“I am not fooled by lies.”

The memory of that day lingered for quite a while.

On that day when the cold breeze like winter’s remnants brushed against her skin, Selene had to mull over the whisper he had softly uttered for several days.

To him, I am a completely false existence.

Then what should I do now?

Just that one sentence had shaken the firmly set resolve.

Even if I speak of divorce, he will not believe it. He was accepting my existence, my words and actions all as lies. Therefore, speaking of divorce to him at this point would be meaningless.

Then the same question arises again.

What should I do now?

Selene stopped walking and raised her head to look at the old tree in the center of the garden. While spring had already begun elsewhere, the branches in this region still lingering in winter were bare.

Would his trust in me be as much as those barren branches or as much as those leaves clinging to the branch tips?

Selene, who had posed a futile question, touched the scar on her forehead and suddenly looked at her hand. Snow-white gloves were worn on her hands, as white as the snow piled softly on the ground. These were the gloves she had worn to the banquet.

Was it this hand…

The hand she had held when obligatorily dancing the first dance with him at the banquet was as cold as that breeze then.

Selene continued her thoughts while blankly staring at the view of the garden spread out behind the old tree.

I must wait until he accepts my existence as truth.

Wait and wait again. Show him a changed appearance.

As time passed, the memories of the past life were gradually becoming clearer. As the memories became clearer, the emotions from when those memories were engraved were also gradually returning. The feeling of apology towards him also kept growing.

So I should treat him better as much as I’m sorry. Let’s keep showing him the appearance of the madness having disappeared.

Then, when I appear like a normal person in his eyes, I’ll ask again. Am I still a false existence to you? If the answer is no at that time, only then will I bring it up.

To say let’s divorce.

So for now, let’s wait while swallowing those words.

Selene set a new goal as she stepped forward.

After that, there was no stopping. As she walked aimlessly, she had soon passed through the garden and arrived in front of the vast lake. While placing her foot on the arched wooden bridge over the lake, she continued to think of the past days.

Creak, creak. The sound of stepping on the wooden bridge occasionally interrupted her thoughts.

The long reverie was completely broken when she raised her head and saw the very being she had been thinking about in front of her.

The one she soon encountered was Boreas, who was crossing the bridge from the opposite side. When their eyes met, the creaking sound stopped at once. The place where he had stopped was about five steps away from her.

In the illusion that time had also stopped as if the sound had disappeared, the two looked at each other. A chilly breeze blew once, as if caressing the two, and that wind ruffled the red hair.

Selene neatly arranged the hair fluttering in the air, then looked at Boreas again.

“I’ll just step back.”

A moment later, he left those puzzling words and turned his body.

Ah.

Selene, who had belatedly realized something, let out a low exclamation.

The place where the two had met was exactly the center of the bridge, and since it was in the form of a single plank bridge, one of them had to step back.

Having learned the reason why he had remained still, Selene hurriedly grasped the back of his clothes.

“I’ll go…”

He, whose feet had been caught, turned only his head and looked at the hand holding his clothes and then at Selene in turn.

You?

Receiving a gaze that seemed to ask just that, Selene slowly lowered her hand and repeated her words.

“I’ll… step back. You go straight ahead.”

He merely narrowed his brow slightly, without a word. As she lowered her head, she could see the toe of his shoe starting to change direction.

Selene quietly turned her body and began to retrace her steps.

Creak, creak. The sound of stepping on the wooden planks began to echo again across the vast lakeside.

Having reached the end of the bridge, Selene turned back to look at him again. As he had been watching her continuously, their gazes easily collided.

Selene quickly turned her head to look at the lake. Snowflakes were piled up elegantly on the frozen surface of the lake.

“Are you going to fall into the lake again?”

Was this the lake that man had mentioned last week? Selene repeated the words he had uttered while gathering her thoughts.

“I didn’t come to fall in today?”

Selene pulled at the corners of her mouth and spoke in a deliberately light tone.

“I was just taking a walk today. Because the weather is nice.”

After looking at the clear sky once, Selene looked at Boreas again. The crack in his seemingly emotionless expression appeared when her gaze was directed elsewhere. By the time Selene looked at him again, the crack was already fading away.

“Where were you headed?”

He answered by nodding towards the castle behind Selene’s back. Selene, who nodded slightly as if understanding, also closed her mouth.

The snow-covered field sprinkled with golden powder, the lake remaining in winter, the bare old tree, and the two people standing motionless. A moment like a painting passed. The gap in the worn and corroded silence occurred when the wind carrying fine snow crossed between the two people.

Ah.

Soon, a small exclamation flowed from Selene’s mouth as she looked up at the sky.

‘Snow.’

The snowflakes that had been piled softly on the branches of the old tree had come to the two people’s side, riding on the wind.

When she carefully stretched out her hand, snow came down onto her palm as if it had been waiting.

Yes, this place was like this. A place that’s cold for a long time, and a little warm. A place where you can feel winter even though winter has ended. A place that’s particularly cold and solitary, where you can easily become lonely if you don’t stick together. The Grand Duchy of Adrian, my home was such a place.

