After a long period of time passed, the child that was sleeping soundlessly, had woken up from her nap.
As her eyes were opening slowly, she had laid her glance on a figure who suddenly popped up in front of her.
Hard to tell who it was as it was too blurry to see at a glance, she assumed it was one of her parents.
"Daddy?" The child spoke in an exhausted and rusty tone.
Despite desperately thinking it was her father, the child's eyes finally caught up with the resolution and noticed that it wasn't her father nor her mother that were with her.
"Who..?"
"Don't move. You're already injured quite a lot." The man spoke with worries.
Not once caring about herself and the condition of her body, she immediately asked the man.
"...what about my parents..?"
Silence fell upon the atmosphere as the man found it difficult to utter this saddening news to her.
But eventually, this man must inform this poor child of her long gone family. Slowly but surely, he mumbled to her.
"...Dead. They are all dead."
Shocked to the point of jolting up, the child gasped with wide and quivering eyes.
"...! No! They can't be—ack!"
Because the child jumped up when she heard her parents were no longer alive, she harmed herself even more, furthering her injuries.
"Ouch..!" She grunted.
Disheartened to such a child this way, the man sighed. "I told you not to move, but you didn't listen."
"W-What about that player..?"
"He's alive somehow."
"..Thank god.." Infuriated yet relieved as well, the child grunted with an wrathful smile vengefully.
"...?"
Dumbfounded quite a bit, the man was stunned by the first thought that came to her mind and how much this child wanted to get revenge by killing that player herself.
Speechless as to say anything to her resentful smile, the man kept silent and minded his own business.
"..."
But in spite of her vengeance, she was still a child.
In no time, she began to shred her tears in silence as she had no words to describe her sorrow of losing both of her loving parents.
"..eek.. Mom.. dad.."
Crackling…
..By then, time went on as it had turned significantly quiet.
No noises were made other than the sound of a fire flaring on the firewoods, prompting the atmosphere to be a little bit awkward for the both of them.
Crackling…
It seemed the child had stopped crying her heart, so it became too awkward with how soundless this ambience was.
Crackling…
In due course, the man coughed as he shifted his glance toward the campfire, putting more wood to keep the fire burning longer.
"Ahem.. So, what's your name?"
At that moment, while she unknowingly ignored the man's question, the child realized the big fur coat that was acting as a blanket, was wrapped on her body.
Not only that, after becoming aware that the place they were in was completely different from they were originally at, the child felt a bit frightened and bewildered by the blood that was dyed on every corner of this place.
Scared, the child asked as she got close to the man which led to her feeling the warmth of the campfire.
"Sir.. where are we..?"
"Hm. We're in the upper level of the temple."
"But why are we.. here?"
"Since this was where I was told to go."
A bit confused, the child asked him while she put on the fur coat that didn't fit her small body. "..Who told you to be here?"
"Some bastards did."
"..? Huhh?"
"Here, you should eat these berries to get better."
Without a delay, the man handed over to the child his 10 berries of strange colors, causing her to make a puzzled expression as if she assumed these were poisonous from its odd colors.
"These are special berries, taste it." The man said.
While suspicious of this fruit, the child felt no need to be doubtful of this man since he seemed nice.
Plus, even if he was a bad person, he wouldn't have bothered to save her nor taken care of her at this point.
'I must eat to survive and avenge my parents..!' The child thought before she took a berry and ate it without hesitation.
"Hm..!"
..After some time, she felt something odd.
"Huh? I feel somewhat stronger..?"
A weird sensation welled up from inside her, making her feel as though her body was actually growing stronger and better from a small berry.
"What are these..? They taste so good."
Munching them all in one go, the child looked like she enjoyed it a lot to the point of getting her lips dirty.
By then, the man moved his hand toward the child before wiping her lips with his sleeve. "Try to eat cleanly next time."
"..Yes.. May I know your name, sir?" The child looked straight at the man.
"I'm Eric Stephen. You can call me Eric if you want."
"What a cool name..!"
"What's yours?"
"Oh well, my name is Frostina Iclyn."
"Frostina.. Such an icy name for you." The man chuckled.
The child, not liking how Eric laughed, she smacked his arm as hard as she could to stop him from chuckling.
During this time, these two were starting to create a bond between one another, talking about what was on each other's mind to fill in the silence.
{ "If only this didn't end.." Frostina thought as she stared at these two with an unhappy look and in silence. }
———
Time passed like water droplets falling off the rain clouds, and the relationship between Eric and the child began to blossom into an unbreakable one.
To the point of trusting each other, Eric and the child had bonded quite a lot during their times together, enough to talk about each other's lives while also going through stages.
From time to time, Eric liked to call the child his liege since she was the daughter with a royal bloodline. It only started as a joke to tease her, but instead, that backfired badly.
"My liege!"
"Oh my liege!"
Because every now and then, the child would always call him her liege. It was fun for the child, so Eric let it slide since this child had been through traumatic situations.
Even as there were rarely arguments between them, they ended up making up very quickly.
One day, there was one time where the child didn't accept the 'Numbers' Eric gave, but he respected the child's choice and allowed her to keep it for herself.
Appearing as though he expected the child to use the 'Numbers' in the near future…
In actuality, that future was today where the child and Eric had entered a boss room.
It wasn't fine and dandy though, because there were quite a couple of players standing around in this boss room.
Chattering…
..There was even one player that the child at first glance could recognize immediately.
The one who ruined everything, was standing beside a throne with a snicker on his face.
"My liege.. Look! He's trying to take the crown!"
The child uttered to Eric as she pointed her finger at the throne where there was an ice crown on it, including her parent's murder.
"I wonder what this dragon is like. This is my first time, so I don't know what to expect."
