Elios spoke frantically, making all his worries about how to confess seem meaningless. If asked why he liked Snow, there were too many reasons. At the same time, there was just one reason. Because she was Snow. Because Snow was Snow, Elios couldn’t help but love her.

“I love how kind and gentle you are. Actually, I wish you would think of yourself a little more than others, but even that aspect is lovable. I couldn’t help but love those eyes that shine with determination when you tell me you want to protect people, though you’re usually quiet and gentle.”

He loved everything that constituted Snow.

“No, in truth, even if you weren’t timid and cautious by nature, even if you looked completely different, even if you weren’t just kind and gentle but mischievous and playful, I would have fallen in love with you like this. So reasons aren’t necessary. Snow, I just like you. I really like you. I love you.”

He loved everything that constituted Snow, but even if what constituted Snow had been different, Elios would have ended up loving her anyway. He couldn’t explain it, but he strongly believed it.

“…Stop.”

“I can’t live without you.”

Snow couldn’t endure any longer. She wanted to open the door right away, run to Elios, and embrace him. She wanted to apologize, to say it wasn’t true.

And she wanted to plunge a knife into his chest…

“Huh, hah.” Snow gasped for breath. In the midst of her confusion, clinging to her last bit of sanity, she desperately cried out:

“Go! Please go. Elios, disappear from my sight. Please. Please leave this place… Far away, to a place where I can’t find you!”

And hearing this through the door, Elios could no longer harbor even the slightest hope, as Snow’s voice crying for him to leave was so desperate and earnest.

‘Ah, those words are truly sincere. Snow really wishes for me to leave. Whatever it was before, now this is truly that child’s sincere wish.’

“I’m sorry for causing you more pain.”

Elios apologized sincerely. At that moment, Snow felt as if her heart had stopped. She wished it would stop. She couldn’t bear it.

“Goodbye, Snow.”

He stood up. Elios was unbearably worried about Snow. But it was clear that Santarium had been freezing more rapidly since the moment Elios entered. He was making Snow more precarious, more dangerous. If so, he couldn’t stay here any longer.

With each step he took away from the room, the thin ice beneath his feet cracked. That sound gradually faded. And when it could no longer be heard, Snow knew that Elios had completely left.

Snow lost the consciousness she had been barely holding onto.

♣ ♣ ♣

That night, a blizzard began to rage.

The entire vast empire was buried in the blizzard in the blink of an eye. It was exactly like 20 years ago. In the blizzard where one couldn’t see even a step ahead, many people went missing or died overnight. The snow didn’t stop. It poured down as if not just a hole had opened in the sky, but as if the sky itself had completely disappeared.

All drinkable water froze solid, so people had to collect snow and melt it to use. An epidemic spread. People collapsed one after another.

“Show us the Saint,” people clamored. But the temple maintained its silence. After a while, the clamoring people quieted down. It was a situation where it was difficult to even leave one’s home, let alone express public opinions.

The empire’s first prince is hated by the gods.

The witch has returned.

The Saint has collapsed.

What had been mere rumors were gradually taking more concrete forms and swelling enormously.

♣ ♣ ♣

“Brother Ian. Brother. I miss you.”

“I will avenge you. I will end the one he loves most, his own bloodline, with my own hands. So you can rest in peace.”

“No, but I can’t do that. They have done nothing wrong. Elios loves me, and I love him. I cannot hurt him with my own hands. Brother. I cannot hurt him.”

“…!”

Snow suddenly opened her eyes.

“Snow!”

Arianne, who had been sitting by Snow’s bedside, jumped up. Her eyes were red and swollen as if she had been crying. Snow tried to understand what situation she was in. This wasn’t the room where she had last collapsed. The surroundings weren’t covered in ice. The walls and floor weren’t marble. This was somewhere other than Santarium. Snow immediately recognized that this was Ceres Martadia’s room.

As soon as she regained consciousness, she vomited from the emotions that surged up as if about to explode. At that moment, everything around the bed where she lay began to freeze again with a soft sound. She desperately suppressed her emotions. The freezing slowed down. She weakly pushed away Arianne’s hand reaching out to her.

“Don’t come near. If you touch me, you’ll definitely get hurt.”

