The Ice's Yearning

Within the warm slumber, the girl"s consciousness gently returned to the normal.
After opening her eyes, for a while the girl absentmindedly stared at the unknown ceiling.
A pure white, stone-made room exuding a glossy splendor.

Suddenly coming back to herself, the girl shook her head.
Flaxen colored hair that was cut evenly at the chin"s length rustled and disorderly fell on her cheeks. Pulling it back with one hand, the girl looked around the wide room.
The big, dark mahogany-colored eyes were moving restlessly, making the adorable girl"s gestures strongly resemble those of a small animal.

Nearby, there was a luxurious furniture she had never seen anything similar to before in her life. The flame danced in the fireplace and the room was comfortably warm.

―― A castle?

It was the first question that surfaced in her mind. To the girl who grew up in an unnamed poor village, it was an unknown world.

she tried thinking with her hazy mind.
But she still could not understand her current situation at all.
Why was she at such place?
Wasn"t this place just like the mansion of the n.o.bles she had heard in the stories or the castle of the feudal lord?

Lying on a fluffy bed, she tried to take off the blanket that was put on her and raise her upper body.
She noticed that she had been sleeping on a high-quality bedding, drooling.

“Awawa!”

Fl.u.s.tered, she tried to scrub the blanket clean with the hem of her one-piece dress.

At this moment, the girl noticed once again.
That the one piece dress she was wearing was tailored from a smooth and fine quality fabric similar to which she had never touched before in her life.
The girl panicked again, thinking that she had dirtied a very expensive-looking clothing. Eventually, she heard the sound of a door quietly being opened.

“Oh, so you have woken up at last.”

A low, calm voice resounded.

At the doorway, there stood an elderly man wearing butler clothes, smiling while holding a tray with a pitcher in one hand.

“You throat must be dry, right?”

His voice was soft, with a slow tone as if to make the girl feel relieved.
The girl, who was wincing because of the extravagance and the grandness of the room and shrunk back out of the fear of having dirtied the expensive blanket and the clothes, unintentionally became silent.

Without showing any signs of minding, the elderly butler didn"t break his smile and started walking towards the timidly looking girl.
The pitcher was placed on the wooden table set next to the bed.
In front of the girl, who was holding her breath, the butler turned back on his heels and headed towards the room.

“I will go call madam right away. Please relax and wait for a little bit.”

The old butler, who turned around from the doorway, put a hand on his waist and showed an elegant bow, leaving the room right after.

The girl could not understand the situation at all.
Catching the sight of the wooden table, she only now noticed that her throat indeed felt very thirsty.
She took ahold of the pitcher and chugged the water while slightly choking.
She was drinking hastily so the water droplets dripped from the edge of her mouth, spilling on her arms.
And noticing that she once again dirtied the one-piece dress, she let out a sigh.
She lied face-down, arranging the hair that dangled on her face with her fingers while being contemplating about her inattentiveness.

In the meantime, the sound of the door opening was heard once again.
The woman, who came into the room without saying anything, determinedly walked toward the bed.
She stood before the girl, her face expressionless like a cold statue while looking down on her.
Translucent white skin, silver hair flowing down like a waterfall.
Words like ‘Yuki-Onna", a snow spirit. surfaced in the girl"s brain.

Her features,  so beautiful that simply calling it gorgeous wouldn"t be enough to describe, made the girl think that she was like a G.o.ddess incarnate.

“G…G.o.ddess?”

She hurriedly added,

“…..are you?”

to the question that unintentionally slipped out from her mouth.
The girl felt her face burning up.

“I am an existence total opposite of that.”

The woman, who opened her mouth looking amused, didn"t pay attention to the puzzled girl and continued talking.

“What is your name?”

“Alfra…Alfredia Hayredin.”

“Oh my, Alfra. You have  a family name?”

Normally the common people do not have family names.
The woman sounded kind of surprised, but she did not seem to be much interested and threw more questions at her.

“How old are you?”

“I am eleven years old.

“How do you feel?”

“Eh? um…”

Alfra was slightly bewildered after being bombarded with questions one after another.

