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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A White World
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I awoke to a chill in the air.
The first thing I saw was Calius’s face. He was looking down at me.
“Are you all right?”
“……!”
I scrambled to sit up.
‘Why was I resting my head on this man’s lap?’
Seeing my bewilderment, Calius explained nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.
“You fell asleep for a moment when the magic circle activated. It’s a common experience for many. There’s no need to worry.”
“Oh, I see… I’m sorry. How rude of me.”
“Don’t give it a second thought.”
‘For someone who eats people, he’s quite kind.’
Though the time I’d spent with him was still incredibly short, that was my impression so far.
He opened the carriage curtain to show me the view outside.
“We’ve arrived in Avene.”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
A pure white world unfolded before my eyes.
I pressed my face against the window, taking in the scenery.
Everywhere I looked, it was a world of pristine white snow.
“Wow…”
I had seen snow in the capital before.
The snow there was more like a fine rain, and even then, you had to be lucky to see it in the dead of winter.
Many years passed without any snow at all, and when it did fall, it was usually for just a day or two on the coldest of days.
This was the first time in my life I had ever seen it piled up on the ground like this.
As I kept my eyes glued to the view, Calius made a suggestion.
“Would you like to get out and have a look?”
“May I?”
Calius instructed the driver to stop the carriage.
“You should bundle up.”
I did my best to straighten my clothes with my clumsy, round hands.
Watching me, Calius seemed to find it wanting and reached out.
“Allow me.”
He tied my cloak strings securely and pulled the hood down snugly around my face.
‘He really is kind for a man-eater.’
They say you can fathom the depths of the sea, but never the heart of a man.
Who would ever think a man like this was a cannibal?
If he hadn’t promised me himself that he wouldn’t eat me, I never would have believed it.
I pictured him devouring a person, then shook my head to clear the thought.
Oblivious to my thoughts, he smiled and offered me his hand.
“Shall we?”
As I took his hand, he opened the carriage door.
An instant later, a wave of cold air hit my face.
“Hah.”
Startled, I recoiled.
The air that pierced my lungs was so frigid I couldn’t breathe.
It was a sensation I’d never felt before, and I was dumbfounded.
Seeing me frozen in place, Calius quickly shut the door.
“Are you all right?”
“Uh…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say I was fine.
‘He never said it would be *this* cold.’
Or did he?
I remembered Calius warning me several times that the journey to Ronheim would not be easy.
‘He did.’
With the door closed, the cold was blocked, and I managed to regain my composure.
I calmly steadied my heart.
‘It’s all right, Chloe. You can’t let a little cold defeat you.’
After coming all this way.
I couldn’t go back. From now on, I had to live in this snow-covered land.
To steel my resolve, I thought of Viscount Felsus.
‘If I go back, I’ll have to marry him.’
The thought made my body tremble.
‘I’d rather freeze to death a hundred, a thousand times over than marry Viscount Felsus.’
Calius was watching me with concern.
I looked at him, my eyes wide with determination, and said firmly, “I was just a little surprised, since it’s my first time feeling the northern winds. I’m fine. I want to get out and look around.”
Calius didn’t try to stop me.
He knew it too. If I couldn’t adapt to the wind here, my only option was to go back.
Instead of stopping me, he offered reassurance.
“You’ll get used to it soon enough.”
“Yes, I will.”
This time, I opened the carriage door myself.
A wind, heavy with the biting cold, swept past, grazing my cheek.
Thankfully, even this fierce wind couldn’t penetrate the nyak leather.
‘I’m glad I didn’t take this off out of shame.’
Calius’s judgment had been correct.
Had I still been wearing the clothes I’d left the imperial palace in, I never would have been able to withstand this northern wind.
“The ground may be slippery, so please be careful.”
As I tried to step out of the carriage, Calius steadied me with a word of caution.
I carefully stepped down onto the soft, snow-covered ground.
But the snow was much deeper than I had expected, and I staggered helplessly.
“Ugh!”
If Calius hadn’t been holding onto me, I would have pitched forward and been buried in the snow.
I was practically dangling from his arm.
“Are you all right?”
