Aurelia — Cinderella's late mother, appearing as she did in her twenties before she died — hovered before them in ghostly form, her ethereal body flickering like a dying flame, eyes blazing with fury.
She wears a burial gown in ornate olive-green silk velvet with gold trim, wide hanging sleeves lined with yellow silk, and a green taffeta underskirt adorned with silver lace, fit for a noblewoman laid to rest with dignity and grace.
Her voice came out in a low whisper, trembling with hatred.
"How dare you... You thieves…! I shall end both of you right here… right now!"
Ryo and the Fairy Greatmother instinctively stepped back, both raising a defensive hand in caution.
Ryo, heart pounding, voice unsteady.
"M-Madam… You've got it all wrong… We're just trying to find clues about your daughter—Cinderella."
Fairy Greatmother spoke gently, her voice calm yet urgent.
"Aurelia, please. Listen to me, dear Cinderella has vanished. We're trying to bring her hom—"
But Aurelia's cry cut through her words like a blade of ice.
"YOU THINK I'M A FOOL?!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger.
"You're the ones who took her from me!"
Fairy Greatmother's expression turned serious, and her voice rose sharply, echoing through the grove.
"No! We would never—please, you're mistaken!"
But Aurelia's breath became visible, puffs of icy mist seeping from her lips with each furious word.
"Lies… I've been deceived once before. I shall not fall for sweet words AGAIN!"
Ryo internally groaned, his sarcasm barely covering his fear.
"Great… she's like that one character who completely misunderstands the plot and blames the wrong people. Just my luck. Totally normal!"
Then suddenly — Aurelia's ghostly form began to glow. The air thickened — a cold mist began swirling outward, consuming the grove.
Ryo wrapped his arms around himself, shivering, glancing around nervously.
"Wh-What the hell…?! Why is it freezing all of a sudden!?"
Aurelia raised her hand to the air, and from her palm, a glowing snowflake emerged, gleaming like cursed starlight.
With eerie grace, it floated to the Hazel Tree's base…
—and encased the entire tree in an elegant yet imprisoning block of enchanted ice, sealing the cracked glass slipper high on its branch.
Frost crackled from the roots, spreading like veins across the grove's floor, turning the earth into a frozen ballroom of death.
Ryo slipped, flailed, barely kept his balance.
"Oh COME ON! I came to investigate, not go ice skating with a death sentence from Cinderella's mom!"
Then he noticed something — Fairy Greatmother, despite the cold, stood firm and unaffected.
Her eyes widened with realization.
"Aurelia… no…" she whispered. "You… you're a Frostreaver…?"
Ryo's eyes shot to her, stunned. "Wait—what?! You're saying she's one of them?!"
Back when Fairy Greatmother visited Ryo's detective office, she mentioned that one of the suspects who might have kidnapped Cinderella was a Frostreaver—vile beings who wield ice magic. That's why the bed sheets in Cinderella's castle room were covered in ice.
But now floating before them is Cinderella's mother, a Frostreaver and a ghost, who has completely misunderstood the situation. She believes Ryo and Fairy Greatmother are the ones who kidnapped Cinderella, making the whole mystery even more confusing for the detective.
Aurelia's hand curled into a claw, her breath misting with menace as her eyes gleamed pale blue.
"Enough talk. I shall end you both." Then, with an unearthly whisper, her voice laced with sorrow and fury, she added, "Prepare yourselves to die."
Aurelia soared above the grove, her ghostly form glowing faintly against sky. She hovered nearly two hundred meters high. Then, with a graceful sweep of her right hand, the wind shifted.
At first, dark clouds blanketed the sky, and only a few snowflakes drifted softly through the air.
Then—
the blizzard began.
A howling frost spiraled diagonally, gaining speed. Snow fell thick and fast, covering the grove and piling up thicker by the second.
Fairy Greatmother turned to Ryo. "Mr. Detective, run and hide!" Her voice cut through the wind, urgent and commanding.
"Yeah! No need to tell me twice!" Ryo shouted back, already slipping and flailing across the slick frost like a man auditioning for the worst Winter Olympics.
