Elios could do nothing, neither as a prince of Akelan nor as “Elios Riman Akelan.” This helplessness was so terribly awful that he spent the entire day sitting in a chair, blankly staring out the window, and fell asleep in that same position. He didn’t even know when he had fallen asleep. He had simply drifted off and woken to the sound of a maid carefully knocking on his door, only to find it was the next morning.

The maid, despite the Prince’s orders that no one should enter his room, couldn’t allow him to skip meals and so had decided to knock after much deliberation. Although he wasn’t in the mood to face anyone, Elios knew that if he didn’t answer, the maid would have to keep knocking all day, so he briefly said:

“Come in.”

The maid opened the door carrying simple food, but upon seeing Elios’s haggard appearance, she bowed her head deeply in reverence. Sigh. Elios exhaled.

“Place it on the table and leave.”

The maid responded, “Yes, Your Highness,” bowing her head and retreating. Elios looked at the food. He had no appetite. Though he had fallen asleep in the clothes he wore yesterday, he felt no desire to change or wash up.

Outside the window, the blizzard was still raging. While he hadn’t expected the ridiculous development of waking up to find everything had been a dream, the situation that hadn’t improved at all was desperate.

‘Is Snow alright?’

He thought suddenly, then sneered at himself. She was certainly not alright. Elios had confirmed with his own eyes yesterday that she was not at all well. Santarium was completely covered in ice. Strange ice flowers covered everything. Snow had been crying. It was not a good situation at all.

Elios desperately wanted to help Snow somehow. He remembered how she had smiled softly like spring sunshine when she was with him. He also recalled the weather on what was called the most beautiful spring in Akelan’s history, when flower petals gently fell. He thought that perhaps Snow didn’t really dislike him. Maybe it was just his own pathetic inability to let go of his attachment to someone who disliked him. But he felt that things shouldn’t end like this.

El thought he should at least face Snow once more and convey his feelings again. And above all, he wanted to help her somehow. Whether Snow disliked him or not was irrelevant. For reasons he didn’t understand, Snow’s emotions had suddenly exploded. He couldn’t even imagine how much she was suffering.

Helping her was directly related to saving the suffering people of Akelan. For the first time, what he needed to do as “El” and what he needed to do as “the Prince of Akelan” aligned.

He could convey his feelings again anytime later. More important was somehow returning Snow to normal. The longer she suffered, the more the situation would move toward an irreversible direction.

Elios decided to set aside the pain of being rejected by Snow for now. It wasn’t easy, but Snow came before his own troubled and unsettled heart, and the people suffering from the calamity came first.

He began to rack his brain. He couldn’t even find a clue as to how he could help Snow in this situation. Snow. Poor Snow. Even at this moment, she might be suffering, imprisoning herself in ice just as she had been when he last saw her. His heart grew increasingly urgent. With his heightened sense of urgency, time seemed to flow even faster.

Elios thought only about how to help Snow all day. With nothing but white blizzard visible outside the window instead of the sun, he couldn’t tell if it was still morning or already approaching noon. So when someone knocked on the door again, Elios thought it might already be lunchtime. But the maid announced a different visitor.

“Your Highness. Lord Callisto of the Astal Knights requests to see you.”

Huh? Lord Callisto?

“Let him in.”

The door creaked open, and Lord Callisto appeared. He gave Elios a slight bow and immediately stated his business.

“His Imperial Majesty is looking for you. He told me to escort you to him.”

“…Father? I understand. I’ll prepare shortly.”

Elios quickly changed out of the clothes he had been wearing since yesterday and followed Lord Callisto. Since this was the first time his father had summoned him after ordering him not to leave his room and to stay quiet, Elios had no idea what the Emperor would say. However, he was somewhat worried because his father had never summoned him in this manner to say anything pleasant.

Lord Callisto, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Lord Callisto, what’s wrong?”

Elios asked as he followed Callisto’s gaze down the corridor, and gasped, holding his breath.

The guards who should have been patrolling the corridor were all collapsed.

“What is happening!”

Elios shouted.

“Is anyone there!”

Lord Callisto also called out urgently. But no guards came running. They still had one more floor to go before reaching the Emperor’s office. It was ominous. A chill ran up his entire body.

Crash!

The distant sound of breaking glass was heard. The two men ran like madmen to the office.

Elios shouted “Father!” as he flung the door open and rushed into the office. Someone was strangling the Emperor. A blizzard was pouring into the office.

