She truly was in a palace. As she paced through the empty corridors, she heard the rhythmic tapping of her slippers against the floor. Each step echoed through the high, vaulted arches of the ceiling. The silence of the place seeped into Yuki's soul, the stillness gnawing at her nerves. She walked to the very end of the long hallway, but there was still nothing – no sound, no movement, just more of the same. She passed paintings and vases along the walls, but the crushing sense of being trapped was beginning to overwhelm her.
Until that very moment.
What was that lying on the ground? "No way...!" Before her lay a human body, literally torn in two. The floor was soaked in blood. Despite her instincts, a morbid curiosity pulled her forward. With every step, her stomach churned more violently. What she saw was beyond words; these people had not just been killed – they had been brutally tortured. How could someone be so heartless? What could these people possibly have done to deserve such a gruesome fate? Some faces were so badly mutilated that they were unrecognisable; you could not even tell they were human any more.
She slowly picked her way through the carnage, careful not to touch the remains. But the trail of bodies was endless, stretching across nearly ten corridors. Finally, she reached a massive, imposing door – likely the main hall of the palace. The entrance was littered with the corpses of armoured soldiers, and the metallic scent of blood was thicker than ever.
She did not have the strength to push the door wide open, but she managed to pry it just enough to slip through. As she stepped through the narrow gap, she saw a living soul for the first time since her arrival.
She had silver hair and ice-blue eyes – perhaps the most beautiful girl in the world. Her presence was so captivating that even Yuki, herself a girl, was stunned; I cannot even imagine how men would react, she thought. But the girl was chained to a throne in the centre of the room.
She had been left there to die. Yuki walked towards the girl, but although she knew Yuki was unarmed, the girl remained hesitant. The events had wounded her deeply; those ice-blue eyes seemed to be losing their light. Must tears flow from the eyes for one to be considered crying? Can the heart not weep, or the body not shatter, without tears? No matter how rude, egotistical, or spoiled she might be, she was still human, and the sorrow of her soul was visible from the outside. She had lost her mother to an assassination as a child; now, she had lost her father, her loved ones, everyone she knew, and her friends.
What was left to grieve for? Her pure white room, where she had grown up in peace, was now stained with crimson blood. No one could clean it, and she could not live with that stain. As Yuki drew closer, Mariana was afraid, but she accepted the bitter truths just as quickly. What was the point of living? What would change? She was all alone now – a grain of wheat tossed in the wind, but a withered one.
Yuki picked up her sword from the ground. She had to ease this girl's pain; leaving her like this would betray her own character. As soon as she took the sword, she swung it towards Princess Mariana. In that instant, the chains shattered into pieces. It was no shock for Mariana; she had become someone with no expectations left in life. What if she died? Everything was gone anyway.
Yuki reached out her hand and said:
— It is not over yet. I lost my family too. Even though my heart burns and shatters, I keep living. Is that not the true meaning of life? The ability to show courage despite the struggles and the pain... Just as our days have a cycle of night and day, so does our life. After every darkness comes light, and after every cold winter comes summer.
Mariana snapped:
— Shut up, grandma! Instead of giving me advice, why do you not go and knit something? I thought my grandmother was long dead, but it turns out she is standing right in front of me.
Mariana was truly sharp-tongued; she did not know where to stop before breaking someone. She was trying to pass the ruins in her heart to Yuki; she was looking for a partner in her downfall. If she was sinking, someone had to sink with her – that was how she had been raised, always with someone behind her. But as kind-hearted and merciful as Yuki was (especially towards girls), a tiger lay within her if her patience was tested. And Mariana was rapidly approaching the limits of that patience. Finally, Yuki's patience wore thin. That fool, that pessimistic fool, was still acting like an arrogant bastard despite being helped. Yuki had only wanted to help; she really had not expected such a piece-of-trash personality to come from such a beautiful girl. Anyway, the girl was finally free now. Yuki had done what she had to do, and the rest was up to her. She could do whatever she wanted; Yuki did not care anymore.
Driven by fury, she stormed towards the exit of the room and slammed the heavy door – which she had struggled to open earlier – shut with a single, angry push.
Mariana was not accustomed to Yuki's impulsive and rule-breaking reactions. Throughout her life, she had only heard the obedient echo of "As you wish" from everyone around her. Even though she tried to wear that famous, flawless "Snow Queen" mask to hide how much she was hurting in front of Yuki, Mariana actually carried a fragile soul filled with glass shards, one that was easily bruised by every touch.
Unlike his brother, Yuki was not someone who could manage his emotions like a suit of armor; every storm passing through his mind was directly reflected in the words that spilled from his lips. Yet, by some coincidence, he had managed to pull this spoiled princess of the palace out of her comfort zone.
Mariana stood up in a rage and headed toward the door. However, in the sterile world of palace life, where everything was managed by others, opening a heavy door on her own was a difficult physical challenge for her. The princess could not bring herself to ask for help; her pride still hung in her mind like a sharp sword. Asking for help felt not just like a defeat, but like giving up her very existence. She began to pound on the door; every strike was actually a scream thrown at her loneliness and the fake world that never told her the truth. Perhaps the only thing lying beneath Mariana's cold pride was a thirst for a real friend who would be honest with her for once and would neither bow nor bend before her.
Finally, she gave up. The proud tone in her voice slowly gave way to the sincerity of desperation: "Anyway... I'm sorry, alright? I apologize, I was rude! Can you hear me?"
Even though Yuki had walked away from the throne room, he heard that cry in the depths of the corridor. Mariana had made a mistake, but it was as rare and valuable as a glowing jewel for a person to face their own mistake. Yuki paused and turned back. In his eyes, Mariana was no longer that "spoiled princess," but a soul beginning to tear down her own selfish walls.
Yuki had come from a dark world where no one admitted their mistakes and everyone lived only for their own interests. Now, the presence of this girl who accepted her mistake brought a sense of relief to his soul. The anger he felt toward the woman he wanted to drown in a spoonful of water just moments ago had been replaced by a strange peace. The heavy burden inside him felt as light as a bird spreading its wings.
When Yuki reached the door, he noticed that the door he had easily opened just before was now resisting as if it were locked. He gathered the power of the wind, placed his hand on the door, and released his magic by taking a deep breath. When the heavy door opened with a loud noise, they stood face to face. The "Snow Queen" was now free; however, the person standing before him this time was not just a princess, but a human being willing to let down her walls.