Winter's First Chill

In Northern Gastonia, the Queen of Gastonia Marilynn Bettor is seated in her bedroom with a cute little girl in her hands. Patting the baby's head affectionately.

"My precious little girl, your future will be way brighter than mine. I'll make you stronger than I could ever be, so no one will ever try hurt you. Ever", the beautiful Queen said before placing the baby in her cradle.

"Mama", the cute little girl called out her first words. Marilynn smiled at the little girl and plants a gentle kiss on her forehead. The kiss mark glows a little before diffusing into the baby's skin.

A few hours later,

A maid barges into the King's throne room were he and his advisor were having an important conversation.

"Y... your Majesty. Please pardon me for interupting but the issue is very serious", the maid said immediately she stood before the King.

"You may speak", the King Cedrick Bettor said in an authoritative tone and the maid began to speak.

"M... my King, t... the Queen was found d.. dead in her chambers this morning", the maid managed to convey before bursting into tears as she ran out of the room leaving a shocked King and shaken advisor.

"Sir Lingus was I dreaming just now? The King asked involuntarily. He then stands up and dashed towards the Queen's chambers.

"Your Highness, wait!", his advisor yelled all to no avail. The King was running towards the Queen's chambers but when he reached the entrance, the Queen's dead body was already lain at the doorstep.

"Marilynn, why? Why?!", the King yelled in anguish as he slumped over the dead body. Then suddenly, little cries of a baby were heard from the Queen's chambers.

The King then stood up and slowly made his way to the source of the crying. On getting to the Queen's room, the King meets his daughter for the first time. A small smile creeps on his face as he carries the little baby girl in the cradle.

"So you were the one who stood by Marilynn side when she took her final breath", the King said as he wiped the tears at the rim of his eyes.

"Gee hee hee hee", the little princess smiled at her father and then pinched his nose.

"My Cecilia, my daughter", the King said and got a huge smile from his daughter, Cecilia Bettor.

 Seventeen years later,

A beautiful young lady is practising fencing with an Imperial Knights in the Knight's Training Ground. The young lady with bright blue eyes and long golden red hair was none other than the Princess of the now Gastonian Empire, Princess Cecilia Bettor.

The young Princess had a special gift, and it was that she had complete control over her and other people's minds but there is a downside, whenever she took control of people's minds, the person either dies or is murdered mysteriously so she never used it on people.

The Princess moved her sword gracefully at the attacker. After sometime, the knight was thrown off balance and the Princess took the opportunity to cease his sword.

"Impressive Your Highness, you've gotten better than me. Go on like this, and you'll surpass the Emperor", the young knight named Sir Baston Tristan said as he bowed to the Princess.

"You flatter too much, Sir Tristan. I'll be leaving now", the Princess said meekly as she placed her sword back in its stealth and then bowed to the knight.

On her way to her chambers, the Princess heard someone call out her name. When she turned around, she saw a young boy almost the same age as her running towards her.

"Come on Gustavo, I'm too tired to play today", the Princess said in a degrading manner as Gustavo, the Prince of the Magentan Duchy.

"Are you a Princess or a soldier, why do you walk so fast. You really need to learn to behave more womanly", the young Prince said trying to catch his breath.

"I'll take that as a complement,as it clearly means I'm stronger than you", Cecilia said proudly and then increased the pace of her steps, so much so that the young Prince had to jog to keep up.

"After getting exhausted the young Prince finally gave up chasing the Princess.

"I promise you Cecil, I will surpass you. No matter what it takes", the Prince said in a sinister tone before turning around and walking away.

Two days later;

The Princess is seated by her window, recollecting all the events that happened before her mother's death. At the end, she came up with the conclusion that she must have been the cause of her mother's death.

"Mama, I'm sorry. I miss you so much, I'm sorry", Cecilia said closing her eyes as uncontrollable sobs ran down her face. Then suddenly, she felt a cold sensation on the tip of her nose and opened her eyes to see a snow flake on her nose.

She looked up and smiled at the beautiful scenery. "How could I forget, it's early winter. My birthday is in the days time!", Cecilia said admiring the snow flakes falling from the sky.

And then there was a knock on the door, she went to open the door and saw the Emperor's messenger.

"Your Highness, the Emperor has called for your audience", the messenger said handing her a scroll from the main castle.

She smiled at the middle aged man and then replied. "Tell father I'm on my way", she said and then the man bowed to her before exiting the Empress's palace.

"Papa want to see me. I'm sure he remembered my birthday, he can't forget. Simply impossible", she said to the maid who was dressing her hair.

"You're right about that your Highness. His Majesty can't forget about your birthday so easily", the young maid, Poppy Saida said as she placed light jewelry on the Princess's neck.

"Hahn, you are right. Thank you Poppy ", she said before walking out of the room leaving Poppy alone.

"I'm sorry my Princess, please forgive me for this", Poppy said as tears stream down her cheeks.

"It's not too late, I can still stop her. She's too nice to suffer such a fate", Poppy said and was about to go stop her when someone covers her mouth and drags her away before she could reach the Princess.

--To be continued...