“Does any place hurt?”

“Oh…um…”

The woman who seemed to be getting irritable at Alfra"s uncertain answers to her questions continued rapidly.

“You were injured very badly. External wounds have healed almost completely, but only the person themselves would know if they made full recovery, right? I am not a doctor, after all.”

“Ah…..”

Alfra recalled.
That her parents were killed before her eyes and an ugly monster headed towards her, swinging down the tip of the spear.
The monster threw impaled Alfra into the burning flames with a casual move akin to throwing firewood into the bonfire.
The terrible intense pain and the horror of writhing in the h.e.l.lfire came back to her,

“Ahh…aah…Ahh…”

At the moment when the groaning was about to change into a scream, a thin, white finger was placed on Alfra"s chin.
Just like that, she was forcefully made to face towards the woman.
She slightly drew back from the woman"s cold touch on her skin.

“Any place that hurts?”

No emotions like sympathy or compa.s.sion could be seen in the blue eyes that were peering at her. Only her intentions to observe important matters was felt.

Alfra answered unconsciously, fascinated by those enchanting eyes that seemed like they would swallow you up as soon you meet her gaze.

“It does not hurt anywhere. I am fine…”

“I see, then it"s okay. I will let somebody bring light meal later so sleep for a while.”

Telling only the necessary information, the woman abruptly turned around.
Alfra, who was at last released from the spell of those eyes, tried stopping her in hopes of looking at her way too beautiful face for a little while longer.

“Wait…um, erm”

She desperately searched for words to continue.

“Name…yes, the name! What should I call…how should I address you?”

The woman who turned around was, as always, expressionless. However, Alfra"s gaze was pinned down once again by her beauty.

“It"s Byakuren. Call me however you want. Also, it"s not necessary to force yourself and use more eloquent words.”

“Eh? but…”

“…….”

“To the n.o.ble Person, I….”

The woman"s cold eyes stopped the words Alfra was about to say.

“Are you telling me to repeat myself for the second time?”

Byakuren"s words held the dignity and intimidation peculiar to those who were used to ordering.
Most likely, it was very rare for any words other than「Understood」to be replied at her orders.

Her presence was almost on a different dimension even compared to the regional lord who ruled over the northern region of Regius, the person with the highest rank Alfra knew.

“Talk like you normally would.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

The silver-haired beauty nodded satisfied and left the room.

Hoo, letting out a huge sigh, Alfra dazedly looked at the door Byakuren just walked through.

――Unbelievably beautiful…it"s my first time seeing such a beautiful person.

From the looks of it, she was quite nervous since she had been a.s.saulted by the feeling of exhaustion as soon as she took a breath.

――I wonder how old she is?

―― She seemed to be called madam but she didn"t seem to be of that age at all.

Alfra tried comparing Byakuren to other familiar people, like her relatives.
Byakuren seemed to be younger than her 33 years old mother, so she a.s.sumed that she would be in her early to mid-20s.

Along with those thoughts, she remembered her mother"s face, smiling gently ―― and her father"s big hand patting her head.
Alfra hung her head, with her heart sinking, feeling heavy and cold. The reality that both of her parents died had suddenly struck her.

Her father tried to protect his family until the end, using the hoe for farm work.
Confronting him were several monsters that looked like what one would call an Orc.
Alfra"s father was toppled over by the swarming monsters and was repeatedly stabbed by swords and spears.
Her big and strong father was groaning in agony but it was only a matter of a few moments until his writhing body turned into a lump of meat.

Meanwhile, her mother was cowering in the corner of the room, hugging Alfra and repeating「It"s alright, everything is alright!」in half-frenzy while bawling,
However, her throat was slit readily, dyeing Alfra"s face with splattered blood.

For a small child, the death of her parents who were almost like absolute G.o.ds, the existence akin to the protective guardian, was such an abrupt thing.

She thought that it was the end of the world.

And Alfra herself too…

“….huh?”

She was supposed to have been stabbed by the spear. She remembered the burning sharp pain, a sensation as if a steel spearhead was thrust into her abdomen.
She even remembered nausea and chills she felt at that moment.
Alfra put her hands on a place where she was supposed to have been stabbed, but she did not feel any discomfort.

