Chapter 11 : The Ice Princess

​Zeel lowered his voice, making it sharper and more stern, as if whispering into the deepest, darkest corners of Vain’s distracted mind: "The killer who used a rapidly spoiling poison like the ‘Black Needle’ won’t leave things to chance. They will likely return soon, before dinner, to check on your corpse and hide the shattered pitcher and evidence before anyone else discovers the matter. My plan is... for you to pretend to be dead."

​Vain’s eyes widened, and he felt an icy coldness creeping through his limbs as he remembered the horrific tearing pain in his gut.

​His throat went dry as he asked in a trembling voice: "What do you mean? Do you want me to drink the poison?!"

​"No, you fool!" Zeel replied with irritation and impatience, as if rebuking a child. "I want you to play the role of a corpse. Spill some of the drink on the carpet to make it look like you vomited blood, shatter the glass, and collapse on the floor as if the poison has taken you. When the killer enters the room believing you are dead, they will be relaxed and at their weakest... and only then will we strike to find out who they are."

​Vain hesitated for a moment, looking at the red glass pitcher as if it were a venomous snake coiling around his neck, ready to strike. "And what if the killer decides to stab me to make sure I’m dead? What if they are physically stronger than me?"

​Zeel replied in a serious tone: "That is what I meant by the possibility of failure, but I will give you a signal when they lower their guard. I will monitor their movement, and if they try to touch you with any harm, I will give you the signal to move immediately. This is your only chance, boy, to know the perpetrator; as for defeating them, that is up to you. As I told you before, this country lacks mana in the air due to its cold environment, so I cannot assist you in combat."

​Vain took a deep breath, trying to control the violent trembling of his hands and calm his chaotic thoughts. He stood up slowly, his heart pounding like war drums in his chest.

​He gripped the glass pitcher and, with extreme caution, poured some of its viscous contents onto the floor near the table. The crimson liquid spread across the plush carpet, forming a dark, shimmering pool of blood under the pale sunset light filtering through the window.

​Then, with a heart heavy with dread, he dropped the glass cup, letting its shards scatter with a familiar and terrifying ring, breaking the silence of the room.

​Vain collapsed onto the carpet. Thanks to the horrific memories of his death that were still burned like fire into his mind, he took the same twisted and painful position in which he had perished only minutes ago.

​He placed his face near the spot of "fake blood" and closed his eyes, trying to hold his breath and making his tense muscles look completely limp, like a body from which the soul had just departed.

​The minutes passed heavily, as if they were long, deadly hours. A suffocating silence reigned in the room, a silence broken only by the violent thumping of his heart, which he feared would expose his location to whoever was standing in the hallway. Tension was gnawing at his nerves mercilessly; would the killer really come? Or was Zeel’s plan just a losing bet that would cost him his life again?

​Suddenly…

​The sound of light, extremely quiet footsteps reached his ears, approaching the door like a ghost lurking in the darkness.

​Vain’s breathing stopped involuntarily.

​(Click)

​The brass doorknob turned very slowly. The door did not open violently or in a hurry; rather, it slid inward with complete silence, as if it were a shadow moving to merge with the gloom.

​Vain felt a draft of cold air brush against his face from the hallway.

​The footsteps stopped at the entrance of the room for a moment, as if the caller were exploring the place with the caution of a predator assessing its prey. Then the person stepped inside.

​Vain heard the rustle of soft clothes and the sound of muffled, deliberate footsteps that could barely be heard touching the carpet.

​The steps drew closer and closer, until the killer stopped right next to his head.

​Vain felt a heavy shadow blocking what remained of the sunset light. In that heavy moment, he heard a deep sigh. It was a strange sigh, filled with heartbreak and suppressed sorrow.

​A faint, feminine voice whispered: "Forgive me."

​The killer leaned down and reached out her hand to grab the pitcher in an attempt to hide the evidence of the poison. In that decisive moment, Zeel screamed in Vain’s mind with a thundering voice that shook his being:

​"Now!!"

