The parade for the saintess recognition was successfully done. Except for the ongoing rumors about the third saintess strange existence, almost everyone had accepted the candidates' existence. Unlike what King Argus and Archmage Alexis expected, it wasn't Lady Evans nor Lady Laurel who got most of their kingdom's people's acceptance but Eirwen Night's whose current situation is unknown.
Falling snow in summer is considered a miracle. Moreover, it had the effects of healing.
Once the parade was finished King Argus allowed the Saintesses' Schedule to be free the rest of the day. Lady Laurel had excused herself the rest of the afternoon while Lady Evans stayed to speak with the king and archmage about the academia in which she is interested.
At Bela Laurel's residence, as soon as she arrived inside her room, she started grabbing and throwing things in anger. Her plan fails when those annoying children from the plaza speak up for Eirwen Night. She doesn't believe that the slut is still alive. Everyone had seen his corpse and the pope's failure of reviving him. He is as good as dead.
But what she didn't expect was that even though he is already dead, how could he still have believers! She felt too envious of him even after his death. Moreover, ever since Eirwen Night's death the duke had asked the king to give him punishment for his failure of protecting Eirwen Night. King Argus who was greatly disappointed with such an outcome had fulfilled the duke's request for punishment.
Duke Damian was forbidden from going to the castle. He is also not allowed any interaction with the two remaining Saintesses candidates until he is allowed to return to the palace to continue his duties. This is the reason Duke Damian is not present during the parade as he was on house arrest.
Bela Laurel, who is an admirer of the duke, was greatly disappointed by such results. It was just one Eirwen Night who died. Why does the duke need to be punished just because he died.
At the King's office, Angela Evan told King Argus and Archmage Alexus about her plans of entering academia as a student.
Archmage Alexis asks, "You wish to learn magic in academia? If it's magic this old man could teach you more than those lousy magicians in that place."
"I know Grandpa Alexis. I just want to continue school. Snowball says that academia is like a school in this world." said Angela Evans.
Only then did King Argus and Archmage Castel remember Angela's age. She is no more 16 at this moment. Though in this world, children can be considered as adults at the age of 15, according to the history recorded by their ancestors, in another world age of 16 isn't considered adults. Only when females reach the age of 18 do they become someone who has reached adulthood.
King Argus smiled at the young lady and said, "Okay, I would make an arrangement for your transfer. I will inform Lady Evans once your application is approved. Please be prepared to take an exam for it."
Angela Evans's eyes gleam with happiness as the king approves her request.
"Thank you, your majesty!" said Lady Evans. "Please excuse me for today."
"Go ahead you must be tired as well," said King Argus.
After Angela Evans took her leave, the smile on the people who remained inside the room fades.
King Argus spoke, "What do you think of what happened during the parade? That shameless man I've noticed looking at Lady Laurel plus those nasty rumors about Lord Night. Do you think she…"
"I will have someone investigate this. This might be done by the noble faction who wished to use the Saintess as a tool for profit. Normally this would be Damian's work but since locked himself up after Lord Night's death, I would do it this time," said Archmage Castel.
"Sigh~ do you also think that the snow from this morning is done by the Ice Spirit King in support of Lady Evans?" asked King Argus.
The man of wisdom, Alexis Castel, did not answer right away. As he himself was unsure of how to respond to such a question. If the name of Lady Evans was changed to Lord Night's name in the sentence, he would definitely answer yes. It was not a secret that Eirwen Night is a person that is loved by Ice spirits.
As for Lady Evans's case, it would be better to say that the ice spirits had taken a bit of liking to her naivety and playfulness. Her good relationship with Eirwen Night played more role than her personality.
Archmage Alexis replies, "This I am not sure."
"Then do you also think that Eirwen Night isn't dead like those children say? But we had seen his corpse, moreover, the pope himself says that he was unable to resurrect him at all!" said the king of kingdom hart.
The archmage replies, "His body was taken by the ice spirit king. Among the records of our history, only the side of the Ice spirits was unrecorded. This is the reason why I couldn't give you a straight answer, your majesty."
"That's right. Maybe he is still alive." murmured the king as he looked in an empty space, there was nothing but boredom within his eyes.
Time moves on as each day passes. Everyone tries to live their lives in their own way. They could either live an honest life to the fullest or be greedy to achieve their goals. Some choose to ignore his plans and follow what his heart is saying while the others could only wait and expect for their opportunity to come to them.
There are various paths of life, you only need to choose which one to take.
—
A few months later, the news of the Dark God descending had spread in every land of Aerd. No one knows where this rumor came from. They say the demonic race would be coming out of the abyss soon to start a war with the other races.
On the other hand, the various races who heard about this news start making their preparation for war in secret. These kinds of preparations started in the secret and needed time to reach perfection. No one made an obvious move but no one in every race didn't know the incoming war.
—
Days become months.
And months become years.
Those on the top were still making their preparations, but only the ordinary people continue to live their lives normally each day. The core of this incoming war made different choices.
Angela Evans chooses to live her life to enjoy her freedom and happiness. Each of her decisions was made in accordance with her dreams and desires. Going to academia is one. Learning magic and martial arts is second. She still gives time to the children in the plaza and plays with them during her vacation. Not only did she do her best to increase her level, she never forgets to give back what she is given.
When her first year in Aerd had passed, King Argus and Archmage who took a great liking to her kindness and amiable personality had formally taken her under their wings. The king had given her the title of an outside princess. In the kingdom of Hart, Lady Evans is called the Ice Princess of Hart. While the Archmage Alexis had formally adopted her as his precious granddaughter. Granting her the authority within the Tower of Mage as their future lady archmage in making.
