The Tale of the Ice Princess

The Halcyon Days - Side Story

"Urgent report!" A messenger shouted from the other side of the door . 

"Enter ." Alexander heard his father say in a defeated voice . 

"I come with news . Count Valence has been killed. " The messenger started , bowing deeply.

His father's eyes went wide for a moment , before he said, monotonously , "continue."

"Count Valence's body alongside many others, which we believe to be mercenaries ,  were found killed in his mansion.  The Count's body was hardly recognizable , it had many missing parts and cuts everywhere . It seems that the Count died due to the wound in his stomach . "

"When was this?"

"We are unsure , due to the snow and weather , it took us a long time to discover the body. " The messenger then proceeded to place the full report on his father's death . 

"You may leave ."

Alexander's mind was whirring .

 The Count was murdered. A noble , someone with magic . Who is this foe that can even kill nobility. Alexander pondered.

He was fearful ,  unsure whether this new unknown enemy was friend or foe. It could possibly be a decisive factor. 

Could it be related to the snow and rains? He thought. 

Too many possibilities. This could spell trouble for the nation . He thought grimly . 

Nobody knew what intentions the new player had , something that was way worse than having evil intents . At least if Alexander knew that someone had evil self-serving intents , he could read and predict their next move . But for a enemy that was hard to read , it was even more crucial to stay on guard and confirm the intentions, one wrong move could spell doom . 

They could either bring prosperity or be a potential downfall to the whole nation . 

Alexander saw his father holding his head in his hands whilst reading the written report. Wordlessly , his father passed it to him to read.

He widened his eyes , mouth forming into the shape of an 'o' , a rare occurrence for the normally inexpressive Alexander.  The report detailed each injury on the count's body in painfully precise details , even only reading the report was enough to make Alexander nauseous .

Alexander started to rub his temples , much like what his father was currently doing , letting  a sigh slip out . 

They were currently dealing with the onslaught of requests from various nobles . The sudden snowing and torrential rains destroyed and ravaged fields , destroying crops and the like . There was also flooding reported in some areas . It might even run the  risk of a food shortage for the winter , another problem for Alexander to contend to . 

 Alexander was stretched thin trying to ensure the situation did not escalate further , that no further damage be done.  He had not even gotten proper sleep for a week . 

And now this , he thought . 

He wanted to head out to investigate himself but the seemingly endless paperwork was drowning him, giving him relatively no free time at all to do anything. 

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When he got back to his room later that night, he flopped down onto the bed , exhausted.

"Now , now , where did that princely image go?" His butler , Roderick snickered . 

"Hush , let me have this ." Alexander said , voice muffled by the pillow he was lying face down on. 

After a while , Alexander sat up , "Roderick , could you investigate the snowing incident and the murder of Count Valence ?" 

"Already up to it ." His trusty friend replied .

Roderick was a young man , in his early 20s , with jet black hair and crimson red eyes , a rarity in these parts . He was an assassin turned butler , serving his lord with pride , carrying out his butler duties in the day and espionage in the night. He was also one of Alexander's closest confidents and trusted retainer . 

"You know , i really don't deserve you ." Alexander said .

Roderick made no comment, a small smile forming on his lips . 

"Have you found anything?" 

"I have been probing around the underworld , but it seems no one has an inkling as to what caused the incident . Many information networks have been cut off due to the snow and rain ."

"I see , i see. Thank you . " 

His butler disappeared , most probably to find information . Alexander , meanwhile , sunk into the bed , letting the jaws of sleep take him . 

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"There has still been no mention about the incident , as if the perpetrator vanished into thin air." Roderick said the next morning . 

 "From the wounds inflicted we can guess that it was a human. If it is ,this is deeply concerning . ...."  Alexander replied , gracefully eating his breakfast . 

"Monitor the situation , Rick ." 

"Yes , Xander ." 

~~~~~~~~~~

Even months after White Disaster , there was not a single whiff of the culprit . Leaving a very frustrated Alexander . 

"I swear , i'm going to find you ." He said , to no one in particular . 

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A/N 

How was that ? 

Though it's a bit shorter than normal , most of the time i try to write 1k words at least .

So yeah this is the end of part 1 , hope you enjoyed it. Part 2 will be up in a year . 

^That's a joke by the way . But Part 2 will take a longer time because i keep writing the draft and scarping it . 

Since i have a ton of space i'm gonna fill it .

I feel that the pace of the plot is a bit fast , do you? Like i have read many fantasy novel (mostly reincarnation ones ) and some can even span like 90+ chapters (and not even be done) . I don't know how i could ever write that much . 

And from time to time i guess i will edit the books , add in more details and descriptions . To make the reading experience better i guess. 

Thanks for reading and listening to my thoughts . :)

Word count: 933