​Vain’s eyes snapped open suddenly. With a swift and sudden movement that exploded all the adrenaline suppressed in his veins, he lashed out his hand like a whip and grabbed the wrist of the hand reaching for the pitcher, gripping it with a desperate strength he never imagined he possessed.

​The person standing before him flinched with violent shock and gasped in pure terror, trying to pull her hand back forcefully. But Vain tightened his grip fiercely and rose halfway, his eyes finally meeting the terrified face of the killer.

​The blood froze in Vain’s veins; his shock was equal to that of his attacker. He was staring at a face covered with a black veil, wearing pitch-black clothes that blended into the night.

​"You! Who are you?!"

​The words came out of Vain’s throat loaded with absolute astonishment and bitterness. The problem was that he couldn't even recognize the owner of the voice because of the thick veil; all he was certain of at that moment, from the slender body structure and the softness of the voice, was that she was a girl.

​Without hesitation, the unknown girl kicked Vain with brutal force in his stomach.

​It was a precise strike that knocked the breath out of him for a moment and forced him to release her hand in pain. She retreated two graceful steps, her eyes watching Vain with extreme caution and deadly focus.

​The girl pulled a shimmering knife out of nowhere and took a professional fighting stance. Vain stood up slowly, ignoring the pain in his stomach, his eyes fixed entirely on his enemy.

​The two moved in a circular motion very slowly, like wolves in a cage, each waiting for the right opening to pounce.

​Zeel interrupted Vain’s focus, shouting in his mind: "Boy! Your chance of winning is almost zero; she is a seasoned killer, and her movements testify to that. Try to use your surroundings to open a gap and escape through the door!"

​This was exactly what was going through Vain’s mind. From her steady stance and perfect balance, he realized he had no chance in direct combat. The two continued circling for seconds that felt like an eternity.

​It seemed to Vain that the killer was cautious about making the first move, but he knew for certain that if she decided to attack, he wouldn't have the skill to deter her. In a desperate move, Vain grabbed a heavy leather volume from the nearby shelf and threw it with all his might toward her face. The killer was forced to dodge, which threw off her balance for a moment and made her retreat steps that moved her body away from the path of the door. This was exactly what he hoped for.

​Vain lunged with the force of a raging bull, colliding with the killer until she hit the wall behind her. He seized the moment and headed straight for the door with all the effort he had in a desperate attempt to exit. Without warning, Vain stumbled and slammed into the door with force, causing it to swing wide open.

​He rose with frantic speed, heading toward the stairs to escape, but suddenly... he stopped.

​He felt a sharp, sudden coldness tearing through his stomach, followed by an unbearable, deadly pain that made him grab his belly involuntarily.

​Vain stopped for a second, panting with great difficulty. He cast a trembling glance at his hand, only to see that it was drenched in warm, thick red blood.

​He lowered his gaze with a terrifying slowness toward his stomach... and there, he found a deep, open wound with his intestines clearly protruding.

​A pure, paralyzing horror climbed into his mind from the dread of the sight. His intestines were visible, pulsating and sliding, on the verge of falling out of his body.

​Vain closed his wound with his trembling hands, trying to keep everything in place, and began to vomit violently. His mind could not accept the idea of holding his own intestines in his hands.

​He felt their stickiness and warmth between his fingers as he dragged his feet, leaning against the hallway wall with his shoulder, leaving behind a long trail of blood, trying to reach the lower staircase.

​His consciousness was scattering and shattering like broken glass, his eyes tearing up intensely from the severity of the pain. He advanced toward the stairs with a deadly slowness until his strength failed him, and he collapsed on the cold floor. His trembling hand reached toward the bottom of the stairs, as if he were pleading for help from the void, despite his certainty that there was no one else in the long corridor.

​Blood flowed profusely from his stomach, scattering on the floor of the luxurious hallway and saturating his clothes in crimson. While his consciousness was slowly fading into the darkness of death, he glimpsed a ghost. He saw the body of the girl in the pitch-black robe standing quietly before him. He raised his eyes with great difficulty; it was the same killer.

