Felipe's POV

  I sat on the throne of the newly built palace, the lights of the torches flickering. The once icy walls were stone walls now, mimicking the palace back in my kingdom: the haven of my fellow Wolfmen.

  I focused on the flyer in my claws. Fresha Kingdom will host the Horse Racing Competition for this year. The competition may be fun, especially the part where kingdoms pretend to be nice to each other while plotting their own intentions.

  But I won't be able to come there to prevent burning the forests, because my lovely witch won't be happy about that. I'm not as vicious as they thought. At least, not to my secret lover.

  This is none of my concern, unless Arie is possibly hiding there.

  "King Felipe," Skadar came in and bowed.

  "I'll be joining the Horse Racing Competition," he stated.

  "So it's settled," I mused. "And one more thing..."

  "Inform me if you see Arie."

  "Yes, King Felipe," he said in his clear voice.

  I called out to my Wolfmen servants as he gently left the throne room.

  "Updates?" I demanded.

  "A Polarman with odd eyes seems to be connected to the Ice Princess," said the female one.

  "And he's hard-skinned," said the slim one.

  "A melon fruit master... Why didn't you bring him here, ready to burn?" I asked.

  "We tried visiting his igloo, King Felipe," the muscular one said. "But we can't remember why we failed. She's no longer there, and neither is the Polarman."

  I let out a dry chuckle. "She made y'all forget, didn't she? It confirms that the Ice Princess was there. And the Polarman's name?"

  "Skymint," the female Wolfman stated. "We also found out that the Guardian of Polarmen placed a bounty on his head. Unfortunately, he failed to capture them when they were already in his claws. He let them go."

  A flash of anger seeped through my veins. "Seriously, the two of them? I'm going to give him an unexpected visit."

  "Look for them in Fresha. It's likely that they are there," I said confidently.

  "Yes, King Felipe," they said in unison.

  I unleashed my fruit cube and hovered it in front of me. "Summon Hot Chili!"

  I took the flashing chili of red and fiery orange flames and ate it.

  "General Sterling, give me back the Weather Clock," I commanded.

  He passed me the clock made of gold. "Rest assured that the kingdom will be safe in my hands while you're away, King Felipe."

  ***

  The sun hung high in the sky, reflecting off my full-body iron armor, spiky pauldron gleaming. Just the perfect time.

  Before I could even speak, the Polarmen guards moved at my sudden appearance, and I held out a hand to stop them. Better to eavesdrop first.

  The Guardian's voice rang out from the mansion.

  "My precious ornament! Did that young Polarman take it with him?"

  "We searched everything, and we found nothing. We're sorry—"

  I gave in to my impatience and entered the doorway.

  The Guardian of Polarmen and I stood face to face, his hands at his sides trembling.

  "What a lovely day, Guardian," I gave him my razor-sharp smile. "You lost two precious individuals and you're looking for a megadamn ornament?"

  "I—I didn't mean to, King Felipe. They got away! Plus, it's better to let them loose so the world goes mad on them," he said in his laid-back, slow tone.

  I took a step close to him and yanked up his neck.

  "But that was the point," I ground out. "I declared her dead so that only I would find her. Not the whole continent."

  I lifted my head, dragging in a sharp breath. "I have no intent to invade your islands, and yet you failed your simple job."

  I released my grip, and his large frame thrashed violently against the marble floor, merging with his own color.

  I took off the Weather Clock as he struggled to stand up.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  "I'll set this island's weather to dry, and I don't expect anything from you. What's done cannot be reversed."

  "And you're not welcome to Glacia," I added.

  "For how long?" he said, his voice hoarse.

  "As long as time exists."

  I walked away with my Wolfmen guards, leaving a harsh place behind.

  ***

  Skadar's POV

  I asked his Wolfmen servants. What did they mean by seeing a Polarman with Arie? She never ran away from me, so that mustn't be true. It can't be. It's just a lie I presented to Felipe.

  But I have to make sure.

  I dived down to the Great Glacia Ocean, feeling the cold sear through my warm skin. I swam deeper and deeper until I reached the Glacia Trench, the exact same spot where I buried the iceberg.

  My heart pounded.

  The iceberg is gone. She's gone.

  It's impossible for her to escape while frozen.

  My hatred for bears grew even more. That pathetic white-furred creature. Skymint. I'll find him and make him suffer as deep as Glacia Trench for taking away my princess.

  ***

  Skymint's POV

  The Grizzlyman's mahogany eyes gazed at me with a sense of familiarity.

  "Yes, I am Skymint," I answered. "And I suppose you're one of them?"

  "The Bear Bearers, correct."

  Bear Bearers. So that's the name of their activist group.

  "I was just about to find your group because I never knew what it's called and that it existed."

  He spread out his hands. "Well, I created the group out of an impulse, so I didn't think that much of the group's name, and it happened that I was eating berries with my drunk comrades."

  "Let's talk at my place." He summoned a perfectly round large rock with forks holding opposite sides and a seat post on top of the solid brown frame.

  "Woah," Arie gasped. "That looks really cool."