He sprinted for the nearest tree—frozen bark and all—desperately trying to make it in time. But—
High above, Aurelia's hands rose.
Her fingers curled, and twenty twinkling snowflakes materialized above her palms. But they weren't just any spell.
They were baby shoes.
Small, fragile, delicate—crafted from ice and grief.
The same size she used to lovingly place on Cinderella's tiny feet… back when her child still fit in her arms. Back when life was warm.
But now, they were weapons.
The pointy tips, sharp as thorns from a cursed rose, each one deadly.
And then—
She lowered her arms.
The frozen shoes launched like cannon fire, streaking through the air straight toward Ryo.
Ryo looked back, eyes wide with panic. "SH*T!" He stumbled, nearly hiding behind the tree—but it was too late.
But then—
A flash of golden light burst across the snow.
Fairy Greatmother's wand glowed in her hand, and she swung it in Ryo's direction.
A warm shimmer, like dawn breaking through storm, blossomed into a radiant shield behind Ryo.
The deadly ice shoes struck the shield—but they didn't pierce.
They melted.
Like tears on a grandmother's shoulder, like the quiet hush of a lullaby.
The warmth of protection.
The warmth of love.
The warmth of a promise not to let go.
Ryo lay frozen on the ground—gawking at the glowing wand.
He whispered, awed. "…Ma'am."
Fairy Greatmother gave him a gentle smile.
"Don't worry, Mr. Detective… I'll shield you—no matter what may come your way, dear."
Ryo exhaled, heart thudding in his chest. He nodded and scrambled behind the frozen tree, peeking out like a kid watching magic he didn't quite understand.
Then Fairy Greatmother turned to Aurelia, her smile fading.
Her expression was calm. Serious.
"Aurelia… it seems no matter what we say, our words cannot reach you."
Aurelia's eyes narrowed, glowing with frost.
"That's right," she whispered, voice brittle as glass. "I was deceived. Betrayed. Killed… all because of kindness."
Her gaze grew distant—haunted.
"The only one who will ever receive my love… is my beloved daughter. She alone deserves it."
She raised her arm again, the frost forming at her fingertips.
"You took her from me. I will never trust you. I refuse to be naïve… never again."
Ryo, hiding behind the tree, clenched his fists. Even through the cold, he felt the weight of her words. Something terrible had happened to her before she was murdered. And whatever it was, it had twisted the kindness right out of her.
Fairy Greatmother slowly closed her eyes, bowing her head.
Then she lifted her gaze, eyes glowing pure white with unwavering resolve.
Golden light shimmered around her as her feet rose off the icy ground, floating gently until she faced Aurelia in the sky.
She raised her wand, aiming it straight at Aurelia.
"Then I shall prove it to you, Aurelia."
"I'll show you we had no hand in your sorrow."
"Even if I must fight you to make you listen."
Her voice softened—not with fear, but promise.
"Whether you believe us or not, I vow this…"
We will find Cinderella. And Mr. Detective down there"—she pointed to Ryo, peeking out like a nervous raccoon—"he will help me do it."
Aurelia turned her gaze downward at Ryo, her face unreadable. Then her eyes locked back onto Fairy Greatmother.
A breath of cold mist escaped her lips.
"…More foolish lies," she whispered.
She started singing a haunting lullaby that echoed across the grove.
Soft. Gentle. Loving.
A song only a mother could sing, a lullaby that once cradled a baby girl to sleep in a quiet, candlelit room.
But now…
It carried the weight of sorrow.
Of loss.
Of vengeance.
From the melody, twenty icy Ghostlight Minions shimmered into existence, spirits drawn by her voice.
They weren't like typical ghosts draped in white.
These had tattered, deep blue cloths, fluttering in the cold wind. Their eyes were hollow sockets, but from within them, frozen tears streamed endlessly, like sorrow carved into ice.
Each one sobbed silently, their small bodies trembling midair, unable to speak—but desperate to be held.
Their pain was real.
Their form was grief twisted into shape.
Aurelia, her teeth clenched and eyes aflame with icy light, pointed at Fairy Greatmother.
"My children… freeze her to death!"
With a soul-shaking wail—"UUWAAAAAA!"—they launched forward.
