A Certain Winter’s Tale Chapter 2.1 - Winterfall

A country of unending winter, Winterfall.

At first, Winterfall was a beautiful country with four distinct seasons. Then one day, the Wolf Noble, the first Winter, ascended to the throne of this nameless, massive kingdom. From that moment on, the kingdom came to be called Winterfall.

The world changed slowly, and just a little at a time. The hierarchy of the nobles was reorganized, and the benevolent and beautiful Flower Nobles disappeared. It has been 100 years since the previous emperor, Prime Winter, who was said to have achieved a reign of iron and blood, passed away after suffering from madness, and his son, Elia Winter, ascended to the throne.

Perhaps, just as the world has changed, the power held by the Winter family has also been slightly askew.

“…Therefore, think of this as the last time…! There is a need to recommend someone from among the Sun Nobles, who have never once offered a wife!”

“We of the Wilderness Nobles think so as well, Monarch. We know that you have not found a suitable match among the ten noble houses thus far because of your high standards, Monarch… but this time will be different!”

“We of the Sea Nobles think so as well! If the Winter bloodline were to end like this, a great crisis may befall our empire.”

“That is correct, Monarch. We know you are reluctant to take another wife, but it is what all the other nobles do. We will not push for spring. So, at the very least, an heir…”

“Hah.”

The eleven nobles sat around a round table. The face of the youngest and most beautiful man, seated in the most ornate chair among them, crumpled endlessly. A sigh that seemed to carry the scent of winter escaped his luscious lips, and his gray eyes, so bright they looked transparent, revealed his annoyance.

It was at the point when the noble council was gradually devolving into a venue for denunciation. The Night Noble, Michaelis Eve, who had been watching the state of affairs unfold from his right, tossed out a comment in his characteristically light voice.

“Heads of each family. As you wished, El… no, the Monarch has taken a wife ten times. Yet, he has failed to find either the one who will bring spring as mentioned in Daniel Blossom’s last words, or the one who will conceive the flower. At this point, wouldn’t it be correct to conclude that there is no one among the nobles?”

Michaelis continued speaking, glancing at the complexion of his childhood friend Elia Winter sitting beside him. His words must have had some persuasive power, as the other muttering nobles fell silent. Satisfied with having barely managed to stem the tide of complaints, Michaelis took a deep breath to catch his own.

Elia still remained silent. However, seeing him twisting his long, silver-gray hair with his fingers and frowning, it seemed he was displeased with the situation one way or another. If things went wrong, he was the type to run out of the castle or hole himself up in the inner palace, so Michaelis, at the very least, had to mind his mood.

He nudged Elia’s shin under the desk, but Elia, without budging, scanned the assembly and did not let go of his annoyed expression.

At that moment, the head of the Sun Nobles, who had been silently listening to the other nobles recommend their own families, opened his mouth.

“Is it because our Sun Nobles are of the lowest rank that you are reluctant to take a scion of our family as your wife, Monarch? If we follow Daniel Blossom’s prophecy that the flower is in the lowest place… I believe that this time, a flower may finally bloom on the Winter family’s ‘Snowflake Tree’.”

Though he had tried to avoid it by taking detours, at the mention of the direct purpose by Bore Lux, a brief silence fell over the council chamber. Perhaps the atmosphere froze even more because Elia’s frown deepened.

However, the nobles seated around the table cautiously agreed with Bore Lux’s words, adding their own comments.

The nobles of Winterfall each tended to and cared for a tree that symbolized their family. These trees, whose origins and planters were unknown, would bloom whenever a new life was conceived within a family.

The Snowflake Tree, served and cared for by the Wolf family, had never once formed a flower bud since the only Winter, Elia, was born. Moreover, now only one such tree remained in the world, its very existence precarious.

The long and lonely winter of 100 years began after Prime Winter’s heart froze over. The prophecy of Daniel Blossom, the great prophet and friend who had aided Prime Winter by his side, was the only clue to ending that arduous winter. His prophecy mentioned a total of two people: one who would bring spring, and one who could make the tree bloom.

