The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter One

Being a court servant in a big stone castle in a kingdom where fire literally doesn't exist is an achingly tedious job, but every sweat from doing my work is all worth it because I can see the person I like the whole day. When he's in the same room as me or even when he's just in the vicinity, my spirits would suddenly be lifted, even when I was too exhausted from cleaning and making sure everything is in order in the castle.

I know daydreaming while working is considered a bad habit and is strongly discouraged by our superiors especially Madame Morris, the head court servant, but who wouldn't dream and salivate when Prince Kao is near you? Everyone loves him. Everyone adores him. He's the sun of this godforsaken country, our beacon of hope, our sunlight in these frostbitten lands. His smile is like a thousand rays of bright lights illuminating the whole country. Prince Kao is simply our future.

The only heir to the throne of King Luander the Second, Prince Kao is the royalty in line that will soon rule this beautiful yet struggling northern snowy kingdom of Aure. Tall, endearing, and has this near-perfect look that makes him not only an eye candy but a visual meal that needs not only to be eaten lightly but to be devoured, the Crown Prince is beloved by the people, especially the women. He is like a God.

But that's just how I visualize him because a beheading will be immediately on my way the moment I speak of him that way. He is not the type of ruler who you'll be following because you fear him. You follow him because you adore and worship him.

Everyone looks up to him because he is a promising leader. In fact, the reason I am so into him is because one time when I was just starting as a court servant an incident happened that changed my opinion on the royalties in this country. A lowly couple that appeared to be poor and had no food had snuck into the castle to the kitchen to steal some food and was caught by the royal guards. I was there when they were violently apprehended and they were about to be sent to the mountain prison when the heir himself, Prince Kao, came striding magnificently into the kitchen. It was the first time I saw him that close and 'enthralled' would be a weak word to describe what I felt when I first saw him. But like I said, that's not what got me into admiring and secretly loving him. It was the next thing he did that made me flip my beliefs toward him.

The captured couple immediately knelt before his presence when they recognized who he was because the royal guards too bowed their heads when they saw the Crown Prince. The couple begged for his pardon, admitting their sin to the Prince. I expected Prince Kao to ignore them and just walk away just like how his father treats criminals, but the heir smiled at the couple and ordered us court servants to give them food enough for a month.

I was shocked, and I learned later on that Prince Kao had built the couple a better home than what they had before. When asked by his King father why he did such a thing, people in the castle who happen to heard their conversion claimed that the Prince cried while explaining how bad he felt that someone like him can stay warm and well-fed inside the castle while his people endure the cold and hunger outside where there is no fire to keep them warm. He said that he wanted to search for a solution to this everlasting winter that had brought the whole of Aure to its knees. According to the story, he looked very determined to bring back the lost grandeur and wealth of the kingdom. He wanted to search for an answer on how to summon fire again into these lands.

Word spread across the kingdom about this regal and humble demeanor of the crown prince and caused a rippling effect of optimism to the people. Suddenly, the never-ending winter was a little less cold. The hunger pangs were a little less inhumane, and the sorrowful country started to try a little harder in bringing back the old Aure. The default sad faces of people became full of hope with their smiles, and that alone melted my heart.

Prince Kao did all of this improvement to our daily life here and he isn't even the king yet. So naturally, the people got excited for the future when he will be ruling the kingdom. That future even became most of us' past time, just like me and Jang, my co-court servant. We were in our chamber cleaning because we are about to go home for our off after a full week of working in the castle.

"The Prince is only twenty-five," Jang repeated her line, whenever we daydream of the future that we wanted to happen as soon as possible. "The King is still as strong as a snow buffalo. King Luander won't give up the throne just yet to his son."

"But that's what everyone actually wants," I whisper back, and Jang's eyes widened by what I just mumbled and I know why. What I blurted out is considered a crime. Treason to be exact because if Prince Kao is seen as a benevolent leader, his father is the exact opposite. "You know what I mean."

"Yes, and that could kill us, Rainha," she warned again because she's that friend who's very conscious about getting overheard. "No one dares to speak about it for a reason."

