215 – 62-2. Can a frozen heart melt?
***
There are many rules in chess.
A stale mate like now. Castling, where the King and Rook are swapped.
Unlike other board games, there were many unique things. One of them.
“This time in reverse, I will summon my friend as a hero.”
Promotion.
Promotion.
A rule that allows pieces to be swapped when a pawn moves to the last digit on the chess board.
I put my hand on the game board where Ki-seok and I were playing chess a while ago.
“Now my friend is possessed by a vampire.”
I moved the pawn that forms a stalemate a few more spaces to come to the end of the space.
This must have been the reason why I left clues in chess from the beginning.
To avoid the power of lies, something like an anagram or a puzzle would have been enough.
‘You always have a knack for surprising people.’
It was a blurry look, like a person whose soul had escaped. After all, the position of the deputy guild leader of our guild seems to be going nowhere.
“It may have evaded the power because the body and soul are different.”
Originally, the powers of demon lords are not released unless the caster dies.
It was Dennis who couldn’t remember White Magnolia, and Empress Belin, whose soul was now tied to a card.
The power to cover the world with ‘concepts’.
But as if nothing is perfect, Ki-seok’s condition was heterogeneous.
I wasn’t forgotten by people like anyone else, and my name didn’t disappear like anyone else.
Her situation is different with Fine, the nameless saintess.
“Should I say fortunate out of unhappiness?”
Now, Ki-seok is a possessed chair.
Originally, the body and soul are made separately.
Then, what would happen if the body of the real world was called to this place?
“If you call the body that was in the original world, you might be able to come back to life.”
A dull, ringing sound.
As the pawn changed to a bishop, the stalemate turned into a checkmate.
Like a promotion in chess.
Here is the original story of summoning Ki Seok’s body as a hero.
“Impossible. A hero summons a hero.”
Hearing what I said, the Grand Duchess of the North paused.
Sophitia looked at Plinz and me alternately, looking worried.
I’m not sure how open the relationship between the Grand Duchess and her pillar, the western guy, is.
The number on the status window doesn’t tell everything.
“This is what the Demon Lords of the Cult of the Braves did too. Theoretically, it’s not impossible for us either. “
I looked down at the chess board.
Thinking of loopholes from the other side’s point of view is one of the basics of strategy.
It was a method that Ki-seok often used during guild battles.
I was on the side of being in the position of the other guild and correcting our guild’s weaknesses and strategies.
“Like during the Demon War?”
Damn the demon lords during the demon war.
The battle continued while summoning demon lords from another world.
“So.. Is it that the face can change?”
“Yes, that’s right. Maybe the whole body changes.”
It is also the reason why the war did not end easily even with the appearance of the Ten Girls, and also the reason behind Sophitia’s loss of her father.
“How are you going to try it? Are you going to pray at the temple?”
“Simple.”
The body of the Grand Duchess was trembling slightly, probably because she remembered something from her past.
I also heard about it from Ki-seok. Was the wound still not healed?
“..Because we have the hero of the prophecy.”
I continued talking while looking at Fine next to me.
Pure white hair that falls to the waist. A glass knight with impressive pricked wolf ears.
“What? What the hell is that….”
“Probably right. If I hadn’t been a hero, none of this would have happened.”
She looks at Plinz with her sad eyes.
Since my confession at the temple, Fine has been dripping with her emotions.
If only she hadn’t been the hero of the prophecy.
Are you struggling with the people around you getting caught up in it?
“Pine. Are you…?”
The fact that the princess of the Grancia Empire was a hero chosen by the gods.
Sophitia couldn’t keep her mouth shut and looked at her Fine.
“I thought today. She said that the demon king saw me and said that she was the hero of the prophecy and should be dealt with.”
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“……”
Fine spoke her words calmly despite her friend’s concerned eyes.
I studied her expression as I lowered the corners of my mouth.
Guilt.
Maybe he thinks it’s his fault that Magic Hat came to the north in an air raid.
I couldn’t easily offer comforting words.
“Pine.. Are you okay?”
“Thanks to that, I was able to meet Suhyeon.”
She steadfastly puts her hand on her chest and feels her own heartbeat.
Now, the heartbeat has become extremely precious to Fine.
“…That’s okay.”
A straighter figure than anyone else.
The moment I met Fine’s eyes, I saw eyes filled with determination.
“Fine’s ability is affection. As much as she loves each other intimately, as her name suggests, she will be able to use her abilities.”
She parted her rhymes with a nod of her head as if in reciprocation.
I, who drank her elixir of oblivion, was also Phine who brought it back.
Perhaps it is because of her that I am not affected by the powers of the demon lords.
“It will surely be possible to summon a hero.”
The love level in the status window is negative.
Is it okay to express love with numbers like this? Probably not.
“Grand Duchess Sophitia.”
After all the explanations, I asked Sophitia Coldheart a question.
No matter how much one can overcome the power of the demon king, the most important thing is the heart of the person concerned.
“What kind of person was my friend to you?”
Because what can melt a frozen heart is a warm heart more than anyone else.
***
Pale face and white hair.
Looking at the red eyes that were the color of blood, Sophitia was lost in thought.
‘Flinz.’
It wasn’t long before I got to know this man who was a vampire.
The reason why he couldn’t answer right away when he asked if he could like Lee Soo-hyun even if his face or body suddenly changed.
