The Genius Mage Was Reincarnated Into A Swordsman Family

Chapter 364: The Seal Beneath the Ice (4)

The first light of dawn barely touched the highest spires of the Ice Palace when the heavy footsteps echoed outside Klaus's door. He had been awake for hours, sitting in the lotus position on the frost-covered floor of the guest spire. He felt the shift in the air before the lock even clicked.

The heavy ironwood door groaned as mechanisms disengaged. It was not a simple lock. Klaus could sense the intricate web of mana seals that had been woven across the frame during the night. They were not there to keep intruders out. They were there to keep him in.

The door swung inward. A captain of the palace guard stood there, flanked by six soldiers clad in armor made of translucent blue ice. Their breaths misted in the corridor, though the air inside the room was just as cold.

"Lord Lionhart," the captain said. His voice was steady, but his eyes betrayed him. They flickered toward the window, then back to Klaus, avoiding direct contact for too long. "Her Majesty requests your presence in the Throne Room."

Klaus rose smoothly. He brushed imaginary dust from his coat. "Lead the way."

The walk through the palace was quiet. Too quiet. Usually, a structure this size would be humming with servants, mages, and officials. Today, the corridors were empty. The only sound was the rhythmic clank of the guards' boots and the soft glide of Klaus's shoes.

Klaus watched the guards ahead of him. Their shoulders were tense. One soldier gripped his spear so tightly his knuckles were white. They were trying to maintain discipline, but fear leaked from them like heat from a cracked stove. They knew something was wrong. The Frostfang Peaks were bleeding something terrible, and the palace was bracing for impact.

They reached the massive doors of the Throne Room. The guards pushed them open.

The throne room was a cavern of crystal and ice. Light filtered through the ceiling, refracting through thick ice panels to bathe the room in a soft, ethereal glow. At the far end, seated on a throne carved from a single block of deep blue ice, sat Queen Ellah, the Ice Queen.

She looked serene. Her gown was white silk that seemed to flow like water around her. Her white snow hair matched the ice around her. She held a cup of tea in one hand, steam rising gently from the surface. She looked like a woman enjoying a quiet morning, not a ruler whose nation was on the brink of disaster.

Klaus stopped at the center of the room. He bowed, just enough to be polite, not enough to show submission.

"Greetings, Queen Ellah," Klaus said.

"Young Lionhart," she replied. Her voice was soft, melodic. She took a sip of her tea. "You arrived late last night. I trust your journey was not too exhausting."

"The journey was fine," Klaus said. "The welcome was... interesting."

Queen Ellah set her cup down. The sound of porcelain on ice echoed sharply. "Is that so? My guards are trained to ensure the safety of our guests. I hope they did not overwhelm you."

"They sealed my door," Klaus said. "I doubt that was for my safety."

The Queen smiled. It did not reach her eyes. "Precautions. The north can be unpredictable. Guests sometimes wander into places they should not be." She then continued with a faint smile playing at her lips.

"You arrive unannounced, in the dead of winter, with a dragon at your back. Most would call that an invasion. I am choosing to call it a visit. For now..."

"I'm sure your highness Queen Ellah already knows why I am here," Klaus said. His voice was calm. He was tired of the dance.

"I assure you I do not know," she said. She leaned forward slightly. "So state the reason for your sudden visit. Are you perhaps here to ask for my daughter's hand? Helene spoke highly of you in her letters. Though I recall you were quite young when you last met."

Klaus looked at her. He could feel the tension radiating off the guards lining the walls. He could feel the subtle tremors in the ice beneath his boots. The Frostfang Peaks were bleeding magic, and she was sitting here pretending the world wasn't burning. She was trying to keep him out of the loop because she did not trust him, or perhaps because she did not want Rikxia involved.

He was starting to feel tired of playing these mind games. He was even reconsidering helping them. But his intuition screamed at him that helping them was helping him, and perhaps the entire Xyros. If the seal beneath the palace broke, it would not just destroy Iskandriel. It would tear a hole in the continent.

"Your Highness," Klaus started, his voice dropping an octave. "There is a war coming to the north. The Rikxia Emperor sent me here to get your support. We are political allies, after all."

Queen Ellah's expression did not change. She picked up her tea cup again. "Iskandriel is a neutral state. We never get ourselves involved in other nations' quarrels. Iskandriel only cares for Iskandriel."

She waved a hand dismissively. "If that was the only reason for your visit, you may go back and prepare for that coming war you are talking about."

Klaus stayed silent. He just looked at her with a calm expression. He did not shift his weight. He did not frown. He let the silence stretch out, heavy and uncomfortable. He treated her dismissal as if it were of no importance.

Seeing his reaction, or rather his lack of reaction, Queen Ellah's smile tightened. She set the cup down again. This time the sound was sharper.

"I'm sure Roman was aware of our stands in worldly affairs, as my council refers to it," she said. "Considering your effort for coming this far north, we will open a warp gate to halve your travel back to your nation. This is the only consideration I will have for you, as my daughter's potential husband."

She waved her hand again, signaling him to leave. It was a clear dismissal. She was trying to get rid of him. Klaus understood that the situation happening in the Frostfang Peaks was probably worrying her. Opening a warp gate was probably a solution for him not to see what was going on. After all, if he flew out on Dudu, he would see the Frostfang Peaks. He would see the rifts. He would see the monsters pouring out. By forcing him to use a gate, she was trying to keep him blind to the crisis unfolding on her doorstep.

"I appreciate your consideration," Klaus said, his voice calm, as if what she said was of no importance. "But there is something you misunderstood, Your Highness."

Queen Ellah raised an eyebrow. The air in the room grew heavier. Her calm mask slipped for a fraction of a second. "Oh? And what is that?"

"The war coming to the north is not the war the other monarchs initiate," Klaus said, stepping forward. The guards tensed, spears lowering slightly, but Ellah raised a hand to stop them.

"I'm talking about the Arkadia continent," Klaus continued, locking eyes with her. "They will soon invade our continent. And to my new understanding, they are after what is sealed beneath your Ice Palace."

The silence that followed was absolute. The servants holding the tea pots froze. The guards stopped breathing: The hum of the magic in the walls ceased. Queen Ellah sat perfectly still.

For a long moment, nobody spoke. The only sound was the faint crackling of the ice in the walls.

Queen Ellah's calm mask didn't just slip; it shattered. Then she stood up.

She did not knock over her chair. She did not shout. She simply rose to her full height. Her dress flowed around her like a storm cloud.

Her aura erupted.

It was not a visible explosion. It was a sudden, violent drop in temperature. The air turned solid. The breath in Klaus's lungs froze. The gentle glow of the room turned into a harsh, biting blue.

Klaus looked down. Frost was spreading across the floor, racing toward him like living vines. It climbed up his legs. He looked at his boots. The leather was turning white. Cracks were forming in the material. The cold was so intense it was burning him. Frostbite was spreading into his boots, eating through the leather toward his skin.

The Queen's eyes were no longer red, but pure white, bright like stars, glowing with a power that dwarfed anything Klaus had felt from the Monarchs. The throne behind her cracked, ice splintering under the pressure of her release. She looked down at him, and the serenity was gone. In its place was a terrifying, ancient power.

"You know too much, boy," she said. Her voice was no longer melodic. It sounded like grinding ice. No, it was the voice of the ice itself.