Elios needed Snow. As time passed, his feelings for Snow grew dizzyingly deeper. Just closing his eyes was enough to see her image superimposed on his dark eyelids.

Perhaps he could still turn back now, Elios thought. Snow still doesn’t know what feelings he harbors for her. Yes, if he wants to turn back, it has to be now.

For several days, Elios tried to clear his mind of thoughts about her. Selfishly.

So Elios threw himself madly into activities without a moment’s rest. Whether it was swordsmanship or academics. When he hadn’t smiled for weeks, even young Prince Papel came to his brother’s room to carefully ask if something was wrong.

He realized the futility of such efforts after about three weeks.

Completely exhausted, he flopped onto his bed and became aware that his gaze was once again directed out the window without him realizing it.

The weather had been gloomy for several days. Just like his mood. He couldn’t help but wonder if Snow was feeling depressed because he hadn’t been visiting her.

His heart ached. The thought that those pretty eyes might be downcast because of him made him want to harm himself.

At that moment, he finally admitted his feelings for Snow. As long as he didn’t meet Snow, all he could do was yearn for her, over and over again.

From that moment on, he became completely unable to focus on anything, the opposite of before. He couldn’t do anything properly. His practice sword missed his mentor countless times, and even after reading the same page of a book ten or twenty times, none of the content would register in his mind. That in itself was torturous. And another week passed.

“…Has something been troubling you lately?”

Lord Callisto asked with concern as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and steadied his breathing.

“Does it show?”

Elios asked. Lord Callisto briefly considered how to answer without being disrespectful, then said as he took back the practice sword from Elios:

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Phew”

Elios sighed. He stared at his mentor for a moment before impulsively blurting out:

“When you came to like someone you couldn’t be with, what did you do? Did you ever try to forget them?”

Lord Callisto looked surprised. Elios quickly added:

“Ah, I shouldn’t be asking such personal questions.”

Lord Callisto was, unusually for a nobleman, someone who had married for love. Given his usual demeanor of someone ready to sacrifice his life for family and country, it was hard to imagine, which is why the social circles had been abuzz with gossip at the time. Moreover, the woman who is now the Countess was from a declining baronial family, so there was considerable opposition from his family. Even the previous emperor, who favored Lord Callisto, personally intervened, declaring that he would find him another suitable woman of his rank, but the stubborn man never betrayed his lover.

“Do you perhaps have someone in mind?”

Lord Callisto asked in a very cautious tone. Elios tried to deny it with a casual expression but found he couldn’t. Instead, he lowered his dark eyes heavily.

Lord Callisto had received a similar question before Elios was even born.

Looking at the young man, Lord Callisto felt a sense of pity. Fate can sometimes be incredibly cruel. Why do only such things get passed down? He pulled out a conversation from his old memories.

“Lord. I have something to ask you.”

“Please inquire, Your Highness.”

“Have you ever tried to forget that lady from the baronial family, even once? Did you never waver amidst people who declared you could never be together?”

“…?”

“Ah, Lord. Don’t look at me like that. I’m human too, with all sorts of curiosities dozens of times a day. I’m just asking out of sudden curiosity.”

Lord Callisto still regretted the answer he had given back then. So after much deliberation, he decided to give a different answer to his young lord.

“I acted according to my heart.”

“…What?”

Elios raised his downcast eyes in surprise at the unexpected answer. Lord Callisto smiled firmly, his face showing traces of age.

“I acted thinking only about what would make me least regretful in this moment.”

“In this moment… you chose the path you would least regret?”

Elios repeated his mentor’s words blankly. But, is that really okay?

If Snow had been a lady from a declining noble family like the current Countess Callisto, perhaps he would have hesitated less. But Snow is Saint Bernadette, admired by all.

“If you worry about a future that hasn’t come yet and fail to enjoy the present, wouldn’t that be the true misfortune?”

Lord Callisto was saying things that didn’t match his usual demeanor at all. In fact, even as he spoke this way to the prince, Mihail Callisto wasn’t entirely confident in his own words. However, he had already experienced regret to the point of wanting to die by answering the same question differently. So he had no choice but to answer this way.

‘Yes, what matters is now.’

Lord Callisto hoped that the bright and intelligent prince would have fewer regrets, fewer wounds. That was true both decades ago and now. He watched as the prince’s eyes wavered uncertainly at his words.

“…The present is important? Do you really think so?”

“Enjoy the present instead of worrying about what may never come. And thoroughly prepare for the future that will come.”

It was excessive for a subordinate to advise his lord, but he was not only Prince Elios’s subordinate but also his mentor. That was the spirit in which he spoke.

Hoping that the coming future would not be a painful repetition of the past. That was what Mihail Callisto thought.

♣ ♣ ♣

Elios, who had returned to his room after training ended early, was lost in thought all afternoon. Enjoy the present and prepare for the future. That’s what Lord Callisto had said. But how? No matter how much he thought about it, there seemed to be no ending where both he and Snow could be happy. Both Elios and Snow had too many burdens on their shoulders.

If the moment came when he had to weigh all those other burdens against Snow, could he really do it? Could he set one of them aside? Even if he could, could he demand that Snow choose him if she faced the same situation? It seemed ridiculous to be worrying about this alone without being certain of Snow’s feelings.

In any case, he reached a conclusion after staying up all night. Rather than a conclusion, perhaps it was something he couldn’t have done differently from the beginning.

There was no choice.

There was only one action Elios could take. To meet her.

He couldn’t bear not seeing Snow. Whatever the future might hold, he didn’t even have the luxury to think about it. Just not seeing her for about a month had left him unable to focus on his work, and people around him were giving him concerned looks, saying that the smile had disappeared from the face of someone who always used to smile. He missed her so much he couldn’t stand it. He might end up falling ill.

First, he would meet Snow, and then he would thoroughly think about everything afterward. That was Elios’s conclusion. However, he needed to be certain about Ceres’s actions.

Elios secretly sent a letter to Ceres. If Ceres Martadia already knew everything for certain, there was no need to hesitate.

The reply to the letter arrived very quickly. The beautiful Ceres Martadia wrote a reply on the spot to the knight who had rushed to the Great Temple carrying the secret letter. The knight was able to return to the palace with Ceres’s reply.

The handwriting was elegant and neat, but the content was very brief. Just two lines.

As a servant of the goddess, I cannot go against the divine will.

One line. And below it, another short line was written.

The Saint has not been eating properly and is waiting anxiously.

‘So the gloomy clouds in the sky really were because of me. Snow is longing for me, for El.’

It was a bittersweet joy he had never felt before. He truly disliked himself for making Snow sad, but strangely, he felt happy knowing that she missed him just as he missed her.

Elios threw the letter into the fireplace and burned it. Nothing good would come from anyone finding out that Elios and Ceres had exchanged letters.

He finally decided to go meet Snow again.

♣ ♣ ♣

Having successfully completed the worship ceremony with a gentle smile on her face, Snow returned to her room and collapsed, burying her face on the table. Priest Arianne, who entered the room after her, wore a worried expression.

“Are you very tired?”

“No. It’s only once every five days, what is there to be tired about?”

Snow raised her face weakly and smiled. Arianne, who had been taking care of Snow for nearly 20 years, immediately recognized that the Saint was in a very exhausted state despite her words. With the sky as gloomy as early evening even though it was daytime, it was almost certain that her mood was not good.

“Haah”

Snow sighed. After finishing worship, she always felt mentally drained.