Chapter 1 Through the Cracks

Through the gaps in the suspended ice blades, Li Ang could clearly see Princess Anna's face rapidly darkening, even more so than that of Queen Aisha, who was frozen in ice.

Li Ang completely ignored the further drop in air temperature and said leisurely, "Your parents, the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Arendelle, died a few days before your eleventh birthday. At the time, your family was outside the city enjoying a knightly duel performance, planning to visit the royal gardens after the performance and then return to the palace to inspect the preparations for your birthday banquet.

"Unfortunately, during the duel performance, the King and Queen, seated at the head of the table, suddenly died. The scene was chaotic, and Princess Aisha, who witnessed her parents' sudden death alongside you, displayed her spellcasting abilities in public for the first time.

"Afterward, the court physicians provided an explanation.

"The King and Queen had no external injuries. Their sudden deaths were attributed to excessive fatigue, not a secret assassination by poison or some kind of extraordinary ability—before then, there had never been any spellcasting ability in the world that could remotely affect the heart.

"Out of respect for the royal family, the bodies were not dissected, but the royal physicians at the time still made records, such as the fact that both of them coughed violently before their sudden deaths, with a large amount of pink, frothy sputum remaining at the corners of their mouths, and their skin was cold, clammy, pale, and cyanotic, accompanied by purple streaks.

"Combined with other evidence, this should be a clinical manifestation of acute heart failure.

"It also happens to be a disease that can be caused by your own deformed heart—by the way, according to the court physicians' records, you were discovered to have a heart condition at the age of seven, the same year that the meteorite fell in the Kingdom of Arendelle."

Anna sat on the wheelchair, propping her chin with one hand and gently tapping the armrest of the wheelchair with the other, and asked calmly, "How do you know these things?"

Li Ang smiled, but didn't answer.

Among the court physicians of the Kingdom of Arendelle, one doctor happened to be from the Kingdom of Lianma. After the Ice Queen began to conquer everywhere, the retired old doctor went into seclusion in the Kingdom of Ruun.

This information, which was not very secret, was obtained by the lumberjack Frederick III through his connections, and then passed to Li Ang through a secret letter.

"The burned corpses recently discovered in the cemetery, after tooth mark examination, have been identified as some criminals who committed serious crimes.

"Prison records show that these people should have died in secret hangings several years ago.

"However, the earliest of those corpses died four months ago, and the latest died three days ago.

"Their manner of death was also heart failure. They were burned and buried in the cemetery only after death."

Li Ang said with a smile, "If I had to guess, you probably awakened your spellcasting ability at the age of seven, along with Princess Aisha.

"However, her ability to create ice and snow was more prominent and significant, while you never realized that you possessed a special talent, and always thought that you were an ordinary person, and even became jealous and resentful of her because of this.

"The sudden death of the King and Queen that year should not have been intentional, but simply an accidental outbreak of talent.

"Afterward, you probably understood your abilities.

"You can somehow cause others to die from the same heart deformity as yourself, and use this to steal other people's abilities and prolong your own life.

"However, this ability is also limited, isn't it?

"It can only temporarily alleviate your heart problem. As time goes by, the effects of both magic potions and extraordinary abilities on the deformed heart are constantly reduced.

"So, you turned your attention to Aisha, who has the same bloodline as you..."

"Clap, clap, clap."

Princess Anna applauded with a smile, the sound echoing in the empty, silent hall. "These past two days, I have been sending people to monitor you and your so-called disciples.

"They took the opportunity to scavenge and seize a lot of extraordinary materials, but it seems that they have not made any moves to go out to scout for intelligence—at least not under the surveillance of my men.

"How did you do it?

"Do you have insiders in the city? Or is there another secret organization supporting you?"

Li Ang spread his hands, "Trade secret, can't say."

Anna nodded, "You're very good. Are you interested in serving as the head of my intelligence agency?"

Li Ang shook his head, "A spy chief? That job is not suitable for me, and I don't want to be a tool for public opinion to support your assassination plans."

Rejected again, Anna sighed with regret, and silently raised her palm resting on the armrest of the wheelchair. A faint blue flower made of ice and snow inexplicably appeared in her palm. "Alas, you are unwilling to agree to my deal, and you are unwilling to die. You really put me in a difficult position..."

With the appearance of that faint blue ice flower, the temperature in the hall plummeted again, and countless fragments of ice crystals directly appeared in the air, falling down.

Li Ang, who was wearing ordinary cold-proof clothing, quickly had a layer of frost hanging on his eyelashes. However, the ripple energy in his body rotated slightly, instantly emitting a heat wave like a furnace from the inside out, melting the frost into snow water and evaporating it directly.

He didn't seem to hear Anna's threat, and said to himself, "But I'm very curious about one thing. Queen Aisha, who was able to kill tens of thousands of soldiers and build this palace, is already the most powerful spellcaster in the world. How could she have died so inexplicably?

"Even if you can steal other people's talents and have multiple abilities,

"The overall energy fluctuation is only a little stronger than ordinary advanced spellcasters.

"Even if you hide your murderous intent and carry out a sneak attack,

"I'm afraid it will be difficult to harm Aisha, right?"

Hearing this question, Anna's eyelashes trembled, as if she had remembered something, and a trace of sadness appeared on her face, "I've already said it, she died willingly."

Anna was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed, "What a stupid woman. She was like that when she was little. She was clearly the future heir to the kingdom, but she always thought about sneaking out of the palace to play.

"My parents liked me more, but she didn't care at all. What she always said was 'Anna, I'm your sister, you have to listen to me', 'Anna, don't run around', 'Protecting my sister is my sister's duty'.

"Hehe, at that time, we were still hiding in the quilt, and we imagined together that even if we had to make a marriage contract with a prince from another country in the future, we would have to marry the same person, so that we would never be separated.

"If there were no accidents, we would probably really do that—Aisha always did what she said."

"Accident means—"

"Meteorite,"

Anna said calmly, "To be precise, it was a mirror."
Wan Jia Xiong Meng