“Snow. Stop blaming yourself now. Don’t torment yourself over something that isn’t your fault. Let’s go back to the temple together. I’ll stay by your side until this matter is resolved. Let’s be together. I no longer have the slightest interest in the Emperor’s throne. If necessary, I’ll relinquish all my authority as a prince and as a member of the imperial family. Then I’ll just be a commoner named ‘Elios.’ I can stay by your side. Let’s find a way to calm the calamity together. Don’t suffer alone. If you want to rely on someone, that too is the Goddess’s will. Every thought you have is right. Don’t hold back. If you want to lean on someone, then lean. I, we will help you.”

Snow, who had been trembling in Elios’s arms, grew quiet at some point. She stirred. Her voice was heard softly.

“Elios, you’re the one.”

Snow raised her head. Wiping the tears flowing down Elios’s cheeks, she said:

“You’re the one desperately looking for someone to lean on.”

She wasn’t speaking only to Elios. Martadia and Arianne also had expressions as if the world had collapsed.

Snow freed herself from Elios’s embrace. While Elios, Martadia, and Arianne were all kneeling, only Snow stood upright. Her white, fluttering indoor priest’s robe flapped in the wind.

“All three of you are destined to die here.”

It was a statement that came suddenly without context. It seemed so unrealistic that no one showed signs of being shaken.

“If I docilely return to the temple with the three of you, you can all be safe for now. It might take some time, but as we ponder, we might find a way to stop the calamity stably.”

“Yes. Snow. So, please.”

Elios reached out toward Snow. Snow didn’t take his hand.

“But while we hide deep in the temple and think, more people will die than are dying now.”

“There’s no other way, Snow. Let’s go back. Do as the Prince says.”

It was Arianne who said this, and Snow shook her head.

“Perhaps I could stop it right now. This blizzard. I think I might have remembered.”

“Are you saying you’ve recalled a way to stop the calamity?”

Martadia asked. Her eyes demanded an explanation from Snow.

Snow quietly looked at the three people she loved most, one by one. Her mind was in complete disarray. With the recent confusion, her memories were being organized one by one. According to the recovered memories, Snow was actually neither Snow nor Freia. Her essence was—

“If we can’t stop the calamity right now, people will continue to die all the same. If the calamity isn’t stopped, eventually the country will disappear, and people will eat each other. Until not a single person remains.”

As she said this, Snow finally became certain. She had to do it. There was something she needed to try. It might be the key to stopping the calamity.

And while it would have been a very easy thing for Snow when she was wandering alone in the snow field before meeting these three, now it was the most frightening and difficult thing in the world.

“So I intend to end it right here, right now.”

In truth, Snow wasn’t certain either. She had only recalled a few fragmentary memories, and perhaps everything that had come to mind was just her delusion.

But even if she failed, there would at least be a grace period of a few years. Just as Freia had been reborn as Snow, Snow would be reborn as someone else.

The moment Snow resolved to put this into action, she became convinced that her chosen method was right.

Because the future had changed.

Snow saw a future where the snow melted and new sprouts emerged. There was a scene of people coming out of their homes one by one to pray to the Goddess Amir. Oblivion would not collapse. Before the roof became unable to support the weight of the snow, all the snow would melt, and soon people would notice the cracks and safely evacuate the building.

So it was now an indisputable fact. Snow would definitely carry out this act. No matter how much or how these people opposed, it was clear she would eventually do it.

Snow was sad and anguished. And because of that, she was happy.

“Explain what exactly you’re planning to do!”

Elios shouted in frustration. He couldn’t help but distrust Snow. It was natural, since she had been struggling to find a way to end the calamity until just a moment ago, and now after having a fit, she was suddenly acting as if she had realized something.

“It’s something only I can understand and execute, so I can’t explain it to others. However, it might affect those around me, so I’d like the three of you to stay away for a while.”

Her tone was so calm it was as if she were talking about some ordinary, everyday matter. Naturally, Elios and Arianne objected. Martadia was looking at Snow with a confused expression.

Amid the noise of Arianne and Elios each asserting their own arguments, Snow approached Martadia without being swayed. Martadia finally spoke:

“Snow. I have not demanded many explanations from you in the past. I thought that what you did was the will of the Goddess, so I just needed to follow. But as I waited endlessly for your safe return to the temple after your disappearance, I regretted having acted that way.”