She raised half her body in a hurry and rolled up the one-piece dress.
For a moment, she was concerned that she was not wearing any underwear, but decided to worry about it later.
She checked her abdomen and was left dumbfounded. There was not even a single scar or a bruise there.

I don"t know how much time I was asleep but did I recover in the meantime?

That"s impossible! She thought.

―― That"s right, I was also thrown into the fire…

She remembered the foul stench of her own flesh being seared as she was burning in the flames.
She also had a feeling that she had bled.
And as she was crawling in order to escape the scorching h.e.l.l, the house burnt down…

―― Why…am I alive?

She tried to slowly trace back her memories.

―― Ah!!

That"s right, she definitely saw.
When she couldn"t put her any strength into her body to make it move, when even the pain became ambiguous, her consciousness becoming hazy…

――I saw…I definitely saw!

―― It was that person! Byakuren-san…was the one who saved me!

Ice beauty illuminated by the flames within the continuously falling snow, looking down on her arrogantly, mercilessly, indifferently. That sight, which was burned into her memory with intense impression became an indelible scene in Alfra"s heart.

“……Atchoo!”

―― Midnight. Alfra was wakened up by her own sneezing.

“…..??”She felt dazed for a moment, not knowing why she woke up.
For a moment she felt waist area was very unprotected
It felt very breezy.

―― I wish, I had panties…

Alfra who was starting to doze off again opened her eyes after hearing the faint sound near her ears.
Smelling a somehow appetizing good smell, her consciousness started to clear up.

The silvery-haired butler-looking gentleman from yesterday smiled while holding a pure white napkin in hand.
The butler pulled out a handkerchief, also white in color,  from his chest pocket and lightly pressed it on her face, wiping away her tears.

―― Oh, I cried while sleeping.

Feeling embarra.s.sed, her cheeks got hot.
The butler even wiped her mouth carefully.

―― What?! Even the drool?!

When he pa.s.sed her chin and started wiping even the area around her neck, Alfra got red till the tips of her ears.

Just how much had she drooled?
But still, being a smart child, Alfra did not forget to express her grat.i.tude even while inwardly cursing her mouth for not being able to stay closed.

“Oh, thank you very much. I"m sorry.”

You"re welcome, the old butler smiled.
He moved the white wooden chair that was left in the corner of the room, right next to the bed.
It was very luxurious, decorated with blue jewels and silver metal.
At that moment, Alfra finally noticed Byakuren standing near the door.

―― I-it was seen. My drooling was seen!

She had a feeling that she heard the old butler snicker.
Not paying attention to stiffened Alfra, Byakuren sat down on a chair and gave an order.

“Takashiro, you can retreat now.”

“Yes, then please excuse me.”

After lightly lowering his head, opening the door and bowing once again, the old butler left the room.

―― So he"s called Takashiro-san…

While distracted by such thoughts, Byakuren"s orders flew at Alfra who had felt a gaze on herself and couldn"t move.

“Go ahead and eat.”

“―― Yes!”

She got up as if the feeling of paralysis vanished instantly and looked at the plate placed on the wooden table.
The true ident.i.ty of the smell seemed to be the soup.
It was made with a finely cut bread-like substance and perhaps softly boiled meat? Anyhow, it looked like they had been paying mind to the digestion.

Alfra grabbed the silver spoon that came with the plate and was surprised by its heaviness. After all, she had only used wooden tableware until now.
While under Byakuren"s steady gaze, she nervously brought the spoon to her mouth.
The steam was standing but it was not that hot, the well-cooked soup was very easy to eat.
The taste was…

“Delicious! It"s very delicious!!”

Alfra tried to somehow convey the deliciousness of the soup along with her grat.i.tude, but there was no reaction from Byakuren. She had only been staring at Alfra.
Being stared at a quite short distance, Alfra"s cheeks reddened up for a different reason than earlier.
She did eat two or three mouthfuls of the soup but as expected, she was still feeling restless.

“Ummm…do you want to eat too, Byakuren-sama?”

