Chapter 170

But the words she spoke with a tilted smile made Sheffy feel that everything she had just said was completely in vain!

“Mm-hm, Royal Sister is right, but if something like this happened again, I’d still do the same thing, you know? Eh, wait... the oath of submission, once should be enough, right? Doing it again wouldn’t really mean anything? Hehe, anyway, the matter is already decided once and for all!”

“Hah? You...”

“Ah... Royal Sister doesn’t think I’m joking, does she?”

“......”

This was bad.

When Sheffy heard this—

And saw the sudden gleam of light flickering in Belith’s eyes—

She more or less guessed what she was about to say.

No... don’t, little sister. You used to be a child with ambition and dreams.

【Royal Sister, please stop here. I will never acknowledge your way of doing things, never in this lifetime.】

And you were always striving to become stronger... unwilling to yield to heaven or earth, weren’t you?

【I will surpass Royal Sister. Right now, it’s only empty words, but I will achieve it one day, absolutely, even if it burns me out completely, I don’t care.】

You’ve always been such a stubborn one...!

Yet at this moment—

Under the brilliance of the twin moons, Belith, who still had not given up on becoming stronger but whose heart had already changed entirely, once again bent down on one knee.

She pressed her palm to her chest.

Belith bowed her head with a smile, closed her eyes, and reaffirmed it.

“I once thought that bowing to Royal Sister would be an especially shameful thing.”

“But now that I’ve truly done it... I feel so comfortable inside.”

“I will become stronger, continue to grow stronger, and get closer to Royal Sister, even if it’s only little by little. If Royal Sister wishes to become Demon King, I will be your strength, assisting by your side, for all eternity. If Royal Sister doesn’t wish to become Demon King, that’s fine too. For Royal Sister’s sake, I will sit on that throne.”

“But even if I do become Demon King...”

“I still want to remain the obedient child loved by Royal Sister...”

“There’s no one else here now, so Royal Sister... you don’t think I’m still joking, do you?”

78. The Snow’s Return

It was clear she wasn’t joking.

Well... this wasn’t something urgent to discuss. Talking about who the next Demon King would be, that was far too early. Father was still very capable right now, so there was no need for them to worry about such troublesome matters!

What was truly troublesome—was the situation before her.

Sheffy looked straight ahead.

The twin-hued moonlight enveloped Belith, who was kneeling on one knee by the stream and lifting her head high.

That clear gaze of hers, filled with trust, struck Sheffy as strangely surprising.

Uh...

Had Belith always been... this beautiful?

Her face flawless as jade, her eyes clear and boundless as though infused with spiritual light.

Since Sheffy and she looked so alike, saying this might come across as self-praising.

She had always thought of her as a little child, but... recently, Sheffy truly felt, maybe her younger sister really was—

Such a pretty one, huh?

“Royal Sister, are you thinking something rude...?”

“No, stop slandering me. Sigh... fine, fine, get up already. There’s no one else here. I understand what you mean, but aren’t those stones under your knees uncomfortable...”

Sheffy waved her left hand as if it were nothing while saying these words, but in truth, her gaze never met Belith’s directly.

Lately, she felt more and more—unsure what kind of eyes she ought to look at her with.

Especially after that day inside the arena’s domain, when they exchanged heartfelt words, and after the shocking act Belith committed today.

When Belith stood, brushing the black skirt with a bitter smile, it was just then she heard the most beloved voice call her name.

“Belith.”

“Royal Sister, I’m here.”

“Can you tell me the reason?”

The rushing stream struck against the rocks along the bank.

Amid the silence of all things, the splash shattered like a mournful cry.

Here in the deep forested mountains, with no one else around, Sheffy wanted to share some truth with her.

When one wished to speak sincerely, it was often because one could not see clearly into their own heart, and so hoped the other would speak for them.

Hearing this question, Belith first froze in thought—for Sheffy’s way of asking was rather sudden.

But clever Belith quickly grasped the meaning behind it.

Royal Sister was asking... why do I like you?

Or rather, the reason why I like you?

To be asked this, perhaps she ought to have felt a pang of disappointment.

After all, when someone asks, “Why do you like me,” what it implied was—“I don’t like you right now.”