Originally, vampires were a discriminated race.
After betraying the first saintess during the Demon War, people looked at them with a bad eye.
‘..If you think about it, it was strange from the first time we met.’
A man’s face as if his soul had escaped.
Sophitia tried to defend herself and held her injured hand.
A human hand is such a warm thing.
Why did I take it badly when I first met him just because he was a vampire?
“Is appearance important? Flints?”
At her first meal with him, she recalled an incident in which an attempt to poison her ended in her attempt.
How she eats all the food she knows is poisonous.
The words ‘I will eat the food you give me, even if it is poisonous.’ Even thinking about it now makes me feel cold.
Fortunately, the poison was just laxative, but it must have been so bitter that your tongue tingled.
That was also Kwon Ki-seok, who tried to laugh and pretend to be delicious.
‘I thought that everyone who wasn’t an ally was an enemy.’
In a way, an extreme accident.
Much of her idea was inherited from her father.
Ragna Cold Heart.
A ten-year-old with the alias of the Iron Blooded Northern Grand Duke.
A person who died fighting alone against the demon lords summoned during the Demon War.
He was a hero who gave his life to protect the people of the north and the other ten.
‘…I knew it wasn’t the case when I met this person.’
The seat of ruler of the north became vacant, and Sophitia, who was left alone, had no choice but to assume the seat of Grand Duke.
The Land of Iron Blood. Grand Duchess of Frostia.
The throne that everyone looks up to is actually more lonely than anyone else.
Except for Fine, who is in a similar situation, there is no one she can openly talk to.
She swung her spear so hard that her hands were swollen and calluses were lodged in her palms.
Also, while purging the aristocrats who were trying to shake the North by taking advantage of the weakening power.
‘What if I had met earlier.’
Ever since I was young, I have tried to become a strong monarch.
To protect the country. Because that was her way of keeping the last memories she had with her father.
The little girl felt her world cold, with a frozen heart.
Then one day.
A stranger appeared on a boat outside.
White hair and red eyes.
The man who introduced himself as Plinz was unusual.
‘This is how spearmanship is written. You put your own weight on it, and you do the workshop together.’
‘This is how I do it.’
He was Flints who knew more about northern spearmanship than himself.
Even though he looks slim, he looks like a born magician, probably because he’s had a body that has been working out.
‘You don’t have to cover your hands. It’s like a decoration, so it’s cool.’
A man who looked at Sophitia’s rough palms and said they were cool.
After her poisoning incident, Sophitia, whose vigilance was released, began to share her personal stories with him often.
‘I am surprised. I didn’t know there was someone who played chess similarly to me.’
‘Me too. Flints.’
‘As expected, bears are smarter than wolves.’
Playing chess together, and Plinz helping with paperwork.
The two, who had many similarities, built a bond like pieces of a puzzle.
“You asked me what kind of person Flints was. Licht.”
For some reason, he first found the noble who wanted to assassinate Sophitia.
He also became my only companion in the lonely north.
Like a boyfriend from the future, he was a man who understood the food and hobbies she liked.
He thought no one would understand.
He supported and encouraged Sophitia, who was trying to protect the north while wielding a spear alone.
“I was the best friend….”
Even if Sophitia tries to put her words first,
Every time I fail because of the sound of ‘The princess I used to know isn’t like this…’.
Except for the occasional incomprehensible noise, the vacancy without him felt so great.
“No, maybe it was a closer relationship than that.”
A campfire that warmly melted my frozen heart.
The moment they noticed that warmth, the two of them had already become inseparable.
But, is it true that if there is a meeting, there is also a parting?
The happy times I spent with Plinz passed by in the blink of an eye.
‘Plinz. Can’t you go It would be lonely without you….’
‘hahahaha, but I can’t see the Princess collapse.’
A heart disease passed down in the Coldheart family.
It disappeared along with the words that it might collapse someday if it is not healed with an elixir.
‘Don’t do that, just a little more….’
In front of the dock where the ship was leaving, she acted childishly unbecoming of a grand princess.
Because the ringing in my aching heart is painful.
‘I’ll be back. Sophie.’
Around the time when the infinitely cold heart felt harsh again.
Flintz hugged her in Sophitia, promising to see her again someday.
Waiting for the man who left was dreary.
At first, I had a vague imagination that it would come after a day or two.
After a month, the man didn’t come back.
She stayed up all night waiting for her friend to return.
After waiting for days and days like that, we finally met.
“More than this kind of elixir…. The important thing would have been you.”
The day after returning to the north.
Magic Hat has invaded the North, and she has become disfigured while trying to save herself at the risk of her life.
A haggard face. Eyes that seemed to be empty.
She was struck by the demon lord’s power and couldn’t speak properly.
Is appearance really important in love?
Even if she turns out to be the person she knew, will she be able to fall in love again?
“……”
It doesn’t matter.
Because I didn’t fall in love with her looks anyway.
What melted Sophitia’s frozen heart was the heart of a man who was warmer than anyone else.
“…… Because looks don’t matter in love.”
As she gently brushed Kwon Ki-seok’s bangs, the Grand Duchess continued.
The truth she came to realize while working with him.
“Because I will like you no matter what you look like. Summon me.”
Sophitia spoke to Fine and Lee Soo-hyun with teary eyes.