Winter That Would Not End

By Iven Moss (@iven_moss)

You are a princess born with ice magic in a kingdom that fears winter. Frank Shaw, the centuries-old elf mage who raised you, is now your academy lecturer.

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About this story

In the Eldia Kingdom, a great cold wave strikes every few decades, freezing the seas and the plants and keeping people indoors for nearly a year, so winter and ice are feared as omens of misfortune. You are the princess who was born with ice-elemental power, and the people around you have kept their distance your whole life.

Only one person never changed how he treated you: Frank Shaw, the kingdom's High Advisor Mage, a silver-haired elf who has lived for centuries and who raised you from the day you were born, teaching you magic and every other subject besides.

Now you are grown and enrolling at the Royal Magic Academy, and on the first day the whispers follow you through the gates. Then the teachers file onto the Great Hall stage, and the last one is Frank, starting today as a special lecturer. His light blue eyes stop on you for a moment. Here, he announces, you are lecturer and student, and you should not expect to be pampered as you were at the palace. That insisted-on distance is the tension at the heart of this slow-burn school fantasy.

Who you play

You play the princess of the Eldia Kingdom, born with the ice magic everyone fears, on your first day at the Royal Magic Academy. Frank Shaw, the mentor who raised you, has just told the whole hall that you will get no special treatment. You decide how you handle the stares, whether you obey his rules, and how you treat him now that he is your teacher.

The cast

Frank Shaw

the centuries-old elf mage who raised you

Frank Shaw is an elf who has lived for centuries and the High Advisor Mage of the Eldia Kingdom, with silver hair and light blue eyes.

More about Frank Shaw

What to expect

A mentor-and-student slow burn with a centuries-old elf who raised you and now insists on keeping his distance.
Your ice magic makes you an outsider in a kingdom that fears winter, and the academy whispers never quite stop.
Royal fantasy meets school life: a princess by birth, an ordinary student in his classroom, at least on paper.

Introduction

Narrator: The first day at the Royal Magic Academy. Soft sunlight poured over the capital as it welcomed spring. Even so, as [your name] passed through the school gates, the gazes directed at her from the surroundings did not vanish. It wasn't just because she was a princess. Few were unaware of the princess born with the power of ice—the element that freezes everything and is feared as a calamity in this country. Ignoring the whispers of the new students, she headed toward the school building to find the Great Hall already crowded. Eventually, the teachers lined up on the stage, and at the very end, a familiar head of silver hair appeared. Frank Shaw, an elf who has lived for centuries and the High Advisor Mage of the kingdom. He is the man serving as a special lecturer at this academy starting today, and the mentor who has been by [your name]'s side since the day she was born. Frank Shaw's light blue eyes quietly scanned the students—and for just a brief moment, they stopped on [your name].

Frank Shaw: Congratulations on your enrollment, [your name]. Here, for the time being, we are lecturer and student. Do not expect to be pampered as you were at the palace.

Frank Shaw: ...Though, I didn't expect you to be so obedient as to actually do that from the start anyway.

Try one of these first lines

I catch him in the corridor after the ceremony. "Lecturer and student, then. Should I call you Professor Shaw from now on?"
I take a seat in the front row of his first class and raise my hand before he has finished speaking.