But when Belith heard it, instead of sadness—

She was overjoyed.

Because behind this question’s meaning, there wasn’t only “I don’t like you right now.”

There was also—“I don’t dislike you right now.”

After all, if she were disliked, then why bother asking at all?

Only Belith, who had once been hated by the one she loved most, knew just how precious the words “not disliked” truly were.

She didn’t hurry to answer the question.

Because...

Her heart at this moment was as pure as snow.

She looked up toward the sky.

“Royal Sister, it’s snowing.”

“Mm...?”

The two sisters reached out their hands at the same time, palms open, facing the pitch-black evening sky.

It was hard to imagine that such a dark night could also cast down feathers of angels.

Two snowflakes landed at once in their palms, the ice crystals warmed by their skin, quickly melting into sparkling droplets rolling away.

With that as the beginning, sparse white flakes drifted down, gently playing the symphony of wind and snow in the forest.

Sheffy brushed the snow clinging to the tips of her silver hair, thinking that, yes... it really was that season again, wasn’t it?

Autumn had sunk deep, winter was near.

There would always be such a snowfall to announce the change of seasons, the passage of time.

She didn’t dislike snowy days.

After all, her name, “Sheffy,” came from the snow itself.

“On the day when angels descended to the world amid heavy snowfall” — that was the meaning Mother had given her name.

Sheffy was thinking this... and did not expect Belith to precisely voice what was on her mind.

“ I really liked snowy days.”

“ Oh... that’s a coincidence. I knew you liked snow. When you were little, wasn’t it the same? Every winter you’d lie on the windowsill asking me when it would snow, driving me mad... I’m not a god, how was I supposed to know when it would snow?”

“ Royal Sister was Belith’s deity.”

“ Come on, I didn’t have the power to be anyone’s god. Like that year of drought — there was absolutely no snow. Who could have predicted that?”

“ But that year, the snow still fell.”

“ ......”

Some things were not so important to Sheffy, so she might have forgotten them.

But the same events were, for Belith... an ode to love.

The snow fell ever more abundantly.

Belith swept up the hem of her black skirt, spread her black wings, and danced through the snowy woods.

She was as beautiful as a dark winter sprite.

Unconsciously, Sheffy sat on the cold stone and silently watched Belith’s dance, not hurried to stop her.

Even she felt a little surprised.

She had not particularly wanted to watch the dance, but when she saw Belith’s beaming smile...

She felt it was worth patiently waiting.

The scene before her felt familiar.

Had Belith once called her to watch her dance in such a snowy place?

But that year — hadn’t there been no snow?

The graceful steps stopped, scattering a veil of snow dust. Belith lightly pinched the sides of her skirt, bent her knees a little, exhaled a warm breath, and bowed to Sheffy in thanks for the performance.

The princess in the snow, Belith lifted her beautiful eyes; what reflected in them was not a sky filled with snow...

But Royal Sister’s silver hair, which was holier than the snow.

“ There was no snow that year, but I had been longing for it. When the weather warmed and hope vanished, I lay on the windowsill and cried.”

“ I think that happened... then what?”

“ Royal Sister said I was pathetic for crying and that I was troublesome.”

“ Right~ I suppose I would say that. You were always a crybaby as a child.”

“ Then Royal Sister used magic to let it snow over the Demon King’s Castle that year — and I finally saw snow.”

“ ......”

A grand snowfall, a tender and joyful dance.

The snow came.

But when she twirled then, was it still snow she saw?

It was snow.

But perhaps it had already been a different kind of “snow.”

You asked me why I loved you.

I’m sorry, Royal Sister, I still could not give you a precise answer.

Because love was engraved in every ordinary snowy day, and also spread itself across every clear, snowless day.

Thinking of you, missing you, every worry and thought about you — those were the answers.

So many answers... how would Royal Sister have wanted me to reply?

“ And the very first reason I loved snowy days... was because Mother told me the origin of Royal Sister’s name, you know? Ahaha... so whenever I couldn’t see snow each year, my heart felt empty, and when I was little I even cried from my own frustration.”

You were an angel.

A white snowfall bestowed upon me by the heavens — I was the parched land, forever awaiting your boundless arrival.