Royal Secret Commissioner

Chapter 10

Ice Princess

The next act, the legacy of the world renowned Ice Princess, sent various emotions through Natsuki, or so she thought.

It actually did submerge her mind into an indescribable state, evoking numerous reactions…

Just…

Not the ones she expected to feel when she saw the actors' play.

The legacy of the Ice Princess was far from the precise truth from the Ice Crystal's point of view, but it contained more or less an amount of legitimacy and was told as such right in front of the Ice Princess herself.

The Ice Princess was the daughter of the noble and gallant Lone Wolf who was the hero of the previous war, the Great War.

The Lone Wolf led the Fukkan army into victory against arduous odds and practically won the previous war for the Fukkans based on his courage and wisdom only.

And for that very reason, he was despised, detested, among the enemies' counties.

They, practically, all sought the day in which his blood will spill and desired oncoming his death.

Some did it in secret and some were so straight out forward that they would try to assassinate him, or use his loved ones to draw him out in hope that they would be the ones who will be able to boast that it was by their hand that the Lone Wolf died.

For the protection of his family, their identities were kept as one of the secrets of the nation.

In order to honor their savoir, showing respect for him, the Lone Wolf, the citizens of Fukka would not reveal anything about their war hero even if a knife was held to their necks.

Causing the identities of the Lone Wolf's family to be one of the most well kept secret in the land of Fukka, including the identity of the Ice Princess, the child of the Lone Wolf.

Since birth, the Ice Princess had been trained by masters from all over the lands, as an only child of her family, to live up to the name of her father, the Great War's hero's, the Lone Wolf's reputation.

She was trained in extensive conditions that most humans would never dream of being able to endure, only to survive, gaining the instinct to being able to stay alive, no matter what the condition was, no matter how impossible it seemed.

She was a warrior among warriors, who was the pride of her father and her country, unable to bring shame upon her family's name, even if she tried to.

However, as strong as she was, her obedience and loyalty to her father and his country never wavered, even for a single second.

Her father's words, his commands, even his slightest whims, were, to her, the cold hard imposing law that was indisputable.

They were to be obeyed even if she had to sacrifice her life to fulfill his commands, but no human is like that all the time.

She would only act like so when in 'survival mode', as some would like to call it, but in reality it was like a masquerade of blood when employed. It was a trance like state of hers in which she only hears her father's voice and acts upon it, and it alone.

Though, she was manlier than most of the men, going so far as to say all, she was a lady at heart that would only fight when forced to in order to protect.

But make no assumption about her beauty based on the fact of her manliness, for she is one of, if not the most, fairest in all the lands.

Her looks were like nothing of earthly beauty, for its splendor and magnificence could only belong to the immortal gods.

Not only that, but the Ice Princess also loved her kingdom, she loved animals, she loved nature, she drinks tea and eats cookies, and she goes on walks to look at flowers in the garden, she was like every other girl out there.

Like every other girl out there, she also fell in love.

Upon meeting, she and a prince of a foreign country fell in love as time passed.

The prince she had met was charmed by her beauty and strength the moment their eyes met, and by using sweet words of adoration, he courted her day and night.

At first, she gave him the same reply she had given all the others that came before, seeking her hand in marriage in order to gain wealth, power, or just simple fame, but he never gave up and in the end won her heart.

Everything, from then on, was heaven for the daughter of the Lone Wolf, even her wedding day was rumored to be decided upon, and everything was perfect.

The day that changed heaven to hell for her was the day war was declared throughout the land, thus beginning the war that would be known as the Holy War, a war in which distinguished and skillful heroes and heroines were born.

And as expected, her father was called to arm himself once again for his kingdom.

Trained for this since birth, the Ice Princess was, of course, expected to go to war, and she did so willingly, in hopes that she might be able to lessen her father's burden, though it was only by a little, it reduced the amount of weight on the Lone Wolf's shoulders.

What was unexpected, however, was the volunteering of the prince, fiancé and soon to be husband of the Ice Princess, to go to war along side with the Lone Wolf and his daughter.

