"So you're the lady of the Frost family."
Amelia could still remember the first time she met her—clear as if it had happened yesterday.
The silver-haired girl stood among a circle of towering knights, yet it was she, not they, who drew every gaze. There was no need for raised voices or showy gestures; her very presence eclipsed everyone around her.
"Pleased to meet you," Alice had said then, her tone polite but not distant. "Let's get along, as we're both part of the Emperor's faction."
Perhaps it was the merchant's instinct, inherited from her parents, that made Amelia notice her so quickly. Or maybe it was the Northerner's yearning for strength that pulled her in.
Whatever it was, from that very moment, the brilliance radiating from Alice was something Amelia found herself unable to look away from.
She doubted she was the only one. During that friendly hunt at the social gathering, anyone with eyes must have felt it too—that magnetic pull, that quiet dominance.
