When Veronica walked into the bathroom, it was just as spacious as the bedroom. The bathtub was in the middle of the floor and looked like a jacuzzi. There were mirrors attached to the wall going through one side of the room, along with a toilet and sink in its own private room poking out of the corner.

Towels were hung up by the entrance of the bathroom, so she grabbed two of them and made her way to the tub. She turned on both the hot and cold water, but made sure to put more hot water in the end.

She quickly got undressed, covering herself with the towel. Soap was at the ready. When the tub was filled up, she turned off the water. 

Veronica was ready to take a nice, relaxing bath. Now all she had to do was test the water.

And she deeply regretted it.

“ACK! COLD!” Veronica screamed across the bathroom. “DAMMIT!”

All she did was dip her foot into the steamy bathtub, thinking that she was going to have to wait a little while for it to cool. Well, she was burned in a way she never thought was possible. The hot water felt practically like dry ice.

“What the hell?! Hey!” Veronica called out to the system. “Why is a hot bath cold all of a sudden?! Answer me!”

She didn’t appreciate that her bath time was being delayed due to something that was going against the natural ways of the world. Hot is hot. Cold is cold. For some reason, hot was freezing?

The system picked up on her fiery attitude and appeared with a message.

Attention!

Would you like to take a look at your stats?

Yes No

She practically punched ‘Yes.’ A list of stats and character information appeared.

Character Information:

Name: Genevieve Ulrich

Preferred Name: Veronica

Title: Princess of the Ulrich Empire

Class: Pyromancer [Rank S]

Rubies: 21

Sex: Female

Age: 22

Height: 5’8

Weight: 110lbs

MP: 21,000

MAGI: 5

STR: 10

DEF: 1

DEX: 2

AGI: 1

SPD: 2

LUK: 10

Wow, this body needs some serious help…  Veronica shook her head. Wait, this doesn’t answer my question!

“This doesn’t explain why something piping hot is freezing cold!” Veronica yelled at the screen.

Her eyes caught a skills tab next to the character information. She decided to tap onto that. Another set of information was displayed.

Passive Skills:

Trailblazer [Rank S] - Immunity to all fire attributes weaker than your current skill level.

Ignition [Rank S] - Imbue your weapon with your flames for 30% extra damage. {Drains 10 MP per minute}

Active Skills:

Fireball [Rank F] - 100% damage [AoE] {100 MP}

Rocket Launcher [Rank F] - 100% damage [Single Target] {100 MP}

Veronica read over the skills and pointed at the passive ‘Trailblazer.’ “Is that skill the reason why something hot is cold?”

The system got out of the character information screen and nodded. A message appeared, explaining the phenomenon.

Announcement!

Trailblazer is a passive skill that makes the user immune to every fire attribute that’s weaker than their skill level. Since your skill is S-rank, your level is at its highest, which means the color of your flames are blue!

Since blue flames are the hottest, anything less than blue won’t hurt you! However, that means anything less than blue will seem cold in comparison!

“Then how the hell am I supposed to take a bath?” She held onto her head in frustration. “Are you telling me that I’m doomed to cold baths because of how strong my flames are?”

The system popped another message, reassuring the distraught woman.

Announcement!

All hope is not lost! If you use the skill, ‘Ignition,’ you may be able to get the right temperature! In order to activate, please say a phrase so we can record it and enter into the database!

Veronica looked at her hands and snapped her fingers. Her knuckles were now visible. She dipped one hand into the steaming bathtub and another in the air so nothing would catch on fire.

“So I have to say a phrase to activate it? Are you recording now?” She asked the system.

It simply nodded to her.

“Alright.” She kept her eyes on the water. “It’s lit.”

As soon as she said her phrase, her free hand burned a beautiful bright blue and the water slowly started bubbling. Steam filled the bathroom quickly, turning it into a sauna. She took her hand out so the water wouldn’t get too low.

The system appeared in front of her with a congratulatory message.

Announcement!

Congratulations! ‘Ignition’ will now be activated when you say the phrase, ‘It’s lit.’ If you want to turn your flames off, just snap your fingers.

Note: Snap your fingers again if you wish to toggle on/off your gear!

She snapped her fingers again to turn her flames off. She then proceeded to dip her foot into the bath one more time.

The perfect temperature.

“Oh, thank the gods!” Veronica threw off the towel that wrapped around her.

The system immediately got flustered from the proud woman and made itself scarce. One foot turned into two, then her whole body took a dip. A sigh of relief escaped from her lips.

“I’m going to need a much bigger tub if this keeps up,” Veronica joked. “Maybe I’ll pay a visit to that emperor and ask.”

—

Emperor Isaac was in his office when he felt strong magic nearby. For some reason though, the anti-magic sigils weren’t activating. The only people who should be able to use magic in the palace should be the emperor and Empress Delilah since she’s only a healer mage. That strong magic didn’t feel like it belonged to anyone that he knew. His two sons. Dominic and Winslow, only have ten rubies. The anti-magic sigils that were implemented throughout the palace blocks magic from twenty rubies and below.

It was obviously coming from inside the palace but he didn't hear any fighting. It seemed more like the person activated something temporarily.

Should I have guards search the grounds? He thought. Hopefully they’re nowhere near the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was where Princess Genevieve resides. She was still resting as far as he knew. The last thing he wanted was for any intruders to come across her in such a vulnerable state. Especially since she came back to the world of the living after a month-long sleep.

As he pondered on what to do, a few knocks came at the door. “Come in.”

A regal woman walked through the door. She had white, long hair in an updo with sky-blue eyes that matched her porcelain, blue undertone skin. She wore an elegant baby blue dress with frills and jewels with matching shoes. Her necklace showed five rubies in a fashionable row, detailing her strength.

It was Empress Delilah.

She went into a curtsy and bowed her head, “I greet your majesty, Emperor Isaac. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.”

He looked at her, “Not at all, empress. Please rise. Just have a seat.”

“You’re too kind.” She placed a hand over her heart as she rose up. She made her way over to the couch and coffee table combination and sat down.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Isaac asked, looking back over his documents.

“I came bearing news of the princess, of course.” Delilah sat perfectly still, keeping her posture.

The emperor had almost put his papers down but made sure not to show through his facial expressions, “I’m all ears.”

Delilah smiled, “I’m happy to report that Princess Genevieve is finally awake after sleeping through a whole day of that whole debacle.”

He was happy to hear that. “Good. Is she being tended to by her maids?”

“I’m afraid not. The princess chased out one of her maids not too long ago.” Empress Delilah hid her delight in her words. “The poor girl was worried for her when she got out of bed so suddenly.”

The update he didn’t expect to hear was shocking enough to actually have him put his documents down. “Come again? Are we talking about the same princess?”

The empress kept going, “The maid came to me bawling her eyes out, your majesty. She was attacked by the princess when she wasn’t fast enough to make her bath. I guess Princess Genevieve was trying to go outside for some fresh air?”

When she’s so weak…? The emperor contemplated. But I need to find out who’s magic I sensed before she roams around the grounds.

He looked at the empress, “It sounds to me that she’s restless after sleeping for a month. I don’t blame her for wanting to finally stretch her legs.”

“But your majesty,” Delilah interjected. “Wouldn’t it be best to have her calm down and stay in bed for a few more days? She just woke up and her health wasn’t always great.”

Isaac was reminded of when the princess muttered words under her breath and smacked her forehead in the process. He simply mentioned taking her back to the palace so she could rest but she didn’t seem so pleased about it.