Not many was grated such an honor to be under the direct command of the Lone Wolf, going as far to be trust that much either, because that prince was given the battle plan and all the information he could want because he was the fiancé of the daughter of the commander.

That was the first and last mistake the Lone Wolf would make because that lover of the Ice Princess betrayed them all and went to the enemies.

Since their provisions, number of men, weakness and other information was in the hands of the enemy they were losing and fast.

In what was to be the last stand that would decide the result of the war, the enemies somehow captured the wife of the Lone Wolf and threatened him saying that if he does not give up his wife will die a pitiful death.

He had no choice.

His heart was not hard enough to watch the love of his life die.

So, he did the only other thing he could do in order to not become a traitor to his land.

He commanded his own daughter, the Ice Princess, to go on a 'killing spree' for his kingdom while he bore the entire burden, pretended to try to kill all his men in order to fool the enemy into letting his wife go, and got killed in the process.

But Fuuka's army did not lose thanks to his last command that sent the Ice Princess into a trance like state, killing all who opposed Fuuka in sight.

Once out of the 'survival mode', truly a masquerade of blood, the Ice Princess realized that since her own father was supposedly against the kingdom of Fuuka at that time, she had killed him with her very own hands, her sword sunk into his body and by cruelly ripping it out, she shredded his corpse making it unrecognizable.

From that time on she hardened her heart, throwing away the emotions that almost caused her kingdom to fall, and became the ICE PRINCESS, an emotionless warrior that killed without mercy or regret.

The Ice Princess was born under such a circumstance.

In fact, she made it clear when, in order to win the final battle, she went out alone and witnessed the death of her mother ruthlessly beheaded by the hands of the prince she once loved, not shedding a single tear.

She annihilated more than half of the other kingdom's main army consisting of millions, her sword boring into the flesh of foes left and right, dying her armor crimson, ignoring all pleads and surrendering that came from the opposing fighters.

Only then and not before did she allow her army, the army her father left to her, to go into battle and win the Holy War for them.

That was only part of it, if told, tales of her many battle before the finale of the Holy War would takes days because of the mere number of tales but also because after every battle narrative told many would have to excuse themselves to empty the contents in their stomachs.

Since then, it has been rumored that the Ice Princess is still out there today with her heart surrounded by a solid wall of frozen ice, strong and thick, based on appearance, and maybe heart itself was frozen in the process as well, never to be melted by any human or god out there.

Yet, looks can be very so deceiving.

Even surrounded by never melting ice, it holds an illusory dreamlike beauty that was not like anything of the mortal world, so beautiful but so fragile that even a soft touch will cause it to shatter into millions of pieces.

And if ever, were war to be raged against Fuuka again, she would take up her sword and defend her country, bringing doom to all enemies.

After that pathetic excuse for a play about the almighty Ice Princess, Natsuki did not know whether she should laugh because of how off, way off, the story was or cry, granting pity for herself because her past was so distorted.

Tempted between widening her eyes to the size of platters and letting her jaws fall to hit the ground, the Pillar was forced to keep everything in her mind.

Though a smile, or rather smirk was tugging at her lips.

HA!

So that's my past…

It was so accurate that the Ice Crystal herself didn't know!

Damn! How much more cheesy can these stories get?!?!

I bet these people just LOVE to mess with and gossip about other's past, I mean, as if Mai's story wasn't exaggerated enough, they had to make me sound like a merciless monster that was so stupid she was fooled by some prince!

Come on! Queen of Hell, Mai was given the title Queen of Hell because she loved Tate so much but she didn't want to go against her kingdom, so she was confused and didn't want to fight?!

I wonder what the people would think if they knew the real reason!

And plus, Tate wasn't on the enemies' side; he was the commander of one of our allies' armies!

Worst of it all!

I blindly fell for a prince and almost cause us to lose?!?!?

Why the hell would they think that?!

Oh…

Don't tell me….

