“Crusis came today. I know he’ll do much better than me, but still, I found myself nagging him out of worry. I shouldn’t comment on what he does since I essentially dumped everything on him. How narrow-minded of me.”

Elios said this and shrugged as if he couldn’t help it. A smile naturally formed on his lips. This was the moment. Only during this moment each day did Elios smile as if he had returned to his days as a prince.

“Mother, Papel, and Galimede all seem to be doing well, so I’m relieved. When Papel and Galimede are a bit older, they’ll probably have to leave the imperial palace and become independent, but Crusis seems to have plans for them, so we should wait.”

His voice naturally softened. Snow’s eyes were closed.

He knew what beautiful silver eyes lay beneath those thin eyelids with their visible blue veins. But it had been a full 4 years since he had seen them. Sometimes the thought was unbearably painful.

‘Please. Please open your eyes. Look at me. I’ve been looking at you every day for 4 years without fail. Snow. Snow. Please.’

Elios skillfully packaged the surging emotions in his heart with a smile. He felt that if he acted this impatiently, Snow might not wake up. He was afraid.

“I’m worried about Crusis coming so often. Is it really okay?”

He asked somewhat petulantly.

There was no answer. There couldn’t be an answer.

He wanted to hear that voice saying, “It’s okay, Elios.” Those lips from which that clear voice would flow. Lips. What were the last words she said to him?

‘Don’t follow.’

That it wasn’t a place where they could go together. That’s what she said. And then she became like this, as if only her soul had slipped away.

How cruel.

Very suddenly, he remembered the sensation of their one and only kiss. As sleep overwhelmed him and all his senses dimly flickered, only the parts touching her remained hot and vivid, impossible to forget.

As sleep overwhelmed him, all kinds of thoughts came to him. That it might be the last time, that he didn’t want to lose her, begging to be taken along. Not to be abandoned.

‘Love, I love you.’

But after their lips met and their tongues intertwined, he had no thoughts, no consciousness.

Just wanting to stay like this a little longer. Desperate and earnest. Loving her to the point of tears.

How cowardly and petty.

‘With you sleeping before me, I’m thinking how fortunate I was to at least kiss you like that then.’

Elios pulled the motionless Snow deep into his arms. Her limp body felt surreal. He firmly interlaced his fingers with her slender hand that lay stretched out on the bed, and buried his face in her neck. Even then, she showed no sign of waking.

At first, he was cautious even about touching her fingertips, but gradually he became bolder. Now Elios often embraced her as if he might crush her.

She was cold like embracing ice, and that drove Elios even crazier. No matter how long he held her in his arms, his warmth was not transmitted to Snow. She remained cold as if existing alone. Elios had long realized that he was an absolutely powerless being who could have no influence on her.

Everyone once hailed him as His Majesty the Emperor, and now he was the respected young former Emperor, but before Snow, he was the most incompetent person in the world.

“Where are you now?”

Arianne had once said. If Snow had truly “gone on a journey,” perhaps only her soul had flown away somewhere, leaving her body behind. That’s why on rainy days, Arianne habitually murmured, “Don’t cry, Snow.” Because she believed her soul was crying somewhere.

“Snow.”

He whispered her name as if breathing directly into her ear.

“Your voice.”

After blurting this out, he embraced Snow more tightly. It felt like even this empty body might suddenly vanish one day. If he lost this too, nothing would remain for Elios.

“I can’t remember your voice.”

Finally, a sob escaped. He smiled only in front of Snow, and also cried only in front of Snow.

“I miss you.”

Not just this sleeping form. The wide-eyed surprised look, the bright flower-like smile, even the frowning expression.

‘I want to see them all. I love you that much. I told you I couldn’t live without you.’

That wasn’t rhetoric or exaggeration. It was literal.

“I wish you would open your eyes, but I’m afraid if I wish for too much, even your sleeping body might melt away like ice.”

He slipped his hand between Snow’s flowing hair and cradled the back of her head. Elios pressed his lips to her forehead.

“I’m scared, Snow.”

She was soft but cold. That cold sensation brought Elios sharply back to reality. He released Snow from his embrace. He neatly rearranged the disheveled blanket, covering Snow again, and finally kissed her forehead lightly once more.

He planned to sit in the chair for a moment to collect his thoughts and cool his heated emotions. He pressed his forehead with both hands and exhaled deeply.

