Aurelia, now breathing heavily, looked more desperate than ever as she hovered protectively before the hazel tree—her trembling gaze locked on the cracked glass slipper encased in the heart of the frozen trunk. The relic of her daughter, Cinderella.
Panic crept into her soul.
She could feel it. Ryo was dangerously close to figuring out the truth. He had the dagger to dispel the ice. He had the insight. He had the will.
And that made him a threat.
Ryo's eyes, sharp as razors, flicked from Aurelia's distressed expression to the ice-covered tree. He could read her now. Every flinch, every breath, every tremor. She wasn't just guarding the ice. She was guarding that tree.
Ryo considered the possibility."What if I stabbed the hazel tree? Would that weaken Aurelia?"
He wasn't sure. It was just a guess. A dangerous one.
But first, with the help of Fairy Greatmother, he needed to get past Aurelia, dispel the ice cage, and claim the slipper.
Only as a last resort would he strike the tree.
He wanted to end this peacefully. He wanted to gain Aurelia's trust even if she still misunderstood him because of the traumatizing cruelty she endured before her death.
Ryo lowered his dagger.
Aurelia, arm still stretched out, eyes wide. "What… are you doing?"
Ryo took a deep breath, exhaled, then looked her in the eyes.
"Let's end this madness, Madam. There's no need for us to fight anymore."
Fairy Greatmother nodded in agreement.
"That's right, Aurelia." She lowered her wand. "We don't want to fight. We want to help you find Cinderella. Let's talk, all of us."
Aurelia began trembling. Her teeth clenched.
In her mind, she didn't believe them.
She couldn't.
The trauma she experienced in life — her betrayal, her murder — had shattered her ability to trust anyone except her daughter. She was blinded by hatred. Blinded by doubt. All because of that ONE PERSON!
She couldn't go through that again.
Everyone she meets… she sees as a liar. A betrayer. A kidnapper who took Cinderella from her.
That was how deeply broken Aurelia had become.
Her lips curled into a bitter smile.
"You think a mere conversation will solve this?" she scoffed, voice trembling. "You two… you kidnapped my daughter."
And then… she broke.
Her laughter burst out, wild and bitter.
"HAHAHAHA! You kidnapped my beloved Cinderella! You!"
Tears streamed down her face, but her eyes burned with fury.
"You took her from me—my daughter! My Cinderella! Ha… ha… how could you?!"
Her voice trembled, caught between rage and heartbreak.
"You lie, but I know the truth. You're the one who stole her!"
No matter what he or Fairy Greatmother said, Aurelia shut them out, her mind shackled by overwhelming rage and grief.
Ryo clenched his jaw, his voice rising with bitter frustration.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW, MADAM AURELIA?! WE'RE DESPERATELY TRYING TO FIND YOUR DAUGHTER!!"
Aurelia grabbed her ghostly head, shaking it fiercely in denial and anguish.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SILENCE, YOU STRANGE FOREIGN MAN!"
Her voice became venomous.
"You don't even LOOK like you're from around here — you MUST be the one who kidnapped my beloved Cinderella!"
Ryo had had enough.
His hand tightened around his dagger. His grip trembled with rage.
He raised the blade again.
But then… he did the unthinkable.
He shifted his aim.
Toward the cracked glass slipper.
Aurelia gasped, her voice trembling. "Wh… Wh-What are you… d-doing?"
Ryo's gaze sharpened. His eyes narrowed. "If you're not going to cooperate…"
He roared. "THEN WE'LL JUST HAVE TO FORCE OUR WAY THROUGH EVEN IF I HAVE TO SLICE DOWN THAT DAMN HAZEL TREE TO GET THAT SLIPPER!"
Aurelia's eyes widened.
His words felt like a punch to the gut.
Fairy Greatmother's breath hitched. She turned to Ryo, startled. She had never seen him like this.
He was at his limit.
Ryo began stepping forward — slowly — his dagger aimed straight at Aurelia once more.
Aurelia whispered, trembling, her voice cracked and broken.
