In truth, they had no idea where to go. After saying “I miss you” just once, Snow’s voice was no longer heard. The three decided to first leave the temple. After riding for about 10 minutes against the wind, as if by some miracle, a person appeared from beyond the blizzard.

He wasn’t riding a horse. He was urgently making his way through the snow toward them.

Though dressed in ordinary clothes, the fact that he was out in this weather made it clear he was a priest searching for the Saint. From the beginning, all priests had gone out disguised as commoners in ordinary clothes to search for the Saint. Although the three might have looked suspicious with their thick cloaks wrapped tightly around them, the situation was not much different for the other side.

Indeed, the other person seemed to think they were priests who had gone out to search for the Saint. He shouted loudly:

“We’ve found the Holy Maiden!”

They had originally gone out in ordinary clothes to prevent news of the Saint’s disappearance from leaking outside. In that sense, his shout was incredibly reckless.

But for the three people now, it was the most important news of all.

Ceres let out a short sigh from behind Elios. Priest Arianne immediately asked the priest who had brought news of the Saint:

“Is it true? Where is the Holy Maiden now? Why didn’t you return with her?”

With her hat pulled down tightly and her voice mixing with the howling wind, the priest didn’t seem to recognize Arianne. He too seemed to be in a hurry and answered quickly:

“It’s not far from here. When we went to the place the High Priests told us about, the Holy Maiden was really there. I mean Oblivion. An apprentice priest who knew the Holy Maiden asked her to return, but she said she couldn’t. And…”

He hesitated for a moment, then said:

“She was crying.”

“She said she couldn’t return? She was crying?”

Arianne blankly repeated the priest’s words. Elios, standing nearby, asked about something more important:

“Is the Saint still in front of Oblivion now?”

“I don’t know. She suddenly disappeared. She vanished before our eyes like magic. But I thought she might still be around that area, so I felt we should immediately focus our search around Oblivion with more people. That’s why I, being quick on my feet, ran ahead to call for more people.”

“Other priests who saw the Holy Maiden with me are also returning”, he added, concluding his report.

Unlike Arianne or Elios, Martadia remained completely silent. If it were revealed that she was wandering outside, the person who would face the biggest problem would be neither Elios nor Arianne, but Martadia. Elios said to the priest what Martadia would have wanted to say:

“Very well. Please go straight and call more people. We will go there first.”

The priest nodded and moved away, plowing through the snow. Elios didn’t believe it was mere coincidence that they had met that priest as soon as they came out into the snow. And the other two felt the same. Something was leading them to the Saint.

“We must go to Oblivion right now.”

Martadia said. All three had the same thought. They rode their horses toward Oblivion.

♣ ♣ ♣

Snow was indeed unable to leave the vicinity of Oblivion.

She had just seen the very near future.

That white building, packed with refugees, would soon collapse.

Snow was piling up thickly on the roof. Though it was a sturdy building, the sudden change in temperature had weakened the walls, and Snow had created cracks in it. Besides the large one in the floor, the recent impact had caused fine cracks in various parts of the walls.

More than 100 people would die, crushed under the building debris. This too was because of Snow.

Something had to be done. They needed to be evacuated.

But to where? If they left here, they would freeze to death anyway. They had nowhere to go.

Snow lingered around Oblivion, unable to decide what to do. She couldn’t bring herself to leave.

The cracks Snow had created played a decisive role in the building’s collapse. People would die purely due to her mistake rather than because of the disaster. She couldn’t bear to see that.

All she could do now was destroy. Snow considered making one side of the wall collapse. From a normal perspective, it was an absurd thought, but she could certainly do it. If the walls began to collapse bit by bit before the entire building came down, people might notice in advance and evacuate.

If they left here and scattered, they might luckily find new shelter. That would be better than mass death inside the building.

Snow’s hands trembled. There were still days before the building would collapse. She had to make a decision within that time. If she didn’t drive people out of the building, everyone would die. If they left the building, some would die, but some might live.

As Snow was biting her fingers with her head lowered, she heard a familiar voice nearby.

