Maxim winced his forehead when he realized the intensifying cold that they were experiencing now was caused by this man, who walked elegantly down the ice stairs. The king's jaws clenched as he tried to bear the cold.

How many degrees sub-zero was this, he was wondering. Maxim looked up and observed the man who came. He was wearing a thin white top and loose grey pants, with simple leather footwear. He acted like it was summer.

​​

His face was extremely handsome but his expression was aloof. The man was the definition of cold, figuratively.

His black hair grew to his shoulders and made him look gentle. It greatly contradicted his pale skin, which looked as white as Margueritte's. And just like his mother, the man's lips were very red.

If he didn't have a big and tall body like Maxim's, people might confuse him for a woman. His appearance was very interesting. However, what made people were most intrigued was the fact that his eyes were covered by a thin grey scarf.

For a few moments, Emmelyn and Maxim were astounded, Who was this man? Why did he wrap the scarf around his head to cover his eyes? Were they hurt? Was he blind?

Meanwhile, when Emmelyn and Maxim were standing rooted in their place, in awe of the arrival of the man, Kira unconsciously stepped back. Her body started trembling, not because of the cold... but out of fear.

She had seen the man before... and that was exactly before she was turned into ice.

Emmelyn heard her panting breath and quickly turned to her to see what happened to Kira. She touched the woman on the arm and asked her, looking concerned, "Are you okay?"

Kira shook her head. She pointed at the man and said haltingly, "Be careful. He turned me into ice!"

"Oh..!" Emmelyn was surprised to hear Kira's words. She turned to the man who now had come so close to them and stood between Margueritte and her.

What? He was the one who turned Kira into an ice statue?

Emmelyn thought it was Margueritte, but apparently, she was wrong.

She looked at the man worriedly, and she stepped back too. She must not offend this man. If he was capable of turning people into ice, Emmelyn didn't want to be his next victim.

"You need not be afraid of me," the man said gently.

Only now did Emmelyn realize the man didn't open his mouth when he spoke. So... how did he do it?

Emmelyn could hear his voice around her. That's why she looked around and also looked up earlier, trying to find the source of the voice, but couldn't find it.

Now, she heard the same voice, talking to her, but the sound felt like it was from around her, not from the man before her. His red lips also didn't move. However, Emmelyn was sure that he was the one who talked.

What a mysterious character, she thought in amazement. Maxim felt the same. He thought the man who just came was quite strange.

The monarch of Summeria had traveled the world and visited many regions and met many different people, none was as interesting as the man before him. When Maxim heard how Kira was turned into ice by the man, he immediately moved to shield Emmelyn from him.

"Is that true?" Maxim asked the man. "Did you turn Kira into ice?"

"Don't look at his eyes..." Kira said, in a panic. "He covered them now but if he took it off..."

Emmelyn heart palpitated when she heard Kira's words. So, maybe that's why the man covered his eyes. He was not blind nor hurt. His eyes were just too powerful.

The man smiled and waved his hand a little when he noticed Emmelyn's body tremble because of the cold. He said, "I'm sorry for the temperature. I was born this way."

He must be doing something because, slowly, Emmelyn felt the air around her become slightly warmer and her body stopped shaking.

Maxim's coat on her back helped a lot because the cold was too severe earlier. So, Emmelyn was grateful that the strange man seemed to have the ability to control the temperature and did so, to help her.

He seemed like a much kinder person than Margueritte. Somehow, his gentle words made Emmelyn feel at ease. She immediately realized the man didn't plan to hurt them.

First, he criticized Margueritte for toying with Emmelyn's feelings. Second, he also intentionally covered his deadly eyes. If he wanted to turn them into ice, like what he did to Kira, he would have done it so easily, but he didn't.

Emmelyn decided to say thank you and showed the man she appreciated his kind gesture. She said, "I feel better, now. Thank you."

Emmelyn did feel so much better, that she took Maxim's coat off her back and returned it to the man. "Max, thank you for this, but I am okay now."

Maxim furrowed his brows. He was still baffled by what happened. He accepted his coat back from Emmelyn and nodded. "Okay."

Before he could say anything else, he saw the two knights standing near Margueritte suddenly raised their swords and turned their heads toward the entrance.

Maxim turned around and saw Renwyck entered together with Lysander. Renwyck's face looked visibly annoyed.

"Hey.. what took you so long?" Maxim grumbled at his two men. He thought they should have arrived much earlier, but they didn't.

Renwyck bowed down his head slightly and replied apologetically, "I am sorry, Your Majesty... but Margueritte's men attacked me. I had to take care of them first."