Meanwhile, Bela Laurel had taken a different path. Instead of siding with the king, she chooses to side with the noble faction led by the third prince of kingdom hart. Unlike the crown prince who is rarely home, the third prince wants to achieve more. He wanted the throne and the title of king. But like the other kingdoms or empires, only the crown prince had the right to sit at the throne after the current king stepped down. The third prince originally had no fate with the throne.
That is until the prophecy about the Saintess had arrived in their kingdom. He heard about the contents of the prophecy. It says within the divination that only the Saintess is able to save this world from its destruction. There is no other meaning or explanation, just a simple message saying that this world, Aerd, can only retain its stability once the Saintess is found. Only the Saintess had the power to communicate with the gods. She is the only existence who could change the fate of the world. That is how important the presence of the Saintess is in their kingdom.
This is why the third prince thought of this as an opportunity. He knew that now that as long as the Saintess was on his side he could achieve his goals and sit on that throne he desires. Which is when Bela Laurel had approached him, he knew that he had a chance to change his fate.
—
Another year had passed. This is the second year until the said death of Eirwen Night. Most people had forgotten about him at this point. Though there are some who could never forget about his existence all this time.
When the first year elapses, Kind Argus decided to honor Eirwen Night and make a tomb for him. It was a large tomb that could rival the royal gravestones. The king had even chosen a special and quiet land even though the tomb is just an empty land. There are rarely any visitors who come to this grave but the place was kept clean all the time and the gravestone is always full of various flowers like pink carnations, roses, etc.
But among the rest, only one is unique. It was placed at the corner of the gravestone. It's a purple hyacinth. What made it unique from the rest of the flowers is that this single purple hyacinth never wilts. As if the time for this flower had stopped forever at its peak state.
The flower had no roots. It's cut at the ends like the rest of the flowers and no one knows who put it there and how long it had been there. Since it's a unique unwilling flower there were many you wanted to take in their possession but not of them were able to bring it home. No one is able to remove it from its place. It was like a heavy lead that no one is able to lift from its place.
The existence of this flower then became well-known and some rumors had spread all over the place. They say that the only person who is able to take away that purple hyacinth is the one whose name is engraved on the gravestone.
There's another story that is paired up with the legend of the purple hyacinth. It says that the tombstone is an empty grave. There is nobody under that gravestone, not a corpse nor a single bone. They say that the owner of the name engraved on that stone is a unique individual. He is famous as a protector of the children.
They also say that during winter only this gravestone is avoided by the falling stone itself. The people say that the ice spirits revere the owner of the name and would never be allowed anything with its name to be covered by ice or snow. This is why during the winter season only this piece of land is unharmed by the coldness of the snow as if something is protecting it from harm.
—
At the end of the year, amid the snow.
A young lady wearing a winter dress and an overcoat cloak over her petite figure stood in front of a gravestone. Engraved on the stone is a name that most people had forgotten. Eirwen Night, the third candidate for the title of Saintess.
The visitor is Angela Evans who returned to the kingdom for a vacation. On her arms is a huge bouquet of yellow and white flowers. The flowers were lilies of the valley and yellow roses.
Looking at the clean slate of the gravestone and the snow obviously avoiding falling on the tomb, Angela doesn't know whether to be scared or cry. Before the eyes of ordinary people, this event can be considered supernatural or a miracle but within Angela's eyes, she could see hovering little ice fairies protecting the gravestone. They were the real reason why the tomb is untainted even by snow.
"Hi~ little ones. I'm here again this year," said Angela while smiling at the hardworking ice fairies protecting her friend's gravestone.
The little ice fairies reactions:
'It's Angela!!~'
'Did you bring us, sweets?'
'Angie~ I'm hungry…'
Angela Evans chuckles at this welcoming sight. She brought out the gifts from her item box. The gifts were cookies, candied fruits, and chocolates. This is something she made for her ice fairy friends.
"Of course, I would never forget about your gifts. Please enjoy it for a while here. Can I visit Jiejie's gravestone?" asked Angela, only to see the ice fairies munching on her gifts like greedy hamsters. Their mouths were full and they could only nod their head to show their agreement to their friend's request.
After getting the permission of the Ice fairies Angela sat in front of the gravestone and placed the bouquet of roses and lilies she had prepared for this day. She even brought out scented candles and lit them in front of the tomb. Then she sat in front of it as if facing someone beyond the gravestone.
"Jiejie~ I'm 18 years old now. I'm considered an adult in our world. Two years have passed since you've died. I actually still down believe you are gone. I don't even know where you are and Ivern is so far. I could only come to this place pretending that you are here.
Jiejie as you've warned me I didn't directly get involved with the affairs of the royal family and entered the academia instead. But I made friends with the crown prince accidentally. Actually, I brought him with me. Do you wish to meet him? I will bring him with me next time." said Angela as if someone was really in front of her.
The ice fairies who overheard Angela's monologue gave their permission and dragged that hidden man within the wood overlooking Angela from a distance.
"Whoa~ there are really ice fairies in this place!" exclaimed a man who was suddenly pulled over by the fairies.
This young man had the same shade of blonde that the current king of Kingdom Hart, King Argus possesses but also unlike the king's cerulean eyes, this man's irises had the color of the forest instead.
Angela calls his name, "Viktor!"
The name of the crown prince is Viktor Hart. The eldest son of King Argus. A renowned warrior of his generation. He is a paladin like his father.