"No… no… no… please… stop. Or I'll… kill you…"
Fairy Greatmother shouted, worried.
"Mr. Detective, please stop! You need to calm down!"
But Ryo didn't listen.
He wasn't stopping.
He'd had enough of being misunderstood.
He was just steps away from the hazel tree.
He passed straight through Aurelia's ghostly form, unshaken by her haunting figure.
Aurelia's mind spiraled into chaos. Her pupils shrank, her head thrashed from side to side, and she clutched at her temples as if trying to keep herself from falling apart.
It felt like her heart was pounding out of her chest—even though she no longer had one.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"
She knew. She knew if she attacked, he'd dispel her ice. She knew he was getting too close. But her body wouldn't listen—her panic drowned out reason.
Ryo stood before the block of ice sealing the hazel tree.
He raised his blade — ready to strike.
But before it could fall—
Aurelia screamed.
Her scream suddenly tore through the sky, echoing across the entire grove.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Ryo froze.
The scream... it wasn't just sound. It was power.
Aurelia's outstretched arms trembled as her ghostly form began to shimmer. Her body flared with light, growing brighter and fiercer. She was transforming, consumed by desperation to protect the tree and the slipper.
She now wore a pale blue gown that shimmered like ice. Silver lace that looked like frost covered the layers. Her wide sleeves were made of thin, see-through fabric patterned like ice crystals.
The tight bodice looked like smooth, frozen velvet with frost patterns. A tall collar of soft white fur wrapped around her neck, and a silver cape with tiny sparkling beads flowed behind her.
She looked regal. Deadly. Icy.
Aurelia raised her right hand, palm facing the detective, and unleashed a frost wind spell.
The wind materialized before Ryo and blasted him square in the chest, sending him flying back beside Fairy Greatmother. He slammed into the snow with a heavy thud.
Fairy Greatmother knelt beside him, panicked.
"Are you alright, Mr. Detective?!"
Ryo groaned, picking himself up.
"Ughh… What the hell just happened to her?"
Aurelia raised her curved palm like royalty. Her voice boomed with cold majesty.
"As the former Snow Queen of Glacindor…"
Ryo's eyes went wide with shock. "Wait... Snow Queen?" he muttered, recalling the fairy tales he'd read.
Aurelia finished her sentence, voice fierce and unwavering.
"And as Cinderella's mother… I SWEAR BY THE FROST AND THE WINDS THAT I WILL PROTECT THIS HAZEL TREE AND MY DAUGHTER'S SLIPPER, NO MATTER WHO DARES TO STAND AGAINST ME!"
The Snow Queen from the old tales… was Cinderella's mother all along.
Then, Aurelia stretched out her right arm, focusing her power toward the snowy ground where Ryo stood.
She cast a daring, ruthless spell.
The earth beneath Ryo trembled.
Then an enormous ice pillar erupted from the snow, shooting straight up into the sky with Ryo atop it.
"Mr. Detective!!" Fairy Greatmother cried out in horror as Ryo was launched into the air.
"Whoa—WOAH!!" Ryo flailed helplessly, hurled upward by the force of the rising pillar.
Now, high above the scattered clouds—2,000 meters in the air—Ryo stood tense on the narrow icy platform at the pillar's summit, the patchy sky revealing glimpses of the land far below.
The surface beneath him was just two meters wide and two meters long.
If he slipped…
If he lost balance…
He would fall to his death.
Ryo's voice shook, laced with panic.
"S-S...sh*t… What am… I even supposed to do up here?!"
He dropped to his knees, glancing around at the endless sky and clouds below. His breath caught in his throat.
He was trapped. Powerless. Alone.
And then he realized—if he tried stabbing the dagger into the icy floor beneath him to dispel the pillar…
It would shatter.
And he'd plummet straight to the ground.
There was nothing he could do.
Down below, Fairy Greatmother clenched her jaw in determination.
She shimmered briefly, then took flight, soaring upward to rescue Ryo—
But before she could reach him, Aurelia raised her palm.
She fired a glacier spell directly at her.
