《The Retribution of the Ice Cold Maiden》01 - What are you doing?
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"What are you doing...?"
A Voice suddenly reverbed inside the head of the 16-year-old Selena Booker.
She hasn't heard this voice ever since she was two. The Voice was inside her head ever since she was born. She couldn't understand what the voice was saying at first as she was just a child and the voice was speaking in a weird and fast way, so when she told her father that there was a voice inside her head in hopes that maybe he will tell what the voice is saying, he immediately asked the Church's Bishop to look into it. He proclaimed that the voice she was hearing was due to the failed Fire Rune structure on her body, which went haywire when she was a baby and it almost took her life. Nobody knows why the rune failed to attach itself to her. The Bishop speculated that she was simply one of the unlucky ones to not be compatible at all to magic. The remnants of the rune can be visible on her body whenever she tried to trigger magic. But the voice seems to be the Devil, whispering to her through the failed Rune, or at least, that was what Bishop Brian speculated. So he sealed the voice away by giving her something. He also instructed that no matter what the voice says in the future, to not respond to it or bad things might happen to her.
But today, after all these years, she heard this voice again, at a time when she stood on the roof of the Pavilion of the Royal Palace in the dark night, with the intention of jumping off from it. She was wearing a baby blue Ballgown and her black hair was flowing in the wind as a single teardrop came out from her icy blue eyes onto her glass-like fair cheek.
"What are you doing...?"
The Voice spoke again, in a much more clearer voice. It sounded like a man in his thirties... but was somehow still immature in nature.
But she was too heartbroken to care. She kept looking below... weighing her options. Even though she was born an aristocrat, her life was full of hardships and pain. First, she was declared incompatible with magic. Then, her birth mother died due to sickness before she turned one. Her Father remarried almost immediately, using the reason that the child should not grow without a mother. Her Step-Mother, at first, used to be kind to her, but when she gave birth to her own son a year later, they become distant. Later, she even started giving priority to her son over her about everything. She also became distant with her Father slowly as he became busier with his work and they only saw each other during dinners. He seems to have given up on her.
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But the straw that broke the camel's back was her engagement. She was engaged to Marquis Johnson's Son, Grant, who is two years older than her. Today, at the eighteenth birthday party for the third prince, Grant invited her in a room of the pavilion to break off their engagement. He blatantly proclaimed that he did not want to marry her. He also had brought another lady over, who was Baron Turner's daughter, Patricia. He claimed that he and Patricia were in love for a long time and she should leave them alone. This blow to her heart was twofold, as the love of her life abandoned her and the one who he abandoned her for, was Selena's best friend.
Patricia, Grant and Selena were childhood friends and since Patricia was just a Baron's daughter, the parents of Grant and Selena decided to marry them. The Pain, Humiliation and sadness overwhelmed her and before she knew it, she found herself on top of the Pavilion ready to jump.
'Isn't this fine...?' she thought. 'I am nothing more than an extra in this play. No one will miss me when I am gone. I would also be at peace.'
While she was thinking this, the glass bangle on her right hand kept glowing ominously with an intense red color.
'This... is... fine...' the thought crossed her mind as she slowly started to lean forward. The thought also seems to increase the red light of the bangle.
"What... are you... doing?"
Suddenly, the voice spoke again. This time, it was so clear to her that it seemed that there was a person talking near her ears.
This agitated the already depressed Selena.
"WHO CARES WHAT AM I DOING?! GET LOST...!!!" she screamed. All her agony and pain seemed to power those words as she finally responded to the voice inside her head.
"..."
"..."
"Is it the dress?"
"What!?" Selena questioned confusingly. What is this guy saying? Is he telling me that I am jumping to my death, because of a Dress?
"Girl, you don't like the dress, just change it. Don't be so melodramatic." The voice was full of contempt, as if Selena was the one who was bothering him.
"You...!!" Selena's mind went blank for a second. 'What an asshole...!! I am here trying to kill myself and this guy is making fun of me. Is the voice really of the Devil?' Selena started having those thoughts.
Meanwhile, the bangle on her hand seems to be working overtime as the red light kept fluctuating and minor cracks started appearing on it.
"By the way, if you are intending to jump, do a flip."
'A Flip?' Demon...!! This voice definitely belongs to a demon.