It was someone all too familiar to Elios.

Elios stopped in his tracks. Not just his body, but his heart, soul, mind, and emotions all seemed to freeze and stop simultaneously.

‘Snow? Why are you there?’

His father was slumped, not even resisting. Only when he heard Lord Callisto, who had rushed in behind him, shout “Your Majesty!” did he crash back to reality. Hardly aware of how his body was moving, he followed Lord Callisto and rushed toward Snow, trying to separate her from his father.

Snow was pressing down on the Emperor with unbelievably strong force. Even with Lord Callisto and Elios rushing at her together, they couldn’t pull away the small Saint. Elios shouted desperately:

“Snow! Stop! What are you doing!”

At that moment, the Saint’s hands slowly released. Her white hair, which had been strangely billowing regardless of the wind direction, gradually settled. Elios and Snow’s eyes met.

Snow was crying. Completely terrified, she called out to him in a trembling voice, “El…?” The delicate, thin hands that had been strangling the Emperor were shaking violently.

Mihail Callisto immediately drew his sword and pointed it at the Saint. Elios shouted:

“Lord Callisto! She is—”

His voice caught for a moment. Elios paused and continued.

“…She is the Saint.”

“I am not a Saint!”

It was Snow who cried out. Both Elios and even Lord Callisto looked at her in surprise. Snow breathed heavily and roughly. Her fingertips trembled visibly. Lord Callisto did not lower the sword pointed at Snow.

“She is the Saint, but she attempted to assassinate His Imperial Majesty.”

There stood Snow, tears streaming down her face at the tip of the blade. In her tear-blurred vision, she could see Elios. Though it hadn’t been that long since they had last faced each other, it felt like seeing him after millions of years.

She had just tried to kill his father. There was no going back now. Elios had told Snow he loved her just yesterday, but that was before Snow had harmed the Emperor. He couldn’t possibly still like a woman who had tried to kill his father.

The Emperor, Ikanel, was sitting down and coughing lightly. His face, which had turned bright red, was gradually regaining its normal color. Elios, who had been standing in a daze, suddenly came to his senses and helped his father to his feet.

Snow looked again at the sword pointed at her neck and the knight holding it. If the calamity could end with her death by this sword, she would be satisfied with that. Such a thought crossed her mind. But reality was always harsher than one imagined. Snow spoke in a voice that showed clear signs of exhaustion:

“Count Callisto.”

The tip of Callisto’s sword trembled slightly. Snow had grown up only within the Grand Temple until she came of age. Akelan’s weather was generally influenced by her emotions, and since human emotions are inherently unstable, she had been raised preciously within Santarium, treated like thin ice. Therefore, she had never met other nobles before her coming-of-age ceremony.

Yet she recognized Mihail Callisto at once. This was as incomprehensible as the Saint’s sudden appearance, the guards who had collapsed without a single wound, and the thick glass windows that had shattered despite being made of special materials.

Snow wasn’t even aware that she had immediately identified someone she was seeing for the first time. She spoke in a trembling voice:

“I, I tried to assassinate His Imperial Majesty.”

The tip of Lord Callisto’s sword touched Snow’s nape. The extremely sharp blade created a thin line-like wound on her delicate skin with just the slightest touch. Snow bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, then released it. Despite the howling blizzard, it seemed as if she couldn’t hear anything. It felt surreal, as if her body was floating.

“I, I deserve to die. However.”

“Snow!”

‘Please. Please stop.’ Swallowing the rest of his words, El called to her desperately. Snow no longer looked in El’s direction. She grabbed the blade with her hand. Despite her hand being deeply cut and bleeding profusely, she pushed the blade aside, heedless of the pain. If Lord Callisto had not yielded to her push, her hand might have been severed.

Despite his intention to behead her, Lord Callisto was momentarily taken aback by her determination and unconsciously allowed himself to be pushed by Snow. What happened next was astonishing. The sword began to freeze from the point where it touched her hand.

Lord Callisto was startled and quickly withdrew his sword. Snow’s blood on the sword splattered into the air.

“If I die, the calamity will never be able to stop.”

“Snow.”

“Don’t come near me!”

Elios, having helped his father to his feet, approached Snow. At that moment, Snow shouted as if having a seizure. Elios stopped in his tracks.

Snow looked at Elios. Elios could read the expression on Snow’s face. It was neither an expression of hatred nor an intent to harm. She was simply terrified.

“Hurting my father, that wasn’t done by your own will, was it?”