"And I do hope someone has the guts to tell that thing to the King's face so that it doesn't just become a winter elephant in the room," I added, which earned me a painful nudge from Jang.

"You'll only talk about that when I'm not with you okay? I still need this job. We don't have enough coalstones for the coming Ruthless Blizzards."

"We all need more of those hot pebbles, Jang," I said getting serious because coalstones are not something to be laughed at. It is the reason why everyone strives hard in our daily lives, like the two of us. Coalstones are more important than food in this kingdom because first and foremost, it is the only thing that keeps us warm. They are extremely rare charcoal-black stones that can only be found in a dormant volcano south of the castle called Mt. Kal Ayu, which our people mine for one precious thing that it possesses--- heat.

With no fire in Aure in the last hundred years, we don't even know what flames look like. Or how it works that it gets hot and all, because nobody alive today had ever seen flames or fire in our entire lives. Old folks would tell tall stories about it, how in the old days life was a thousand-fold better because of this mysterious and magical thing called fire. Everyone's wildest dream is for us to miraculously just see fire, but that would be daydreaming and dreaming in this kingdom is next to being frozen cold and hungry.

Everyone needs to work here in exchange for these stones that seem to magically give off heat that can last for months. In fact, we court servants are paid a dozen coalstones pebbles a month, barely enough to keep us warm but it's better than to freeze in our homes. Even the castle has them, in which these stones are installed inside huge cylinder-shaped stone statues called Columbars, which then spreads the heat in every direction, making the castle less colder than outside. In our houses, we put the coalstones in clay basins we call Heatcatchers, which is not exactly as efficient as columbars but works just fine. Stores and shops here in Aure accept coalstones as secondary currency to gold, which come in three sizes because of its extremely high value. The bigger the size of the coalstone, the more value it has. In short, our lives here revolve around these hot pebbles, that's why in this place, the lack of coalstones means freezing to death.

"Your older brother must have a lot of pebbles by now, so you're not like me who had to do extra hours just so Madame Morris can be persuaded to give me another three coalstones."

"Oh please," I whined while rolling my eyes at the mention of my older brother. "Garreth doesn't even come home to us anymore. He's with that witch Blasie now."

Jang shared my disgust at what I said because she used to like my older brother before he decided to pursue a very haughty girl that lives down the hill east of the castle. Blasie is of our age, and we find her very unpleasant because she used to work as a court servant too before being engaged to a wealthy old man. And now that the poor old guy is dead she attached herself to my brother who was then wooing another woman. It's just so disgusting to think about because we all know that she's just using my brother who is a royal guard just so she won't work her ass off for coalstones.

"That sick excuse of a woman needs to get caught for treason," Jang hissed like a mad woman and I find it funny that she's still passionate about hating Blasie even though she had long since moved on from my brother who didn't even become her boyfriend. But actually, I would have liked Jang for my brother better. But of course, dreaming in this place is such an unnecessary thing to do. "I don't care how I will do it, but I'm going to save your brother from that witch."

"Make her talk about the King needing to step down and make sure my brother hears it so he'll be the one who has to catch her." That witty remark earned me a hearty laugh from Jang, which made us oblivious of what was happening outside our quarters. "That would be like hitting two Arctic Eagles with one coalstone."

"Oh no, I will not use a single hot pebble for that crazy girl." We laughed loudly again, our icy breath almost luminous in the air and this time getting the attention of someone outside. Someone was knocking on our door, which turned out to be Kaylie, another one of my co-court servants. She was already dressed for her journey back to her home in Aurville, the town just below the castle where Jang and I came from too. I let her in willingly because she's a childhood friend.

"Do you want to ride home with me Rainha?" she asked me with her sweet voice that made me feel instantly guilty because I was about to turn her offer down. Again.

"I'm sorry, Kaylie, but Jang and I had already made plans that we'll go home later. We'll ride the public snow carriage."

