Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 73 of 74

Outside the palace gate, Kawaii Princess saw her rival's fresh paint drying on the post. She did not stop to read it. The cold had sharpened overnight, and she heard the crack before she saw it — a thin pop that ran up her pink crystal pillar from base to tip. Pale stone showed through the fracture lines. Bright shards of pink crystal still clung to the column, but a long split now ran beside the carved hearts of her followers. She climbed into the stone watchtower beside the grounds and watched the pillar through a narrow window. Wind battered the walls. She counted the cracks by lamplight. If the pillar shattered when the broadcast bell rang, her stage lost its center, and her rival won the morning without singing a note. Before dawn, she carried a wooden clamp down to the pillar. The iron hinges were stiff with snow. She set the jaws around the worst split, just below the carved hearts, and tightened it slow so the crystal would not pop loose. Then she packed wet snow into the joint and let the cold freeze the clamp tight against the stone. She added a second clamp higher up, near the tip, and braced the seam with frost. When the bell rang, the pillar held. The head scout walked the base, touched the clamp, and raised the crown token. The carved hearts stayed lit on the broadcast. But Kawaii Princess saw the split still creeping under the wood — the clamp had bought her this round, not the next.