Frostine narrowed her eyes against the bright rays of the sun as she stepped out from the shadows of the castle with James at her side. She struggled to see at first until her sight adjusted and took in the open top carriage, the four dark color horses standing in front of the two bench carriage, and the small group of people hurrying around, finishing preparations. A few of them had horses nearby.
She glanced around the small courtyard. No one representing her father’s court was there. She wondered if they truly supported her step-mother’s bid for power She, also, wondered which of her step-sisters would be married off to the various sons of the local Dukes and Lords in the surrounding lands and estates. She wondered if she would be better off to step into the shadows until something happened to her step-mother, the Queen. She sighed. Those things she would have time to figure out later after she saw her father laid to rest in the Royal Family’s catacombs. Right now, she had to focus on saying goodbye to her father in this life. It never got easier with each new life she lived and remembered.
She shook herself from those thoughts as James escorted her to the carriage and helped her into it. She settled down, middle of the seat in the front bench. She spread out her skirts, glancing up every few moments to watch the action around her. She aware of James climbing up and sitting behind her left shoulder. The single handmaiden the Queen allowed her to bring with her climbed up and sat behind Frostine’s right shoulder. The two of the guards had hopped onto their horses and move them into position ahead of the horses drawn carriage. The rest of the guard brought up the rear. So this was Her Princess body guards. She casted Analyze on each of them. Her heart fell. They were all low level guardsmen with a large stamina pool. No way why the Queen parted with these guards. Frostine had hoped there was at least one of them with a high level in the teens or at least had a profession. Maybe James did, she thought to herself before she half turned in her seat and cast Analyze on him.
Analyze didn’t give her a lot of information, but it did give her enough. James did hold the title of Captain of the Princess guard. He was a Level 8 guardsmen with a medium sized magic pool and a large stamina pool. She didn’t know if he had earned his title of Captain through merits or the fact he was the highest level out of her new guards. However, he didn’t have a profession. That was his only downfall. She would soon found out if he got his title through merits or level.
“My princess, we are ready,” one of the footmen announced, turning his seat in front of her as he held the reins in one hand.
Frostine nodded and called out, “Let’s go and say our final goodbyes to the King. Long Live the King!” she didn’t know if that was the right thing to say or not.
The driver nodded, echoing, “Long Live the King!”
The guards repeated the same thing and their horses started forward. Frostine felt the carriage shift under her as it rolled forward. She stared past the driver to the gate leading to the rest of the castle roads. One day, she promised herself, she would reward these men and women who showed loyalty to her. One day when she was Queen of the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom. They will raise to their highest station and want for nothing if they were loyal to her and the Kingdom. However, that was in the future. She couldn’t dwell on the future when her focus on the here and now. The corner of her lips twitched at the old quote from a space movie. If she remembered correctly, it was the first movie where the young Queen she wanted to imitate was introduced.
Frostine watched as the gate got closer. She frowned. It didn’t open. She looked upward to the wall separating this part of the castle from the rest of it and scanned for the guardsmen she knew were standing. They should have been. However, she didn’t see any of them. Her gut tightened with worry.
“Ronald,” James called out, standing up from his seat, “Angeal.” Frostine spotted the two named guards as they turned their horses around and trotted up. “Go up and see if you can open the gate.”
The two nodded and turned their horses around before they rode to either side of the gate and got off. They disappeared through a set of doors. Frostine sat there, waiting. The sound of her heart beat in her ears. Was there a possibility that the Queen would lock her out of her own father’s funeral and try to drive a wedge between the Princess and her people? That was a good possibility, she figured. It would be a way for the Queen to gain the loyalty of the common folk by spreading a lie about Frostine abandoning them. If the Queen did, she would have to counteract somehow. It would be a long dangerous game of chess. Lucky for her, her father had taught her how to play chess in this life.
One of the guards, Ronald from the looks of him, appeared on top of the wall and called down to the group, “It appears, Captain, we can’t open the gate.”
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Frostine glanced over her shoulder to James. He looked troubled at the news before she asked in a loud tone, “Why is that?”
“Princess,” Ronald cleared his throat, “They have created some of barricade on the other side.”
She hummed, thinking, “Is there another way out of this courtyard for the Carriage and horses?”
“Yes,” James sighed, “But it is a bit longer to get around the castle. This way was a short cut.”
