Chapter 44: Virtue: The Crown Princess

  Virtue attempted to leave the room, having little interest in hearing her mother, the Queen’s, further rambling about that stupid statue. Sure, was it a disgrace to the family? Of course, it was. Everyone who sees the thing would surely know its finger was raised against Ercheat, the seat of the throne. But so what? People could have their own opinions, right? Slander was uncommon around these parts, but in the other cities spread around the continent there were entire paper presses devoted to gossip and slander of the nobles and royal family. Nothing new there.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” her mother asked before Virtue could slip around the edge of the entrance arch.

  “Seems I must make sure my sword is sharp,” Crown Princess Virtue answered dully. The tone was well-rehearsed, as this was how she was raised to behave, after all.

  “See, Chaste? Why can’t you be as reasonable as your sister?”

  Virtue’s eyes rolled back as she left the room. Even after having rounded the next corner in the hallway, she entered a short jog, just in case. The extra distance per second she gained wasn’t much, but staying around her mother, in these last few days after the effigy had been raised, was tiring. Virtue was just curious about how they raised it, particularly in such a remote place! Where was her mother’s curiosity? Her sense of adventure? Had she lost it when she had her children? Had Virtue, Chaste and Innocence taken that away from her? There was also El, Virtue’s second brother, the youngest of all four of the Queen’s children, but he… wasn’t like the rest of them.

  Queen Decent, the ‘Ice Queen’ as she used to be called even before she built Ercheat up from nothing and became queen of the entire continent, used to be an adventurer, just like Chaste. This was countless years ago by now, so many that history books hadn’t reached that far back yet. Virtue knew because of their father. He’d resisted any claim to the throne, preferring travelling and dungeoneering to the high-society dining and politicking of the nobles. His love for their mother was special. Out of this world, even. He enjoyed telling Virtue stories of his and her mother’s past, time spent adventuring through the most dangerous dungeons. Her mother wasn’t that person anymore. And Father was gone.

  Until now, Virtue had believed her mother a devout follower of Arcana. The city of Ercheat dedicated its dominant religion to the goddess herself. Queen Decent could change that with a flick of her wrist if she wanted to. Though she hadn’t, the conversation she was having with Chaste right now was one she’d bothered Virtue with these past few days. A conversation about tearing down the effigy of Arcana herself. The worst part wasn’t that, though. The worst part was that the effigy had appeared in a divine storm, a localised magical weather anomaly featuring all of Arcana’s greatest hits; blue lightning, piercing water, crimson fire and powerful wind. One might say the statue itself was her power of earth manifesting itself as another element in her repertoire.

  There was no doubt in Virtue’s mind; Arcana had built the effigy herself. She had returned, whether from a long slumber or just some time away from Aera. The knowledge of this would fill Virtue’s heart with fluttering happiness and boundless curiosity… if it weren’t for one thing. The finger. Arcana had it out either for Ercheat or for the Queen herself. Mother. The gesture was common enough for everyone to understand. Disrespect, to put it in mild terms. Arcana was back, and she wasn’t happy.

  Queen Decent wasn’t telling her children everything. That was not just plain to see but also par for the course. She rarely told them about her own life, her own history. The key to figuring out what was happening right now, though, was Mother’s past.

  It was a bit ironic. Chaste, her favourite brother, had always been an Arcana fanatic, curious about the goddess’ story and her effect on this world. Virtue, on the other hand, had mostly let the mysteries of Arcana be in favour of digging into her mother’s past; a far, far more difficult hobby. Now, though, their interests seemed to intersect. Chaste’s study of Arcana and Virtue’s interest in her mother’s past both led down the same road. If they both shared what they knew with each other… perhaps they could find a clue as to what was happening.

  Luckily, the queen was sending them both to investigate. Not only could they spend their time on their way over to share their thoughts and ideas, but they would both get to see what the hell was up with the instant-made effigy! That should’ve been a win for both. But… Their mother expected them to tear it down, the town along with it. If Arcana was finally back and was behind all this, how would she react to that?

  Virtue shook her head, fighting a sudden chill that crept up her spine and along the nape. Her arms grew cold, the small hairs along them standing tall. The goddess was typically not known for kindness. She wasn’t evil, not in any religion Virtue had ever heard of, in any case, but she was… fickle. Wilful. Difficult. Just like Mother.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The Crown Princess reached her quarters, entering through a heavy wooden door that not even all the maids could manage to open single-handedly. A benefit of having a varied and intense upbringing was that, in general, most nobles had far higher stats than commoners. Considering this, it was typical to add an obstacle that was difficult for them to get past to keep privacy, or riches, safe from them. In this castle, if a maid were to clean a private quarter belonging to any member of the royal family, they were to be escorted by a knight of the royal guard, if nothing else than to open the door for them.