​Vain had not noticed when or how she had stabbed him with such precision when he pushed her and left the room.

​"Forgive me."

​These words were the last thing that struck his ears as he bled out on the floor, departing life slowly and in agony. The pain of dying by slow bleeding was similar to the pain of freezing alive; he felt every ounce of pain, every drop of blood leaving his body, until the spirit left him.

​But, in his final moments as he lived through one of his most hideous deaths, Vain noticed something strange. The voice. It wasn't the same voice of the girl who had whispered in the room a moment ago. It was a different tone! Although he hadn't recognized the owner of the voice in either case, he realized the clear difference between them.

​…

​Vain died.

​…

​(Click).

​Vain gasped loudly as if he had come up from underwater, drawing in a deep, burning breath into his lungs. He instinctively grabbed his stomach to check it, then collapsed on the floor, vomiting violently, his eyes wide open in sheer shock. He remained muttering while drenching in cold sweat:

​"Damn it... there are two of them! There are two killers!"

​He looked around in shock, trying to gather his shattered mind to devise a plan to deal with this deadly situation. He realized now that Zeel’s old plan wouldn't work; even if he knew who the killer was, it wouldn't stop them from trying to kill him. What Vain knows up to this point is that there are two or more killers, and they are clearly stationed in this wing specifically to block all escape routes.

​He stood up with difficulty and leaned his back against the closed door, closing his eyes for a second.

​He called out in a breathless voice: "Zeel!"

​Zeel replied, repeating the same sentence he had said in the previous death loop with precision: "What is the matter, boy? Do not speak out loud, someone might hear you."

​Vain went straight to the heart of the matter, his chest heaving rapidly and sweating profusely: "Zeel, there are killers coming now, and the drink in front of us is already poisoned!"

​"!"

​Zeel's eyes widened in the other dimension, disbelieving what the boy was saying. But he remembered for a moment what had happened in the dark room; Vain knew about the existence of a dragon in the south despite never leaving the room and having zero mana. So, automatically, the ancient spirit decided to take the human's words completely seriously.

​Zeel fell silent for a moment, analyzing the available resources, then asked quickly: "How many of them are there and when will they arrive?"

​Vain replied without hesitation: "Two or more. one will enter through this door in a few minutes, and escaping through the hallway is impossible."

​Zeel growled in his mind. He realized that in this trapped situation, the only natural path was the door blocked by the killers, and he didn't trust for a moment that the weak Vain would prevail in a direct battle against seasoned assassins.

​While Vain was sweating and his heart was thumping in his chest from the intensity of the tension, Zeel broke the silence: "Boy... go to the window and show me the outside."

​Vain stammered for a moment; fear had completely made him forget the existence of a window in the room despite its large size.

​Vain hurried toward the window and opened it wide. He stuck his head out and looked down. The height was staggering and terrifying! Despair permeated his heart as he failed to see the ground clearly due to the extreme height.

​He could barely distinguish the tops of a few trees below. Despite the deadly situation, a quick question floated in his mind: "How can live trees exist in this kingdom encrusted with eternal ice?" For Vain had previously noticed the complete absence of trees when he was observing the city's landmarks earlier.

​Zeel’s firm voice interrupted him: "Look up."

​Vain raised his gaze to find other windows on the upper floors, and they weren't very far. Zeel suggested that the only remaining solution was to climb upward somehow. Vain retreated inside and began searching frantically in every inch of the room for any tool that might help him. He needed at least something sharp and strong that could be driven into the gaps between the stones of the outer wall to lift himself.

​He found nothing.

​(Click).

​Without warning, the door opened. Vain froze in place and turned quickly. The door was open, but the hallway seemed empty; no one was there.

​A heavy silence reigned for a moment, and the sound of Vain’s heartbeat was so loud that he thought it echoed in the room, until Zeel shattered this silence with a thundering cry:

​"Behind you, boy!!"

