I refused the crown prince's proposal because I'm gay!

Chapter 11

3 months later...

"What are you doing?"

"I am meditating, becoming one with my surroundings," Blanca mutters in deep focus. She inhales and exhales at an excruciatingly slow pace as she sits amid the blank field. The snow flurries across the meadows gently kissing her pale skin.

"You're dying..." Claire said, holding out a warm blanket in her arms for her mistress. "If you continue to stay out here you really will be 'one with the surroundings' as a frozen corpse."

Claire, like many other servants in the ducal house, has already hopelessly given up on persuading their mistress to stop her weird obsession of meditating in the snow.

"Not now Claire, I can almost feel my sixth sense tingling," Blanca replies.

"The Grim Reaper must have appeared," Claire said sarcastically.

Meditating in extreme temperature was nothing new for Lady Blanca. At age 7, all the servants went into a panic when she first disappeared during a blizzard. Realizing she was nowhere to be found within the estate, her family broke down in tears, fearing for their heiress' life. When the storm finally passed the Duke ordered an immediate search for their missing daughter. The servants and knights all expected to come across a dead corpse when they searched but what they found instead, shocked them.

On a flat rock surrounded by a blanket of snow under the largest tree, deep in the Ducal territory sat a young girl with her hands in a prayer position. Wearing nothing but a thin robe, she was white from head to toe. The exhausted servants almost swore up and down believing she was a snow fairy that had descended from the upper realm.

Upon noticing their presence she opened her eyes, her crystallized pupils scanned the surroundings before locking them onto their target. An eerily calm smile appeared on her face as she stepped down from her frozen pedestal and approached them. Her bare feet gradually turned red from the icy terrain with every stride.

Running a hand through her hair, patting away the flurry of snow, she spoke, "Would you be so kind to escort me back?"

The young daughter of the dukedom that was presumed dead had returned to the mansion. The duke and duchess embraced her joyfully while her sister shed tears for her return.

After the initial shock, the young miss was confined to her room for the remainder of the winter season. Blanca was also scolded harshly by her family, but she never took any of it to heart. She knew this was their way of worrying about her, Blanca just lowered her head and allowed them to scold her.

"I do not mind a bit of parental guidance, because what I've gained that day can not be measured by such trifling matter." Blanca calmly explains. "I've gained some insight on our ancestral abilities, the gift of our bloodline."

"I don't understand," Scylla said.

"Not much is known about this trait I possess, and not many survived long enough to tap into its full potential." Blanca frowns as she continues her discovery. "It was regarded as a curse of the family, and anyone who can wield its power will eventually become unable to control it and in turn destroy themselves."

"I do not wish to suffer the same fate so I did a bit of reading. I found texts that described Saints with light attributes meditating under the sun when it's at its highest peak to cultivate their magical abilities." Blanca said as she gazed up at the sky. "So a thought occurred to me what if I do the same, I can meditate at the darkest of night."

"On the first night of my experiment I coughed up blood," Scylla gasped covering her mouth upon this revelation. "Because I am a female and full of yin energy it was dangerous to cultivate at night. Instead of having a breakthrough, I suffered a major setback."