It sounded like children crying. But not normal cries.
It was the sound of grief-stricken infants—cold, cursed, robbed of comfort.
And if they touched Fairy Greatmother…
She would freeze.
She would shatter.
And be gone.
But Fairy Greatmother didn't flinch.
Instead, she rose higher into the swirling storm, weaving through the air with grace and precision. Each movement, arcs, spirals, glides, was a swift dodge like she was dancing in an old royal ballroom.
Even as the Icy Ghostlight Minions screamed toward her, she spun with grace, her robe fluttering like trailing stardust.
And then, with warmth in her voice, she whispered…
"My poor darling stars… don't cry."
The icy spirits raced toward her, their trembling arms reaching out, desperate to be held even if it meant freezing her.
And then—
She twirled her wand.
With a shimmer of gold and amber, twenty autumn leaves spun into existence, twirling like a tornado around her and the minions. The leaves danced with them, moving in harmony and surrounding them in a spiral of light.
The ghostly children stopped mid-flight, startled, their heads jerking left and right—confused.
Then the leaves began to glow brighter.
And from each leaf emerged an ethereal being—golden, light-formed copies of Fairy Greatmother, floating with gentle smiles, arms extended.
Each of these spectral grandmothers floated gently toward a crying minion.
And hugged them.
A slow, soothing embrace.
A hand gently stroked the trembling ghost's head as she rested it against her shoulder like a baby.
Another gently wiped the icy tears from a fellow minion's cheeks, melting the frozen drops into shimmering beads of water.
Warmth spread through the air.
Eyes slowly closed.
The cries softened.
And peace… peace fell upon them.
One by one, the Icy Ghostlight Minions glowed softly, their sorrow soothed by the loving touch.
And then—
They dissolved.
Like stardust breaking free, they vanished gently into the air, alongside their golden grandmothers.
No screams. No pain.
Just quiet… like drifting into sleep.
Aurelia gasped, watching her summoned spirits fade into nothing.
Her eyes widened—her children… were gone.
Fairy Greatmother hovered in the light, wand still aglow. She looked at Aurelia and offered a soft, sorrowful smile.
"I used to stroke my granddaughter's hair just like that… when she cried in my arms.
She calmed down the same way your little ones did."
Aurelia's face twisted.
Her hands clenched into fists. Her ghostly glow pulsed with rage.
Her voice dropped—low, guttural, trembling with fury.
"…In that case…"
"I won't hold back anymore!"
Now that the snow had piled thick across the icy grove, Aurelia lowered her ghostly hand with a solemn, sweeping motion, casting a new spell down toward the frozen earth.
The ground rumbled like an earthquake.
Ryo stumbled, eyes darting.
"O-Okay... what fantasy nonsense is gonna happen next!?" he yelped.
Suddenly, near the hazel tree, the snow began to rise. It formed into a towering shape. Then another. And another…
Until five colossal figures stood tall—each one a Titan-sized snow effigy of Aurelia, each over fifteen meters high.
Their hollow eyes flickered with ghostly blue light.
Then—
"CINDERELLA!"
"WHERE ARE YOU, MY LITTLE STAR?!"
"MY BABY… MY HEART!"
"I MISS YOU SO MUCH IT HURTS TO BREATHE!"
"PLEASE... COME VISIT ME AGAIN!"
Their voices boomed in sorrowful unison—haunting, echoing through the grove like a tragic lullaby swallowed by wind.
Ryo stood frozen, mouth wide open.
Horror crept into his expression, but so did something else… pity.
These weren't monsters.
They were echoes of a grieving mother.
The five snow Titans screamed Cinderella's name again and again, their massive arms swinging—not in violence, but in desperate, erratic motions, as if clawing through trees and brushing aside branches in search of their long-lost child.
Fairy Greatmother darted through the air, barely dodging their chaotic movements.
Each snow Titan looked anguished—faces twisted in pain, like they were blind and lost in a storm.
The ground cracked under their weight, ice splitting with every thunderous step, craters forming—wide as ponds.
One Titan turned toward Ryo.
"Oh no—no, no, no—" Ryo gasped, shaking his head quickly.
