Chapter 959: Alternate Timeline: Origins of House Frost

Eamor carefully observed Kiara, expecting shock.

Pain.

Excitement.

Something.

At first, a faint frown appeared on her face.

Then disbelief.

Then anger.

And suddenly...

Kiara burst into laughter, to their utter disbelief instead.

"Hahahahaha!"

The sound echoed across the room so unexpectedly that both master and disciple became stunned.

Kiara laughed so hard without minding the image of a lady, and she leaned backward slightly while covering part of her forehead.

Not joyous laughter.

Not emotional relief.

It sounded sharp.

Almost mocking.

Finally, after several moments, she leaned forward again and grinned broadly.

"Thank you, Lord Frost," she said while shaking the old man’s hand enthusiastically. "You have truly done me a favor today."

Eamor stared blankly.

Ares Frost himself looked confused.

Both initially assumed Kiara became happy after discovering she was an Imperial Princess.

But her words...

Her tone...

They sounded completely different.

Like someone receiving proof for a suspicion she already carried deep inside.

Gradually calming herself, Kiara returned to her seat.

Her smile remained.

But now it resembled cold moonlight reflecting over black water.

"Good," she said quietly. "Very good."

She crossed her arms.

"All this time, a small doubt kept lingering in my heart like a thorn hidden beneath skin. There was this benefit of doubt that was striking my conscience. Now I finally have confirmation."

Then her eyes sharpened.

"Please, continue."

Ares Frost stared at her silently for a brief moment before resuming, "After your birth," he explained, "Callista sent Tiara away from the palace. However, she did not throw her away. She provided money to raise you and look after you. To make sure she would have a good life and to make sure you have a father so that the society won’t disrespect you or your mother... she arranged for a young blacksmith named Aaron to marry Tiara and used her influence to make him the village chief of Copperton Village, which is far away from the Imperial Palace."

The old man sighed softly.

"But even after doing all this, Callista still could not fully calm herself. She was always worried that they might spill the truth to someone. If such a case ever arrived, they must be silenced. So she secretly assigned her trusted imperial guard, Talcred, to watch over your family."

His gaze deepened.

"What she never realized was that Talcred had originally been planted there by me."

Eamor blinked in surprise.

Even he seemingly did not know this detail beforehand.

Ares Frost then let out a long sigh of regret, continuing, "When Frost Clan was exterminated by the dungen break, she managed to survive but lost her ether core in the process. And I was a coward who ran away for his life. That regret made me want to protect her in my late brother’s place. So, I put Talcred on her side to protect her. Through Talcred, I used to learn about her well-being and sometimes, the actions of her and the Emperor’s plans along the way. Through him, I found out about you."

He paused briefly.

"First, I wanted to take you away with me to Solaria, raise you as my daughter, but when I discovered you possessed no ether, I concluded it would be safer for you to live quietly in the village away from palace politics. So I never approached you."

A trace of regret surfaced within his eyes.

"But eventually... someone else discovered your existence."

Kiara’s expression shifted subtly.

Only for a second.

Yet Ares noticed it.

"Who?" she asked quietly.

Ares shook his head slowly. "I do not know for certain."

Then his eyes hardened.

"But I know this much. The attack upon your home was planned carefully. Their true target was not theft. It was your parents."

His voice lowered.

"Talcred was a 6-star rank Spirit Warrior. Ordinary assassins could never kill him. That means the force behind the attack possessed extraordinary backing. The strange blade recovered afterward most likely belonged to someone connected to the Imperial Family."

He narrowed his eyes.

"If I must suspect someone... then the Empress and House Wolf appear most likely."

Kiara listened silently.

But inwardly...

...she disagreed.

Completely.

Rather than the Empress, would not Callista Frost benefit the most from Aaron and Tiara disappearing forever? Talcred was put there to silence the family. And what if she was worried that Talcred might be a spy? She would want to eliminate him as well. After all, Talcred knew her secrets as well.

And dead people buried secrets permanently.

That suspicion had existed inside Kiara from the beginning.

Now, after hearing the full story, it only deepened further.

Still, she did not voice her thoughts.

