“I’m sorry. I wanted to rush over right away, but I had to sneak out, so I couldn’t come whenever I wanted to.”

He wanted to come right away. Snow’s face turned bright red. Snow tried to force down the corners of her mouth that were rising too much from happiness. She bit her lip and smiled.

A few days earlier, Elios had rushed here impulsively without any preparation due to the unsettling weather, and ended up being confined to his quarters. But he couldn’t keep doing that. Today, Elios had instructed his maid not to let anyone in because he wanted to be alone, and then secretly slipped out through the window. It couldn’t have been better that his room was located on the relatively low second floor. From the second floor, one could land safely with a careful jump.

“I’m sorry.”

Elios apologized once more politely. Snow had something to ask of Elios. She had been wondering when and how to bring it up, but now seemed like the right time. She smiled slightly and opened her mouth.

“Hey, if you’re sorry… will you grant me one request?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Elios readily answered. Until now, Arianne had been the only person Snow could speak to in this manner.

To Snow, Elios was a special existence. He was reliable and much more mature than her, someone she could reveal her inner thoughts to like she did with Arianne, yet the feeling was different from how she liked Arianne. Snow would casually throw herself into Arianne’s arms, but she couldn’t do that with Elios. When their bodies brushed against each other, that spot would tingle. She didn’t want to look bad in his eyes, and she wanted to be with him as much as possible.

She loved it most when Elios smiled kindly, but strangely, it was difficult to look at it directly up close. It made her feel tense and excited, as if something good was about to happen, but that excitement was too strong to bear. So in front of Elios’s smiling face, she would end up lowering her head first, or turning her gaze away, or starting to talk about something completely unrelated. Yet she still hoped that Elios would smile kindly again, which was quite a contradiction.

Elios was waiting for Snow’s words. Snow fidgeted with her hands clasped together as she continued.

“Long ago, when we first met. Do you remember what you said before you left?”

There was no way Elios could not remember the moments he had revisited and revisited throughout those six years. Even if he forgot his surname “Riman Akelan,” he would never forget the beautiful name “Snow” that she had directly told him then.

“I said I would definitely come back.”

Elios said with a bitter smile. Though unintended, he had made her wait for six years.

“No, not that. Before that. Right before I told you my name.”

“Hmm… Let’s see. Did I say that the first prince of the imperial palace was the most wonderful person in the world?”

“No! Not that!”

Snow flared up slightly. Her wriggling and squirming in anger was just as pretty as when she smiled.

“Hahaha! I’m joking, Snow. Of course I remember. I said we should go see outside the temple together, right?”

Snow nodded, her cheeks puffed out in a pout. Elios asked:

“Why? Have you become interested in going outside the temple?”

Snow bit her lip tightly. She seemed to have made a firm decision. She answered:

“Yes. I want to go outside. I’m so curious about how people live. How people starving outside the castle walls survive, what it’s like when people die from simple illnesses because they can’t call a doctor. I don’t know those things well. I’ve heard about these facts through others and read about them through words, but I haven’t seen them with my own eyes or felt them on my skin. Now I really need to know properly.”

She had sworn at her coming-of-age ceremony to be one who plants light in dark places. She was sincere. She wanted to be someone who could soothe everyone’s wounded hearts. She wanted to become “Saint Bernadette” who could bring a ray of hope even to the darkest, dampest places. But she knew she couldn’t do anything while trapped in the Santarium.

She had made up her mind to take a step into the world.

Elios saw the determination in her eyes. Snow had undoubtedly firmly resolved to give it a try. That he could be part of such an important event was an honor beyond compare. Elios bowed his head formally to show respect.

“It is an honor to be able to share in that noble intention.”

“Why are you suddenly acting like that?”

Snow asked, bewildered. Instead of answering, Elios smiled broadly. Eventually, Snow also relaxed and smiled along with him.

“Alright. I’ll show you the world outside the temple. But will you promise me one thing?”

Elios asked in a quite serious tone. When Snow nodded, he continued:

“Let’s agree not to be too greedy at once.”

“…Greedy?”

Snow didn’t understand Elios’s words immediately and asked again. Elios explained the meaning of what he had said a bit more.

“Slowly, very slowly, let’s learn. If what you want to know is 100, today would be about 20. Next time, about 40. The time after that, about 70… Do you understand why I’m saying this?”

Elios asked carefully. Snow smiled weakly. She couldn’t help but understand.

