Meanwhile, deep in thought, Leon asked the Viscount, "Was this the first time this had happened? Because with all the rune stone preparations and everything, I'm guessing this isn't the first time this blizzard raging thing has occurred. If so, how could she not know about her ice affinity?"
The Viscount looked down at the ground, his emotions in turmoil. "Well, your guess is right. This isn't the first time this has happened. She didn't know because when it happened and stopped, I made sure that word of it didn't spread out. I hid it from her as well. As of now, only four people know this secret: myself, the butler, her sect leader, and now you. But since she discovered her affinity, it isn't a secret anymore."
Leon frowned, thinking, 'This doesn't make any sense. How could it be hidden from her when she's the origin? Did he alter her memory or something to hide it from her?'
But then his eyes gleamed as he realized the reason. 'Unless... she was still a baby when the frost essence raged last...'
The Viscount noticed the glint in Leon's eyes and knew he had figured it out. 'He's smart.'
Then he began, "You're thinking correctly. Indeed, the first time it happened was when her mother gave birth to her, or rather, during the labor. Since she was still in her mother's womb when it began, before her mother could give birth to her, it started raging and destroying her mother from the inside. Her mother's body was blown to bits after Amelia's essence raged for the first time.
The sight was gruesome. But unlike now, it stopped after a few minutes. I couldn't bring myself to hate her despite the fact that she killed her own mother. This is also one of the reasons why I didn't tell her about her physique and affinity to ice. I even made sure that her ice affinity was kept hidden in all affinity tests she underwent until she discovered it herself, as she did now.
At least, after discovering the physique herself, it would be much easier for me to reveal everything else without revealing that this very physique of hers killed her mother before she was even born."
Leon gulped, feeling tense. 'This is some heavy backstory.'
He hadn't known Amelia had such a deep and heavy backstory, but he should've expected something like this when he heard directly from the horse's mouth that Amelia didn't fall for him, the almighty incubus lord, the father of the body he claimed as his own after transmigrating.
'She didn't fall for this body's father, an Incubus Lord with powerful seducing techniques but fell for me just because I sincerely told her I love her at the right moment and time,' Leon thought, smiling and feeling strangely prideful that he had triumphed over an Incubus Lord despite the latter's superior techniques and skills.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Leon guessed his conversation with the Viscount was over, so he asked the System, 'System, with ice affinity comes resistance to ice and frost, right?'
[Yes, host has gained partial resistance to ice and frost after gaining the ice affinity,] the System replied.
Leon smiled and looked at the Viscount. "I'll go talk to her."
The Viscount frowned. "It's a death wish to enter the array without an affinity to ice."
"Don't worry about me." Leon replied, still smiling. "I've not only got ice affinity but also slight resistance to ice."
The Viscount nodded, intrigued. "Interesting..."
The more he learned about Leon, the more he found him fascinating.
Unlike earlier when the blizzard was just beginning and the System was still extracting Amelia's affinity from her yin essence, now it had been fully extracted and Leon had gained an affinity to ice. He guessed he should be capable of handling the blizzard's cold. With his ice resistance, he wouldn't get frostbite and wouldn't be easily frozen in the blizzard as he had been moments ago when Amelia's essence first began to rage.
The Viscount and the butler watched silently as Leon entered the array, which contained swirling snow and icicles in the raging wind. Visibility was nil, and they were a bit worried. But since Leon had said he could handle it, they didn't stop him. After all, they believed that Leon was not foolish enough to walk to his own death.
Watching Leon's back as he moved forward into the array, the Viscount yelled, "You can reveal everything to her except that she killed her own mother."
Meanwhile, Leon nodded and passed through the array, stepping into the blizzard. Unlike what he had expected, this place felt like a haven. Before, without his ice affinity, he had suffered multiple cuts from the sharp, pointy icicles swirling in the blizzard wind. Now, with his newly gained ice affinity, it was as if the swirling icicles and snow dusts tended to avoid him.
It was strange. The wind still carried them, but when they came close, they slid past without even grazing his hair or clothing. It was as if he was inside an air bubble, watching the blizzard components swirl around him. It was amazing. The snow, the icicles, and the myriad other elements of the blizzard all seemed to have a mind of their own.
Leon found it strange. At first, he thought it was his resistance. But on further reflection, he realized that ice resistance alone wouldn't cause this. Ice resistance would just protect his skin from getting hurt and make it harder for ice-element attacks to affect him. Then he thought of Amelia. Maybe she had a hand in this...
Regardless, he found it cool. Aside from the cold, which his body could easily shrug off due to his ice resistance, nothing caused him any problems.
He continued forward, marveling at the bizarre, yet fascinating spectacle around him. It was as if he had stepped into another world, a world where the blizzard acknowledged his presence and chose not to harm him.