"But you guys don't have to do that," she insisted. "You can ride with me you know. It's only me in that private snow carriage."

"Oh Kaylie we appreciate your generosity but we don't want you to be put in a bad light," Jang replied frankly. "Sir Ralphus might think that you're using his private carriage to fetch us. We don't want to cause you any harm especially that his parents are nasty human beings who look down on people like us. You'll be in big trouble."

Kaylie paused at this because she knows that what Jang said could actually happen. Sir Ralphus, another wealthy man from our hometown, is Kaylie's fiance. But unlike Blasie's first victim, Sir Ralphus is still young, around the age of the Crown Prince. We like the two of them because they love each other despite the social status issue between them. Plus Kaylie is a very kindhearted girl. Her fiance already asked her to quit her job as a court servant since she's about to marry him who owns a lot of snow carriages used in his businesses, but Kaylie insisted to still work in the castle until they actually got married. She's the exact opposite of Blasie and I just wished my brother wooed her or Jang instead, but he had a bad taste in women in the first place that to me looks like it's already incurable.

"Okay, if that's what you already decided to do," she still cheerfully replied, "But you can always ask for my help."

"Of course," I replied sweetly too because you can't treat her less when she's like this. "Thank you for always offering us a ride."

"Yes, we really appreciate your kindness, Kaylie."

She nods and prepares to go now. "Oh. I almost forgot, Rainha. Grand-Mama wants you to visit her when you go home."

"O-Okay. I just hope I'm not busy by then," I just said because I don't like the idea of visiting her grandmother. This is Kaylie's only flaw. She has a grandmother who is obsessed with me.

Kaylie finally left and Jang giggled. "Why don't you just come to her Grand-Mama for once? Maybe you'll learn more about your parents or you'll get adopted---"

"No. Don't go there, Jang," I warned her because I despise the topic.

"I'm sorry. You know I love you Rainha," she replied apologetically and we hugged. "But seriously, her grandmother needs to stop her fixation on you. The myths are myths for a reason."

"That's exactly why I don't come to her house when I'm back in Aurville. She keeps on recalling the story of my mother. I would rather not hear about it again."

"I understand, Rainha. Please don't think about it anymore." Jang cheered me up while we clean our belongings because she knows how sensitive the story about my parents. I abhor talking about them because what's worse than escaping the bitter frost is barely surviving the frost because you grew up with no parents and had to learn how to survive with only an Aunt and an older brother with you. It sucks.

It was a good thing Jang already knew how my mood swings work, so she started talking about the Crown prince the moment I started being quiet. "I just wish someone like Prince Kao comes into your life just like how Sir Ralphus and your brother came into Kaylie's and Blasie's lives. That would at least lighten you up. You are a gloomy person Rainha, and you have to be light sometimes."

"What does that even mean, Jang? The sun's rays don't even reach us here because of this everlasting winter. Of course, I'll be gloomy."

"You'll be surprised what love can do to a person," she snaps jokingly, but I already have my retort to that.

"I don't like anybody else than Prince Kao," I insisted playfully. "Anyone lesser than him is not for me."

"You know I sometimes envy your optimism. That can save me every time I feel so down. Imagine having the guts to only want the future king as her husband. You don't want a sack of coalstones then, honey. You want a columbar-filled castle."

"Which makes Blasie a dimwit as she didn't think of that," I quipped back. We giggled at our silliness, and when the silliness wore out, we prepared our luggage so that we can finally go home. However, there were newly rinsed fur blankets that I still needed to deliver to the other quarters so I left to do my job when the most unexpected thing happened.

I was about to turn left while walking on the dark corridor when someone pulled me harshly into a dark room that I remembered was a milk chamber because we stay near the kitchen. This person pinned me into the wall hardly while covering my mouth because I was about to scream from the shock of it all.

"Don't move!" whispered this person to me and I froze. My eyes widened and goosebumps erupted on my whole body because this person who took me is no other than Prince Kao, the Crown Prince, my beloved future king. "You are Rainha, right?" he asked nonchalantly and this is how everything started.