That prince in the story was TAKEDA?!?!

That is the most messed up thing in the world!!!

I think I'm going to barf!!!!

Who in their right mind would think that?!?!?!

Oh yeah, the kind of people who absolutely loves to make everything a romance!!

Well they did get the part about me kill almost the whole army of Artai right…

And…

I was under his command…

While the raven hair girl's mind dwelled on the tall tales, her past hit her as unexpectedly as the eye of the storm.

Her heart felt the sorrow and regret suppressed from long ago, the sorrow and regret within her that grew bit by bit as she struggled, trying to walk forward into the future that laid ahead for her, going as far as to engulfing her sanity at one time as well.

Her mind, knowing what was done was not her fault, was filled with waves of anger and feelings of betrayal for the person that was the beginning of it all, the beginning of her past that haunted her relentlessly day and night.

Even now, she could not forget, no, she would never forget.

How can anyone forget the person that torn her life into pieces that could never be sewn back together?

Yes, it was torn.

Her family was split apart by the bounds of life and death, set apart by worlds, heaven and hell.

Her role model, admiration, was separated from her by a line that could never be crossed, a line that currently she had no desire to cross.

Her heart tasted bitter betrayal from someone that she did not dared to suspect but would give anything to kill right now.

Her life destroyed when she lost it all, everything ever she held dear and cared for, triggering what made her soul sink into everlasting darkness, never to see the warm comforting light of hope again.

She would never forget.

Princess Shizuru listened to the stories, never miss a single word, always absorbing any the possible details.

She was so entranced by tales such as these but for some reason, the tale just told caught her interest far more so than the others.

The legacy of the Ice Princess sent shivers down her spine, though the narrator of the tale did not go into vivid details, her imagination, fueled on by her knowledge, conjured up the proper and stunning blood filled image.

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, it did not frighten her in the least bit.

She was merely in awe at how such a person could exist, excited at the possibility of being able to meet someone as great as the Ice Princess.

But during all this, what stood out to her keen eyes was the atmosphere that surrounded her bodyguard and herself while the various histories of the different war participants were being told, what was odd was that only the legacy of the Ice Princess was able to paint a wave of emotions onto her companion's face.

For a fleeting instant, she swore she saw the raven hair girl's face distort in a pained expression, almost as if its owner's soul was being consumed in anger and rage, or was already engulfed by it.

Though it left as quickly as it came, the princess did not wish to see such features to play on the young girl's face because of her whim to stay.

"Natsuki shall we go and get something to eat now? I must admit that I am rather hungry. "

Red eyes turned to the side to meet with green ones, suggesting a way of escape for the girl.

Natsuki nodded and without so much as a word, she led them off to find breakfast, or rather lunch now since it was noon.

Upon the request of the princess, they bought their food and went to a riverside to consume their lunch.

They sat and ate in silence, a grim air surrounded the guard as the princess restrained her desire to pry but in order to easy the awkwardness around them the latter allowed her curiosity to go free.

"Natsuki… if I may ask, do you have some sort of connection to the Ice Princess?"

The question cause the raven hair girl to snap out of her own world of thoughts as she opened her mouth to answer but nothing would come out.

At last, emerald spheres looked straight into crimson, crimson that reminded her of that fateful in which everything happened.

"I…"

Author's Notes:

Well, how's that for a cliff hanger?!?! Think of the possibilities of what Natsuki could say beginning with a single word 'I…'?!?! Doesn't that just make you want to slap me on the face and scream 'why did you stop there?!'?!?!

Lol, I'm too mean for my own good!!!

So, do you want a hint as to what Natsuki was going to say?!?!

Well, what she was going to say before I cut her off was…

Ha! Not gonna tell you!!!
Ok, ok, I'll stop being mean and just say that if you want to know just get the reviews to 80 and you'll get the next chapter, but I never expected you all to get it up to 60 so fast, I was surprised.

By the way, thanks for reading and reviewing, really I appreciate it and sorry for teasing earlier, you know I mean no harm by it right???