It charged. Ryo quickly moved away from the tree—and BOOM! The tree he had hidden behind exploded into splinters beneath a monstrous stomp.
"COME ON! Getting stomped by Cinderella's grieving giant mom was never on my to-do list!" Ryo yelled, zigzagging in panicked circles through the grove.
Fairy Greatmother's eyes widened. Aurelia's wrath wasn't just on her—it had turned fully onto Ryo.
She raised her glowing moon-tipped wand and cast a new spell. Thousands of bubbles shimmered into the air, floating like stars.
The bubbles collided with the snow titan approaching Ryo, popping gently against its snowy surface. Each burst released a soft glow of golden confetti. The lights whirled and spiraled around the snow titan like dancing fireflies.
The Titan froze.
Then slowly, like a grieving statue, it dropped to its knees.
Head bowed.
Fairy Greatmother called out. "Mr. Detective! Are you alright, dear!?"
Ryo collapsed against another frozen tree, gasping.
"Yeah... running a marathon from Cinderella's snow giant mom? Not on my workout plan!"
He turned toward the floating ghost of Aurelia, rage burning in his chest, and pointed at her with dramatic force.
"HEY, MADAM! AS A REGULAR HUMAN WITH NO GODDAMN FANTASY MAGIC, COULD YOU NOT INVOLVE ME IN YOUR ICE-FUELED MOTHERLY MELTDOWN!? I'M JUST A DETECTIVE TRYING TO HELP YOU—YES, YOU—FIND YOUR DAUGHTER WHILE CLEARING UP THIS WHOLE 'LET'S MURDER THE INNOCENTS' THING! SERIOUSLY—WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU! YOUR DAUGHTER! THE MISSING PRINCESS! THE FREAKIN' PROTAGONIST OF THIS STORY!"
Aurelia's ghostly gaze fixed coldly on him, her hair rising with icy wind.
She whispered. "More lies..."
Ryo's eye twitched. He threw up his hands, practically steaming with sarcasm.
"YEAH, SUUUUURE—LET'S MAKE 'MORE LIES' YOUR OFFICIAL SLOGAN! MAYBE PRINT IT ON A T-SHIRT WHILE WE'RE AT IT!"
Offended by Ryo's sarcasm, Aurelia's fury ignited. Without saying a word, she pointed at him with a wrathful, accusing gesture.
The four remaining Titan-sized Snow Aurelias turned in unison, like statues obeying their commander's orders, and began their march toward Ryo. The ground quaked beneath their monstrous steps.
Ryo rolled his eyes, already exhausted. He scooped up a handful of snow, shaped it into a ball, and threw it furiously at the snowy ground.
"ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS!"
"First I pissed off Malakar and nearly got killed at the palace in Al-Munira, and now I've ticked off Cinderella's ghost mom too? WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND GETTING NEARLY MURDERED BY EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE MAGIC USERS?!!!"
Still winded, Ryo turned and began running again — breath ragged, legs dragging — but determination burning in his eyes.
Fairy Greatmother wasn't about to let him fall. Not her detective.
With a swift flick of her wand, four golden autumn leaves whirled around her, shimmering mid-air before transforming into massive, radiant Light Lancers — each one larger than the towering Snow Titans themselves.
She swung her wand, sending the glowing spears hurtling toward the snow monsters.
But Aurelia raised her hand.
Suddenly — five thousand ice butterflies burst into existence, crystalline and razor-edged. With eerie silence, they rushed faster than the lancers, orbiting them like a swarm of blue-white comets.
Then —
The butterflies latched onto the lancers mid-flight, freezing them—then CRACK!—shattering them like glass on marble.
Fairy Greatmother gasped, a chill catching her breath.
Her voice faltered in horror. "…Oh no…"
But Aurelia wasn't done.
With a slow, grim curl of both palms, she began casting another spell — faster, colder, darker.
The snow near Ryo began to lift and swirl. A giant snowball—about ten feet in diameter—levitated high above him, humming with death.
Ryo, too drained to keep going, stumbled and dropped to his knees. His hands sank into the snow, head bowed in defeat. "Sh*t…"
Then he looked up—
And realized he was completely surrounded. The four Snow Titans had closed in, forming a circle, trapping him.
