Frostine Guinevere stared at her reflection in the tall mirror from behind a black veil. She felt numb. The guards had found her father’s body in the hallway leading to the Dungeon, two days with several large gashes over his chest. There was a good chance he had bleed out. What had caused the gashes was still under investigation, but Frostine had a good idea who was behind the attack. She didn’t dare voice her thoughts of who did it. That would be too dangerous.
She ran her icy blue eyes over her image, making sure nothing was out of place. Her black dress was form fitting. She still didn’t how she felt about that. The dress had been custom made for her by the finest Kingdom’s tailors. Unfortunately, the darkness of the dress brought out the fact she was really pale. Lucky for her, she mused, it was the current fashion trend. She had been the talk of the town since the fashion trend started - to much her displeasure and her wonderful step-sisters.
Her step-sisters had been trying to copy her since their parents married several months ago. So far, they had unsuccessful. Instead, her eldest step-sister decided to spread a rumor that Frostine was really a vampire in disguise. She had laughed in response so did majority of the court when they found out who started that rumor. Her step-mother, the Queen, wasn’t too happy and told her eldest step-sister to grow up, to get over childish pursuits, and focus on her duty to the Kingdom now that she was a Princess. Her Eldest Step-sister had pouted for nearly two days after that scolding, but tried to find another way to discredit Frostine.
Frostine sighed as she turned away from the mirror and opened her interface. She still couldn’t believe her father - in this life - was gone. She knew exactly when it happened, too. The System had alerted her in the dead of night that she was the sole heir of the King and she, now, held all of his powers over the Kingdom and the Dungeon. However, the System had restricted her access to the Dungeon and majority of the Kingdom’s settlement points.
According to her father, Settlement points were credits earned by completing various quests given to the Leader of the Settlement and spent on upgrading the settlement the owner of the Heart Crystal had. The quests usually appeared at random so Frostine didn’t count on them to help her in leveling up. So far, she couldn’t spend a single point in trying to improve the lives of her people. The reason was simple. Frostine Guinevere, Daughter of Rudolph, Princess of the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom, had not yet come of age. Being 12 years old, she hated the fact she still had 4 years to go before she could really start making changes, so, her step-mother was acting as regent of the Kingdom until then, but even then, the Queen had limited power.
Frostine thought there was a way around the age restriction by conquering the Dungeon of Fear. She briefly remembered she had an ancestor who inherited the Kingdom before they came of age and was granted all of the Kingdom’s powers when they conquered the Dungeon. She didn’t know if she could do it or not. She was Level 1. One of her ancestors managed to do it at Level 10. Normally, if she could grind, she could easily reach Level 11, but being a princess, she was expected to stay at a low level. It didn’t stop her from trying to gain levels. She had been sitting at 50% of Level 1 for nearly a month.
The last time she had used Analyze on her step-mother, a skill her father had taught to her when she turned 9, the Queen was a Level 15 with a profession in Politics, but her mana pool was high. Her step-mother had invested heavily in her magic points. Frostine used to wonder why, but she figured her step-mother was a mage of some sorts. However, her father, before his untimely death, was a Level 45 with a profession in Politics, Business Administration, and a Swordsman and a Mastery in the known elements. Someone having three different professions was something Frostine had not yet come across and it was highly impressive, to her, at least.
Upon her father’s death, Frostine gained Mastery in Dark, Death, and Earth Magic. Having a mastery rank in any of the known elements gave the user a 50% resistance to that branch of magic and granted the user a spell in each of those branches of magic. She had squealed when she realized she could use Nightvision, Summon Small Soul, and Rose Brush. She knew what nightvision could do. Her father had helped her out with that, explaining to her one night when she had asked about what spells he knew.
However, she didn’t know what the other two spells would do yet. She just didn’t have the time to experiment with the two spells, yet. She did know a few other spells. Since her father knew and held a mastery in the known elements, he had tested her for the magical ability of those elements, she had the knack for Water and Life magic as well and gained two more spells. For life magic, Frostine earned a healing spell called Weak Healing. For Water Magic, she got weak Rain Shower.