"If you do a flip, you would have at least done something worthwhile with your life other than being depressed over a dress and jumping off." The Voice continued, ignoring the seething rage in the icy blue eyes of the lady it kept insulting.
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At this point, Lady Selena was seeing stars and about to vomit blood from the constant verbal abuse by the voice. 'Dude, I am trying to kill myself. I am already emotionally disheveled, and your words are like trying to spray oil on a forest fire. You don't need to do that. The Forest is already burning down uncontrollably.'
"Why...?" She finally spoke again to the voice, "Why are you being so mean to me?" More tears were being released as she asked in a trembling voice.
"Oh..?! Sorry, I can't control my mouth when I start speaking. This is why I rarely talk. Please don't mind, I didn't really mean those things. It is my upbringing that is responsible for my behavior. I grew up in a house where emotions were thrown out the window when it came to brutal honesty. I had to learn to speak this way to survive in that household."
Selena's mind, which was originally going blank, went fully numb with that response. First, he insulted her, then he apologized for it and finally, he just started randomly telling her his life story, what is this?
'Can you not switch so much?' A normal person wouldn't know how to react to this situation. It is like a killer stabbing you first, then he apologized to you while you are bleeding to death and instead of getting help, he sits on a chair and starts telling you his Life Story. What am I supposed to say, 'No worries?! Happens all the time? Can you write my last will and testament while you are telling your life story?'
"That's... it's okay..." Selena replied, seemingly calmed down. She was used to other people being snappy at her. Even the butlers and maids of the Booker Family had an indifferent way of talking to her despite being the first young lady of the house.
"Oh, good. People usually want to wring my neck after hearing my words but you are-----" The Voice suddenly stopped.
"You..." The Voice suddenly trembled. "Can you hear me...?"
"Eh?" Selena was taken aback. 'Did he thought I couldn't hear him? Is that why he was speaking harshly?'
Suddenly, Selena remembered the Bishop's words. "It is good that you haven't responded to the voice since you can't understand what it is saying, but from here on forth, ignore the voice... as if it never existed. With the item I have given you, the voice should go away in a couple of months, but remember... do not let the voice know you can hear it."
Before she could come to a conclusion on how to respond, the voice suddenly spoke again.
"Hey, do you hear fireworks?"
'Fireworks?' Suddenly, her attention returned to the real world and she became aware of her surroundings.
She could finally feel the cold wind blowing in the air, the noise of the crowd, coming from below as the party continued on, oblivious of what she was planning to do. But more importantly, she heard the sharp crackling noises coming from her wrist.
She looked down to see the red bangle, which she got as a gift just before the party, was going haywire. It had numerous cracks on it and was violently sparking and shaking creating sounds, similar to fireworks.
"You...!! Remove it...!! Throw it away...!!" The Voice bellowed.
Almost instinctively, after hearing the voice, she used her left hand to remove the bangle which had became hot. A second after she threw it away, it immediately exploded, even before it hit the ground.
The pressure from the explosion pushed her back and she landed on her butt, but she wasn't hurt. The red bangle shattered in the explosion, and a dark red mist came out of it before disappearing in the air. Before the mist disappeared, she clearly saw runic designs on the inside of the mist.
'Magic Item?!' She exclaimed in her mind, as she realized that the bangle she seemingly got as a gift was a magic item.
As she sat on the ground, seemingly dazed from the experience. Her mind suddenly got clearer, and all the heavy emotions she was feeling just now was fading away. Her Judgment also seemed to be back as she slowly regained clarity in her emotions. Her body trembled slightly as she felt like she had just woken up from a nightmare.
"What... What was I doing?"
She asked herself, as she came to the realization that she almost killed herself. She knew herself better than anyone else. After being emotionally abandoned by everyone, she had built a thick wall around her heart. She would always have a frosty expression on her face, which may seem rude, but it added to her image as an Ice-Cold beauty. Despite having her engagement broken and her fiancé stolen, she shouldn't have reacted so strongly considering her nature.
'Was it the bangle?' She couldn't help asking herself, as she looked at the remnant of the glass red bangle pieces in front of her.
Before she could think it through, the voice inside her head spoke again nonchalantly,
"That's what I have been asking you so many times... What were you doing?"
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