unedited

“You’re hungry, Abella.”

Abella beat herself up and licked her lips as she froze in the cold. At first she thought that she had nothing to change here..... She had already changed.

By the things like pain, fatigue, cold, and hunger that shake life and death.

The new version of Abella, who had been walking constantly, slowly collapsed.

“.... I can’t walk any more.”

What comes to mind right now.

“Cade.....”

He was still the only one. Like it or not, he was always on her side.

Abella closed her eyes.

*

“.... I think she collapsed.”

“I said she was lost, big brother!”

“Still, strangers are dangerous!”

“Then let her die like this?”

The girl who got off the sled ran towards the woman who had fallen.

The boy who could not stop his sister had to follow after her. It is true that strangers are dangerous, but as his sister said, they did not learn to turn away from the dying.

The boy was confused and picked up the woman.

He had been watching with an anxious mind for several days, and if it wasn’t for them, the woman would have frozen to death. From tomorrow onwards, a fierce snowstorm was scheduled to hit the north for a month. It was a roar that signaled the start of a long cold wave.

For a while, even the peoples of the north would not even dream of going down. Even now, they were busy repairing the house and buying food to prepare for the cold wave. He ended up joining the military for that situation.....

Still, life isn’t what they want it to be. It was unavoidable.

“Kiya! Hurry up!”

“Big brother, get on quickly!”

The boy, Timur, got on the sleigh, hitting his grumbling sister’s head. Timur. Fog. That was the boy’s name. A sleigh carrying Kiya and Timur crossed over the snow. The northernmost people live in the northernmost part of the country.

It was where the temple of the gods was.

The only place in the north that retains warmth and produces flowers and fruits.

The abandoned Temple of Skellus was there.

Kiya’s voice, urging the dogs leading the sled, split the snowy field.

*

A month has passed since Abella disappeared.

So far he hasn’t been able to find any clues. He searched through memories of the past to the places Abella had mentioned, the places she could go, and the last place she had stayed in her previous life, but to no avail.

Amerigo and Yuri were the same.

Enoch and Cade, who naturally met at Yuri’s restaurant, shook their heads at the same time. They had a gut feeling that they wouldn’t hear any news from each other.

The two sat facing each other at a table.

Cade opened his mouth.

“.... What about Simons?”

“Fortunately, it is enough to protect the family. He has been working hard to prepare.”

Enoch replied weakly. Simons has taken over Abella’s work since Abella’s disappearance, and he’s been more proficient than expected. Rather, he is showing his most mature appearance.

“.... He said he didn’t want to look stupid when Abella came back.”

Enoch added.

Simons had hopes that he would still be able to find Abella. Abella did not go abroad. It was procedurally difficult for Abella, a high noble, to go abroad.

She’s in this Empire, yet Amerigo has been looking for her, yet she’s nowhere to be found.

“Then I must be an idiot.”

Cade laughed.

He was in a situation where his attendants were worried because he was not able to properly carry out his state affairs. He couldn’t eat properly and couldn’t sleep, so it was natural. Truthfully speaking, it was not going to be easy.

The doctor recommended that Cade calm down, but that was the hardest thing.

It was like he was chewing on grains of sand and sleeping on a cushion of needles when he thought that Abella might die. If she were to die alone this time in a place no one knows.....

“....Can you find her?”

Enoch asked with a brooding face.

“Everyone is asking me.”

“Aren’t you the one who spent the most time with Abella? You were also Abella’s lover.....”

“Lover?”

“Your Majesty.”

“I know nothing about her. I just looked into Abella’s eyes, and she was shuddering. There wasn’t even a moment when I thought I had her in my hands. She was just a prisoner I was obsessed with.”

Cade did it himself.

In the meantime, he finally realizes that he has not properly won Abella’s heart as well.

“I just.... It was nothing.”