“Because if I see too many things at once, I might not be able to handle it? If I get shocked, there will be tremendous rain or snow, and the empire will be in chaos.”

The weather changing according to her mood was a miracle that Snow had never intended or wished for. Snow was very displeased with her situation. Elios looked sympathetically at Snow, who was smiling sadly.

“The state of the sky would be a problem, but I also want you to be a little less burdened. I’ll help you adapt to the world gradually, bit by bit.”

Snow replied, “Yes, I understand.” She too knew that she had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse. She had a very vague idea of how shocking what she was about to see might be. El was right. If she pushed too hard from the beginning, she might not be able to control her emotions properly even with him by her side.

“Good. It’s quite cold outside. Dress warmly and come out, Snow.”

In her eagerness, Snow didn’t even take off her nightclothes but put on her winter priest’s robe over them. And she took out the thick outer garment that she had never worn except when briefly going to another temple for prayer. As Snow was about to open the door and go out to the corridor, she stared at the window that was still open. Going through the corridor would take longer, and she might wake the other priests who were sleeping.

Without time to think of anything else, Snow impulsively climbed onto the bed and leaned out the window. She had taken off her shoes and was holding them in both hands. Elios, who had been walking towards the door of the Santarium, saw her and came back.

“El. Can you catch me like before?”

“Are you thinking of jumping down?”

Elios looked surprised for a moment but soon smiled freshly. He spread his arms and answered briefly.

“Of course.”

Only when Snow saw El with his arms spread did she clearly realize in a different sense what she was trying to do. Thinking about it, for El to catch her, he would have to embrace her. Her face reddened. But this was the surest way to leave the Santarium without being discovered by the priests.

Elios was already preparing to catch her. The height from where Elios was standing to Snow’s room window wasn’t much. Snow decided to just close her eyes tightly and jump down. Although Snow was generally timid, strangely, she didn’t feel scared at all at this moment. Snow trusted El.

The next moment, Snow’s body was enveloped in Elios’s arms.

The streets of the capital were lively despite the late evening. Snow, who had somehow managed to stuff her long white hair into a small hat to cover it, was so busy taking in the new world with her eyes that she didn’t notice what expression Elios had while staring at her.

To Snow, who had lived surrounded by all white things, the colorful world was truly a surprise. Her breath, clouding in the air, was heated by her excitement for new things.

Snow turned her head this way and that. With each slight turn of her neck, an unfamiliar scene unfolded.

Unlike the Great Temple where everyone wore the same white priest’s robes, making it difficult to distinguish who was who from behind, the people of the outside world had dizzying variety in their appearance. From a middle-aged woman carrying a child on her back to noisy peddlers displaying all kinds of goods for sale. Snow felt as if she had stepped into a world that had only existed in books.

Unlike Snow, who viewed the world with infinite goodwill filled with curiosity, Elios was somewhat on edge. Today was Snow’s first time ever leaving the temple. Having lived her whole life surrounded by benevolent priests, she didn’t know well that there were times when one should be wary and careful of people. If he had known he would be leaving the temple with Snow like this, he would have selected a trustworthy knight to bring along as an escort when leaving the castle.

The only fortunate thing was that the capital was safer than it had ever been since the founding of the nation.

After the calamity occurred and the holy maiden suppressed it, people believed in the goddess more firmly than ever before. It was thanks to the birth of the holy maiden and people’s faith that the temple, which had lost most of its actual military power and authority and essentially had no power, was able to recover its strength to this extent. And it wasn’t just the temple that benefited from people’s faith.

Truly strangely and amusingly, the frequency of various crimes decreased markedly right after the end of the calamity. At the root of this was the belief that evildoers would surely be punished by the Goddess Amir. The fact that the calamity ended due to the holy maiden’s miracle meant that God had directly punished evil. People believed that the Goddess Amir was watching whatever they did.

The newly enthroned Emperor did not miss this opportunity and newly organized a special unit in charge of security and strengthened punishments for crimes. When the state implemented various new policies to prevent the recurrence of crimes that had strangely decreased due to the psychology of people who believed in God, the effect was indeed good. Now people didn’t need to be as vigilant as before when walking around late at night.

Nevertheless, Elios couldn’t completely relax. No matter what anyone said, Snow was the holy maiden. If her hat were to come off, her long silver hair would spill out, and that would inevitably attract attention. If it became known that the holy maiden had secretly come out with the prince, it wouldn’t be good for either Snow or Elios.