WHAM!
The icy blast struck Fairy Greatmother midair, sending her crashing into a frozen tree—BOOM!—shattering it beneath her impact.
Snow exploded everywhere.
But—
She rose again. Quickly. Unfazed.
She dusted the snow from her gown, her face stern.
Aurelia's expression was unreadable, icy and composed. Her voice was as cold as frost.
"Hmph… I heard fairies have sturdy bodies. Seems you're no exception."
Fairy Greatmother narrowed her eyes, standing her ground.
"Aurelia, you're going too far. Let Mr. Detective down from the sky this instant!"
Aurelia didn't flinch.
Her blank stare turned sharp, her voice colder.
"And why should I?"
"That strange foreign man is obviously a kidnapper."
Then her eyes widened—fierce, accusing—
"And so are you."
Aurelia had changed.
Since transforming back into her former self—the Snow Queen—she had become more composed. More dangerous. More powerful.
She wasn't just a grieving mother anymore.
She was a force of ice, fear, and fury.
Aurelia summoned a storm of ice shards, needle sharp and glittering with deadly intent, and unleashed a deadly barrage toward Fairy Greatmother.
With a graceful flick, Fairy Greatmother's wand extended into a shimmering whip of pure light, crackling as it sliced through the air. She swung it in a flawless arc, shredding each ice shard to splinters before they could reach her.
Aurelia's lips curled into a sinister smile, her eyes darkening like a brewing storm.
"Not bad," she hissed, hovering forward with chilling speed.
Her fingers transformed into jagged, crystalline claws—Winter's Fang—glinting with lethal promise as she prepared to tear Fairy Greatmother apart.
Fairy Greatmother inhaled sharply and retaliated, thrusting her wand forward as a flurry of razor-edged autumn leaves erupted from its tip, slicing through the cold air toward Aurelia.
Aurelia stopped, countering each leaf with her icy claws, cleaving them midair.
"Is that all you've got?" she sneered, her voice dripping with contempt. "Tell me... what's your name, witch?"
Fairy Greatmother's lips curved into a gentle, knowing smile.
"You may call me Ms. Roselia. I'm a school teacher from the village."
With a sharp SNAP! of her fingers, the shredded leaves swirling around Aurelia began to glow with a fiery amber light.
Aurelia's breath caught, eyes darting wildly at the glowing remnants of her shattered attack.
"What's—what's happeni—"
BOOM!
Before she could finish, the leaves erupted in a fierce explosion.
The blast threw Aurelia to the snow-covered ground, and a sudden impossible sensation spread through her ghostly form—pain.
She gasped, eyes wide with disbelief, and turned her head toward Fairy Greatmother.
"How… how did you make me feel pain?!"
With calm, regal grace, Fairy Greatmother raised her wand near her face, her smile serene yet commanding.
"You should never underestimate the power of a fairy."
Aurelia gritted her teeth, eyes burning with fury.
The pain—real pain—still lingered in her ghostly form. How? How could that old woman, a mere fairy, make her feel something so impossible?
Aurelia snapped.
With a sharp cry, she burst upward from the snow, then hovered in place as her icy aura swirled wildly behind her like a raging blizzard.
She unleashed a storm of ice spells, shards and spears hurtling through the air with relentless force.
Fairy Greatmother stood firm, unshaken.
Her wand shimmered again, casting radiant beams of light that spiraled through the cold air, clashing against Aurelia's spells mid-flight.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A magical storm erupted around them—ice and light colliding in midair like fireworks in a winter battlefield.
The ghost and the fairy were locked in a fierce, enchanted duel—a dazzling, chaotic war of elements that lit up the snowy land like a clash between seasons.
The wrath of a ghost queen against the grace of a fairy guardian.
Meanwhile…
Far above, on the narrow icy pillar that pierced the clouds—
Ryo remained frozen in place, still on his knees, gripped by fear.
"Okay, okay… you're fine, Detective. Just… just don't sneeze. Or move. Or do anything that might make things worse," he said, his breath shaky.
