Ceres couldn’t fully understand what had happened to the Holy Maiden. But she could tell that something ominous had occurred. She had an unpleasant premonition that this wouldn’t end with just this one incident. Improving Snow’s mood right now would only be a temporary solution for the gloomy weather.

“Was that woman someone who existed only in the Holy Maiden’s dream?”

A questioning voice was heard. Snow lifted her head, which had been slightly bowed. After deep thought, she shook her head.

“I don’t think so. Whether it was the past or the future, what I saw was definitely a person living in this real world. For some reason, I glimpsed a part of that person’s life for a brief moment. That’s what it seems like.”

The death she felt in the final moment was too vivid to be just a dream. The sight growing distant. The feeling that her breath wasn’t her own, the dizzying sensation of her mind sinking underground while her body remained. The sudden darkness. With no thoughts or anything else remaining, only the swirling emotions forcibly held onto the soul trying to fly away, like an earthbound spirit. Such an experience couldn’t be a mere dream.

The landscape, which had been colorful like a watercolor painting, suddenly cooled as of this morning. People were anxious. As always, they hoped the Holy Maiden would dispel the witch’s curse.

However, the priests who knew the secret about the Holy Maiden’s emotions worried that something serious might have happened to her. After hearing Snow’s account, Ceres needed to go outside and provide the priests with an appropriate explanation about the state of the weather.

Ceres frowned and closed her eyes. The Holy Maiden’s hand was still cold. After lengthy contemplation, Ceres Martadia asked:

“Was the woman in your dream connected to you? Is there anyone you suspect it might be?”

Snow spoke in a careful tone.

“Yes, there is someone I suspect.”

♣ ♣ ♣

As soon as the sun passed its highest point in the sky, Elios arrived.

Knock, knock, knock-knock-knock—a knocking sound with regular intervals was heard. The number and spacing of the knocks were a secret code established between Snow and Elios. So Snow ran to open the door without asking who it was. There stood El, hiding his identity with a deeply pulled-down hood over his priest’s robe.

After El had spoken with Ceres, he was able to enter and exit the Santarium disguised as a priest with Ceres’s help. Ceres had given El some kind of mark, which, when shown, allowed him to enter the Santarium without removing his hood to reveal his face.

The scent of the wind still clung to him. His breathing was heavy. He must have rushed here quite urgently. He removed his hood as soon as the door closed. His black eyes appeared, seeming to carry Snow’s share of worries as well as his own.

Upon seeing him, Snow felt like she might burst into tears that she had been holding back. Seeing the weather change like this, she had unconsciously hoped he would come today. And he really did come. Even though he had already visited the Grand Temple yesterday under the pretext of receiving a High Priest’s blessing, making it difficult to find another excuse to visit the temple today, he still came.

Elios stroked Snow’s hair. Then he lowered his hand to gently cup her cheeks, carefully turning her face right and then left, examining her intently. He immediately noticed that Snow was trembling slightly. Her warm cheeks, which usually had a faint blush, were cold today.

“Are you sick?”

Elios asked tenderly. Snow silently bowed her head and pulled him to sit on the bed. Elios, not understanding what was happening, was dragged backward until the back of his legs hit the bed, causing him to sit down with a thud.

Snow climbed onto the bed, kneeling behind Elios and burying her face in his back. When Elios tried to turn around, not understanding what was happening, Snow firmly gripped his shoulders to prevent him from turning his head.

Elios was about to say something, surprised by how unusually cold Snow’s hands felt through his clothes, when he noticed her face slightly trembling. He heard sobbing sounds—hic, hup.

“…Snow?”

“I’m fine.”

Snow answered with a trembling voice. Her hands gripping his shoulders were shaking as much as her voice.

“It’s just that, seeing you, *sob*, I feel relieved, that’s why I’m crying.”

And she continued to sob. The sorrow she had been holding back in front of Arianne and Ceres burst forth like a breaking dam as soon as she saw Elios. Relief spread throughout her body. It felt like her chest was being struck with a rubber mallet.

She didn’t want to show her crying face to Elios. A face covered in tears and snot wouldn’t be very pretty. Elios kept trying to turn around, but each time Snow tightened her grip on his shoulders.

“Snow, don’t cry. Please?”