A knock echoed in the stone bedroom. It came from the main room where the door leading to the hallway stood. Frostine blinked, tearing herself away from thoughts of magic and turned to the bedroom door as her maid opened it. She listened to her maid’s voice as she spoke to someone. It might have been a guard or a member of the council of Advisers. She glanced around the bedroom. Her step-mother had basically informed her within hours of the guards discovering her father’s body and Frostine becoming the new owner of the Heart Crystal for the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom, Frostine would be moving to her new quarters. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem since it meant Frostine was getting to old to live the Royal Nursery, except for the fact, her new quarters were outside of the royal wing and back of the castle.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
According to family lore, there had been several royal family members who lived in these forgotten quarters since the Family took over the Heart Crystal of the Snow Capped Mountains. Most recent family member before Frostine was an Aunt from over 75 years again. Frostine had heard from a few servants that her Great Aunt had been seen floating in the hallways, looking for something. One of the servants made mention that the Great Aunt might have been searching for her long lost love. Another claimed that her grandmother had been working for Frostine’s Great Aunt and said she died from heartbreak and didn’t move onto the Cycle of Rebirth because she couldn’t find her child she forced to give up, but didn’t give the reason. A third claimed to see the mysterious Great Aunt and she had blood trailing down her jaw from her mouth like the creatures of the Night did when they feed on the innocent.
Either way, Frostine needed to make a trip to the royal achieves to figure out the truth. She really didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to figure out if she started rooming with a ghostly relative or a vampire desiring to feed on her. It would probably give her nightmares with her ‘young’ mind. She sighed, feeling a lot older then her 12 years. This was one of the times she wished whoever skipped over her memory reboot would show up so she could kicked him hard in the balls. She knew going through puberty was going to suck as much as it did the first time around.
Her step-mother had made sure Frostine would get the cold shoulder. She wondered how long it would be before she would have to start looking over her shoulder for an assassin to appear. Maybe she could hire a food taster to see if her food and drinks were poisoned or not. She snorted. She could see if she could gain a mastery in poisons or life magic where she could easily heal herself in those situations or another.
“My Princess,” her maid’s voice broke through Frostine’s thoughts. She turned to give the Maid her attention and saw one of the guards standing beside the maid, “It is time.”
“Thank you, Natasha,” Frostine spoke softly. It was one of the few times she had spoke since she discovered the truth of her inheritance. Her eyes flickered over to the guard. “Is it safe to assume you been sent here to escort me to the funeral?”
“Yes, my princess,” the Guard replied with a bow.
“What is your name and rank?” Frostine asked. She tried to keep her voice and face emotionless. She needed to start working on her royal image. She remembered from a previous life, there was a story involving a powerful young Queen among the Stars. She, too, had cultivate an image of being a stoic queen. Of course, she had a few body doubles who would take her place when she asked and sometimes the body doubles had end paying the ultimate price for the job. Frostine didn’t have that ability. There would be no body doubles for her.
“I’m James,” the Guard gave her a salute, “Of her royal Princess body guards. I will be the Head of the guard.”
Frostine raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh? I wasn’t aware of this division of the guard.”
“The Royal Advisers thought it would be best to put a division in place,” James explained, “In the wake of your father’s death. Long Live the Princess.”
She hummed, thinking about what was implied. “My wonderful step-mother has not won any favors within the guard.”
“Permission to speak freely, my princess,” James asked. He stood tall and confident.
“Granted,” Frostine replied. She didn’t think one of her guard would request that already. Of course, she would not hesitate in allowing them to speak their minds. She needed allies for the future. She watched James’ body language and noticed he didn’t make any sort of the normal tales of a lie or wasn’t nervous about what he had to say.
“There are many in the guard who think The Queen may have been behind the mysterious death of your father,” James stated, meeting her eyes, “We do not have enough information on what killed your father and we want to take many precautions as possible in order to make your life is safe from harm. After all, you are the sole heir of the Heart Crystal for the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom.”
Frostine nodded. That made sense. She had seen the slashed marks on her father’s body and knew they weren’t made by a sword. It could have been a large creature with claws. She didn’t know of anything creature like that. It might have been a creature from the Star Labyrinth who managed to escape the Dungeon of Fear. There were too many possibilities and not enough information for Frostine to go on. However, what he was suggesting was a heavy notion to part on anyone. The guard basically admitted the guards standing watch on the Royal step-family weren’t loyal to them and thought the Queen had a hand in the death of the King.
“I understand,” Frostine admitted. She needed to keep that silent. If it got out the guards were ready to accuse the Queen of treason, even if it was true, there could be some people rioting in the streets, thanks to the Queen’s rather large family and connections they cultivated over the many years they have existed.
“It would be my great honor, my princess,” James stepped forward and held out his arm to Frostine, “If you would allow me to escort you to the Funeral.”
“Thank you, Sir James,” she stated, “For being loyal to my family in our trying times.” She took his arm and they walked from the new quarters for Frostine. As they walked down the hallway, Frostine saw a glimmer of something on one of the walls. She couldn’t make it out, but she could have sworn it was some sort of symbol. She turned her head to look at it better, but it disappeared from view. She frowned. A mysterious she would be looking into when she had a chance. It might be nothing, but it could be something. She turned her attention forward as James led her through the various hallways of the ancient castle.