Arianne approached Snow regardless. But Snow didn’t stay still. She got up from the bed first and slowly backed away. Five or six white snow flowers bloomed where Snow had stepped.

Arianne looked like she might cry again at any moment. But soon she said deliberately, “I will follow the Saint’s wishes,” and tried to leave the room. It was to call people. But Snow stopped her.

“Snow…?”

The room was still freezing around where Snow stood. Arianne fidgeted anxiously. It seemed like bringing the High Priest or Ceres might somehow resolve the situation, but Snow was preventing Arianne from leaving the room. Snow frowned her youthful face in pain and opened her mouth.

“The door definitely couldn’t be opened by anyone. How did you move me here?”

“I… Suddenly a blizzard began to rage over Santarium. Fortunately, High Priest Verdus was nearby. The High Priest judged that something had happened to you and, together with the holy knights guarding Santarium, searched for the room where you were staying. But, as you said, the door wouldn’t open at all, so they had to break it down.”

Arianne stammered, unable to calm down. Snow held her dizzy head and looked dejectedly at the ice blooming around her, then suddenly something caught her attention and she said sharply:

“Did you say blizzard, just now?”

Arianne mumbled without answering properly. Looking around now, all the windows were covered with thick curtains. But they couldn’t completely block out the sound.

Wooooo… The sound of strong wind came from beyond the window.

Snow approached the window. Arianne was terrified and tried to stop Snow from looking outside. Seeing Arianne’s reaction, Snow roughly sensed what might be happening outside. She flung the curtains wide open.

“…”

A blizzard was raging. The snow flying like white dust made it impossible to see even a step ahead. The land was completely swallowed up in the vast concept of a blizzard. It was a disaster of indescribable scale. Snow opened her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Arianne. Is it just this area? Surely the entire empire isn’t covered in a blizzard?”

Snow asked, hoping against hope despite her suspicions. Arianne could only close her eyes and bow her head deeply. So the entire empire is like this. Snow said despairingly.

“Arianne.”

“Yes. Yes, Snow.”

Arianne answered repeatedly. It was no wonder, as Arianne couldn’t calm her heart. Snow’s eyes were shaking uncontrollably. Arianne was worried and afraid that Snow might lose consciousness again and fall into a state of panic.

“Was it like this during the One Year Calamity too? Did a blizzard rage where you couldn’t see a step ahead, like now?”

Arianne kept her mouth shut and rolled her eyes in confusion.

“Tell me. Was it the same as now during the One Year Calamity?”

Snow asked again. Since the One Year Calamity occurred after Freia’s death and ended when Snow was born, she had no direct memory of experiencing it. But now she seemed to understand how the One Year Calamity had occurred and why it had subsided with Snow’s birth.

Arianne tried to find a way out of the conversation, but realizing there was no escape, she nodded weakly.

“Yes. Though it’s been 20 years now, it was exactly like this. Rain falling, the sun disappearing. Insects crawling out onto the ground, heavy snow falling…”

Arianne lowered her gaze as if she had committed a sin. She might actually believe she had committed a sin.

The end of the One Year Calamity was the greatest miracle performed by Saint Bernadette. It was the essential reason for “Saint Bernadette” to exist as “Saint Bernadette.” Since that reason was now being negated by the arrival of calamity, Arianne thought Snow must be greatly shocked. But in reality, Snow was too preoccupied with her new realization to worry about such things.

‘Did I, that is, Freia, really cause the calamity?’ She had been curious about that until the end.

Everyone called Freia a witch, but evidence that she was the source of the calamity was woefully insufficient. She had cursed the world as she died, but she wouldn’t have been the only one to curse the king, the country, and even the world while being executed.

In reality, apart from the House of Nigritia being a fatal threat to imperial authority, the decisive charge of treason was ultimately half fabricated by the imperial family.

As soon as the ducal house was exterminated, calamity descended upon the world. The purge of the ducal house had been carried out somewhat hastily, and many people found this strange. Was the extermination truly justified, or had the goddess become angry because innocent people were killed unjustly? The devout imperial citizens of Akelan began to harbor doubts.

The imperial family pondered the solution carefully and decided to use Freia, whose body and mind had been completely reduced to rags, once more.