The howling wind battered his coat, stung his face, and threatened to tear him off the platform with every passing gust.
Gripping it tightly, he quickly slid the dagger back into his trench coat. He couldn't risk dropping it.
One wrong move, and it would pierce and dispel the ice below him.
And that would be the end.
Ryo scanned the endless white horizon, squinting against the brightness of the sky.
Then—
From the left.
A faint silhouette.
Something tall. Floating.
A shape suspended in the clouds, barely visible.
Ryo narrowed his eyes. "…What is that thing?"
Before he could make sense of it—
WHOOOOOSH!
The wind picked up again—stronger this time. His balance slipped.
"W-WHOA—OH GOD, OH GOD—!"
He flailed, then dropped flat, pressing his stomach and chest down to the freezing surface of the icy platform.
Breathing heavy, heart pounding.
Then—
A sharp, echoing cry cut through the sky.
"COOOO! COOOOOOOOOO!!"
Ryo startled, eyes flicking toward the sound.
It was familiar.
Too familiar.
He turned his head toward the sun-drenched clouds—
Another silhouette soared from the golden light.
"COOO! COOOOOO!!"
Wings outstretched.
As it drew closer, the shape sharpened.
White feathers. Majestic wings. A proud little head.
It was McDrama.
His most dramatic agent. His loudest companion.
The dove sliced through the sky like a tiny airborne knight, swooping down toward the icy pillar with a cry of vengeance.
Then—plop—McDrama landed squarely on Ryo's head, talons carefully nestled in his messy black hair.
Tilting its head with attitude.
Ryo glanced up with a shaky laugh.
"…Hey, McDrama. Nice to see you perched on my head like a weather vane."
McDrama let out another thunderous "COOO! COOOOO!", as if declaring war against gravity itself.
It stood tall—well, as tall as a dove could—like a guardian angel in bird form.
Ryo sighed. "Still… you are a bird brain. Can't exactly carry me off this death trap, you know?"
Because despite McDrama's noble spirit…
…It was still just a dove.
McDrama cooed again, even louder—undeterred.
And for a moment, despite the freezing wind and dizzying height…
Ryo didn't feel quite so alone.
Back down on the snowy battlefield…
Fairy Greatmother and Aurelia were still locked in a fierce magical duel—ice and light colliding, the ground trembling beneath the weight of their powers.
But then—
Aurelia lowered her hand.
The storm quieted.
She hovered in place, her expression unreadable.
She had realized something.
Despite Fairy Greatmother's gentle demeanor and elderly appearance, her body was sturdy, and she remained unfazed by the attacks.
Her power was immense. Every spell Aurelia cast was countered. Every strike deflected. This woman—this fairy—was holding back.
Aurelia narrowed her eyes. "She doesn't want to hurt me..."
And it was true.
Though forced to fight, Fairy Greatmother never wished to cause overwhelming pain, even if she had made Aurelia feel it before. Her heart still longed for peace.
So Aurelia formed a plan.
A cruel, deceptive plan.
Her gaze slowly lifted—toward the distant sky.
Toward the icy pillar.
Toward Ryo.
Then—
Aurelia raised both hands in surrender.
Her voice softened into a false warmth.
"Alright, Ms. Roselia… let's stop fighting each other."
Fairy Greatmother blinked, her wand still raised, but her stance hesitated.
"…Really, Aurelia? Do you truly wish to stop fighting?"
Aurelia gave a gentle, almost sweet smile.
"Why yes. I believe I was in the wrong. I do want to save my beloved daughter… as soon as possible."
But that smile hid something darker—mistrust, rage, and denial. In Aurelia's eyes, nothing had changed. To her, Fairy Greatmother and the strange foreign man were still the kidnappers.
This was all just an act.
Fairy Greatmother sighed in relief, lowering her wand and folding her hands gratefully.
"Oh, thank the heavens! I appreciate it, Aurelia."
Aurelia nodded, feigning sincerity.
"You're very welcome." She pointed toward the sky. "Go on. Get that strange foreign man down from there."
