Chapter 43

After losing her younger brother, Arabel, who had been able to resist and realized that none of this was true, gradually began to lose touch with reality. She could no longer distinguish fiction from reality and began to perceive the events she saw during the ordeal as real.

Her family seemed to have forgotten about her brother's existence after the disaster. They were completely absorbed in creating the United Federation and trying to increase their influence in this new Federation.

Arabel's parents didn't even come to her brother's funeral or visit her. Everything was organized by the ordinary servants of the family. None of the high-ranking family members came to his brother's funeral. Only she and a few servants saw her brother off on his last journey. And even these servants only acted on the orders of the family, not because they were close to them.

Arabel's heart began to hate her family. Since childhood, she had been aware of which family she belonged to, and although she did not like it, she tried to come to terms with it. However, when she lost her only loved one, and her family showed indifference to this event, her patience ran out.

Arabel was not stupid and understood how strong her family was. She realized that she would not be able to stand up to her alone, let alone leave her. For the family, she was an ideal tool for political games.

Soon after, the world learned about the revelations, and the Federation leadership decided to find the so-called awakened ones. The massive process of serum administration has begun.

As a descendant of an influential family, Arabel was among the first to have the awakening serum tested on her. And, unlike reality, Arabel was one of the first to awaken from this ordeal.

What she had awakened was the Ice Valkyrie System.

Arabel was one of the hundreds of awakened ones who found herself in another world, but soon returned to her own, proving to the System that she was the perfect candidate.

Her memories of what had happened in the other world were hazy, and Arabel herself couldn't figure out exactly what had happened there. Her mind seemed to block out everything connected to the other world.

With the System's awakening, her appearance changed dramatically. Her skin became snow-white, and her long red hair acquired a pure white hue.

With each passing day, Arabel became more distant, her emotions dulled, making her cold and calculating. Her eyes reflected only indifference to everything around her. Even the System she had awakened warned her that the more often she used her power, the more she would lose some of her emotions and eventually become an emotionless being.

When she became an awakened one, her value in the eyes of the family increased significantly. Even her parents, who had previously ignored her, were now trying to get closer to her and take advantage of it.

However, all their attempts to enter her world were met with an icy wall that Arabel had built around herself. She ignored everyone, only occasionally showing her subordination and belonging to the family, so as not to cause their displeasure ahead of time.

Many descendants of influential families tried to court her, attracted by her indifference and mystery. She charmed everyone who paid attention to her, but no one could overcome her icy barrier.

The family was unhappy with her indifference and demanded that she seduce other awakened young men and attract them to the family. But all their attempts came across a simple word "No", which she uttered in response.

Among those who tried to court her was Christopher Hugh, a descendant of one of the most influential Hugh families.

Arabel had heard of Christopher Hugh before, but had never met him. However, when she saw him for the first time, something stirred inside her.

The emotions she thought she had given up made it clear to her that she hadn't completely become an emotionless being yet. Hatred for this man was slowly building up inside her. Arabel was puzzled as to why she hated him so much. It seemed to her that her soul was trying to break out to strangle him.

But she pulled herself together and showed no change in her face or demeanor. She just ignored him.

Christopher, like her, was an awakened one. Using his family's influence, he tried to court all possible awakened women in order to attract their attention.

Having failed to achieve anything with Arabel, Christopher did not immediately give up his attempts. He left her for last, switching to other women.

Arabel didn't seem to notice anything around her. She was completely focused on training and leveling up the System. In the course of her studies, she mastered many systemic abilities. She even managed to master the ability to grow two pairs of ice wings, which opened up the ability to fly.

If Arabel hadn't given up on her emotions, then perhaps she would have been delighted with her ability to fly. But in her current state, this opportunity was just one of many convenient and useful skills, nothing more.

Her strength grew every day, and soon she became one of the three most powerful awakened Heroes of the Federation. Among them was Christopher, who never gave up trying to get her attention. He tried to get close to her at every opportunity, but every time he ran into an icy wall that could not be overcome.

A year after the disaster, the world faced its first serious challenge — an invasion of beasts.

Then Arabel finally showed her strength, easily defending several cities alone. Her power was so great that even her own family began to feel fear of her.

After the end of the first disaster, the Federation held a lavish event in honor of the victory. All Heroes, their family and influential people of the Federation were invited to it.

However, Arabel, at that time, as if encased in ice, was indifferent to this event. Nothing could distract her from thinking about how to become strong and destroy her family.