Chapter 62: An Impossible Task
Soleia barely remembered how she responded to her father before she was banished out of the room, her legs trembling with anxiety and the sudden plunge in temperature. She couldn’t help but recall her past experiences with her father, and her old memories were causing her nausea to grow.
She clenched her hands into fists, willing herself to calm down. Soleia tried to tell herself that she wasn’t that scared little girl any longer, but it was hard to remember in the face of her father’s high expectations.
King Godwin was awfully fond of punishing his children for any perceived slight by forcing them to endure freezing temperatures caused by his powers, and Soleia was one of his favorite targets since she was entirely powerless.
To make matters worse, her other sisters had awakened their powers in response to their father’s treatment!
As such, King Godwin redoubled his efforts, forcing Soleia to touch icicles, to walk on ice with her bare feet. It was only after she nearly died with no powers on the horizon, and her sisters pleaded for her life, that he was forced to give up his attempts to awaken Soleia’s powers.
After that, he basically treated Soleia as though she didn’t exist. Her powerless existence was a stain on his reputation as a powerful ruler. Her allowance was meager compared to her other siblings, and she only had a retinue of a single maid.
And then she got packed off to marry Orion, a man born a commoner, while her siblings got spouses from other powerful royal families.
Her mind whirled and her temples ached with exhaustion. Orion. What a headache.
"Princess Soleia, are you alright? You look awfully pale― you’re shivering!" Sir Ralph exclaimed, quickly offering her his cloak. Soleia raised a shaky hand to stop him.