Calypse had barely stepped out of his office before Knox, who had been waiting just outside, scrambled after him with a bewildered look.
“Where are you going, Your Grace?”
“The ice cave. It’s been an hour — I should check on her.”
“It won’t be a full hour from when she entered for another five minutes or so?”
Knox tilted his head, genuinely confused. Calypse pointed a finger at the ground beneath his feet, then stretched the same finger toward the far end of the corridor.
“It takes about five minutes to walk from here down to the first basement level. So I’m leaving early.”
Knox followed the line of Calypse’s gesture, then gave a quiet nod of understanding.
“Very thorough of you, Your Grace.”
“That’s what parenting is.”
With that, the two of them set off toward the ice cave at a brisk pace, neither speaking.
But both of them were thinking about Aisha.
The ice cave was a space born entirely from Ice Affinity — a place so brutally cold that even northerners, people who had grown up their whole lives in bone-deep winters, couldn’t last thirty minutes inside before bolting for the exit.
And Aisha?
She was born in the Kingdom of Doctia, where the climate runs warm by comparison. She hasn’t been in the North long either. If anything, she’d be even more vulnerable to the cold.
They descended the staircase to the lower level.
The words that finally peeled themselves from Calypse’s lips — heavy as lead until now — came slow and deliberate.
“There’s a good chance she’s given up. Tell Mai to heat some water. If Aisha comes out wanting to quit, she’ll need a bath immediately.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Knox took his leave to carry out the order, and Calypse descended the last of the steps alone. He reached the door of the ice cave and pulled it open.
“Ai—”
sha. The name died on his tongue.
His eyes widened, just slightly, in a slow and silent blink.
“…?”
In the far corner of the cave sat an enormous heap.
At second glance, it wasn’t a heap at all — it was a cluster of children, all nestled together around Aisha at the center, a small warm knot of bodies sharing warmth.
They were sleeping.
Not a single one of them was shaking.
“…What on earth… ha!”
The shadows that had weighed on Calypse’s face all this time dissolved. A helpless, breathless laugh escaped him.
“Your Grace. The warm water is ready—”
“Shh.”
Knox returned a moment later and began to speak, but Calypse lifted a single finger to his lips and gave him a sharp look.
“You’ll wake the children.”
“…Children?”
Knox lowered his voice instinctively, then peered over Calypse’s shoulder — and his eyes went wide as saucers.
Then.
“…The bathwater won’t be necessary after all.”
He caught up to the situation quickly, and a quiet smile crossed his face, much like the one Calypse wore.
“Bring some blankets to cover them.”
Knox dipped his head and slipped back out of the cave. Calypse, now alone in the doorway, used his Affinity to ease the temperature inside — just a fraction. A careful adjustment.
The moment the cold shifted, Aisha stirred. Still asleep, she burrowed deeper into the warm press of children around her, seeking their heat with a small, instinctive curl of her body.
A fond smile tugged at the corner of Calypse’s mouth.
She knew she couldn’t last on her own, so she brought people who could help. Whatever her intent had been, the result was the same — she had solved the problem in a way he hadn’t anticipated. She was no ordinary child.
Perhaps, truly.
Watching her — this child who found her way past every expectation he had of her — Calypse felt something that had been faint and uncertain inside him grow a little stronger.
Hope.
The ice cave training after that proceeded without incident.
While Lucas and Kyle attended their morning lessons, Guide and Bibi stuck to my side like burrs.
“Y-Your Highness — Bibi… Bibi has been glued to me ever since. W-we went on a walk together, so maybe she’s… satisfied?”
“Kyuu? Kyuukkyuu! (A walk, you say? What nonsense. From this day forward, this grandmother protects only her baby.)”
The two of them had no way to speak to each other directly, but even without me translating, they seemed to manage just fine.
Incidentally, I still hadn’t figured out why I could understand Bibi in the first place. That was a question for another time.
And then—
“Dandelion, your brother’s h— hey, Guide! Are you seriously still not giving her space?!”
“Guide. Get away from Aisha.”
When Lucas came back from morning lessons — and Kyle, who had apparently learned a bold new word, “get away,” to add to his vocabulary — both of them would fix Guide with matching narrow glares until he bolted in a panic, and my living furnace was promptly exchanged for two new ones.
And once every hour, my father came to check on me. He rarely came alone.
“Your Highness. You’ve endured much, confined to that cave. I’ve made strawberry parfait — please, do have some.”
The estate’s chef, arriving with an armful of desserts.
“Lady Aisha. Even in a cave, a proper appearance must be maintained. Your right braid has drooped just slightly — allow me to fix it.”
Mai, ever vigilant about my hair.
It takes a village to raise a child — or so the saying goes.
And that was precisely what happened. With the people of House Krost rallying around me in turns, I managed to spend a full week in the ice cave feeling, against all odds, warm.
“Lady Aisha. Are you comfortable in the cave?”
“No.”
“Yes. I suspected as much. That’s why I asked.”
“…?”
Knox — who contributed nothing of practical use — was, of course, the exception.
