Morning sunlight poured through the tall palace windows, illuminating a scene of absolute academic torture.
Inside the royal study chamber, Princess Iyo was currently being buried alive. She sat surrounded by towering stacks of leather-bound books—monuments of politics, economics, kingdom law, military history, and diplomatic treaties. It was an entire mountain of paper designed specifically to destroy human happiness.
The elderly royal tutor leaned forward, his voice dripping with dry academic expectation.
"Princess, please explain the relationship between agricultural taxation and trade stability."
Iyo stared blankly at the old man for a three-second count. Then, slowly, she let her face drop straight onto the desk with a heavy thud.
"I suddenly understand why villains invade kingdoms."
The tutor's face paled, his heart nearly giving out on the spot. "YOUR HIGHNESS, PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY—"
Nearby, King Joseph was quietly reviewing royal documents. Hearing his daughter's despair, a low laugh escaped him. Iyo immediately lifted her head and pointed at him dramatically.
"Father is enjoying my suffering."
Joseph offered a calm, infuriatingly serene smile. "A ruler must understand the kingdom beyond the throne, Iyo."
Iyo groaned weakly, her soul leaving her body.
## An Elite Interruption
Then, a familiar, sharp screech echoed from outside the chamber. Iyo froze instantly. The next second, she vanished from her seat, rushing toward the balcony so quickly that she left her startled tutor in the dust.
A royal hawk landed proudly on the stone railing. Tied securely to its leg was a piece of parchment. The moment Iyo recognized the sharp, neat handwriting on the outside, every ounce of her academic exhaustion evaporated.
King Joseph lowered his papers slightly, his eyes narrowing with amusement. "Oh?"
Iyo carefully untied the letter, ignoring the rest of the room as she began to read.
> *"Dear Princess Iyo,*
> *I am very happy to hear that both you and His Majesty are doing well. Mother, Eunha and I are also healthy. We have two new family members: Raijin, a tiger cub Eunha took in, and Mother's friend Miss Bliss, who is currently living with us.*
> *I have fully recovered from my injuries and resumed my training today. Hearing about your first experience in court made me very proud of you. I believe your people will feel safe under someone as kind as you.*
> *I also… miss you.*
> *I hope we can meet again soon someday. Until then, I hope we can continue exchanging letters with one another. I wish you the very best in your studies and growth.*
> *— Yuna."*
>
Silence filled the study chamber. Iyo reread the letter slowly. Then she read it again. The more her eyes traced the words, the more a strange, intense warmth bloomed inside her chest.
Especially over that one specific line. *I also… miss you.*
Iyo gently pressed the parchment against her chest. Her cheeks turned a distinct, betraying shade of pink, and an unconscious smile softened her face.
Joseph quietly observed the entire display. He had never seen his daughter look this alive during a history lesson.
"That letter seems very important," Joseph noted dryly.
Iyo instantly snapped out of her daze, her panic hitting maximum capacity. "I-It's just a normal letter!"
* The tutor blinked.
* The servants blinked.
* Even the royal hawk on the railing looked entirely unconvinced.
Realizing how incredibly guilty she sounded, Iyo scrambled to fix it. "I mean—it *is* important—just not—that *kind* of important—"
King Joseph's smile widened. Oh. Now he completely understood.
Embarrassed to her core, Iyo turned away to hide her face. But as she looked down at the paper one last time, the frantic energy left her. Something deep inside her shifted, turning cold, focused, and determined.
Yuna was out there training. She was growing stronger, fighting her battles, and moving forward. Iyo didn't want to be left behind in the dirt. She didn't want to be just a sheltered Princess anymore; she wanted to be someone worthy of standing proudly beside her.
Carefully, she folded the letter and slipped it safely inside her robe, right against her heart. Then, she walked back to her desk.
The tutor blinked in absolute shock. For the first time since sunrise, Princess Iyo reached out and opened the heavy textbook completely on her own.
"Teacher," Iyo said, her eyes carrying a sharp, genuine resolve. "Let's continue."
The old tutor looked like he was about to weep tears of pure joy. Nearby, Joseph just smiled to himself. Whoever this Yuna was, she was already rewriting the future of the Strauss kingdom from miles away.
## Real Training Begins
Meanwhile, far from the palace, the countryside training grounds had become a graveyard of sound. No wind. No birds. Only a suffocating, heavy tension remained.
Yuna stood firmly in the grass, gripping her wooden practice sword with both hands. Her knuckles were white.
Across from her stood Bliss. Her eyes were closed, her posture completely relaxed, looking for all the world like a woman taking a casual morning stroll rather than someone in a fight. It was a level of casual dominance that irritated Yuna just a little bit.
A cold breeze sliced between them.
Then, Yuna moved.
*THACK!*
She exploded forward with lethal speed, driving the wooden blade directly toward Bliss's shoulder. Bliss didn't even open her eyes. She casually stepped a single inch sideways, and the strike cut through nothing but empty air.
Yuna didn't hesitate. She chained the miss into another attack. Then another. Fast, sharp, continuous strikes raining down like a storm.
But every single blow hit nothing. Bliss avoided them with an infuriating lack of effort—a slight tilt of the head, a minor side-step, a fluid turn. No wasted movement. No panic.
Yuna's frustration mounted with every empty swing. It felt like trying to cut a ghost. She lunged forward once more, driving the blade hard. Bliss tilted her chin slightly, letting the wooden edge pass mere inches from her cheek. Still, she didn't counter.
Yuna finally leaped back, her chest heaving as she breathed harder. "Are you just going to dodge?"