Then he turned his attention toward the beautiful witch and sighed. "Margueritte, long time no see. You have changed a lot."

"Renwyck." Margueritted smiled sweetly at him.

When Renwyck's gaze caught sight of the strange man near the white witch, Renwyck let out a surprised gasp. "You are so big now, Raphael."

Maxim pursed his lips. From the way Renwyck talked about Margueritte and now spoke to her in such a casual manner, he had a suspicion that the wizard had an intimate relationship with Margueritte in the past.

So, was the man Renwyck called Raphael his son from the witch? He was wondering.

"Uncle Renwyck," Raphael smiled gently at Raphael. "It's been an awfully long time. I trust that you are well."

Maxim immediately changed his mind. It seemed Renwyck knew Margueritte and Raphael well, but he was not the father. How long had they known each other for? How was their relationship now?

Renwyck said Margueritte men attacked him, but he didn't seem to get angry at the unfriendly welcome.

"I am well," Renwyck replied respectfully. "I saw the world and finally settled down in Summeria. It's a great place."

Maxim was curious to know more about this man called Raphael. However, he held back and let Renwyck take over since he seemed to be well-connected to Margueritte and Raphael.

Maxim decided to interrogate the wizard once they were out of here to find out about the two.

"You look happy," Raphael commented. His lips still didn't move when he spoke, but Renwyck didn't seem the least astonished.

So, it means he was used to this weirdness, Maxim concluded, feeling more curious.

Raphael added, "I am glad you've found peace, Uncle Renwyck."

"Yeah, I am happy too," Renwyck replied. He then turned to Maxim and decided to introduce the people he was with to Raphael. "By the way, this is King Loriel Ashborn. He is the king that I'm serving now, and these are his friends. I hope you didn't find our presence bothersome. We are just passing by."

Raphael shook his head. "It's okay. I don't feel bothered."

He then raised his slender fingers and motioned Emmelyn to come closer. "In fact, today I am willing to grant another wish of yours since I am in a good mood. Would you like to see your mother-in-law be brought to life?"

Emmelyn's heart skipped a beat and she suddenly felt her legs turned weak. This kind offer came out of the blue and she didn't know how to respond.

.

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>>>>>>>

From the author:

This is the third chapter. ^^

THANK YOU FOR THE GIFTS + PLEASE COMMENT AT LEAST ONCE

I know most of the readers of this book are silent readers. We are busy and have no time to comment on the story, or we just don't know what to say. However, I would like to ask you to comment at least once so I can find you.

The thing is, when you vote power stones to this book or sent me gifts, I cannot track you to say thank you. There is no way to do it. But with comments, I can just click in the inbox and reach your comment to find you.

I've been getting a lot of gifts from readers and I am super grateful, but I cannot say thank you and mention the name one by one in the author's notes because it will be too long and could take pages.

Some readers who gifted me and wrote some comments in the chapters are easy to track because I can just go to their comments and find them to say thank you. But I cannot thank a few and left many others who are untrackable.

When I was lucky, I could see your gifts in the comment and I can reply to it to say thank you. However, most of the gifts land in chapters that I was not reading, so I couldn't see them.

So, I stopped saying thank you when I received gifts because it would seem unfair to those who are untrackable because I couldn't thank them the same.

Please know that all your gifts mean so much to me. Whenever I received a gift, I feel so appreciated, loved, and supported.

You don't have to spend more than the coins you use to unlock the chapters, but you did anyway.

SO, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Three days ago, Jasmine Fonseca showered me with three crowns and many other gifts that I became dumbfounded. It was the biggest gift I ever had in my life and I felt like my birthday came early this year (even though I hate getting older)

I just had to say thank you, because someone decided to spend more than 6000 coins on gifting this book in one go. However, I couldn't track her because she never commented. So I decided to comb all the chapters of this book to see on which chapter did the gifts land, so I could thank her.

Unfortunately, I still couldn't find them. Maybe my eyes were tired when checking 400-ish chapters and I still missed it. So, Jasmine, if you see this, please know I'm extremely grateful and shocked. Thank you for liking this book so much to think it deserves that much gift.

Also, to Rose (Hollygolightly) who always sent your gifts for me to my Ko-fi account, I have thanked you personally, but I want to thank you in public too. Thank you so much!

And to Ivy Nguyen, Lovvelay, Krystalcakes, Ogah Marvelous, Thuss, and so many others who kept showering this book with gifts... I cannot name you one by one, I am so touched and grateful. I am sorry I cannot always say it.

So, please, do comment at least once, so I can find you and thank you.

love, Missrealitybites