Eric muttering to himself, ignored the child in the process.
"There is some time left before the stage begins, but still, being prepared is better. I'm not even sure how to defeat it since this is my 50 life."
"My liege? Are you listening to me?" The child asked.
"Ah, right. What were you saying?" Said, Eric.
"There! That crown. That murder is trying to take it! Hold on... that crown looks familiar.."
"Are you talking about the crown of your father who was a fallen king?"
"Don't say that about my dad."
"Sorry, my bad."
"The crown.. It is definitely the one my dad spoke of.. If it is.."
"Then that crown is important to you because it's the only thing you have left to think of your parents.."
{ Frostina, feeling her guilt rising up, cried out. "No.. Don't.. Not this.." }
At that moment, Eric spotted the child's sad expression while she was looking at the crown. Thus, Eric felt keen on getting the crown for her since it was worth it for his friend.
Eventually, Eric assured the child. "Alright, I'll get it for you. But get far from here. I don't want you to get hurt by the players and the dragon."
"I know, you already warned me a lot of time."
"Hide behind the gate to this room if you must. Even if I'm sure that dragon doesn't hurt NPCs, it's only a guess though."
"Yes, my liege. I understand. But please be careful there, okay?"
"Right, I will."
After that, the child ran toward the gate to hide herself from the boss, putting her glance on Eric who was sprinting toward the throne.
While she watched Eric picking up the crown from her parent's murder, she noticed something strange happening around the crown.
"What are those ice-like particles?" The child uttered as she narrowed her eyes.
"...?"
Not only that, when Eric was seeming like he was shoving the crown into the air, it was supposed to be him putting the crown in his inventory.
The child knew this because Eric taught and told her that, but when she looked at it closely, the crown didn't disappear as per Eric's words.
At that moment when she was being confused why the crown didn't vanish into Eric's inventory, she suddenly noticed.
"Behind you, my liege!!!!" The child greatly exclaimed with all her might to catch Eric's attention.
{ Meanwhile, Frostina had a hardened expression as she wasn't ready to watch this past of her over and over, thus she began to remain quiet as she bottled up her emotions inside to prevent herself from shredding tears again..
'So it's begun.. All because of my fault.' }
In a flash, the child suddenly witnessed Eric getting pushed off the throne by her parent's murder before getting gang up by all of the other players there.
It was almost as if these people were allies with that murder…
"What are they doing? Wait, stop..!" The child exclaimed as she gasped with wide eyes.
From what she witnessed with her own eyes, was a group of people beating Eric up just because he was only trying to take the crown for her.
Even as Eric tried to fight back, the child's worries grew much further for him as it appeared he couldn't combat against this many players.
"Ah..! That's unfair..!"
Wanting to come and help Eric, the child was ready to run toward him, however, she was then stopped by Eric's glance in an attempt to prevent her from coming inside.
{ 'Even as he's suffering, he still thinks of me first..' Frostina smiled bitterly while clenching her fists with her pitiful glance on her past self. }
The child, shocked by him, cried out loudly to him. "Why? ..Just forget about the crown! I don't need it anymore!"
At that point, there was nothing she could do to help Eric since he had already warned her not to come in. Much worse, when she thought about it, what could she even do to help Eric in that situation?
It would only make it worse for Eric to worry about her instead…
"These players…!! How could they do something so cruel!?!" The child bellowed.
"Just why do these people exist..?!"
"Huh..?! What are they doing now?! Wait! Stop!!! Not the crown!!!"
Upon watching this sight, the child quickly spotted that murder stealing the crown away from Eric who despite hanging onto the crown for the child's sake, was getting pummelled by them.
..Of course, Eric was extremely incensed.
Slam!
Without expecting it, as Eric jumped in to grab the crown back, he was smashed by a hammer from behind him, forcing unendurable pain to arise from his back.
When the child watched how Eric just flopped down to the ground, she became a lot more concerned and tempted to run toward his side.
{ 'I was too powerless.. No nothing to do, except being a helpless girl..'
With clenched teeth, Frostina trembled slightly to show how much she was being tormented by her own past. }
All of the sudden during that moment, the child saw her parent's murder getting up close to Eric, pulling his hair like how he grabbed her hair.
In an instance, the child roared like a wild tiger. "How dare you do that to my liege!!!!!"
As her ear-splitting voice was being echoed inside the boss room, the murder swiftly heard her voice and turned to look, smirking when he recognized her.
..It was enough to creep the child out when she saw that disgusting sneer coming from that murder.
{ 'Ugly hooligan!!' Frostina growled with her rage. }
And not only that, he even attempted to hit Eric with the crown before slamming it on his head as if the crown didn't matter at all.
"Don't smack my liege with the crown, you stupid fool!!!"
Not listening to her bawl, her parent's murder kept on smashing Eric with the crown, and as soon as that guy slammed it right on Eric's head..
FLARE!!!
In a blink of an eye, light at the highest brightness whooshing in to fill out the room was too painful for a child's eyes to look at.
"..!!!!! Urk!! My eyes!! W-What's happening?!" She groaned after covering her eyes.
SLAM!
{ Nothing to say as if she was preparing herself for the worst, Frostina bit her lips not to the point of bleeding. }
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the gate to the boss room was closing at a rapid pace..
"No! No!! Wait!!"
The child bewildered by the gate closing unknowingly, banged on it a lot as if to beg for it to open once more.
In fact, she had started to have a bad feeling about that burst of light a moment ago, and because she saw the source of that flash blazing from the crown…
"Please be okay, my liege!"
{ '...My liege… Even as I wish this wasn't true, this foolish wish of mine will never come true..'
At this moment, Frostina with her lips bit, she held of her chest tight where her heart was painfully undergoing a horrible time.. }