For the first time, Bliss slowly opened her eyes. They were a beautiful, crystalline icy blue—but they were entirely devoid of warmth. Sharp. Cold. Dangerous.
"Okay," Bliss said, a faint, merciless smile playing on her lips. "You asked for it."
The temperature didn't just drop; it plummeted. Yuna's breath hitched.
From fingertips to elbows, Bliss's arms began to transform. Flesh turned into solid, crystalline ice. It wasn't just a layer of frost—her arms *became* the ice itself, a smooth, blue-white glaze bleeding mist into the morning air. This wasn't standard elemental magic. The ice looked alive.
Bliss raised one hand. Frost swirled into her palm, compressing rapidly into a dense, terrifying sphere of solid ice. The sheer pressure radiating from it made the air tremble.
Yuna's survival instincts screamed. This was real danger.
Bliss casually flicked her wrist, launching the sphere.
**BOOOOM!!**
Yuna barely registered the movement. She threw herself sideways, her body hitting the dirt as the ice projectile shot past her face like a kinetic cannon shell. It struck a massive tree directly behind her.
*CRAAACK!!*
The entire trunk froze solid in a fraction of a second, jagged spires of ice violently tearing through the bark. Yuna stared in absolute horror. If that had hit her—
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. Bliss was already there. Too fast.
Yuna whipped her head around, only to find Bliss's ice-covered fist hanging perfectly still, right in front of her face.
"Never lose focus in battle," Bliss whispered.
**BOOOOM!!**
The punch connected. The force drove Yuna's body backward violently, slamming her straight into the frozen trunk of the tree. The impact sent a shockwave through the dirt, exploding snow-like frost into the air.
Silence reclaimed the clearing.
Slowly, Yuna slid down the icy bark, coughing rough air back into her lungs. Every muscle in her body ached with a deep, throbbing pain.
And Bliss? She was still standing there, completely composed, without a single hair out of place. Like she hadn't even tried.
"Again."
## The Speed of Adaptation
The brutal rhythm of impact echoed across the training grounds for hours.
* Wood struck ice.
* Ice shattered earth.
* Frost bled across the grass over and over.
Again. And again. And again.
Yuna's breathing had turned into a ragged wheeze. Her clothes were heavy with sweat, her arms burned like fire, and her legs shook beneath her weight. But every single time she was knocked down, she forced herself back up.
Bliss maintained her perfect composure on the outside, but internally, she was growing more disturbed by the minute.
Yuna was adapting at an absurd, unnatural speed. Every time Bliss launched a specific attack pattern, Yuna memorized it. Every mistake only happened once. It defied logic. At one point, Yuna even began instinctively parrying and ducking before Bliss's strikes had fully committed.
It was pure battle intuition. The terrifying kind that couldn't be taught.
Finally, as the sky bled into an orange evening glow, a calm voice put an end to the madness.
"Okay."
Both of them froze. Da-li walked out onto the grass, calmly holding a tiny Eunha by the hand. For some completely inexplicable reason, Eunha was carrying Raijin upside-down like a sack of groceries. The tiger cub looked entirely resigned to his bizarre fate.
Da-li took one look at Yuna's battered, exhausted state, then turned her sharp gaze to Bliss. "That's enough training for today."
Bliss let out a soft breath, her icy arms melting back into normal skin. Honestly, she wasn't about to argue.
Yuna lowered her wooden sword, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She was running on empty, but the fire in her eyes hadn't dimmed even a fraction. Da-li saw it, and a gentle, private smile touched her lips.
"Come on," Da-li said softly. "It's almost dinner time."
Eunha's eyes turned into dinner plates. "FOOD!"
"Wa!" Raijin cheered from his upside-down perch. The two of them immediately bolted toward the house like a small, chaotic hurricane.
Yuna dragged her feet through the grass, slowly following them with Bliss at her side. Above them, the evening sky was a brilliant, warm tapestry of colors—peaceful, as if the world was trying to apologize for the brutality of the afternoon.
## Whispers in the Water
Later that night, the house finally fell into a quiet rhythm.
Eunha was already fast asleep, curled up comfortably beneath a mountain of heavy blankets. Raijin was curled up right next to her, acting as an oversized, furry, striped pillow.
Yuna sat quietly by the edge of the mattress. With slow, gentle movements, she brushed the hair from Eunha's face and tucked the blanket securely around her shoulders. A soft, rare smile rested on Yuna's face. No matter how agonizing the training got, moments like this cleared the exhaustion right out of her heart.
Elsewhere, thick steam drifted lazily upward under the light of the moon.
Inside the outdoor onsen, Da-li and Bliss sat submerged in the heat, the warm water rippling quietly around them. For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Bliss broke the silence, leaning her head back against the stone edge.
"She's exceptional."
Da-li didn't turn her head, keeping her eyes fixed on the moonlit water.
"Honestly… frighteningly exceptional," Bliss continued, her voice dropping to a serious register. "Her adaptation speed is absurd. I expected talent, Da-li. But this…" Her icy blue eyes narrowed in thought. "This feels closer to instinct."
The Empress remained silent, listening intently. No shock registered on her face—only a deep, heavy understanding.
"It's like her body already understands a battlefield before her mind can even process it," Bliss muttered, staring up at the stars.
Da-li slowly closed her eyes, a faint, graceful smile appearing on her face.
"Thank you, Blizzfall."
Bliss turned her gaze back to her. Da-li's voice carried a rare, genuine warmth that few ever got to hear.
"For your hard work. And for staying by our side."
For a brief moment, the former Draco Captain simply stared at her Empress, the weight of years of loyalty hanging quietly between them. Then, she let out a soft, real smile.
"…Always."