“So you were here, Snow.”

She felt as if her heart had dropped. Snow slowly raised her head.

The three people she had most wanted to see were all standing there. It was Elios who had spoken to her.

Snow was convinced that she had finally gone mad and started seeing hallucinations.

She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again. But they didn’t disappear; they were still there. She rubbed her eyes hard. Still, they remained standing. This time she shook her head vigorously. Of course, they wouldn’t disappear that way.

Snow finally began to doubt.

Are they real?

Unable to believe it, Snow slightly opened her mouth. At this moment, she didn’t even think of hiding herself as she had when she met the apprentice priest Estel earlier.

Arianne was the first to dismount. She approached Snow. As she walked toward Snow, she removed her hat, her gloves, and her cloak. She intended to put them on Snow. As she began to unbutton her thick coat, Snow couldn’t hold back and spoke:

“Arianne. Stop! You’ll get frostbite if you take off all your outer clothes in this weather!”

Hearing those words, Arianne smiled.

“I’m wearing several layers of thick clothes even if I take off my coat, but you’re practically wearing nothing, Snow.”

As Arianne said, Snow was only wearing a thin, fluttering indoor priest’s dress. But Snow was different from Arianne.

“Arianne. I’m not cold. This blizzard is my creation. It has no effect on me.”

While Snow was distracted by Arianne, Elios approached like a shadow and draped his cloak over her. He embraced her tightly with the cloak.

“No, Snow. You must be cold too.”

She was caught in Elios’s arms. For the first time, all white disappeared from Snow’s vision. The stinging wind, the blizzard, the white snow field—all vanished, and all she could see was the dark brown coat he was wearing.

‘Kill him. Kill him, Freia. Kill him. Take revenge.’ Murderous intent crawled up her heart like a worm. But it wasn’t as severe as before, not to the point where she couldn’t control it.

It was truly inexplicable. Just a few hours ago, Snow—no, Freia—had been desperate to kill Elios.

No matter how desperately Snow pleaded and resisted, she couldn’t overcome the murderous intent. But now, compared to then, she could endure it with unbelievable ease.

While Snow was in Elios’s embrace, Martadia, who had approached close by, spoke:

“The three people gathered here are those who would give everything they have for the Holy Maiden right here and now.”

Holy Maiden.

That was now the most terrible word for Snow.

Snow covered her ears and closed her eyes, burrowing deeper into Elios’s embrace. She had desperately wanted to meet Ceres Martadia, but she didn’t want to be called “Holy Maiden” or “Saint” by her. She now wished that no one would call her that anymore.

As she closed her eyes, reality faded away with surprising speed.

The embrace of her beloved El was intensely warm. As Elios had said, Snow had been feeling cold all along without realizing it. Not on the outside, but inside, she had been frozen solid in sub-zero temperatures.

She relaxed her body. Though her eyes remained closed, her vision brightened. She saw the future.

Snow clearly saw what would happen to those who had come to Oblivion to find her.

They would die.

Everyone would die.

In the end, they would fail to persuade Snow. She would hide herself as she had done earlier in front of the apprentice priest Estel. The three would search for Snow for a long time, but this time they truly wouldn’t be able to find her.

Then a sudden gust of wind would blow. Snow would pile up as fast as the tide rising on a mudflat. Whether they closed their eyes or opened them, they would see nothing, and they would be buried in the snow.

Snow opened her eyes with a start and pushed Elios away in panic. Despite having held her tightly, Elios was pushed back weakly.

Snow was visibly trembling. Sensing something was wrong, Ceres softly called out, “Holy Maiden…?”

“Please don’t call me that!”

Snow shouted. It was agonizing.

“I am not a Saint. I’ll tell you everything, so listen carefully. I am the witch Freia Nigritia’s—”

She felt she had to tell them, yet she also felt she had to hide it from them.

“—reincarnation.”

Watching the three faces harden, Snow thought she wanted to die right there. Seeing Elios about to say something, Snow spoke first. She was too afraid to hear whatever he might say.