How many times had he asked that now?
I nodded and, making sure my feet were firmly on the ground, stepped out of the carriage.
The snow came almost up to my knees.
“I can’t believe snow can pile up this high…”
Hearing my mumble, Calius seemed amused.
“Avene actually gets the least amount of snow in the north. That’s why the teleportation circle was installed here. Other places are much worse.”
My eyes widened.
“Are you saying the snow piles even higher in other places?”
“In some places, it piles as high as a man.”
And he meant a northern man, which meant the snow could pile much higher than I was tall.
“It must be difficult to get around.”
“Thanks to that, Ronheim has an advantage in defending against enemies.”
I could now understand why Arental had struggled so much to conquer the north.
‘Though I’m sure it wasn’t just because of the snow.’
I looked around, the cold wind on my face.
Everything was blanketed in white snow.
On the leaves of the trees, on the rooftops, on the walls.
“Why do my cheeks feel so hot when the wind is so cold?”
“The temperature difference between the carriage and the outside is so great that it’s probably stinging your skin.”
He said it so casually that it didn’t seem to be a major issue.
I nodded and tried to take another step forward.
But Calius stopped me.
“Do you want to see more?”
“Do we not have enough time?”
“That’s not what I meant. I was just thinking that if you want to look around more, you should put on snowshoes.”
“Snowshoes?”
Calius retrieved something from under the carriage seat.
“These will make walking much easier.”
I stared strangely at the wide, latticed objects in his hands.
As he brought them out, Brentian, who had been on horseback, quickly dismounted and approached.
“I’ll do it, my lord Marquis.”
But Calius waved him off.
“It’s fine.”
He then bent down and placed my hand on his shoulder.
“Hold on here.”
He knelt on one knee before me, placed each of my feet on his other knee, and fitted the things called snowshoes over my boots.
I looked down at the top of his head, then used my free hand to touch my own shoulder.
‘Are shoulders supposed to be this flat?’
I wondered if his shoulders were flat because of the thick leather clothes and fur cloak.
They were so broad that I couldn’t get a grip on them.
‘I’m also wearing leather and a fur cloak, but I can still feel my own shoulders.’
Did he have some kind of shoulder pads under his clothes?
While I was lost in such idle thoughts, Calius finished securing the snowshoes to my feet and stood up.
“Try walking.”
At his words, I cautiously stepped onto the snow.
And then, something truly amazing happened.
“……!”
I was standing tall on top of the snow.
My eyes wide, I turned back to look at Calius.
I clung tightly to his hand, afraid I would sink if I let go.
“What a marvelous magical item!”
Calius chuckled.
“It’s not magic, but it should be much easier for you to walk now.”
It wasn’t magic. That was surprising, but it was just as amazing how much easier it was to walk, just as he had said.
I took one step after another.
I could feel the rest of the party watching me from behind, but I paid them no mind and pressed forward.
The clothes I wore were so heavy that my shoulders and back ached. But the excitement of seeing this new landscape was greater than the pain, so I could bear it.
Crunch. Crunch.
A pleasant, ticklish sound came with every step I took on the snow. It was a delightful sound.
I quickly grew breathless and opened my mouth to breathe, and the cold air felt like it was freezing my throat solid.
And no matter how well the nyak leather blocked the wind, it wasn’t enchanted with warming magic, so the cold slowly spread through my body.
I began to shiver. My eyes stung, and tears blurred my vision.
For someone like me, who shivered even in Arental’s late summer breezes, the cold here was akin to torture.
‘I think I’m going to die.’
It wasn’t an exaggeration; I truly felt like I was about to freeze to death.
But I didn’t stop walking.
Soon, I stood at the edge of the cliff I had been watching since I first stepped out of the carriage.
“The wind is strong.”
Calius held my hand tightly, as if worried I might be blown away.
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t.
I was mesmerized by the beautiful, snow-covered landscape that stretched out below the sheer cliff.
My breath hitched.
My chest swelled with emotion, and tears suddenly streamed down my face.
Looking at the white vista spread before me, I was certain.
I knew, then, that I would have no choice but to love this frozen land.
