Frozen Heart (Dark Side of Fairytales Collaboration)

Chapter Four

THE AMBASSADOR WAS facing Elsa's back so he could only get a glimpse of the glow emitting from Her Majesty's face.

"Leave me," declared the queen.

But the ambassador was persistent. "Your Majesty, if I may, the duke and duchess in our kingdom have been greatly worried due to your kingdom's isolation for thirteen years. Now that you are queen, they want answers if you would still be willing to participate in the partnership of our kingdoms."

"Willing to participate? Does that mean they want to pull out the partnership?"

He apologetically lowered his head. "This decision was made after the former king and queen's passing. They've only waited this long until you received the crown to gain the power to decide so."

"You said my glow was attractive?" Elsa uttered. The confused ambassador merely nodded his head.

"Y-yes, but that's no longer important. Can I please have your answer now?"

Displeased by his attitude, Elsa finally turned to face him. The ambassador staggered back in fear upon seeing the horrifying image of the queen. He fell back on the floor, desperately dragging himself backward, unable to call for help.

Elsa was instantly reminded of her seventh victim. She grinned mischievously, turning her presence to be even more ominous. "I thought you said they looked attractive."

"P-please, don't kill me! Please have mercy on me!" the ambassador begged for his life. "I-I'll tell them not to pull out the partnership. Please, just spare me! I-I'll do anything!"

"I know you will." Her lips stretched even further for her wicked smile. "You'll do well to become my meal!"

Red ice spikes immediately emerged from the ambassador's body, beginning from his cheeks followed by his chin and the tip of his nose. Spikes also emerged from his fingertips, plunging through his white gloves. His thick formal shoes also emitted the same pattern when the ice pierced through them as they arose from his toes.

The helpless ambassador could only let out a painful muffled scream when the queen sealed his lips with her ice.

All the ice that appeared on his body glowed just like the ones on her face. And from their tips there escaped a yellow smoke-like substance that flowed straight into the queen's heart. Her Majesty successfully consumed another human warmth.

That yellow substance is actually the ambassador's soul which Elsa always perceived as their "warmth". Elsa knew it all along and that she was consuming their souls. Perhaps, calling it human warmth is the nickname she came up with as an attempt to give herself a less offensive definition of wickedness.

The ambassador's body slowly withered after his soul left him. A painful but satisfying grin brushed upon the queen's ice-flooded face.

Unbeknownst to her, there was another life that was lurking by the end of the corridor and saw everything she did.

In fear, the Duke of Weselton scurries back into the crowd, yelling that a monster has invaded the premises of the kingdom.

"What are you saying, my lord? Can you please calm down and say it one more time?"

"Killer! It's the queen! The killer's been the queen all along! It was her! The frostbite monster!" yelled the duke.

The people looked as though they'd been awakened in a trance and were instantly reminded of all the victims of this frostbite killer.

"Your queen is the frostbite killer! We must leave now before she kills us too!"

"Are you sure this is all true?"

"Yes, I am!" he affirmed. "I saw it with my own two eyes. She killed the ambassador! She's a horrifying monster!"

"Who are you calling a monster, my lord?" a voice from a corner asked.

They turned around to see the queen approaching the duke. Elsa appears to be more serene despite the tension in the room.

"You stay away from me! Y-you're a monster!"

"I'm not a monster. This party's over, close the gates," she gave an order.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As Elsa attempts to leave the room, an ear-splitting scream filled their ears when a royal guard found the ambassador's body and came running into the hall.

"The ambassador is dead! He's frostbitten!"

The people were alarmed. Their eyes locked onto their queen as though they were finally convinced of the duke's accusation. The duke's eyes were even more determined to draw out the monster. Because not only were the killings popular in Arendelle but also in their partnered kingdoms from across the continents. They too are severely worried about the increasing number of victims.

"You are a disgrace to your family." He pointed a finger at her. "You are a monster! A murderer! A killer! You deserved to be hanged as punishment for your crimes!"

Elsa's head was suddenly spinning, clashing her thoughts. The people whispering around her drowned her confidence from earlier.

I have to go. I have to leave this place. One step is all it needs. Elsa glances at the door but her vision is in a blur. Nevertheless, she managed to take a step despite her spinning head.

"We are not done yet. You're not getting away this time!" The duke pulled her cape, causing her to roughly fall on the floor. The people gasped in surprise.

"Guards! Seize this monster!"

The royal guards were hesitant of course. Seize their queen? Would that even be right?

But with the duke's relentless yelling, they finally acted, but shortly just after helping the queen stand up, strong arms suddenly pushed them away.

Anna then confronted the duke for declaring such an accusation. "I love the audacity but my sister's not a monster."

"The ambassador has been killed by her! I saw it," he insisted.

"How can you say it was her? There are a lot of people in this kingdom."

"I knew it was her! And besides, she's the only person who left the room. Who else could it be?"

Anna scoffed with violence and laughs at the duke's face. "Prince Hans of the Southern Isles is not also in this room. Maybe it was him you saw. Why are you so keen on accusing my sister?"

The duke was taken aback but he immediately recovered. "I see now what you've been hiding all these years. I see now why you've isolated the castle. It's because you're hiding that monster!"

"I told you, she's not a monster!"

"Yes, she is!" he hissed. "She's the frostbite killer! Her blood-red eyes are the proof of it!"

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