He couldn’t calm down easily. His mind, disturbed by Snow, couldn’t be calmed near her. But without Snow nearby, he felt more painful and anxious, so it was like an incurable disease.

He heard birds chirping. Being in the countryside, such sounds were quite frequent and loud compared to the capital Akelan. But this time it was excessive. He thought it was just one or two birds at first, but then they began chirping loudly in a group as if something had happened.

His already troubled mind became even more confused. Elios rose from his seat somewhat irritably, intending to close the window.

Even with the window closed, the bird sounds didn’t stop. Various bird calls remained intertwined and noisy. It was around that time that he began to think something was strange.

Elios heard, with uncanny precision, the small sound of the crisp bedcover rustling against the bed sheet.

His body froze. He couldn’t move at all. The rustling sound continued. From the direction of the bed. A direction from which sound shouldn’t come. Because now.

Because Snow wouldn’t toss and turn in her sleep. Though he described it as “sleeping,” Elios knew she wasn’t really asleep.

He thought he might be hearing things because he wanted it so desperately. Elios was even more afraid because he had had such experiences before. The painful experience of rushing to the bed thinking he had heard Snow’s voice, only to find her still with closed eyes.

But this time.

“El, ios.”

It seems this is not a dream.

It was vivid. Truly vivid. When Elios stood like a mountain without turning his head, that voice was heard once more. The voice he had sorrowfully forgotten.

“El.”

With that voice, that thin and pretty, warm and delicate voice, she was calling him. She was saving him from a nightmare.

Elios finally turned around.

“Good… good morning.”

Snow said with a somewhat embarrassed voice. It was so lovely that Elios wanted to give some response immediately, but his voice wouldn’t come out. Instead, he exhaled a hot breath with a choked sound.

As Elios only breathed heavily instead of answering, Snow bit her lip slightly. Each of these movements drenched Elios’s five senses raw. It really, really was Snow.

“I tried… to come back as quickly as possible, but I’m sorry it took so long…”

Snow trailed off. Elios didn’t know what Snow was saying. He was focused solely on her voice itself, on her blinking eyes and the eyes he had missed so much, on her fidgeting fingers and lips.

‘Breath. Is Snow breathing?’

Elios rushed to Snow immediately. He embraced her as he had done earlier.

‘Ah, it’s different.’

‘It’s warm.’

Chest to chest. He could clearly feel her heartbeat, which seemed to be beating a little stronger than normal. He also felt Snow stiffening with tension.

Elios closed his eyes. He placed his forehead against Snow’s forehead, his nose against her nose. He could feel the faint, moist breath she exhaled. She was breathing. Her once cold body was now as warm as ordinary people. He slowly opened his eyes. Snow’s eyes were there, stiff with tension. They were right in front of his black eyes, at a distance close enough to touch.

There was no time to think. Foreheads touching, noses touching, chest to chest, shoulder to shoulder, all connected. There weren’t many more places that could touch. He tried to kiss Snow.

But Snow closed her eyes tightly first, twisted her head, and kissed Elios.

She pulled her arms out from being tightly embraced by him, properly hugged Elios, and pressed her lips against his. It was as weak and gentle and lovely as a small bird receiving food from its parent’s mouth.

Hm, Elios sighed with longing. He couldn’t hold back.

He embraced Snow and fell onto the bed with her. He collided with her lips much more aggressively. He sucked on her lips and entangled his tongue with hers. Hic, he felt Snow’s small surprise. It was cute and lovely.

Snow, who had initiated the kiss, now just tightly held onto Elios’s shoulders, and at some point, she gently patted his back. Only then did Elios pull away. An intense light still rippled beyond his pupils. Though he separated his lips from hers, he was still embracing Snow. He buried his face in her shoulder.

“Thank you… Thank you for coming back…”

Elios finally said something. His voice was hoarse and choked. His throat was tight. Even at this moment, he was filling his mind with all kinds of doubts, wondering if this was a dream, if he had developed a mental illness and was hallucinating.

‘No, even if it’s a dream or a hallucination, I hope it never ends.’

Just a few minutes ago, he had been repeating despair and resignation as always.

Elios felt he would be happy even if he suddenly died within seconds.

♣ ♣ ♣

Snow cannot swim.

That was a bigger problem than expected. She would need to jump into the lake to leave the Garden of Beginning, but she couldn’t. Her legs trembled. She had thought she had forgotten that kind of fear when coming here, but she hadn’t.