“Let’s get a move on then,” Frostine announced, “The Funeral won’t wait for anyone.” The driver of the carriage nodded and directed the horses to turn around, heading the opposite direction. She turned her head in the direction of the clock tower. It was analog clock. Numbers surrounded the edge of the clock as a pair of needles sat in the center. The longer needle pointed at 11 while the smaller needle rested upon 9. They had fifteen minutes to get to the main portion of the castle before the funeral parade happened. “We have to hurry.” She looked forward, “The parade starts in 15.”
As soon as she said that, a box appeared in the center of her vision and she blinked. The box simply informed her that she could give the driver and the guardsmen a quest. She thought about it. If she had the ability to do that, she could easily level them up and help them become stronger. Another box popped up asking about the requirements of the quest. She knew they needed to be part of the parade before the clock struck noon. If they had managed to do it, she would be grateful to them. Somehow that was translated to increased relationship points, experience points, and skill points in the System. She agreed to give her group a quest.
A red timer appeared in the bottom right corner of her vision with the two digits - 15. She sucked in a breath. Did she just give out a quest? That was amazing! She blinked and turned her attention to the members of the group.
The driver nodded, getting the message. He shook the reins and the horses sped up. The guards moved head. Frostine glanced up at the tower. It still took her by surprise sometimes, seeing those kind of analog clocks. In a previous life, analog clocks had been slowly replaced by digital clocks through her childhood and became outdated by the time she reached her 30’s, just like so many things. When she was just a young child, in this life, and gain conscious on what was going on around her, she was surprised by many of things her this life parents had in their royal apartments. Most of the items seemed ancient by the standards of her first life, but in a way, it made life interesting trying to learn how to live without the advancements of technology.
Frostine was jerked out of her thoughts when the carriage rode over a bump in the road. She tilted to the side as she felt her rear leave the bench for a moment before she landed back in her seat and she reached to grabbed the bench at the same time, her handmaiden and James reached out to her. She clenched the back and the edge of the bench and said, looking over her shoulder, “I’m good.”
James nodded at her and sat down, grabbing the edge of the carriage. However, her handmaiden looked pale as she held onto the carriage tightly. Frostine hoped she would be alright. She turned to face the road. The road they had to take went around the entire stinking castle. Usually, it would take 30 minutes to get there by carriage with the horses walking. She mentally cursed at her step-mother and closed her eyes as she shook her head. Doing that won’t do anyone any good. This was just obstacle in her path and she would have overcome it. She opened her eyes and they widened as she noticed they were entering the merchant distinct.
Three of the guards rode ahead, trying to clear a path for the carriage, but the dirt covered road was crowded with the villages wanting to see the King for the last time before he was buried in the Royal Catacombs. Frostine saw heads turned before they yelled and scrambled to get out of the way, followed by crashing sounds. She winced. She might have to figure out a way send a few fruit baskets to her citizens or at least send something as an apology.
She clenched the bench as the carriage race through the streets with the trio of guards leading the way. She turned her attention down to the timer as they reached the outskirts of the village and the streets turned from cobblestone to dirt roads. There was still 10 minutes left. She hoped they would be able to make it in time. She knew it would look bad for her not to be there, unless her step-mother spun in it a way to make it to look. She personally doubt it. She sighed as she tried to relax on the bench, but the carriage wheels ran over the potholes, bouncing along the road. Her heart thundered in her chest. She tried not to think about her step-mother and her actions. She tried to direct her thoughts to the future and what she was going to do as she rocked back and forth on the bench, praying she didn’t fell off.
Being 12 years old, Frostine knew there wasn’t much she could do. From what she did remember of her previous life of real life and fictional royalty, she was aware she could try to gather allies, so when she was old enough to overthrow her step-mother, she could have an army at her back. However, she knew the downside of that. There was always a chance she would be betrayed by an ally or her step-mother would try to have her killed off to get the Heart Crystal of the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom. She was sure that was the other way to get a Heart Crystal. The Queen would have to be close by to lay claim on the Heart Crystal upon Frostine’s death. Of course, she could thwart the Queen’s actions by selecting an heir to pass the Heart Crystal onto, but it would also put the person she chose in the Queen’s line of fire when she discovered what Frostine had done. She sighed. She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest and pout. It would be childish. Plus, it would increase her chances of falling off the carriage as it bounced along the holey road. She could act her age later when she was alone.