Fairy Greatmother's heart seized. "No!"
She raised her wand again, summoning wings of sunlight that bloomed from Ryo's back like divine shields, ready to envelop him in radiant warmth — a protective cocoon.
But the Titans didn't stop.
They raised their colossal arms and began a slow, crushing descent, their massive palms ready to squash him like an insignificant bug.
The giant snowball above him dropped, inching downward like a slow, deadly meteor.
Ryo's eyes widened.
Something inside him snapped.
His pupils shrank. His fists clenched the snow. His voice trembled with fury.
"If that's how it is…"
He stood — slow, shaking, ignoring the sunlight wings behind him.
"…If you're gonna keep playing the 'misunderstood tragic spirit' and trying to kill me, then fine. FINE. I'm not gonna be that 'noble-hearted protagonist' who makes a tear-jerking speech about love and healing your broken heart. NOPE. I'm not using that cliché b*llsh*t—not the power of friendship, not the magical tears, and definitely not gonna tell you, 'You're not a monster—you're just hurt inside.' Those tropes barely work in real life, except maybe in some overdramatic anime."
His eyes gleamed like steel. Wide. Sharp. Furious.
He cast a deathly glare from the corner of his eyes at Aurelia — and it wasn't sympathy anymore.
It was WAR!
He was SOOO done with her…
Aurelia flinched—genuinely caught off guard by his deathly gaze.
Then, slowly, a wicked smile pulled at her lips. "…Die…" she whispered.
Fairy Greatmother panicked.
"Mr. Detective! Stay down, the wings will shield you!"
But Ryo didn't budge.
He reached into the folds of his trench coat — and drew something long and gleaming.
A blade.
A relic.
{ Khanjar of the Forgotten Oasis }
The dagger gifted to him by the royal family of Al-Munira after he saved their kingdom.
It's a curved dagger with a pale, shiny blade that looks like silver mixed with sand. Glowing blue symbols run along the edge, flickering faintly like sunlight on water.
The handle is wrapped in smooth black leather lined with gold thread, and at the bottom, a small glass orb holds a tiny, swirling sandstorm. Just above the grip, a green gem sparkles softly — like water trapped inside stone.
The Titan palms and the giant snowball loomed one meter above him.
Ryo raised the dagger. Its edge glinted like sunlight on water.
"If you won't listen… and keep calling the truth 'lies' just to stay in denial…"
SWING.
In a single motion — SLASH — Ryo sliced through the descending snowball and four Titan-sized hands.
ZYOUM! Then — BOOM!!!
The snowball exploded midair into a blizzard of silver sparks. The Titan-sized palms and the towering Snow Aurelias dissolved together into steam, collapsing in bursts of glitter and vapor.
The battlefield fell silent.
From the rising smoke and swirling frost — Ryo stood tall.
His coat fluttered behind him. His blade still in hand. His sharp, unwavering gaze locked on Aurelia.
He raised the dagger close to his face. His voice was low, bitter, and dead serious… as he finished his sentence.
"…Then I'll just have to kick your ghostly a** so you do calm down." He said, flat-out disrespecting Cinderella's mom right after she tried to squash him—classic case of 'misunderstanding with deadly consequences.'
Aurelia gasped, stunned. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"
Fairy Greatmother blinked — awestruck. "My goodness."
The dagger shimmered in Ryo's hand, the symbol of his resolve.
During his rest days in Al-Munira…
Two days before returning home to Japan, Ryo asked Shahira and Amina what the dagger was even for. The two girls exchanged a look, then guided him to a practice battleground.
Shahira grinned. "You'll understand once we show you. Watch closely."
Amina summoned her windy katana with a sharp gust of air, while Shahira took her stance, holding the dagger.
Amina slashed a wind blade straight at Shahira — who swung the dagger through the attack — and ZYOUM! The magic shattered instantly on contact, dispelling it.
Ryo stared in disbelief. "Okay, what the hell? I don't need some magic dagger, I'm a detective, not a fantasy desert warrior."
Shahira burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Says the guy who just survived a fight with an immortal cursed sorcerer."
