The snow fell without regard for the location.
It was not a natural phenomenon limited to the city. When winter came, the weather turned cold, and snow began to fall. A phenomenon so obvious that even a child could understand.
And here.
“Fuhhhh…”
Shivering against the cold, the girl, Rina von Adelheit, was fighting against a chilly draft despite wearing thick loungewear.
“It’s, it’s so cold…”
For her, it was a kind of winter that she could not fully accept.
Winter was far too cold. Indeed, if one were to list all grievances, it could easily compile a book the length of a dictionary.
As Rina’s hurried and frantic hand movements caused the door to open, the familiar sight of her room revealed itself, as always. Rina stepped inside immediately.
Thanks to the heating device, a product of civilization, and a small fireplace that had not yet disappeared despite it being old, her room was pleasantly warm. And this was a blessing.
After finishing breakfast with her mother, Rina flopped onto the soft and warm bed.
Her body, lighter than her peers, floated for a moment and then fell directly onto the bed. Rina quickly pulled the thick blanket up to her limit.
“Ugh…!”
Having shivered from the cold while walking down the mansion’s hallway, she suddenly entered a warm space.
Rina let out a happy sigh and buried herself into the soft blanket. The feel of the blanket brushing against her skin created a somewhat pleasant sensation.
As she enjoyed the feeling of happiness for a moment, Rina, feeling drowsy from the warm comfort, pushed her head out from under the blanket. Thanks to the warm air in the room, there was no cold air again rushing toward her body.
“Hmm… a snowman…”
Rina’s gaze naturally turned to the window. Having just finished breakfast, the outside was bright to the point of being dazzling.
As with everywhere else, inevitably, snow had piled up in the garden of the Adelheid Duke Mansion.
Since Rina’s room had a view of the garden as soon as the window was opened, the snow stacked on the ground served as a perfectly good mirror, no matter how shallow its depth.
In short, it was so bright because the sunlight was reflecting off the snow. The staff of the Adelheid Duke Mansion was diligently working on snow removal, but at this rate, it was uncertain when it would end.
‘It shouldn’t end too early…!’
Rina von Adelheit’s winter was long.
As the sudden temperature shifts of the changing seasons passed as usual, what usually followed were the extreme, almost lethal swings of the two polarizing seasons.
Summer and winter. These two seasons, particularly esteemed in the city, always circled back to Rina, tormenting her.
Even while enduring such painful seasons, Rina was convinced that this year would be no different from the last, and it indeed seemed that way.
‘Professor…’
Professor Antorelli.
If he hadn’t saved her, that is.
Thanks to Professor Antorelli, after enjoying the festival with her beloved family.
Starting the next day, Rina began to lounge around in bed. Though she had not typically gotten out of bed much before, she had not been in a state where she couldn’t get up at all.
Of course, it was not due to lingering illnesses.
According to her attending physician, Moritz, it was simply that her muscles were momentarily shocked after suddenly moving a body that had not been active.
In essence, it was just muscle soreness. It was a relief, but for Rina, who had savored the one sweet moment of enjoying the fall festival with her beloved family, returning to life as she had before was not particularly pleasant.
However, for some reason, Rina’s body showed signs of improvement as the days went by.
Like today, she was able to go down to the dining room and enjoy a meal with her family.
Though today, her father, the Adelheid Duke, could not join because of Senate duties, and her only sister, Laura von Adelheit, had to study at the academy library, at least her beloved mother was there.
Perhaps because it had been so long since she had sat at the table with her family?
Rina felt very happy. So much so that she didn’t know how to express it.
‘I can feel that my body is slowly getting better…’
Although she didn’t say it out loud, she had realized that her body was gradually regaining its strength. Of course, that didn’t mean that the Rina who had previously just lounged in bed had suddenly turned into someone with strong immunity capable of tolerating a certain level of unsanitary conditions like everyone else…
At the very least, this change was not a small one. The reason Rina couldn’t hide her smile and why her cheeks flushed while gazing at the distant mountains outside the window was entirely because of this.
‘Thanks to the professor…’
Really, how should she repay this grace?
Her father, the Adelheid Duke, always told Rina, “Even simple acts of gratitude should be decided after comparing both your value and that of the other person.” If that were true, then perhaps she didn’t have to repay it at all.
‘But that’s a little…’
Even with the reputation of the “unprincipled Adelheid Ducal House” looming over her, Rina could not become that heartless.