​Involuntarily, Vain threw his body forward with frantic speed and turned around. The killer was standing right behind him, her silver knife blade gleaming in the air, about to sever his head from his body. He touched his neck with a trembling hand, only to find that it had caused a tiny superficial wound from which hot drops of blood were trickling.

​Vain retreated and ran toward the door trying to escape, but like a ghost, she appeared before him out of nowhere and aimed a direct stab toward his neck. Vain dodged the attack miraculously, retreating quickly until his back hit the edge of the open window, panting heavily.

​"Damn it!" Vain screamed, despair clutching at the depths of his heart. He realized that at this rate, he would inevitably die for the second time.

​While cold sweat covered his face, Zeel interrupted him with a voice that brooked no argument: "Since matters have come to this point... there is no other choice. Boy, jump!"

​Vain did not grasp what Zeel meant. He screamed hysterically: "Jump?!? What do you mean jump?!"

​Vain looked like a madman screaming into the air to the killer, for she could not hear Zeel’s voice.

​Zeel continued coldly and quickly: "I mean jump out of the window! Hurry, she’s coming!"

​The killer moved toward him with terrifying speed, her eyes shining with a deadly determination to end his life. Vain bit his lips until they bled, and looked at the girl with a gaze full of raging,

burning anger—a sharp look that made the professional killer flinch and hesitate for a fraction of a second.

​Then... Vain jumped.

​He jumped into the void based on the word of an ancient spirit.

​The palace was extremely high, and the mere thought of jumping from this height was outright suicide; that was what Vain’s mind was screaming.

​But he had no other options. Even as he realized he would return to life through the "loop" after death, he decided to fight and gamble until the last breath; the feeling of death itself was the worst nightmare he had experienced in his life.

​The air whistled in his ears crazily, and the ground rushed toward him at a speed capable of turning his body into scattered shreds. Vain screamed in pure terror, while Zeel screamed in his mind: "Boy, head for the bushes!!"

​In the air, Vain used his hands and legs trying to resist the violent air pressure to adjust his fall path slightly, directing his body toward the small green bushes that looked very suspicious in this place; their youthful green color was completely alien to the surrounding white and icy blue.

​Zeel said with intense focus: "Alright, now everything depends on timing."

​Vain continued his free fall toward the bushes. He had accepted the idea of death beforehand, consoling himself that at least he wouldn't feel pain if he hit the ground at such an enormous speed.

​The fierce winds resulting from the fall slapped his features harshly, and tears flew from his eyes due to the pressure. He closed his eyes tightly, ready for the final impact.

​And for one moment.

​At the exact moment he arrived above the bushes, Zeel’s eyes glowed with a brilliant golden light and snapped wide open.

​In a fraction of a second, a dense and extremely compressed windstorm erupted from below, centered exactly under Vain’s body. The wind acted as a magical air cushion, reflecting the force of the fall and the shock in a massive way.

​(Boom!)

​Vain fell tumbling and hit his forehead hard on the dirt ground, causing him sharp and sudden pain.

​Vain sat up slowly, holding his head from the force of the blow. He was breathing with difficulty, his chest heaving... but he survived. He had survived certain death.

​Vain opened his eyes, still holding his head and disbelieving that he was alive after a free fall from such a legendary distance.

​He moved his head slowly, inspecting the surrounding place. The bushes were much larger than they had seemed; the view from above had been deceptive.

​He was now sitting in a huge garden located behind the palace, featuring a vast green space filled with strange types of flowers with bright colors, and a pleasant, fragrant scent wafted through the air.

​A few meters in front of him, he saw a huge door leading into the palace, and standing before it were guards armored in heavy iron suits and swords. Vain quickly concluded that this was the back door of the palace, and behind it were stairs leading upward. He also clearly noticed that the entire area was surrounded by tight security that could not be breached.

​Zeel whispered warningly: "Don't move an inch. I am currently using a spell to partially hide your presence. If you move, they will notice you immediately."

​Vain swallowed hard.