  The seats went down themselves for us to reach. Arie's face was bubbling with excitement, and she dragged my arm to quickly get to the seats. It felt strange knowing that something dark was lurking within her. Ellie might as well have broken my bones if she were the one in control here.

  As the rod connecting to the rock lifted back to its initial position, the huge rock started rolling, the sound only the grumbling of the ground. How is he able to keep the hideout hidden if it's this noisy going there?

  The wind whipped past my fur. It felt like ripping off my ears. Luckily I had tucked away my bucket hat before the rocky vehicle started moving.

  Meanwhile, Arie was just vibing with the wind. I still couldn't get rid of this uneasiness crawling up my spine.

  "This is insane!" she yelled.

  Before I could notice it, we veered away from the pathway and directed into the dense forest. For a moment, I thought we would cross over the plants, but the land quickly gave way, moving the shrubs aside.

  We stopped at an open field surrounded by enclosed trees, full of Grizzlymen. This looked familiar, like a place I'd heard of, and it exactly matched it. This was definitely not the hideout yet.

  The rod moved downward, and we lifted off our seats as soon as it touched the ground. And like dust flown away, the rock vehicle vanished.

  "Welcome to the Grizzly Forest!" the massive bear with us said.

  He leaned toward Arie and spoke in a hushed tone, "I can assure you nobody would notice. Just say you're a Glacian traveling if anybody asks."

  She politely nodded.

  He grinned at us. "My name's Berard, by the way."

  "You're the Grizzly King. That's why you're so large. Why didn't you get mad when we didn't recognize you?"

  He turned to me. "It's simply because I'd like to get along with people. I'm not like other kings. I blend with my own fellows. That was stated in the books, and I do know you didn't have any."

  "And I can assure you anybody can be a king. It's not because of my large stature. I used to be your size too." King Berard chuckled.

  The wide eyes of the grizzly cubs followed us, their hands pointing to me and Arie.

  "They're so white!" blurted out by two cubs.

  "For sure they came from the north. They came for the competition," said another cub who was slightly older than them.

  The mention of the north made me feel the eternal distance of where I came from.

  "Come."

  We followed him to a seemingly normal tree that was away from the open field. I thought there would be some magical opening to the tree, but he actually brought us here for the grass-disguised doorway beneath the tree.

  It opened, and a stair leading down below welcomed us. As we entered, the doorway immediately closed.

  The enclosed space was surrounded by bookshelves, the smell burning in the fresh air, and there was a spinning wooden thing on the ceiling that looked like a wind turbine, keeping the room cool. And in the center was a round table with scattered papers. One of them was a flyer.

  I looked up at the King as we reached the table. "Uh, I want to join the competition, but I'm not a kingdom representative."

  "Good. So y'all caught up to the upcoming event," he mused.

  "Don't worry, I have my own beardom. You're automatically our representative," he stated.

  "Why? But you have your own..."

  "I honor your mother. She helped a lot with my investigation, so I owe her," he said with his assuring tone.

  Arie held a book from the table. "Oh, I know this, the Bear Evolution book."

  "It's not just some book. It is secretly the Bear Revolution," he said as Arie made a gasp.

  "Since our history insight is limited, some of the texts written here are made-up. That's where we hid the message."

  He opened the page he was referring to and traced a finger on the letters. I peeked at it, and my eyes caught the words.

  I leaned closer, trying to make sense of the passage. "The Guardian and The Mysterious Bear?"

  "Code names. Focus on these." He tapped a claw lightly on the parchment.

  The Guardian took care of The Mysterious Bear, sending cold meals to their den, plundering from their fellow humans. The Mysterious Bear magically grows while feeding their cubs.

  "I suppose it's for activists, but why go far to conceal it in a book?" I asked.

  "So that Poet Seers could get visions? Layered texts will help a lot from what I know," Arie answered before the Grizzly King could.

  "That's right, Ice Princess," he remarked. "It would be meaningless to do that solely for activists when we can privately discuss. We want the message to further reach others that could help."

  "This means... The Guardian of Polarmen sends the ice bills to The Mysterious Bear, who is either a warlock or a witch, and the food, does this have something to do with the robbery dove?"

  "First half true, the second, it's deeper than that," he said. "I don't know what a robbery dove is."

  I listened carefully, eager to know what game the Guardian was playing. What was the additional tax for?

  "Ice bills are a valuable asset to Puppeteer's Magic users because they're owned by a lot of people. They could literally cast any spells with that. But according to your mother, it already exists, which means they're just feeding the spell," he explained.

  His expression went grim. "The last info she contributed before she fell sick."

  My heart pounded at a realization, but I kept my composure.

  "That's terrifying. I hope the spell wasn't harmful. Or at least it can still be prevented," Arie said, and turned toward me, smiling. "We'll find The Mysterious Bear, together."

  I was barely able to tug in a smile, the creeping realization still gnawing at my conscience.

  They'd been collecting ice bills the whole time for a long-term spell. Those weren't enough, so they also started collecting food, which means...

  They were fueling Arie's curse.