Selene emerged from the newly recalled thoughts and gazed at the man standing beside her.

In the brief moment she had looked up at the sky, his gaze had already left Selene and was directed towards the lake.

Selene also withdrew her gaze and looked back at her palm. The number of snowflakes that had settled had increased quite a bit. Soon after, a fairly large snowflake settled on her skin.

It was a snowflake where the snow crystal structure was most clearly visible. Feeling newly fascinated, Selene looked more closely at her gently spread palm. As a sensation of softly tickling her skin arose, a gentle smile seeped into Selene’s lips.

It was at that moment that Boreas turned his head. The woman smiling faintly was fully captured in his ashen eyes.

Just like when she was eating the raspberry cookie, the woman was again making such an innocent face. He instinctively felt that this smile would linger in his mind for a long, long time. At that moment, he repeated to himself.

I won’t believe it.

Had the woman truly recovered her mind now? As a sense of such small expectation began to rise, he repeated again.

This appearance will eventually be just temporary. That was the lesson learned during the long period of madness.

Selene would sometimes show signs of improvement, but soon she would cry out in madness again. Although this process was repeated several times, in the end, it was back to square one. Due to such accumulated experiences, he could not let his guard down.

“It’s this year’s last snow.”

Selene, who had been quietly scanning the pure white surroundings, murmured softly. As the snowy wind blowing at the tail end of winter scattered around, a voice was heard from the side as if in response.

“Snow comes again. When two seasons pass, it becomes winter again.”

“Two times…”

Hearing his words, Selene, who had been muttering, let out a small exclamation as if she had suddenly realized something.

“It’s spring now, right.”

“Not just you, everyone who comes here around this time tends to be mistaken.”

“The misconception that winter hasn’t passed yet?”

“Yeah.”

The man’s deep voice mixed with the sound of wind cutting through the snow field. Somehow that brief answer sounded like a resolution addressed to himself, so Selene turned her head to look at him.

“…It’s similar to me.”

In the sense that it’s perceived as a ‘misconception’ in your eyes. Selene, who had swallowed the latter part of her words, gently lowered her eyelids. It was around that time that the rice-like snow brought by the breeze settled on her long eyelids.

Selene, who had been blankly staring at the ground, stretched her hand into the air where snow powder was flying.

“I really like snow. When it snows, I feel somehow less lonely.”

Each time she spoke, the white breath that leaked from her mouth spread and disappeared repeatedly in front of the woman’s face. Boreas lowered his gaze to glance at the woman’s reddened hand and then looked back at her face.

Burying her chin deeply in the scarf tightly wrapped around her neck, Selene carefully opened her mouth.

“You said you wouldn’t accept my apology. You said you wouldn’t believe my words of apology either. I won’t force you to believe. I understand completely. Even if it were me, if a person changed overnight, I think I would be suspicious, wondering why they’re acting like that.”

The silent gaze flowing from the charcoal-colored eyes once again touched the woman’s reddened hands and face. Selene continued speaking while staring into the air.

“It seems like I’ve come to my senses, but you’re thinking that this moment will only be temporary anyway, right?”

The colliding gazes were implicitly conveying an affirmative response.

The sun floating in the cloudless sky was soaking the earth with warmth. Feeling the gentle sunlight, Selene tightly gripped the hand holding her scarf. It was time to show her resolve. A determined light sparkled in the aqua-colored eyes that had closed and opened firmly.

“I will change, really. First, I’m going to start learning and doing the things I should have done as the Grand Duchess, which I had been postponing under the excuse of health. From household management, employee management to greenhouse and garden management.”

A resolute voice once again revealed her will.

“First, I plan to devote myself to preparing for the upcoming tour.”

However, a mocking retort sharply scratched the air between them.

“Is there a need?”

“What do you mean… These are things I should have been doing anyway.”

“You’ve seemed to come to your senses several times, only to show madness again soon after. You might show madness again at any moment. So don’t strive for what won’t happen. Don’t put in effort like just now either.”

Boreas pointed with his eyes to the wooden bridge behind him while speaking.

“I just stepped aside because there was only one path.”

“If it had been you just a few weeks ago, when the path was blocked like just now, you would have shouted to get out of the way immediately while cursing. It hasn’t even been a month since you shouted at me that you hated the sight of me. Even if you’re like this today, who knows, you might curse and get angry again tomorrow.”

“So my resolve doesn’t sound sincere?”

“No.”

At the words that seemed to put a period to the conversation, Selene closed her lips. She suppressed the urge to say that she had regressed, that she would really change, and recalled the newly set goal.

Let’s show the appearance of having escaped from madness. Let’s repeatedly show the appearance of having come to our senses.

Selene comforted herself while brainwashing herself like that. Meanwhile, he who had stepped closer handed Selene the two gloves that had been hanging in his coat pocket.

“Right now, all your words are flawless lies to me.”

With those final words, he brushed past Selene. It was an act signaling the end of the conversation.

The leaf that had been precariously clinging to the tip of the bare branch finally fell with a plop. The leaf that brushed against the woman’s face and stuck to her collar remained in that spot for a long time without wavering.