“Why?”

Snow asked with a pretty smile, her eyes brimming with tears. She thought this might be the last image of herself that Ceres would remember for a very long time.

If so, she should smile even when sad. Snow was happy now, so it was all the more right to smile.

“I thought that by trusting you unconditionally, I might have placed too heavy a burden on you. If I had shared and advised you, it might have been lighter. Despite you being the Goddess’s representative, I dared to think impiously, ‘Isn’t she still young after all?'”

“It’s not impious. The Goddess would probably like you the most among all the Ceres throughout history.”

Martadia thought Snow was making a joke inappropriate for the situation and smiled gently. “I wonder,” Martadia replied ambiguously. She had already denied the Goddess several times on the way here and was prepared to accept whatever trials might come in the future.

“Snow, this time I cannot leave everything to you. Like the other two, I also think you need to explain more to us.”

“…Ceres Martadia.”

“Yes.”

“Master.”

“…Pardon?”

She had called her that impulsively. But she felt it was right to have done so. Snow was satisfied.

Snow threw herself into Martadia’s arms. Martadia awkwardly held Snow in her embrace and placed a hand on her back. Snow whispered so that only Martadia could hear:

“Do you know why you became this generation’s Ceres despite doubting the Goddess?”

Martadia felt as if her heart had dropped. It was a question she had always wondered about but had never asked anyone, nor had she found an answer. Though she knew this wasn’t the right situation, Martadia asked as if entranced:

“…Why?”

“Because you doubted the Goddess.”

Snow whispered a few more words into Martadia’s ear without giving her a chance to respond. Neither Elios nor Arianne could hear what Snow was saying. Martadia swallowed hard after hearing Snow’s words. She answered Snow’s words slowly with a voice trembling as if about to cry:

“I will… remember.”

Then she collapsed onto the snow. Quietly, without a sound as she fell. Her expression was peaceful.

“Wh-what did you do to Ceres?”

“She’s just asleep. Being near me, she won’t be affected by the blizzard, so don’t worry. She’ll wake up when the time comes. More importantly, Arianne, won’t you hug me?”

Snow approached. Arianne backed away in alarm.

“No, no! You’re planning to put me to sleep like Ceres, aren’t you? I won’t go until you tell us how you plan to stop the calamity.”

“No, one sleeping person is enough with Ceres. I won’t do anything. I swear by the name of the Goddess Amir. So, please hug me.”

Snow pleaded desperately. She was afraid. She needed a little more courage. Just as when she was very young, if Arianne would hold her and pat her soothingly, she might find courage. At the mention of swearing by the Goddess Amir, Arianne seemed to ponder for a while before slowly approaching Snow.

“You really won’t do anything?”

“Yes. I promise.”

At that moment, Arianne rushed to Snow like a starving person and embraced her tightly.

“Snow. Our poor Snow. If only you didn’t have the power to change the weather, if only you hadn’t received the revelation, if only you had truly been born from my womb as my daughter, how wonderful that would have been. How wonderful it would have been if you had grown up normally, beautifully, just brightly…”

Arianne cried enough for Snow’s share too. Snow let Arianne pour out all her grief. While in Arianne’s embrace, her eyes met Elios’s. Elios wore an expression difficult to describe. Snow smiled somewhat awkwardly.

“Arianne, it’s good that you take care of me, but now live more for yourself. You’re someone who deserves to live for yourself. How amazing you are. You’re the ‘mother’ of the Saint.”

Snow whispered like a feather into the ear of the crying Arianne. Arianne’s crying stopped abruptly. The moment she noticed something strange in Snow’s words, slumber overtook her.

“Ugh, huh, S-Snow… No…”

Arianne fell asleep with her face buried in Snow’s shoulder. Snow carefully dabbed and wiped away the tears on Arianne’s face with her sleeve, then laid her down next to Ceres.

Snow looked at Elios.

“El.”

Snow called. But Elios stepped back a few paces.

“Snow. I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but if you’re making us lose consciousness because you don’t have confidence in persuading us, stop it.”

“I love you.”

With those words, Snow’s smiling expression suddenly crumbled.