Worse still, every time Calypse appeared for his hourly checks, Knox materialized faithfully at his side, seemingly just to needled me.
“When I get out of here, you’re the first person I’m testing my Affinity on. Knox.”
I watched his retreating back through narrowed eyes sharp enough to cut glass.
The moment I walked out of that cave, Knox was my first target.
And so, at long last — the eighth day arrived.
“Good work. Ai — Aisha!”
I shoved past my father’s warm welcome and burst through the cave door, throwing myself onto my knees before the sunlight that poured down over the Krost estate grounds.
Oh. Sunlight.
Sweet, beloved Vitamin D, wrapping around me like a gift.
“HI-YAAAAAA—!”
The shriek of a small hamster tasting sunlight for the first time in eight days rang out across the skies above the Krost estate.
And just like that, my ice cave training came to a triumphant end.
The following day. The training grounds of Krost Estate.
My father gripped my hand with a tense expression and gave me a firm nod.
Today was the day. The long-awaited day of the test.
In other words — the day we confirmed whether the ice cave training had actually worked.
As we stepped into the training grounds, the people who had been waiting for us greeted me with warmth.
“Your Highness. You endured a full week in that freezing cave — I’m certain your Affinity will bloom beautifully.”
“Lady Aisha! Give it everything you have! Affinity is all about spirit!”
Every one of them had taken the time, at least once during that week, to stop by the ice cave and visit me.
I’m absolutely going to succeed.
“Thank you very much!”
I waved energetically at everyone, then let my father guide me to the center of the training grounds.
Lucas stood at our side, having come along in his capacity as the heir of House Krost.
Hoo. Hoo.
There were so many eyes on me, all of them watching only me.
Every gaze was warm, every face encouraging — but I was nervous anyway. I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself.
“Aisha.”
Then a pair of crimson eyes appeared right before mine — the exact same shade as my own. Calypse had crouched down to meet my gaze.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about. You were born with Krost blood. The Affinity is natural to you. It belongs to you.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Open your palm and hold it out. Then imagine ice crystals blooming from it.”
I gave a firm nod at my father’s steady, confident guidance.
Then I stretched my palm open toward the empty air.
“HI-YAP—!”
I put everything I had into it. Every last ounce of concentration I possessed, including — yes — my lower body.
“Oh—!”
“Finally! Another Affinity user is joining House Krost—!”
The crowd leaned forward with sparkling, expectant eyes.
And then.
Flutterflutt—
“…?”
Rather than ice crystals shooting upward from my palm, something fell from the sky.
Namely — snow. Thick, generous, beautiful snow.
Which is to say: I had not, technically speaking, used Ice Affinity.
“Was there a forecast today? Any snow in the report?”
“I’m not sure, Your Grace. Northern weather can be so unpredictable.”
My lips curved downward into a flat, unhappy line at this obvious failure, and the people around me scrambled hastily to redirect the conversation.
“Hmm.”
Lucas, who had been making increasingly strained noises beside me, put both hands on my shoulders and leaned in.
“Dandelion. Instead of squeezing everything in your lower half, try imagining it — ice crystals, rising in your palm. You don’t need to force it.”
Ah. So the key wasn’t physical exertion — it was visualization.
I gave a solemn nod and tried again.
“HI-YAT!”
But.
“YAT—!”
Why! Why won’t the Ice Affinity come out!
“…That’s strange. It was easy for me. Dandelion — why won’t it work for you?”
As if he’d read my mind, Lucas muttered the exact thought I’d been thinking. He scratched the back of his neck, tilting his head to the side.
“Mine manifested right after I was born. By the time I was two, I could just — use it. And it happened because I thought our father’s ice looked amazing and I wanted to make some too, and then — bam! It just came up. So why won’t yours come? That’s so weird.”
At that, something finally clicked into place.
Ice Affinity wasn’t something you could earn through effort alone. It bloomed through talent and early cultivation — the kind that took root in infancy, nurtured in the bones before a person ever knew to try.
Spending a few nights roughing it in an ice cave at my age wasn’t going to summon what hadn’t already been planted.
I went through absolute hell in that ice cave for a whole week!
Thud.
I sat down right there on the ground.
“…It’s so unfair…”
“Aisha…”
“It’s unfair!”
Whether Lucas and Calypse looked at me with pity or not, I didn’t care. I let out a full-throated wail and let the cold snow fall all over me.
“…Lady Aisha?”
At that moment, a voice cut through the air, and every head in the training grounds turned toward the entrance.
It was Mai, who had finished her duties and arrived late.
“Congratulations, Lady Aisha! You’ve successfully manifested your Affinity! I knew you could do it!”
…What?
She spoke with a deeply moved expression, and I stared at her, face full of bewilderment.
“What are you talking about? I failed — I was right here in the middle of despairing about it!”
Lucas, equally thrown off, moved to correct her immediately —
“But… this snow — isn’t Lady Aisha the one who made it fall? It’s only snowing inside the training grounds.”
“Huh?”
Inside the training grounds? What is she—
I’d been so lost in my misery that only now did I lift my head and look up at the sky.