Because this old man was Callista’s uncle.

Instead, Kiara leaned back slowly. "So," she asked calmly, "why are you telling me all this, right now?"

Her eyes locked onto Ares Frost sharply. "And what exactly do you expect from me?"

A faint smile appeared.

"Because let me make one thing clear first. I have absolutely no interest in tying myself to the Royal Family."

The room fell silent again.

Ares Frost and Eamor exchanged a brief glance with one another.

"Um... Lady Kiara," Eamor finally spoke after listening quietly for a long while, his voice carrying hesitation as though each word needed permission before leaving his throat, "if you already know the truth about your birth and have no intention of returning to the Imperial Family, then... wouldn’t it be better for you to stay away from this place entirely? Why were you trying to make connections with the Imperial family and establish your business so close to the palace?"

The room fell silent afterward.

Outside the windows, faint street noises drifted upward from Carlo District, mixed with the distant clatter of carriage wheels and the cries of merchants selling fruits under the afternoon sun, yet inside the living room, the silence became so still that even the soft rustling of the curtains sounded unusually sharp.

Kiara slowly turned her gaze toward him.

Not angry.

Not cold either.

But calm in a way that made people instinctively uncomfortable, like standing beside deep water whose bottom could not be seen.

"Is that a problem for you?" she asked quietly.

Eamor blinked.

At first, he failed to understand the meaning hidden beneath her words, but even someone slow at reading expressions could sense the faint pressure behind that calm tone.

Outsiders had no right to interfere in her decisions.

No right to tell her where she should live.

Where she should stay.

Or whose presence she should avoid.

And she didn’t have to explain her thoughts and actions to a stranger like him either.

Realizing he had crossed an invisible boundary, Eamor immediately shook his head and lowered his eyes.

"No... I only asked casually."

Then he fell silent.

Meanwhile, Ares Frost continued studying Kiara carefully from the very beginning of their conversation until now, observing every shift in her expression, every pause between her breaths, every hidden meaning behind her smiles.

Gradually, he came to a conclusion.

The original proposal he intended to use would never move her.

Not this girl.

Not someone whose heart already carried scars deeper than ordinary ambition could reach.

After thinking for a while, he changed his approach entirely.

"Since you already know that you are the daughter of Callista Frost and Emperor Alexander," Ares said slowly, "then you must also know what bloodline flows inside you."

"The Frost Dragon," Kiara answered immediately.

Ares Frost nodded with satisfaction.

"Then you must also know about Lysander Frost and Arianna Frost."

Kiara shrugged slightly. "Only what ordinary people know."

That answer was only half true.

Originally, she knew absolutely nothing about her maternal grandfather. The system was the one that revealed the name to her after awakening the bloodline.

Later, the Seer from the Church of Doom spoke a little more regarding him. King Caleb Crescent then told him about his association with Arianna.

And when Guinvere mentioned that her grandfather and others once arrived in the Phoenix Empire and seized control of an existing Frost Clan branch, while bringing a beast from the Undying Lands, Kiara had already begun suspecting that their origins might not belong to this world at all.

That suspicion was already almost confirmed when she saw Ares Frost’s affiliation with the Heavenly Ocean Empire, which doesn’t exist in this world.

She was 99% sure.

Now...

She intended to confirm that to 100%.

Ares Frost leaned back slightly before beginning another long story.

"The origins of Lysander Frost trace back to House Frost and the Azure Frost Dominion," he said, his voice carrying traces of pride despite the bitterness hidden beneath it. "House Frost exists within the Heavenly Ocean Empire, located in the Plane of Ice and Fire, a world where spiritual energy is a hundred times richer than the mortal plane. It is the ruler of Azure Frost Dominion, controlling more than a hundred worlds with civilizations..."

Eamor straightened unconsciously while listening.

Even after hearing this story countless times before, reverence still filled his eyes.

Ares continued calmly.

"Of course, this world should not be looked down upon either. Compared to the Plane of Ice and Fire, the mortal plane faces fewer threats and smaller calamities. Peace itself has value."

The old man’s gaze drifted toward the window briefly.