“It feels good to be home,” said King Bulat.
“Indeed, Your Majesty. I’m sure Elizabeth took care of government matters in our absence, but that doesn’t change how you’re needed here,” responded Sieg.
Bulat laughed, saying, “My officials always tell me she does a better job than I do, don’t they?” The king was a warrior at heart and aware he wasn’t the best politician.
“So, how is Friede?” asked the king to one of the officials tasked with supervising Elizabeth and Friede in his absence. “I bet he’s somewhere sulking because Elizabeth gave him another earful.”
“W-Well... The thing is...” said the official, hesitating. “The prince left to, erm...inspect a territory...with Lady Lockit.”
The official had made up that excuse on the spot. The truth was that the prince actually took a little trip with his lover.
“What?! How dare he when he knew we’d come back today? What is Elizabeth doing?! Managing Friede’s schedule is her job!” the king roared.
“L-Lady Elizabeth is in the dungeon...under the prince’s order...”
Duke Sieg yelled in astonishment, “Are you saying that Elizabeth is still in jail?!”
No hint of anger or worry lay in his voice. He wasn’t mad that his daughter stayed in the dungeon for over a month; it surprised him to hear she had yet to get out.
“Take us to Elizabeth!” exclaimed Bulat.
He and Sieg followed the civil official to the dungeon in a hurry, where they found an utterly confused guard. The guard snapped out of his daze, then greeted the king and prime minister to the best of his ability.
Although Bulat was in a sour mood, he knew the guard wasn’t to blame for Elizabeth’s imprisonment and refrained from doing so.
“Where is Elizabeth?” asked Bulat instead.
“Sh-She’s in th-this cell,” he said, pointing at it. “B-But...”
“What is it?” Sieg pressed the slurring guard.
Due to Sieg’s position as the prime minister and Elizabeth’s father, the guard couldn’t easily explain the situation.
“W-Well,” he said with an apologetic look. “Lady Elizabeth hasn’t moved from that chair in two days... She hasn’t examined the documents we brought her, and she won’t eat anything!”
“What?!”
Bulat and Sieg rushed to Elizabeth’s cell, only to find the young woman sitting quietly with her back facing them. They called out to her, but she didn’t respond.
Despite the guard’s comments about Elizabeth not eating, her complexion looked healthy enough from what they could see.
“Elizabeth! Why aren’t you answering?! Guard, open the door,” ordered Bulat.
“I-I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty, b-but Prince Friede took the key to Lady Elizabeth’s cell with him...”
Bulat clicked his tongue in anger, then lifted his right hand to make a whirlpool of mana, dense enough to make the air shake, appear. The king condensed it into his palm to turn it into a lightning blade.
“Divine Artifact,” chanted Bulat. “Glazermierch!”
The God of Thunder swung his large blade, making a flash of lightning illuminate the room as a blaring roar echoed. He’d cut right through the cell’s steel bars, which were as thick as a woman’s arm.
Bulat dispersed his Divine Artifact and walked with Sieg to see Elizabeth. Even with the uproar, she hadn’t moved a finger.
“Elizabeth,” called out Sieg, extending his hand to touch his daughter’s shoulder. “She’s...cold?”
Cracks started spreading through her body until Elizabeth’s figure shattered within seconds, and pieces fell to the ground.
“Wh-What in the world is going on?!” shouted Bulat.
“Is that...an Ice Doll?!” exclaimed Sieg, picking up a shard of ice. “I can still feel her mana. She must have placed this doll in her stead two days ago, when the guard said she stopped eating.”
“Where’s the real Elizabeth, then?!”
Neither Sieg nor the guard had an answer to offer their king.
Bulat’s face went pale. His reaction was justified, as Elizabeth was deeply involved in his kingdom’s government. She partook in everything, from administration to military affairs. Her disappearance could have terrible consequences.
Moreover, her Divine Artifact, the Grimoire of Wisdom, had recorded countless state secrets throughout the years. That knowledge included top secret military information such as maps and population details, secret techniques from the castle’s forbidden collection, and ancient texts that dated to the Old Kingdom.
“Find her! Find Elizabeth at once!”
✦ ✦ ✦
On the day of my escape, I busied myself with the final preparations in my quite familiar cell. I had already used Hypnosis on the guard and was ready to proceed with the plan.
“Ice Doll,” I chanted, creating an icy copy of myself.
While I’d used plenty of mana, I was confident the doll would hold for around ten days if no one touched it. Two days remained until the king and the duke returned, and I doubted anyone else would dare touch “me.” No one would figure out I was missing until then.
“Oh my, I almost forgot,” I said, looking at the Ice Doll.
I gathered some more mana and added an antimagic collar around the doll’s neck. Friede had ordered the guards to put one on me to seal my magic, yet those things were not useful on me. I had made them, after all.
Since I’d rediscovered and analyzed forgotten records from the castle’s forbidden book collection, I anticipated someone might one day use these artifacts against me. I’d modified their structure a little so that they’d immediately stop working when they came in contact with my mana.
“Shall we go, Mireille?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Once I stepped out of my cell, I asked the guard a few questions and learned Friede had the key to my cell. That wasn’t an issue, though. A touch of ice magic was all I needed to create a duplicate.
I closed the cell behind me and left the dungeon with Mireille. The guard would snap out of my Hypnosis in a short while.
Mireille and I climbed the stairs and arrived at a door leading us to the corridor. I hadn’t been up here in a month.
I could feel my anger churning inside. Ever since Mireille had helped me come to terms with my feelings, I was much more self-aware. According to her, I was learning how to express myself.
“Mireille.”
“Yes, my lady,” she said, then prepared a spell. “Illusion.”
Mireille had an affinity for light attribute spells. The one she had cast, Illusion, allowed you to manipulate the light to trick others. You could use it to conceal yourself or assume the appearance of someone else.
“Let’s go.”
Now that we were invisible to others, we sneakily walked through the corridors and exited the castle.