  The walls were draped in transparent blue silks, with a thicker set of violet drapes for contrast, and a soft red carpet covered the floor. Other than the bed, there really wasn’t much more to her room except a subtle nightstand and a dividing wall made of fine bambu that covered a sleek bathtub, which offered sweet, comfortable relaxation whenever she pleased. Virtue needed little, yet knew she had much more than most. She would despise missing her morning bath while travelling.

  From in front of her nightstand, she grabbed her sword by its sheath, a crystalline blue shard of what resembled pure ice, though that was just embellishment. She grabbed the frosty blue hilt as she once more looked over the pristine work of art with admiration before pulling the sword out. A pale white blade reflected the ice princess’ eyes when she held the blade across the front of her face. Just looking at the thing threatened to cut her. It was truly a magnificent weapon, worth more than half the city itself, most likely. One of the benefits of being royalty.

  Enchantment glyphs caught her eye, hidden within the cold steel of the blade. There weren’t many left in the world who could enchant dungeon items. The magical items made from the dungeon’s core already possessed their own special abilities. Adding another layer on top of those, which, most importantly, didn’t interfere with the previous effects, was… nigh impossible. Only one family remained in the Aera, as far as Virtue knew. A family with deep ties to the royal family, of course.

  The ever-chill blade still amazed Virtue to this day, despite her being its owner for the past half of her life. Virtue received it as a gift from her mother when she was fourteen, on the day of her public inauguration, when she was named Crown Princess. To think she’d only had the honour of using it once before; the day of her sixteenth birthday. Her first dungeon run. There were a lot of strings attached to being royal. One giant bundle of those strings was simply about having more and rarer skills than anyone else. It was all about power. Being better. Being not just a good leader, but one that could protect their assets or outright destroy the competition. Preferably all of those at once.

  Being the child of the Ice Queen herself eased the level of entry by a large margin, though. Even as toddlers, the royal children had most of the commoner kids beat. There was just so much power fed to them as babies, so much essence transferred from their mother’s milk to them. That was how this world worked, after all; the powerful remained powerful. They lived longer and faded slower. Power, at least as world-granted stats, never waned. Age caught up with most, but those with lower vital energy were the first taken. The wilting of minds acted more slowly on those holding more mental energy. Muscles atrophied more slowly in those with more physical energy. The world was fair in all things… but advantages earned were advantages kept.

  A quick tapping on the floor outside her room grew louder by the second, the familiar running of her little sister. The teenager dashed past the open door, slid along the floor in an emergency braking before her head popped up from behind the wall.

  “Oh, there you are! Are you going adventuring with Chaste?” she asked merrily. Her white teeth flashed from her open-lipped grin.

  “Seems like,” Virtue giggled at the sight of her sister’s antics.

  “I wish I could come. Mother says I must get ready for my first dungeon run, though. But it’s months away! You’ll be back by then, won’t you?”

  “Of course we will. We’ll be right outside waiting for you to succeed. Have you chosen your party yet?”

  “No. It’s hard when you don’t know the ones you’re supposed to trust.”

  “It is. But do you want to know a secret?”

  Innocence beamed.

  Virtue leaned in and whispered, “It’s enough to trust yourself. Be a leader and make them follow. Show them how much stronger you are. Then you won’t have a problem.” These were words not of her own, but ones passed down from the queen herself. Sixteen-year-old Virtue looked just like Innocence when she heard them first. Her mouth gaped, eyes disbelieving.

  “Those are mother’s words,” Innocence whispered back.

  Virtue grinned. Her younger sister showed understanding. “Make sure it rings true when she hears it, then. To place trust in someone without them fearing you isn’t as bad as she claims. Just be careful about it.”

  Innocence nodded once.

  “Good! Now, if you see Chaste out and about, please tell him I wish to speak with him. I’m sure we’re leaving in a few days, so sharing a few thoughts might be in order.”

  “I will!” Innocence said. She hugged her older sister and darted back into the hallway.

  Another pair of feet approached. Virtue half-expected it to be Chaste, though the feet sounded smaller and lighter. A blond head attached to a short body emerged.

  “El,” Virtue said. The greeting was as warm a greeting as the pre-teen deserved.

  “That’s Prince El to you.”

  That asshole kid. “Sorry, Prince El. Don’t you have a maid to harass or something?”

  “Of course I do,” he said. “Don’t think I don’t notice your bitchy tone, wench.”

  Virtue’s face grew several shades redder. Like always. “You are speaking to the Crown Princess, assface. Behave accordingly, and you won’t wake up one morning with your feet frozen together into a single block of ice.”

  El’s face turned red now. “Only until our dear mother has had enough of you and hands me the throne, as we all know she will,” he said, his expression sure.

  He ran away before Virtue could freeze him solid. One day he’d get what was coming to him.