Chapter 103

But if he wanted to see it, then it was only natural to show him.

“Then watch.”

I raised the hand that was not holding my sword toward the sky.

“Behold the ice power of Princess Aisha of House Kreutz!”

At my shout, the spectators’ gazes converged on me. Avin also stared at my hand with nothing but anticipation in his eyes, apparently having no intention of attacking.

Don’t tense up. Just imagine it.

Burning Lucas’s advice into my mind once again, I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted,

“Fall, little snowflakes!”

Plip.

After a brief silence, tiny, adorable flakes of snow began drifting down from the sky.

One, then two.

They fluttered beautifully through the air like flower petals dancing in a spring breeze.

“Yes! Success!”

“Your hard work paid off! The snow is falling beautifully!”

“Wow! Princess, you’re amazing!”

“Dandelion, you’re doing great!”

“That child is my daughter.”

Everyone from House Kreutz sprang to their feet, applauding and cheering in unison.

Some of them were even crying.

“Thanksh!”

As if returning their support, I hopped around and thrust up a victorious V-sign.

As for everyone else staring blankly up at the sky,

and especially Avin, who tilted his head at me as though utterly baffled—

“.......”

Not my problem.

“Princessss!”

“My daughter is doing great!”

Whatever. My family is the best!

Everyone had obviously expected ice to burst from the ground, so the unexpected sight of tiny snowflakes left them looking bewildered.

But just a few days ago, I couldn’t use a power at all!

You people have no idea how huge an improvement this is!

I am Father’s proud golden seed.

With a solemn V-sign raised high, I marched around the arena, deliberately scattering snowflakes for everyone to see.

Gradually, the spectators’ reactions began to change.

“We hadn’t heard anything, so I came today looking forward to the match, but seeing her use a power proves she truly is Princess Aisha of House Kreutz! Though it’s snow rather than ice....”

“Still, making snow fall here in the warm central region is impressive, isn’t it?”

“So this is the snow we’ve only heard about! Whatever it is, just seeing how happy the Princess looks makes me happy too.”

As they say, no one can spit in a smiling face!

Seeing how genuinely delighted I was, one person after another began smiling along with me, and eventually they applauded.

Waaaaah—

“Thanksh. Thanksh.”

I made the snowflakes swirl down even more spectacularly and bowed to them one by one.

Honestly, before Avin appeared, I had planned to try winning somehow, but...

Can I actually beat the male lead?

If Kyle was the leader of the monsters, Avin was a genius when it came to supernatural powers.

Right now, he was looking up innocently at the falling snow, but his power had been so strong since infancy that even a coughing fit could release poison.

Of course, to him, that power had probably felt like poison itself.

Avin hated Duke Pose, who had abused him.

Yet, as if blood insisted on making a cruel joke of it, he had inherited Pose’s power because half of his blood came from him.

But thanks to that overwhelming power, he later unified two kingdoms.

So I changed my plan.

Even if I lost, I would put on enough of a performance to leave the spectators with a good impression of me.

“Hehe. Thanksh.”

After trotting one full lap around the arena to finish thanking everyone, I glanced sideways at King Argen.

“.......”

The corners of Argen’s mouth, which had been curled into a smug smile until just moments ago, had stiffened slightly.

He had clearly assumed I would have no power.

He must have put me first because he wanted to show everyone the shocking sight of someone with Kreutz blood being unable to use a power.

Too bad. I made snow fall in the warm central region.

Even though I could not use ice, this was more than enough to prove that I truly carried Dad’s blood.

“Yes! Next I’ll try making a blizzard.”

If I learned how to summon a blizzard, it would not only show that my power was growing, but could also work for self-defense.

Maybe I could block my enemies’ vision?

Now that was some sharp thinking worthy of a former spy.

“Hachoo!”

I gave one final bow to the king and queen before turning around.

Still exhilarated, I was swinging my sword back and forth with hands like sharp little hamster paws when—

“...Hah. And they call that a power.”

King Argen’s low voice slipped into my ear like a whisper.

What did he just say...?

“House Kreutz is nothing special after all.”

The moment I turned my head, I saw the corners of his previously stiff mouth rise faintly.

But when I blinked, all I saw was his mild smile.

Did I hear him wrong...?

A chill ran down my spine, making me shudder.

“Wow. So this is snow. I’ve never seen it before.”

Avin, who was still staring at the white snowflakes floating down from the sky, murmured.

“It falls almost every day in the North.”

“Really? This stuff?”

With an innocent expression, he raised his hand and caught a falling flake.

He seemed to be trying to examine the snow stuck to his hand, but—

“Does snow always melt this easily?”