Amina smirked, arms crossed. "You seriously think that was a one-time thing? You've got 'magnet for magical disasters' written all over you, Mr. Anime protagonist!"
Ryo had doubted it then.
But here he was… not in some hidden land — actually isekai'd into a fairytale world — and knee-deep in another case soaked in magic.
Back in the Grove…
Ryo's breath misted in the cold air. He narrowed his eyes, thinking. If this dagger dispelled those snow titans and that wrecking ball–sized snowball… and the blizzard was also magic cast by Aurelia… then maybe—
He gripped the hilt tighter.
Then, without warning, Ryo gave a wide horizontal swing through the empty air.
ZYOUM! Followed by a thunderous WHOOOOM!
A shockwave of golden wind pulsed outward from the blade.
The howling blizzard stopped.
The swirling snowflakes hovering in the air paused… then gently drifted to the ground like falling leaves.
Above, the oppressive storm clouds cracked open.
A single ray of sunlight pierced through—then more. The sky brightened, the warmth spilling over the battlefield like hope breaking through despair.
Fairy Greatmother looked around in wonder. "…The blizzard… stopped."
Aurelia's eyes widened, her ghostly form trembling slightly as she stared skyward, disbelief twisting her expression.
"…How…? Such a thing… shouldn't be possible…"
Ryo let out a low whistle, raising the dagger up to the light and watching it gleam.
"So that's how it is, aye…"
Then his gaze turned… to the hazel tree.
Encased in solid crystal ice, the cracked glass slipper gleamed faintly—trapped and frozen like a cursed relic.
Ryo squinted, putting the pieces together.
If his dagger could dispel magic…
What would happen if he struck that frozen block?
Why go through the trouble of trapping the hazel tree, of all things?
His eyes sharpened.
Something in his gut told him: this is where the truth lies.
Then he gave a dark grin and turned to Aurelia.
"Hey, madam! Looks like you're desperately guarding that hazel tree…" He pointed lazily with the dagger. "With Cinderella's slipper in it."
Aurelia's eyes snapped toward him.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY DAUGHTER'S SLIPPER, YOU THIEF!!" she shrieked.
Ryo smirked, his voice low and taunting, baiting her.
"Ooohhh… could it be… that's your weakness?"
Aurelia flinched. Her lip twitched. "N…no… T-that's—!"
BUSTED.
Ryo knew.
The way she reacted—
That wasn't rage.
That was fear.
He turned toward the hazel tree, slowly beginning his approach, eyes set and blade in hand.
"Look, madam…" he began, voice quiet but sharp. "Me and ma'am came here to pay our respects. You know, that kind of respect where we say a prayer and hope you're watching us from heaven, smiling."
He stepped closer.
His eyes narrowed, bitter.
"But since you didn't return that respect, and instead decided to act like a vengeful, bound spirit—accusing us, hunting us, trying to kill us in some fantasy shounen battle without even hearing us out…"
His voice cracked with frustration.
His glare burned.
"…Then why the hell should we play nice with you when we're out here risking our lives trying to find your daughter?!"
He snapped. "WE DON'T HAVE TIME DEALING WITH YOUR MISUNDERSTANDING TROPE—YOUR DAUGHTER'S MISSING, AND EVERY SECOND YOU STALL COULD KILL HER!"
Aurelia descended slowly from above the grave—hovering just over her tombstone.
Her arms stretched outward, energy gathering and glowing brighter as she prepared to cast another attack spell, her expression turning hateful once again.
In a ghostly whisper—
"Come any closer, and I'll freeze you for eternity…"
"You thief…"
"You kidnapper…"
"You kidnapped… my daughter…"
Ryo froze in place.
Then—
Fairy Greatmother descended beside him, her cloak fluttering behind her. She raised her wand slowly, calmly, but firmly—aimed at Aurelia.
Her voice was soft, almost pleading.
"We don't want to hurt you, Aurelia…"
"All we want… is to help you."
Ryo raised the dagger, pointing its gleaming edge directly at the ghostly mother.
Snow whispered across the field.
Aurelia's glow intensified.
The wind stilled.
Ryo's dagger glinted like judgment.
The battle was about to reach its climax—
And someone… was about to break.