Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Sorting Things Out (2)

… Pitter-patter.

Snow fell from the skies, forming a thick layer of it on the ground as they accumulated, covering her vicinity entirely in white.

… Pitter-patter.

Winter here was eternal. The snow that fell never melted either. Regardless, she waited.

Would this coldness melt away in the distant future?

If she waited and held on until the snow became water for the land, would it ever sprout?

No, she doubted it.

… It was no different from her situation.

She often found herself wondering if spring would ever come to her.

Julie’s life began with death.

She gained life at the price of her mother’s, after all.

That was the first-ever sin she committed when she was born into this world.

“Wow…”

Freyden’s resistance was always held in gelid winter. The small child stared blankly at the knights’ swordsmanship in the pure white hall.

The knights brandished their swords as they sweated, but among them, her father and brother were the best. She was proud of them. They were beautiful.

It looked like a play from a distance, and from close up, it looked like a dance.

“…”

At that moment, her older brother, finishing his match, looked back at her, sweat dripping from him suddenly freezing like jewels.

“Ah, um… er…”

Julie avoided his gaze.

Zeit never spoke to Julie first. Everyone in their family was like that. Even though there was nothing wrong with her, they always drew an invisible line.

“Julie.”

However, that day was an exception. Her elder brother looked at her with a melancholic smile for reasons she couldn’t decipher.

Young Julie faced him with wide-open eyes.

“Y-Y-Y-Yes, brother?”

“Would you like to wield a sword too?”

“… Yes?”