Fairy Greatmother smiled with hope.
"Of course. Just wait here for me and Mr. Detective."
She turned toward the sky, shimmering with a soft golden glow as she rose gracefully toward the clouds.
But then—
Aurelia's smile twisted into a cold, smug curl. "How… gullible," she whispered, her voice barely more than a breath in the wind.
She summoned a long, jagged ice chain, her hands glowing with dark frost. Spinning it with deadly precision, she hurled it upward.
The chain sliced through the sky like a whip from hell.
It struck without warning—coiling around Fairy Greatmother's waist.
"AH!" Fairy Greatmother gasped, snapping her head down in panic.
"AURELIA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"
The chain pulsed with a sinister dark-blue glow. A draining force surged through it.
Fairy Greatmother's limbs weakened instantly. Her glow flickered.
The chain was sapping away her strength.
She struggled against it, but couldn't move.
"A…A-Aure…lia… what have you done to me…?" she whispered, her voice cracking.
Aurelia remained silent.
Her wide, delighted eyes and evil smug said it all.
Then—she raised her palm and summoned massive ice shards, sharp as spears, and launched them not at Fairy Greatmother—but at the pillar.
"NO!!" Fairy Greatmother screamed, drained and panicking. "AURE…LIA, ST—STOP!!"
Ryo, still clinging desperately to the pillar, felt the ground tremble.
His eyes widened as the attacks struck below.
"Oh no no no no no—!" he shouted, gripping the icy surface as it cracked beneath him.
McDrama flapped anxiously while perched on Ryo's head. Then he moved to Ryo's back, tugging at his coat and trying to lift him by flying away—but Ryo was far too heavy.
"COOO! COOO!!" the dove cried desperately.
Then—
CRACK!
A jagged fracture tore through the base of the pillar, rushing upward like a death sentence.
And then—
SHATTER!
The entire pillar exploded into icy shards.
Ryo fell.
Screaming.
Flailing.
The wind roared around him.
McDrama was flung loose from Ryo's back—but the dove then dove down, wings tucked, chasing him with all its strength.
Fairy Greatmother gasped, watching Ryo fall in horror.
She cried out weakly. "WHAT HAVE… YOU DON…E, AUREL…IA?!"
Without warning, Fairy Greatmother's vision blurred and slowly darkened.
The ice chains drained her strength, pulling her toward unconsciousness.
McDrama, diving faster to save Ryo, felt the weight of regret.
"Is this really how it ends for Commander Ryo?"
"Just like when my precious Cinderella disappeared…"
"Am I… so powerless… so helpless?"
McDrama let out one last desperate. "COOOO COOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Fairy Greatmother, almost blacking out, spotted McDrama just above Ryo as he dove from the sky.
Teeth clenched, she whispered through shaky breaths.
"McDrama… I leave… Mr. Detective to you… I'm… counting on you…"
Fairy Greatmother flicked her wand toward McDrama, casting a spell—then blacked out.
With a furious cry, Aurelia whipped her chain and hurled the fairy's limp body downward, slamming her into the earth with a thunderous BOOM! Snow exploded upward as she hit the ground, unmoving.
Still gripping the chain tightly, Aurelia let out a maniacal, yandere-like laugh, thrill of victory pulsing through her as she gazed down at the unconscious old woman.
Then, she looked back up at the falling detective.
"DIE, YOU KIDNAPPER!" she spat, clinging stubbornly to her denial.
McDrama dove faster, wings burning from the force, and caught up to Ryo, flapping desperately just above his face.
Ryo's eyes locked on it.
Something was changing.
"McDrama…?" he whispered.
The dove shimmered.
A golden glow radiated from its wings.
Then its feathers began to elongate.
Its wings widened.
Its body stretched, limbs taking form.
Hooves. A mane. Massive golden wings.
Ryo's breath caught. Upside-down in freefall, he could only stare.
"…No way…"
McDrama let out a powerful, radiant NEIGH! as he transformed into a majestic Golden Pegasus, roaring through the sky like a streak of divinity.