Inside the Imperial Palace.
A woman with silver hair, her gaze filled with melancholy, watched as her brother abandoned her.
She stared at the golden cage they had prepared for her; her value to her mother, father, and brother had been reduced to a minor alliance with an empire that wasn't even particularly strong. She sighed, and plans began forming in her mind.
"Prince Bastian…" she whispered, her eyes darkening. She was searching for a way to make him disappear without anyone suspecting her… or at least to escape before they could judge her.
It was time to leave this cage behind and live a free life.
But… seeing how the terrified maids looked at her, she realized her reality.
"I have no allies here, do I?" she thought bitterly.
…
In Director Sterling's office.
"Cassian, I heard what happened with your stepsister. It's a relief it didn't escalate further."
"Mmm… I came to see you about what we talked about last time."
"Wait, I don't think it's appropriate for you to help me with that here," the director replied cautiously.
I looked at her, understanding the situation.
"Would you like me to come to your house one of these days?"
"I think that would be best."
Bam!
At that moment, the office door suddenly burst open, interrupting our conversation abruptly.
"Director, it's urgent!" Valeria Astaford exclaimed with clear haste, not even noticing the oddity of the pair in the room. "Cassane… Cassane is out of control! Her body can't withstand it!"
Valeria urged the director to follow her immediately. Her face, usually calm, showed a desperation that didn't match the "sword fanatic." Sylvia Sterling rose from her seat with an agility unusual for her age, her expression turning severe in an instant.
"Where is she?" the director asked as she was already heading for the exit.
"In the dormitories… the cold is sealing the doors. No one can get close without ending up frozen," Valeria replied as they began running down the hallway.
I remained silent for a moment, watching them leave.
I sighed. If I let the director handle it alone, she would probably use brute force to suppress the ice, which would permanently damage Cassane's mana core.
"How annoying…" I muttered, starting to walk toward the dormitories with my hands in my pockets.
When I arrived, the temperature was dropping rapidly by several degrees.
What used to be a room with wooden walls was now covered in thick ice that crackled under the pressure.
The director used fire magic to quickly force her way through and see Cassane, whose body emitted an erratic, icy glow. Clearly, she hadn't taken my advice last time. If she had stopped fighting her own body, she wouldn't be in this situation now.
"The Silver Frost Physque…" I murmured to myself. It wasn't surprising that it would awaken such a high affinity with ice.
Although the power system here is quite different, the same legendary physiques from the cultivation world still exist.
It's a shame that anyone born with the essence of this world can't cultivate and is instead trapped by such an underdeveloped system.
Still, considering the improvement I made with Adela the other day, maybe the way to gather power here isn't as far from ours as I initially thought.
Seeing how the director was about to do something that would destroy Cassane's future, I approached in a blink and placed a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at me, immediately understanding that I would take her place. Cassane, who could no longer resist the internal pressure, looked at me in confusion, expecting the director to continue trying to "help" her.
"Listen," I said firmly, ignoring the cold surrounding me, "I'll send energy through your channels. If you resist me, you'll end up shattering your core and will never be able to use magic again in your life."
I moved closer, forcing her to hold my gaze amid the whirlwind of frost.
"You have to feel how I move your energy along with mine, and at the same time, don't resist it. It's part of you; you could say that now you are the ice itself. Stop fighting what you are."
I began injecting my spiritual energy, guiding the rampaging mana of the Silver Frost Body through her meridians.
She looked at me in surprise as she felt someone who was supposedly "dry" inside—lacking magical talent by this world's standards—using an energy similar to mana to help her.
It wasn't pure mana; it was something denser and more ancient that coursed through her system with surgical precision.
Valeria, who finally noticed my presence, watched the scene without understanding why the Director would allow me to take charge of such a critical situation.
"Focus," I ordered Cassane, whose body temperature was beginning to stabilize under my guidance. "Let the cold settle in your core, not in your blood."
When she was finally stable, before she could faint from exhaustion, I told her:
"Remember how you moved your mana today. Next time, don't let it circulate however it wants."
Cassane could barely nod before her eyes closed completely, and she fell heavily forward. I caught her before she hit the frozen floor, feeling that her temperature, though still cold, was no longer lethal to her own life.
The silence that followed in the room was absolute. I turned to Valeria and handed her Cassane's unconscious body. She took it awkwardly, still processing what she had just seen, her gaze shifting between her friend and my face with evident confusion. Then I looked at Director Sylvia with a neutral expression, silently letting her know to notify me when she was ready.
Without adding anything else, I turned around and left, leaving them behind amid the melting remains of the ice.
…
In the Empress's chambers.
"Your Majesty, the person I sent to follow Cassian reported something strange today."
The Empress, upon hearing it concerned her new favorite toy, lifted her head with clear interest.
"It seems that today he managed to help his fiancée with her uncontrolled affinity problem."
Caelia frowned. On one hand, the fact that he had approached another woman displeased her greatly, and on the other…
"It seems my boy is hiding more than he shows…" she murmured, while a dangerous spark of curiosity shone in her green eyes.
…
Meanwhile, Adela went to find Elizabeth to get up to speed on their next steps. Upon entering her office, she was surprised to see a new face.
"Who is she?" Adela asked, analyzing the stranger.
"She's the mermaid I told you about in the letter, Thalassa Serenia."
"And why is she with you in your office?"
"Cassian allowed her to follow us back, and I thought her hypnotic ability could be useful to us."
Adela nodded, though she didn't seem entirely convinced.
"Mmm… anyway, I already told you what happened while you were away. We need to defeat the Lothes quickly and completely destroy Leonardo."
"The Valois have been strangely quiet," Elizabeth commented, crossing her arms. "I thought they would at least visit me to demand some explanations, when clearly I don't owe them any. If they thought I wouldn't get involved, that was their mistake."
"The Vitalis, on the other hand… have been bothering us about the 'powder.' It seems that for them, if something like that exists, we should contribute and make the formula known to everyone."
Elizabeth let out a dry laugh.
"Anyway, they're not our priority. What did you find out about the current Marquis Lothe that could be useful to us?"
"Not much…" Adela replied with a sigh. "It seems the Empress's brother is quite careful about revealing what he really wants. He would have to go against his own sister if he supports Elara… Maybe we should just give up on the Lothes."
"I don't think that's a good solution," Elizabeth intervened, crossing her arms. "We're still not sure if we'll get the Astafords' support. It would be better not to discard any house that could be useful."
At that moment, Thalassa intervened:
"What if I take care of them? I could meet the Marquis privately along with Elizabeth and give him some hypnotic suggestions."
"How confident are you in your hypnosis?" Adela asked, narrowing her eyes. "If it doesn't hold over time, it won't make sense."
"I am an eighth-circle mage," Thalassa replied with icy confidence. "Don't underestimate me."
Elizabeth and Adela exchanged a look.
"I suppose that will work," Adela nodded, though her tone was sharp. "We should try to move forward with this quickly; seeing the master close to that Lothe woman is unpleasant."
Elizabeth looked at her with complicity.
Maybe Cassian didn't care, since he saw everything as a simple game, but for them, him having that kind of relationship with Caelia was unacceptable. Just imagining him under the Empress's feigned control turned their stomachs. And Prince Leonardo had to pay quickly for touching Rosalind.