​He remembered that the credit for surviving this suicidal fall belonged to Zeel, so he asked him in a daze whispered by his thoughts: "Zeel... what did you do? Did you use magic?"

​Zeel sighed with clear exhaustion and replied: "Is it not obvious, boy? It was a desperate gamble, but it worked. Since there are live trees here, I was able to extract and use some magic, but this won't last long. These trees barely produce any mana in this cold, barren environment."

​Until that moment, Vain hadn't felt the sting of the external cold; the adrenaline was still pumping like fire in his veins from the dread of the fast-paced events he had just survived.

​Vain remained frozen in his place amidst the flowers, not moving a muscle, watching the situation for long hours until the dark night draped its curtains over the palace.

​He suspected that the killer might search for him, for he knew she wouldn't rest until she was sure of seeing his broken corpse.

​While he sat until his leg muscles stiffened from the cold and stillness, he glimpsed two people approaching directly toward him. He swallowed his spit in fear and whispered to Zeel: "Z-Zeel... what do we do now?!"

​Zeel fell silent for a moment, focusing his sight on the newcomers, then said in a concerned tone: "This is bad. The guard won't notice you thanks to my camouflage, but the girl might. I sense a flow of mana from her. Based on the density of this mana, she is at least a level five mage."

​Vain was surprised by Zeel’s visual accuracy and ability to sense, for he personally hadn't even noticed the genders of those approaching from this distance.

​The two strangers drew closer and closer. Vain scrutinized his vision in the darkness and finally noticed their features. There were two people: a large guard, and a stunningly beautiful girl with hair as white as snow, wearing a light blue silk robe that flowed softly. In terms of features, she looked to be in her early twenties, about Vain’s age.

​Vain was tired of seeing white hair again in this place. For he knew for certain that this rare color indicated a direct link to the royal family. Vain sighed to himself and said to Zeel grumpily: "Does everyone in this cursed palace have white hair or what?!"

​Zeel replied with a similar sigh and followed up clarifying: "No, but there are several noble families belonging to the same ancient ancestor living in this palace with the ruling family. The only and definitive difference is the 'Etherios' lineage. Whoever possesses this pure lineage has the right to claim the throne. Anyway, calm down and hold your breath; they have approached."

​Vain fell completely silent.

​The accompanying guard stopped a few meters away, while the girl advanced with confident and calm steps toward the dense flower fields where Vain was hiding motionless.

​The beautiful girl stood directly in front of Vain. Her gaze was focused entirely on the flowers next to him, making cold sweat pour from Vain’s forehead in terror that she might step on him or notice him.

​Without any introduction, she crouched down right next to him and began picking some flowers with her delicate hands, with a small, calm smile adorning her lips.

​Vain was somewhat relieved, and let out a silent exhale. He clearly assumed she hadn't discovered his existence despite her extreme proximity.

​Suddenly, in the middle of the garden's silence, she spoke in a sweet and calm voice:

​"Well... what is the ‘Protector’s’ guest doing hiding in my personal garden?"

​Vain’s heart stopped for a long moment in sheer shock. She had turned and looked directly into his eyes hidden in the darkness; her features showed no surprise, rather she had been fully aware of his presence from the beginning.

​"How?!" Vain spoke involuntarily in a hoarse voice.

​The beautiful girl's smile widened and she replied in a confident tone: "As you can see, I am a level five mage. This camouflage won't work against me. But what is truly interesting is that I don't sense a single atom of magic emanating from you. How did you do this?"

​Vain immediately remembered Zeel’s warning that the camouflage wouldn't hold against a mage of this level.

​As she sat, she continued with artificial politeness: "Well, this is a lack of respect on my part, I forgot to introduce myself. But since you are in the middle of a hiding attempt, I will waive the rule of bowing this time."

​With a simple and elegant nod of the head, and a charming smile that captures hearts, she added confidently:

​"I am Lyva Lyth Etherios, the First Princess of the Kingdom of Lyth. I greet the Protector’s guest."