Heehee! Yandere Love and the Eternal Ice Crown
“Heehee!”
After that little mishap, Cress was grinning from ear to ear, staring at the snowflower ring on her right ring finger.
She liked it so much she took three steps forward, then checked the ring again.
Hard to believe this was the same haughty, grumbling grand spirit. Right now, she was no different from a lovestruck girl.
“You like it that much? It was just buried in the snowfields.”
After Cress declared she was into me, I'd dropped the polite act and gone back to my usual self.
I'd charmed her with that gentle, courteous side. Maybe showing my flippant, shallow one would snap her out of it?
I'd harbored a tiny hope like that, but fat chance.
“It doesn't matter where it came from. What matters is that you gave it to me!”
Love turns people into blind fools, or so they say.
Even with my 180-degree shift, Cress's feelings didn't budge. If anything, she liked it more.
She even said I'd been acting out of character just to win her over.
“Haaa! I love it so much!”
She sidled up, hooked her arm in mine, and rested her head on my shoulder.
With her completely lovestruck like that, I had nothing to say.
What if I told her now that my true self was the polite one? She'd probably get thrilled that it was a side only she knew and demand I never show it to anyone else.
Her face flashed in my mind, eyes fierce and glaring. A shiver ran down my spine.
“Hey, why've you gone quiet all of a sudden? You were chatting nonstop on the way up. Don't tell me you hate talking to me? Huh?”
“N-no way! I was just thinking about what to say next.”
“That's what I thought. Don't make me misunderstand. If I start feeling anxious, I dunno what I might do!”
I could feel the emotions crammed into every word.
It hit me: say the wrong thing, and she might shove ice right up my gut.
I was into yanderes, so I wasn't likely to fall out of like with her anytime soon. Still, it made me nervous.
Tyrbing: [Master, it seems you've chosen the wrong spirit.]
'Why?'
Tyrbing: [Spirits may take a liking to humans, but none in history have ever fallen in love. Let alone one obsessively devoted to its master...]
'Love's heavy, sure, but she won't betray me. That's a plus, right?'
Tyrbing: [Master, spirits aren't that simple. They're part of nature itself—grand spirits are nature. Piss one off, and you'll unleash a catastrophe.]
'So as long as I don't screw up, I've got a badass ally. Sweet!'
Tyrbing: [Your endless optimism is both awe-inspiring and utterly baffling.]
I'd brushed it off lightly, but I knew what Tyrbing was worried about.
Taking Cress as a lover was a double-edged sword.
Break up with a normal girl, and that's that. But crossing a grand spirit? That spells doom.
Still, I couldn't let myself get intimidated.
Bow to her just 'cause she's a grand spirit, and I'd end up her puppet.
We needed an equal partnership for everyone to be happy.
“Cress, I wanna be straight with you about something.”
“What?”
“There are other women I wanna promise a future with, like you. So I can't promise to look only at you.”
I'd gone and done it.
Declaring a harem to a yandere.
But better now than later when it'd blow up worse. This way, if things went south, it'd end with just one death.
“...Spirit?”
“No, humans.”
“Then it's fine!”
For a split second, her eyes turned murderous, then melted back into lovestruck girl mode.
I'd braced for backlash, but she took it in stride.
“Humans loving humans is natural. Our relationship is the weird one, so don't sweat it.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. As long as you don't neglect me, I won't mind if it's ten or a hundred humans.”
She caressed my cheek softly.
A cool, pleasantly tingling touch.
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she suddenly grabbed my face and locked eyes with me.
“But no other spirits! I'm the only spirit you contract with—the only one who gets to claim you! Contract another, and I'll kill her, you, and me! Got it?”
“Y-yeah, got it.”
Her views on love were so inhumanly different. Lucky me.
No more contracting other spirits, but I wasn't bummed. No spirit with my pathetic mana would like me anyway, and few topped Cress.
Like the top student council president crushing on a nobody.
“Great! Now let's wrap up the final trial! Finish quick and we can have some cozy alone time!”
“But is it okay for you to help? Isn't meddling during the trial against the rules?”
“What're you on about now? I'm not your guide anymore—I'm your contracted spirit! Helping my contractor is a given!”
Should've skimped on the cash?
The tribute to Cress was fine, but the money to nerf the trial felt a tad wasted.
She was the strongest spirit I knew, after all.
“Mind holding hands?”
“That's easy.”
At the summit with Cress, an ice throne came into view.
Atop it sat a skull, chin propped on its fist, arrogantly frozen in ice.
The skull's eyes flashed as it spotted us.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the ice, shattering in seconds.
“Another foolish challenger...”
The skull burst free and swung a massive axe bigger than itself.
It cleaved the ice that had held it, turning it to powder.
A showy entrance fit for the Lord of Frost, the great warrior who once ruled the ancient north.
“...Wait! What's with this pathetic body?”
His grand debut soured quick—his voice deflated.
Scanning himself, he realized only bones remained.
Cress smirked and spilled the truth as he panicked.
“The challenger paid a whopping 10 platinum coins to Donetoungk to nerf you!”
“What?”
“In simple terms: you're screwed!”
The Lord of Frost manifests based on tribute paid.
No tribute: full prime gear.
10 gold: prime but unarmored.
100 gold: armed but elderly.
My 10 platinum: axe only, pure skeleton.
Capitalism at its finest. This is why we whale!
“Outrageous. But it matters not! Even as bones, I can take your head!”
“This challenger's my beloved contractor. Still think it's fine?”
“...You're joking.”
“Nope, dead serious.”
Snap!
Cress flicked her fingers. The lord flash-froze.
She clenched her fist—cracks raced through the bones, exploding into shards.
The final trial ended in anticlimax.
“Congrats! You passed all the trials!”
“You finished the last one, though.”
“Contracted means my power's yours too. No need to be humble!”
She patted my back, beaming like it was her win.
Then she scooped an Eternal Ice Crown from the shattered remains and trotted over, placing it on my head.
The blizzard died. Sunlight beamed down, heralding a new ruler's birth.
“From now on, you're the true King of the North, recognized by Donetoungk himself! And I'm your queen!”
“Hmm, doesn't feel real.”
“Don't worry! One steamy wedding night and it'll sink in!”
She glomped me again, eyes gleaming lewdly.
A summit wedding on the snowpeak? Romantic as fuck.
No one's watching anyway.
Why not go for it?
That naughty thought crossed my mind when—
“Hm?”
A shout echoed from nearby.
Peering over, I spotted barbarians with red wolf tattoos.
They raised weapons, bellowing at us.
“We won't accept this false king's birth!”
“Down with the pretender! We'll bring true justice to this sacred land!”
“The false king's flesh to the wolves! Blood scattered on the snow, entrails woven for the gods!”
Had to be Krag's Iron Wolf tribe—they'd hit Frost Fang and taken two others.
They'd tailed me after learning of the trial, but too late. I was king now.
No wonder they were pissed, refusing to acknowledge me and vowing murder.
I got it. I really did.
“Hah?”
But Cress, glued to me, had eyes colder than eternal ice.