“….”

For some reason, she tried bringing the spoon to Byakuren"s mouth.
There was a moment of pause and a thin white finger propped up the center of the spoon.
Like that, the spoon was lightly pushed and carried towards Alfra"s mouth.

“I don"t feel particularly hungry. This is your share so eat it yourself properly.”

“Oh…yes.”

Opening her mouth and biting on the spoon, she thought.

――Byakuren-sama is surely a n.o.ble person. To offer my half-eaten soup to her…

―― would definitely be ridiculously rude….

―― Even before that, to offer a spoon I"ve put in my mouth to other people…

―― No no, maybe n.o.ble people eat some kind of special luxurious food…..

“Um, erm, Byakuren-sama…..”

“You"re such a restless child, eat silently.”

“I-I"m sorry!”

She was interrupted in the middle of her words and got scolded.
It was by no means a harsh tone, but rather more of an indifferent manner of speech. However, Byakuren"s beautiful face coupled with the lack of expression made Alfra feel that she was reprimanded quite sternly.

“Also, don"t be so weirdly respectful of me, didn"t I say to talk normally?”

“Y-yes….”

“I told you to call me however you wanted too. No need to add honorifics.”

“….yes.”

Didn"t “call me as you want” also imply that she wouldn"t mind if “sama” was added to her name?
It was a question that appeared normal, but Alfra currently thought that Byakuren"s words were right and she herself was wrong. Just like how a young child would not have any doubts about their parents" teachings.

However, she was not sure how to call her.

Byakuren was much younger than the aunt that lived next to her, but also older than the “big sister” from the neighborhood.
She seemed to be a person of a considerably high status, so just calling her the same way she would call other older girls from the neighborhood also seemed to be a bad idea.

―― “Onee-sama”, maybe?

――….I don"t think that"s really right either.

“Is it okay if I call you ‘Byakuren-san"?

“….Yes, that"s fine.”

“Yes!”

Just like a puppy praised by its master, Alfra grinned and went back to eating the soup.
After finishing the simple meal, there was a knock on the door as if it was timed and the dishes were collected by Takashiro.
In the room where they were left alone again, Byakuren commanded Alfra.

“Try to get off the bed.”

“Ah, yes.”

Alfra rose slowly, setting her feet down on the cool floor.
Suddenly her upper body shook and she felt her consciousness getting distant.
Alfra hurriedly put a hand on the bed, but her knees gave out and just like that, she fell on her backside.
As she endured a few moments of her blanking consciousness, her mind started to gradually clear up.

“I-I am fine.”

She sat up straight.

“You said that you didn"t feel any pain in your body, right?

“Yes, I think it"s probably anemia.”

Byakuren"s gaze moved from Alfra"s face to her feet and then returned to her face once again.
Alfra was slightly downhearted by the fact that she couldn"t sense any caring or goodwill there.

She thought that her eyes looked like they were observing her, like how the doctor would look at their patients, or if she went further, like how the predator would look at the livestock.

“….I wonder if you don"t have enough blood?”

“Umm..no, it"s because I was sleeping for a long time and got up abruptly…”

“Sit down.”

Byakuren got up and blew a breath at her own right index finger. A small blood bead appeared on that finger and gradually increased in size.
Alfra saw it.
The moment she blew a breath, sparkling ice crystal-like things spilled out from Byakuren"s mouth.

She definitely did not just see it wrong. Alfra was staring very intensely at Byakuren because she captivated by her as if enchanted.

――Y-Yuki Onna?!

However, she did not feel any fear at all.

“Lick it.”

“Eh? umm….?”

A bleeding finger was held out before her.

“…..eh? lick…..”

She stopped in the middle of the sentence, remembering Byakuren"s words. “Are you going to make me repeat myself?“, she said.
Reflexively she took Byakuren"s finger into her mouth and licked the blood, without questioning if it was possible to cure anemia just be ingesting the blood through the mouth.

Without knowing why this would be good for her, she was frozen with the finger still in her mouth.
As she looked upwards to check up on Byakuren, the finger was pulled out from her mouth, making a light popping sound. It seems like she has been sucking it without realizing.