Elios whispered sympathetically. Snow cried even more sorrowfully. After crying as much as she needed to, she felt somewhat relieved. The sky, which had seemed to come down to touch the ground, regained a bit of its normal appearance. Though she had stopped crying, occasional sniffling sounds could still be heard. Snow removed her hands from Elios’s shoulders and wiped her tears with her white sleeve.

“Can I see your face now?”

Elios asked carefully. Snow nodded, then realizing that Elios couldn’t see her in their current position, softly replied, “Yes.” Elios turned around, supporting himself on the bed with a slightly twisted waist.

Snow’s shoulders were still slightly heaving from the aftermath of her recent crying. Fortunately, she was no longer trembling. Elios pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of Snow, facing her.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I had a nightmare.”

Snow couldn’t say anything more than that. “That woman” had loved “Ikanel.” She had loved Elios’s father. She had died cursing him. Snow couldn’t bring up such a story to El. Elios patiently waited, thinking Snow would talk about the content of her dream, but no matter how much time passed, no other words came from her mouth.

“Can’t you tell me what kind of dream it was?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Snow clenched her fists tightly. Elios watched this quietly, then took her hands in his and carefully unfolded each finger. Red nail marks remained on her palms.

“You don’t need to apologize to me.”

Elios murmured, rubbing the red marks on Snow’s hands with his fingers.

He looked out the window for a moment. Despite it still being daytime, it was as dark as early evening. It was so desolate that it resembled a battlefield after a war had ended.

Today, whenever two or more people gathered, they talked about the suddenly changed weather. It seemed as if spring was regressing, and winter was approaching again.

With her head bowed while sniffling, a few strands of Snow’s white hair had escaped from behind her ears and fallen in front of her face. Elios brushed them back for her. Snow bit her lip hard, feeling like she might cry again.

The sound of rustling bed sheets and Elios’s collar brushing against fabric could be heard. As she blushed and lowered her head, her hair fell forward again, returning to its original state despite Elios’s efforts.

Elios was about to reach out to Snow once more but hesitated. He wanted to be a source of strength for her, but he didn’t even know what was troubling her. As he was reproaching himself for his inadequacy, Snow’s voice reached his ears.

“…I feel so at ease when I’m with you.”

Snow continued speaking, still unable to lift her deeply bowed head.

“This morning when Arianne asked me what was wrong, I felt like crying from guilt. Arianne, and many others including her, love me so much. I wondered why I couldn’t control a single emotion and ended up causing such a problem. When Ceres visited in the morning, I was a bit afraid. As I opened up to her, the reality of my situation hit me so hard that I felt like crying again. But I held back. I thought that if I cried, everything would be over.”

And finally, Snow lifted her head.

“But the moment I saw you, I thought it would be okay to cry now, that I didn’t need to hold back anymore.”

Snow’s face was so red that even Elios could easily notice.

“I was so relieved that I ended up crying. My inability to share the content of my dream with you isn’t because I don’t trust you, El.”

Snow spoke in a somewhat pitiful voice. Elios’s expression didn’t look very good. She couldn’t tell him about the dream for fear of hurting him, but now she was terrified that this might make El—Elios—dislike her even a little.

Elios quietly embraced Snow. Though somewhat impulsive, he didn’t regret his action. Snow seemed both pitiful and lovable to him.

Snow didn’t move. She remained still, her nose buried in his shoulder as he held her. She knew that even without words, Elios wanted to comfort her. The cozy scent made tears flow again.

The two of them stayed like that in silence for quite a long time.

♣ ♣ ♣

Since Elios hadn’t come with an official reason as usual, he couldn’t stay long. Although Snow felt very reluctant, she didn’t hold back Elios who needed to return to the palace. She couldn’t put him in a difficult position.

After Elios left, Snow regained some energy. It was strange. Elios hadn’t given her any direct advice to help, nor had he solved the root cause of her problem. He didn’t even know the content of Snow’s dream. Nevertheless, after crying while holding onto Elios and receiving his comfort, she felt much better. Elios was someone whose mere presence gave Snow strength.

Snow spent the day as she normally would. She went to a nearby temple for a while to pray to the goddess and browsed through a few books. As Snow calmed down, the weather also settled.

In the evening, Ceres Martadia visited Snow once more. She knew that Snow’s improved mood was thanks to Elios.