12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLaViGAWie
The frost clung to the windowpanes of the ice palace, sparkling like a thousand broken dreams. Princess Seraphina stood before the throne, her sapphire eyes reflecting both strength and sorrow. She had always been called the Ice Princess not because of her cold heart, but because her tears froze before they could ever fall.
The kingdom of Virilia was on the verge of collapse. Her parents, once beloved monarchs, had been overthrown in a quiet scandal year ago accused of betrayal, of colluding with enemies to save their own skins. The truth, Seraphina had come to learn, was far more complex. They hadn’t betrayed their people they had sacrificed themselves to protect them. But the truth had been buried under layers of lies and fear.
Now, the nobles demanded she marry Prince Kael of Norwin, a political alliance that would restore her power but extinguish the last flame of her heart. Because in a hidden village beyond the frozen fjords, there lived a man named Auren a healer with calloused hands and eyes that made her forget she was born of frost.
She could run. Auren had asked her to. He would build her a life of quiet joy, away from politics and poisoned crowns. She had nearly said yes.
But tonight, she stood in the hall of her ancestors for another reason.
"I will not run," she whispered to her reflection in the ice wall. "Not while their names are still spoken with shame."
In the grand hall, she raised her voice to the gathered court.
"I reject this marriage not because I disrespect the alliance, but because my loyalty lies first with truth. My parents were not traitors. I will remain in this kingdom, not as a pawn but as its rightful queen. I will rebuild the honor they were stripped of."
Whispers rippled through the court like wind through snowdrifts. Some sneered, some wept. But no one interrupted.
She wore her decision like a second skin: fierce, quiet, and unshakable. Her love for Auren would remain, buried like a secret ember in her chest. But some things like justice were colder and more eternal than passion.
And as she turned, her first decree echoing through the chamber, a single tear slid down her cheek and crystallized.
The Ice Queen had chosen her throne, not for power12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb44q1g4zeU
But for legacy.