“Umm, Byakuren-san, the injury…..”

“It"s all right.”

The finger that was pulled out from Alfra"s mouth had no traces of bleeding or any kind of injury.
Without paying it any mind, Byakuren took a glance at Alfra"s face. Something different from before could be felt from her eyes.

“Byakuren-san….?”

A tingly, hot sensation ran on the tip of her tongue. In a flash, scorching heat attacked her from her throat to her abdomen, extending over to her stomach.
Alfra had not drunk before, but if she had the experience of drinking a strong drink, she might have thought that this was a sensation similar to that.

“Byakuren-san, what…is….this?”

It was not the pain. She did not even think that it was unpleasant. Rather, heat spread throughout her body and she could even feel exaltation.
Alfra embraced herself, trembling with the heat.

“Ahh….ah….”

“How is it? does it hurt anywhere?”

She was called with a flat tone of voice but was not able to say words properly, only shaking her head desperately.
Byakuren, who was slightly frowning, extended her hand towards Alfra"s neck.

“Ah!….Nn….”

Feeling the overly cold touch at her neck, a sigh escaped Alfra"s mouth.
She understood that the blood pa.s.sing through the artery was chilled by Byakuren.
Still, the heat in her body didn"t quite subside and she grabbed Byakuren"s chilly arm with both hands.
The heat that a.s.saulted her body was robbed through her palms and she started to gradually calm down.

When she came back to herself, Alfra was clinging to Byakuren"s waist.

“ah…..”

She hurriedly sat down on the bed.

“I"m sorry, Byakuren-san!”

“It"s okay. More importantly, how do you feel?”

“Ah, yes! there are no problems anymore.”

“….”

“At first my body felt really hot so I was startled, but Byakuren-san cooled it down so I"m already fine.”

“….That"s all?”

“Eh…?”

“Was all that happened just your body getting hot?”

“Yes. Also, I felt slightly dizzy.”

Looking at Alfra"s flushed cheeks and her shy smile, Byakuren narrowed her eyes.

“….That"s amazing.”

“Umm…Byakuren-san, what was it that I swallowed a while ago?”

“There is no need for you to know.”

Being told so by a somewhat stiff voice, Alfra tightly closed her eyes.

“I"m sorry…..”

Looking at the downcast Alfra, Byakuren"s eyes could be said to be both carefully observing her state and thinking of something.
For Alfra it felt like a very long, unbearable period of time, but silence was soon broken.

“That"s right. Let"s observe your condition for at least a day. I"ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Y-yes!”

The expression on Alfra"s face immediately brightened up.

“Take your time to rest well tonight.”

“Yes! Good night, Byakuren-san.”

Byakuren left the room without replying, but Alfra continued to look at the locked door with a wide smile.

Had she known the concept of “Human Experimentation”, maybe she would be able to better understand the situation she was currently in.

—-
Notes
I wanted to get this chapter out quickly to start the story and get people interested but as it turns out, the first chapter had 9k characters so it took me a while to translate and about 3 days to edit.
Big thanks for patience to all the people I pestered to make sure that the sentences were right.

There are many things I wanted to point out, in terms of terminology and the raws but I kind of forgot….
the mahogany color is actually 鳶色 in j.a.p and according to the traditional j.a.panese color table, it"s supposed to be “Ibis-colored” and its hex code is #4C221B. The thing is just that I was told n.o.body would know jack s.h.i.t about and advised to instead something closer in color, like mahogany.
Also, there are too many subject-less sentences in here or stuff that needs repet.i.tion of “she” (plus we have two FLs here so..) so I took the liberty of replacing some “she”s with the name of the character.

I"ll do the witch next, don"t worry
apparently, it"s gonna be such an annoying chapter that the author put a caution for people who can"t stand indecisive f.u.c.kwits
maybe I could make a discord if I reach 100 followers to make the updating on the status and contacting easier because I rarely remember to check my email :”

As usual, keep in mind that I translate mostly using google so tell me about any mistranslations, typos, weird grammar you see so I could fix it afap