The Prince (1)
In the eternal winter world of the Permafrost, the north was a bitterly cold place, just as the laws of the universe dictated. With its vast continent, meager sunlight, and fierce winds, it was an unrelentingly harsh land. Plants and animals had adapted in their own ways—needing less water, or developing greater resistance to the cold—struggling through their survival instincts to endure this world of endless winter. Humans were no different.
The sprawling earth lay frozen, covered in snow that would never melt. Farming was impossible here, so the only real choice for survival was hunting. Hunting was an incredibly delicate task. You had to study your prey’s habits, instincts, and movements with meticulous care, then wait with endless patience until it stepped into your trap or came within range. Because of this, the minds of those who lived in this eternal winter world grew coldly rational, and their bodies were forged to the limit for savage clashes with their quarry. A single failed hunt could cause their entire lives to collapse in an instant.
Some called northerners emotionless savages. Their faces never changed, making it impossible to tell whether they were happy, sad, or even angry, and their speech was always stiff and blunt. Yet they showed no hesitation in using any means necessary to achieve their goals. Others shuddered at the thought, claiming that living among northerners would strip away their own emotions and turn them into cruel barbarians… but for those who actually survived in the north, every single day was a brutal competition.
If your family didn’t starve, it meant someone else’s family went hungry that day. To keep from starving, you had to become strong. Strength. In the north, strength was law and justice… and the Alencia ducal house had seized their position as one of the kingdom’s dukes through power alone. They were one of the few tyrannical families who could flaunt their martial might to the entire world beyond the northern lands they ruled.
“Ugh—!!”
In that sense, Sien Alencia was a person who seemed entirely out of place in this world of eternal winter, this Permafrost.
The family’s only stain. A failure. A dropout. A worthless existence… There were countless names for Sien Alencia. But if there was one phrase that defined her above all others, it would undoubtedly be—
“You pathetic bitch.”
The man hurled the insult at Sien after she dropped her sword. There wasn’t a single uninjured spot on her body or face. Blisters covered both hands that had gripped the blade. Just breathing sent pain shooting through her, and every movement made her muscles spasm. But only one thing truly hurt her.
“The fact that you are my daughter is simply deplorable.”
Her father’s cold gaze and tone as he looked at her like something less than an animal. For a girl who only wanted to be loved, this endless winter was unbearably painful.
What did being loved feel like? What was spring like? With those questions burning in her heart, Sien pulled out the fairy tale book she had secretly cherished and hidden away.
The Prince of the Spring Kingdom and the Princess of the Winter Kingdom
She had read it countless times since learning to read as a child, so the hardcover was covered in fingerprints and the pages had frayed until they were little more than rags. …Of course, calling it her “childhood” was a stretch—she was only ten years old now.
Gurgle———.
“Ah…”
The hunger was unbearable. Sien curled up on the bed with a small groan, but—
“…It hurts. It hurts so much…”
The pain was so intense she could barely even curl up. It hurt enough to bring tears to her eyes. Today, under the pretext of “sparring,” she had been beaten so badly that not a single part of her body remained unharmed. Marchese, the Grand Duke of Alencia, had already left her with cracked bones and lacerations from his sword training. Then her twin older sisters and her older brother had tormented her even further, ensuring she had no uninjured spots left.
If she couldn’t recover from even this, she wouldn’t be an Alencia. That was what the three of them said as they tormented her, claiming they were simply helping their pathetic youngest sister’s Authority awaken faster. It was nonsense, of course. They tormented her in the most literal sense—pushing her until the pathetic little sister would eventually kill herself. Following the family creed that the strong trample the weak and the weak are culled, the three of them wanted to watch their youngest die.
The reason they hadn’t killed her with their own hands wasn’t only because their father, the family head, hadn’t given permission. It was also because their sadistic natures—those that took pleasure in crushing, breaking, and tormenting others—saw Sien as nothing more than a toy they could play with.
It wasn’t just her twin sisters, her older brother, and the family head who looked down on the weak Sien with contempt. Her mother, her eldest brother who was five years older than her, and even the servants were all northerners and members of House Alencia to their very bones. So even if Sien limped down the hallway, unable to hold back her tears from the pain, no one would spare her so much as a glance.
———Gurgle.
Her stomach cramped with hunger again. Even though she had eaten dinner, she was still starving. Her mother had said the weak deserved to go hungry, so all she had been given was cold soup and water. …It was more accurate to say she had drunk it rather than eaten it.
“It’s cold…”
Sien pulled the blanket over her head and hugged the book tightly to her chest. The old wooden walls and cheap cotton blanket did nothing to block the bitter cold. The windows rattled violently in the fierce wind, threatening to shatter at any moment. The only warmth she could rely on was her own body heat. Even that was fragile, threatening to fade at any second… but whenever that happened, the fairy tale book she treasured gave her strength.
