Amaris remained stoic and calm as the edge of the sharp blade brushed the nape of her neck. The soldiers in black, decorated with silver embellishments and a blue cape, snickered as they teased her. She looked straight ahead as they continued to call her heartless and mock how she lived up to her name, Belladaria's Ice Princess.
Amaris was the third princess of Belladaria, a small country bordering the south of A'ta Stras, the biggest country in the continent's heart. Though she was a princess, Amaris was an illegitimate child born to a maid and from a fallen noble family. Her mother, Wyndia, whose beauty had captured the King's favor, Amaris, was the product after her mother was forced to spend a night with the King. Amaris and her mother were never publicly recognized by the royal family due to Wyndia's status. The King, however, couldn't let go of his desires and lust after Wyndia. He wanted to lay with her and plant his seeds inside the woman who once refused his proposal. So, Wyndia made a bargain with him: to allow them to live in the small abandoned mansion behind the palace with a few servants, for Amaris to receive proper education and sword training, and for him to never interact with Amaris's upbringing.
So, she never got a chance to see him when she was young. Whenever she asked about her father, her mother always replied that she didn't have one with the saddest face, and at one point, Amaris stopped asking. Amaris became curious about the world beyond the mansion on her fifth birthday. She wanted to go outside and visit the bakeries and shops the maids talked about. She wanted to see what it was like living in the royal palace and what the princes and princesses her age looked like, but her mom said she couldn't go. Disappointed, she threw a few fits and stopped, realizing her mom would not give in. Only when she turned thirteen did she and her mom go to the market square in the evening. For the first time, Amaris was excited that her mom finally allowed her to roam around with no restrictions. At the end of the trip, they went to an abandoned estate. The mansion was burnt down, and the beautiful gardens were full of lifeless debris.
"Amaris, I think you're old enough to understand. So, listen well to what I'm going to tell you."
She looked up at her mother, holding back tears, and the words shocked her. Amaris listened and watched as her mother explained how the current King framed her mother's family, the Rolandas, for treason. The Rolanda's were always a neutral party and did not show favor among any of the royalties for the next monarch of Belladaria. When the third prince returned home from his study abroad, the King feared that the Rolanda would create a rift and a faction to oppose him as the next monarch supporting the third prince. With the help of the nobles who supported the King, the Rolandas were framed, and all family members and employees were executed except for two people: Wyndia and Wyndia's younger brother, Theo.
Wyndia planned to leave after the queen dowager passed away, hoping she would save enough money to start her own business by then. The dream was cut short when the King laid his hands on her, and she became pregnant with Amaris. Theo, whom Amaris had never met, had escaped after faking his death in the fire; he once wrote a letter through a merchant to her mom when he learned that she was working as a maid. Theo's letter meant everything to Wyndia; it had given her another hope.
In one of Wyndia's response letters, she wrote about Amaris, and in his final letter, he had written:
My dear sister, I am excited to meet my niece one day. I hope that she will look just like her. It pains me to say this, but I must. I have decided to study under a business man—he said that he is willing to take me as his apprentice and wants me to go with him to Tu'an Lang across the ocean. It will be a long journey. I don't know when I will come back, but my dear older sister, I promised to come back alive, and when I do, I'll come for you and my niece. Wait for me. I am going to come back.
After that trip, Amaris decided she no longer wanted to be recognized as part of the royal family. Her mom could have easily tossed her away as she was a product of a forced relationship. Yet, her mom showered her with love and affection. She made up her mind to study hard, become someone powerful through her own achievements, to take her mom out of the country and look for Uncle Theo.
For years, no one knew of their existence until Amaris joined the royal knights, earning merits and recognition for her achievements. She was 18 years old, and that was when she first appeared in public. Her long silver hair, icy blue gaze, and how she never smiled earned her the Ice Princess nickname. The princes and princesses who preferred to drown in wealth, dresses, and pleasures were jealous of her as the public and many nobles started to show their favor towards Amaris as Belladaria's next monarch. There were only two issues: she's not recognized as an official royal family member and has no interest. Amaris's only goal was to save money and then move to another country with her mother. She was so close to achieving that goal until Crown Prince Omar decided to break the fifty-year peace treaty with A'ta Stras and sided with the other three bordering countries, whose main goal was to eradicate A'ta Stras.
"That stupid bastard," she whispered her breath and only hoped that her mother and their maids had safely escaped.
She glanced from side to side as the rest of the royal family kneeled behind her and shivered in fear. It was not a laughing matter, but she thought it was funny to see them like that. The royal knights were split when Belladaria declared war against A'ta Stras. The captain and vice-captain were against the idea and immediately resigned, and many followed them. Amaris, of course, had no interest and also resigned. Prince Omar had threatened to harm her mother, but before he could, she had broken his right arm and leg. She wouldn't have been in this situation if she and her mother had moved out quicker than trying to relocate her uncle or wait for him as her mother wished.
"Really? I thought I was going to live longer. Who would have thought I would die so young and like this? Sorry, mother," she whispered.
"Look at these fools," one of A'ta Stras's knights chuckled.
Amaris couldn't agreed more.
"Let's do something exciting," one said as they approached Amaris.
She immediately recognized one of the knights; a few years back, during a peace conference, all of the knights had participated in a friendly competition. She had competed against this knight, and if her memory served her right…never mind; she was too lazy to juggle through her memory to recall his name. She looked as he took out a dagger, smirking as he used to caress her pale cheek. She knew what he was up to, but a large frame grabbed his wrist from behind before he could even get a chance to do as he wished.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" This voice belonged to no other than the Grand Duke of A'ta Stras, Adrian Mel Winslow.
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