured, "Is she---?" Father nodded. The dragon king then raised his right hand towards the carriage behind him and signaled someone to come out. A young man with short black hair wearing majestic noble clothes appeared. He had a bored expression on his face, then seeing me, he sighed.

'What? Who does he think he is?' Before I could lose my temper, Alice appeared behind me and place a hand on shoulder, calming me down. Making eye contact with the boy, I made a humph and turned my head to the side.

"This is my only son, the royal prince, Enzo Umbris Dragonica. He is turning 15 this year. Enzo, this is King Aren Ignis Phoenias, ruler of the Phoenix Kingdom, and an old friend of mine. Pay your respects."

"Hail, my name is Enzo Umbris Dragonica. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine. You look exactly like your father during his younger years." He then beckoned me to come closer. As I walked towards them, "This is my daughter, 2nd Princess Regina Ignis Phoenias. She will be having first coming of age this year."

"Oh, turning eight now? I'll make sure Enzo attends." Hearing that, the young man in front of me snorted.

'He snorted! Father, he snorted! Off with his head!' I wanted to scream. To avoid exposing my true feelings, I made a polite smile and curtsied. Looking closely, King Zoi had placed his hand on his son's shoulder and gripping it strongly. I laughed inwardly, finally noticing the slightly pained expression on his face.

"Enzo, go take the 2nd Phoenix Princess to play. Don't stray too far."

"As you will, father." He then walked away without even looking at me. I glanced at father and saw him make a teasing smile and prodded me to go ahead with a movement of his head.

I followed the black haired boy and we reached a small broken house. He stood in front of it. Bored, I looked around to find anything interesting, only to find nothing worth of note. Alice was at a distant making funny gestures, thinking I could not see her. I'll make her pay later.

"Wh---" as I opened my mouth to speak, Enzo interrupted me.

"Did you know the meaning of the date?"

"D-d-date? I-I-I am still too young to be asked out for a d-d-date," I panicked after hearing his words. Alice always told me tales about how princesses were taken out to dates by their knights in shining armor for my bedtime stories. Enzo looked at me with a confused expression, and then as if finally realizing what went wrong, he snorted.

"What is your problem?" I said, deciding to confront him. He ignored me and instead stepped forward, entering the broken down house. Inside he picked up a small worn out doll, then started speaking continuously in a quiet voice.

"The Tenth God made a tower called Heaven's Road. Every 10,000 years this tower drops from the Heavens, providing a path for the mortals to reach the place where the Ten True Gods live. Do you know what that means?"

I kept quiet.

"Anyone who meets the God can ask for a single thing. It can be anything. It can be any wish." He stood up and dropped the doll back on the ground. "It is now the 9990th Year of the 11th Tower." He then looked at me. "Ten years from now, Heaven's Road will once again appear."

He started walking at my direction, and passed me while saying, "I aim to conquer that. I have no time to play with a snot-nosed brat like you."

I couldn't get mad at him. My mind was occupied by what he said.

It can be any wish.

I have a wish. A wish I can not allow anyone to know.

Slowly, I turned my head and watched his back. My heart clenched in pain as the wish almost spilled from my mouth.

I am the Second Princess of the Phoenix Kingdom.

And my wish...

...Is to become a Dragon!