The lonely princess living in a frozen world, and the prince who taught her the warmth of spring and gave her love. If she could only step beyond this window, perhaps she could see the beautiful flowers from the pictures, the river that didn’t freeze, the gentle warmth, and…
“…the prince.”
Could she meet him?
She closed her eyes tightly and imagined it. The warm eyes looking at her, the gentle smile, the shy touch that couldn’t hide his affection. Things she wanted to experience someday. Things she knew she shouldn’t wish for.
“…Anyone would do. I just want to be held.”
Clutching her empty stomach and the book, she endured the cold.
“…Prince.”
Ten years old. It was old enough to understand that crying wouldn’t help her survive.
“This is the last time I’ll indulge your whining, Sien.”
In the duke’s office, Marchese removed his glasses. With his usual flat voice and expressionless face, he set down the documents and looked at his youngest daughter. But the look in his eyes was certainly not that of a father regarding his child.
“You will take overwhelming first place at the Academy. As an Alencia should.”
The tyrannical swordsmanship house of Alencia. Whenever one of them entered the Academy, they claimed first place without fail, no matter who the opponent was. For Marchese, having to order her to come in first was irritating in itself.
“You are an Alencia. And I know exactly how talented you are.”
“……”
“So if you don’t want to die, you had better do it properly. With everything you have.”
Marchese’s brows furrowed slightly as he tapped the table with his fingernails. Among northerners famous for showing no emotion, Marchese was known as the most emotionless of all. There was only one reason he would make such an irritated expression.
“…Yes.”
The sight of his youngest daughter, who had become completely doll-like, was extremely unpleasant. Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible. Her eyes were lifeless, her face blank and devoid of will. There had been a time when she showed human reactions—crying out in pain, writhing—but now she was nothing more than a doll that obeyed orders. Marchese himself couldn’t remember exactly when it had happened. At times it had almost looked like rebellion… but none of that mattered.
Sien Alencia. The child had inherited the Authority more powerfully than any Alencia in history, and now she could unleash that power without hesitation at a single command.
“We leave tomorrow. You are dismissed.”
Even so, those corpse-like eyes filled him with unavoidable disgust.
“…Understood.”
Sien gave a small bow and carefully left the office. She walked down the corridor, descended the stairs, and headed straight for her room. For the long three minutes it took, she didn’t encounter a single person before stepping inside.
The moment she opened the door, she saw what looked like living expenses placed on the round table, along with a warp ticket to the Academy. Sien stared at them blankly for a moment, then walked over to the bed and collapsed onto it.
Fifteen years old. She could finally go out into the wider world she had longed for so much, yet she felt nothing.
The large private room had luxurious marble floors covered by a thick bear-fur carpet. The bed was wide enough for two people to lie comfortably and incredibly soft, and the blanket was made of the finest cotton, fluffy and warm. She was no longer cold. Though the temperature outside could drop to sixty degrees below zero, the heating here was so effective she could sleep in nothing but a thin slip. And unlike the days when she had always been hungry, she could now eat plenty of high-quality vegetables and meat every day.
All she had to do was obey. She had gained all of this by abandoning her humanity, ceasing to think, and choosing to break.
“…First place.”
It was one of the easier commands she had ever been given. Taking first place simply meant cutting down everyone she could see with her sword. The question of whether she could do it had never even entered her mind.
“If I succeed, I’ll be praised…”
Sien murmured, turning her head. On the shelf sat the old book. The fairy tale she had treasured her entire life. She rose from the bed and picked it up. She used to enjoy reading it, but now it stirred no feelings in her at all. She had realized that fairy tales were lies.
Spring existed. Beautiful flowers, unfrozen rivers, and warm sunlight could all exist. But there was one thing that didn’t.
The prince who loved the princess of the winter kingdom.
Such a person did not exist. If he truly did, he would have come to save her as she struggled in this freezing place. He should have come before she became this broken.
Snap.
Sien closed the book. She had meant to tear apart the now-meaningless fairy tale and throw it away, but…
“…I don’t know.”
Why? She didn’t feel like doing it. It was a wicked book that had forced her to endure pain. A useless book that had given her empty hope and planted expectations of being loved. Yet strangely, she couldn’t bring herself to discard it.
……What did she even want?
Sien closed her eyes and sank into thought. But she had gone so long without thinking about anything that trying to understand her own heart was now beyond her.
“What should I do…?”
In the end, she opened her eyes without finding an answer. The question she couldn’t solve continued to ache in her chest. As expected, this book really was a bad one.
———And yet, in the end, Sien could not throw the book away.
She decided to pack the living expenses, the warp ticket, a few sets of the clothes she wore most often, the sword she favored, and the fairy tale book.