Thus, while melting into the warmth with such thoughts, Rina suddenly felt bored and tried to peek outside the blanket to call for Priest Luciana.
“Oh… she must have gone with Father.”
However, Priest Luciana had already followed the Adelheid Duke.
Priest Luciana was essentially the only person who had opened her heart to Rina. With her gone, Rina wondered how she should tackle this situation.
“…Shall I make a snowman?”
Ultimately, a solution always managed to present itself.
As Rina wiggled in the blanket trying to find a comfortable position, she continued to stare blankly out the window.
Pure white snow. How had she played with it last year?
A snowman. Yes, she had made a snowman.
Even though it lacked buttons or twigs to give that small, pitiful snowman facial features or limbs, Rina just enjoyed rolling around the cold and fascinating something.
And this year, it was no different. Even if she dreaded the cold winter, making a snowman from the snow that only fell in winter was still a delightful escape that was fun to do.
Winter didn’t last a lifetime, and it wasn’t like she could freely go outside to touch the snow like others, so her small venture of “making a snowman” came with many preconditions.
“There it is…!”
In the end, it all converged to one result.
Carefully, Rina slowly pulled back the blanket to avoid damaging the sheet and approached the window.
Perhaps to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, all the windows in her room were closed.
However, having lived nearly confined to this room for years, it was nothing for Rina to open a window.
– Clank!
As she opened the window, a cold draft immediately poured into her room. While the heating unit was doing its job, and the fireplace crackled, if she continued like this, she would end up back in a lukewarm room.
However, Rina remained calm and gathered the snow. The first snowball she had made, which took the most time and effort, served as the body.
Slowly, a smaller snowball was placed carefully on top. The head section was now complete.
Though smaller in size than the snowmen she had made last year or the year before, Rina was satisfied with just this.
After all, the name she gave to the snowman was “the prince who saved the princess,” none other than Professor Antorelli.
No matter how poorly made the small snowman was, it was made with more passion than any other. No, it merely resembled Professor Antorelli.
Watching the snowman, which had been sent back outside to the window ledge, Rina felt a little bit of a wave of emotion and slowly walked back to her bed.
“Yawwwn…”
The snowman would melt with time. Especially if the sun were high in the sky.
However, given that Rina was stuck inside the mansion all day, that did her no good.
Gazing at the snowman firmly fixed to the window ledge, Rina could not resist the weight of her heavy eyelids.
By morning, she would tend to that snowman.
“Hmm… Hmph…”
Sofia Sub-priest hummed a tune and entered my staff dormitory with the intention of planning a trip. It had already been over an hour.
As someone who had been in and out of my dormitory several times, Sofia Sub-priest lightly greeted me and quickly conveyed her business before casually brewing and serving two cups of black tea from the kitchen.
Surely, the premium black tea that had just been bought was placed in a slightly different spot. I had no idea how she found it.
“So, is the trip planning going well?”
I asked with a half-giving-up tone, and Sofia Sub-priest nodded with a bright smile.
“Yes! It’s going very smoothly!”
“…Is that so.”
“As the Head Priest knows, I’m originally from the Holy Empire, right? Hehe… Despite how it looks, I’m quite familiar with the famous Christmas streets from the Holy Empire.”
With her hand on her waist and a bold expression, Sofia Sub-priest seemed a bit irritating.
“…Impressive. Indeed.”
“You don’t have to flatter me that much.”
“……”
“Anyway! The travel plan I will first present to the Head Priest is… tada!”
Sofia Sub-priest handed over a piece of paper. A travel plan that had been crafted over a whole hour while sipping black tea.
Having never taken a trip myself, and not being a particularly meticulous person anyway, it was only a little less than a year that I had briefly stayed in the Holy Empire.
Thus, naturally, the travel planning had been completely entrusted to Sofia Sub-priest.
“You can look forward to it. Oddly enough, I put more effort into planning this than usual.”
At her enthusiastic claim of being a local, I quietly skimmed through the plan she handed me.
[ Breakfast > Viewing limited edition Christmas pastries at a bakery > Lunch > Sightseeing at Christmas Street > Dinner > Sleep ]
“……”
I stared blankly at the plan for a moment before letting out a sigh and pushing it away.
“What do you think? Isn’t it quite detailed?”
“…Yes.”
Actually, staying at the academy didn’t seem like a bad idea either.