Unfortunately, the moment the snow touched his skin, it melted away.

Avin apparently disliked that very much.

He gave a small hop and tried catching another flake.

But it melted just as quickly.

“.......”

He stared blankly at the moisture left on his hand before looking at me.

“...It’s more useless than I expected.”

“Hey! It is not useless!”

He says the meanest things with a smile!

How dare he call the snow I worked so hard to make useless!

I raised my triangular eyes and explained each point emphatically.

“To you, okay, it might look insignificant! But do you know how hard I worked just to use my power this much?! And this snow! Huh? It’s pretty, and—huh!—if it keeps piling up and starts swirling harder, then people won’t even be able to move!”

“Really?”

“Of course! You just don’t know anything!”

When I shrieked at him in frustration, clear laughter rang out from across from me.

What? Why is he laughing?

I stared at him strangely, unable to understand why.

After laughing for quite a while, he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and said,

“But Aisha. Isn’t ice better than snow?”

“What?”

“You see, even a very small piece of ice...”

Then Avin abruptly dropped his sword to the ground.

“...can threaten someone.”

Crack—!

He stomped his foot.

At the same time, a small but razor-sharp icicle burst from the ground in front of him.

“M-my goodness!”

“......!”

Everyone who witnessed it clearly fell into shock.

That included me and Lucas.

Even Calypse.

“What? Did that boy just use ice power?”

“I remember reading in the newspaper that someone from a branch line of House Kreutz manifested ice power. Does that mean you can use a power even without being related by blood?”

“Even so, ice power is an ability only members of House Kreutz can use!”

The startled conversations of the crowd tangled together into a buzzing roar in my ears.

At the center of that whirlpool of confusion, Avin smiled prettily.

“Ice is stronger than snow, isn’t it?”

Too stunned to respond, I simply stood there in a daze.

Impossible.

Avin was a poison power user.

How could he use ice power?

He was one of the strongest characters in the entire setting, but nothing like this had ever happened in the original story.

No way....

A realization struck me, and I whipped my head around.

There, among the murmuring crowd, King Argen was quietly smiling.

It seemed my suspicion was right.

The king had definitely interfered somehow to make Avin capable of using ice power.

But how?

Even if Tex from a branch line of House Kreutz could use the power because Kreutz blood still ran through him, Avin was unquestionably Duke Pose’s son.

Was there some hidden setting involving him that I had never known, just like there had been with Aisha?

But even then, he was definitely supposed to be a poison power user.

A power user can use another power too?

That possibility had been explicitly addressed in the original story.

It was impossible.

Possessing even one power was difficult enough.

There could not be someone who used two.

Yet the icicle rising in front of me was not fake.

In the middle of the arena, now thrown into complete chaos—

“Oh. You’re not hurt, are you? I deliberately made it weak because I only wanted to show it.”

Avin approached me casually and inspected me with a concerned look.

Then he gently brushed the ice from my shoulder.

“Well? As a power user, what do you think of my power?”

“...You.”

I was so shocked that my entire body had gone rigid.

I barely managed to exhale before whispering low enough for only him to hear.

“Weren’t you a poison power user?”

Avin’s hand paused briefly as he brushed off my shoulder.

But—

“How did you know? They treated me worse than an insect in that family, so I thought nobody knew.”

Instead of being alarmed, he answered softly with apparent interest.

Then his eyes widened.

“Gasp. Don’t tell me you’ve been watching me ever since I was still being trained....”

“Huh? Huuuh?”

That was absurd even by my standards.

I scrunched up my face with all my strength into the ugliest expression I could manage.

“Oh. I guess not.”

After glancing at me, he scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Sorry. When I was still living in that mansion, I wondered if maybe you were interested in me too, and we’d both been watching each other from afar all this time.”

“...Huh?”

My thoughts stopped for a moment as I tried to understand what he had just said.

So he meant he had been watching me since we were both at that mansion?

Why?

“Anyway, I’m glad I got to see you today. Let’s meet again sometime.”

After muttering those cryptic words, he took a couple of steps backward, then crushed the icicle on the ground beneath his foot.

Then—

“I forfeit!”

He raised one hand toward the referee with a laugh.

“You forfeit?!”

The crowd cried out in collective disbelief.

“A battle between snow and ice, and he forfeits here?”

“What kind of sparring match is this...?”

“I’ve never seen his face before, so he must be a commoner. Maybe he got nervous after being put in an event this big?”

Deflated spectators began sighing.

Some of the nobles even booed Avin, assuming he was a commoner.

“Avin! What do you mean, forfeit? Keep pressing the attack!”

Even Argen apparently had not expected this.

He shot to his feet and shouted.