The nobles tried in every way to find a partner for Winter who would bring spring, or, if this Winter, Elia, could not find a partner, to secure an heir to ensure the future. However, Elia Winter did not take kindly to having people by his side. A hundred years passed, during which his wife changed ten times, yet spring did not come, nor did a flower bloom.

Eventually, the nobles, revealing their impatience, stepped forward and constantly urged Elia to marry.

It was because of that unknowable thing called the heart that winter had come and stayed without leaving. If a change occurred in that complex and strange state of mind, or if something were to happen to Winter, who knew if the sky would split in two or the earth would crack open, causing Winterfall to disappear altogether.

The nobles, sharing that impatience, now began to agree with the words of the head of the Sun Nobles, the Lux family.

“Aiden of the Lux family. Although he is from a low-ranking house, rumor has it that his beauty is unparalleled throughout the entire empire!”

“Yes. Aren’t we of the Earth Nobles on good terms with the Sun Nobles? His beauty is so magnificent…. With his radiant blond hair and peachy skin. He was a very lovely young man. Go on, boast about your son.”

“The Monarch has high standards, so the previous wives may not have been to his liking… but with Aiden Lux, surely…”

Amidst the ongoing conversation, the sound of a chair scraping was heard as Elia finally rose from his seat. It was the first reaction he had shown after silently listening to the various words poured out by the nobles. For a moment, the surroundings were consumed by tension.

“Do as you please. You’ve already decided on the answer. I don’t know what more you intend to do with me sitting here. Or… do you wish for me to praise the beauty of that oh-so-great ‘broodmare’ along with you?”

A chilling silence hung over the large council table. Michaelis let out a deep, dark sigh towards his friend who had finally burst out with sarcastic remarks after holding back. However, Elia had no intention of stopping the cold voice that had begun to pour out.

“This ‘oh-so-noble stud’ that you all desire will sow his seed as much as you want. So go ahead and work hard to find a broodmare that I’ll be perfectly pleased with.”

“…Elia.”

“If there’s nothing more to say, I’ll be taking my leave.”

Paying no heed to Michaelis’s call, Elia, unable to overcome his disillusionment, turned away without clearing the contorted expression from his face.

As he threw open the door and stepped out of the council chamber, he heard the sound of his friend Michaelis hastily following him.

Elia deliberately ignored that sound as well and strode down the corridor leading to the inner palace. The palace attendants, each going about their duties within the castle, bowed their heads towards the two men, but Elia, taking none of it in, went deeper and deeper into the castle. As if he wanted to disappear from this very place. His steps were unhesitating and without regret.

“Elia… if you antagonize the nobles like that, it will be a great loss.”

“…”

“I know you can’t find a place to rest your heart and you’re already fed up with the nobles’ pestering. But it’s not like you don’t know why they’re so anxious. Continuing the line of succession… or finding the one who will bring spring…”

“…”

He felt like he was going to go mad from exasperation. He was not incapable of understanding why his old friend Mika was saying such things. But, what was the use in bringing spring?

Is making a flower bloom that important? A long time ago, he had tried to understand the hearts of the nobles and commoners who had lost spring. He had not felt any aversion to taking a wife. He had even once waited for the day he would experience a passionate love like his father, who, though it ended in tragedy, had held a lover in his heart.

But this winter was too long.

For 100 long years, he had been treated like a stud horse, his sole value in existence seemingly to produce seed and continue the line. In the time it would take for mountains and rivers to change ten times over, his wives had changed so many times he could not even remember their names now, and over that long period, he had grown too weary.

Michaelis’s voice once again pierced through his heart.

“The winter has been that long.”

“…Mika.”

The words from his friend’s mouth brought Elia’s steps to a halt. He was already in front of the inner palace bedroom. With his hand on the doorknob, Elia slowly turned his head to look back at his one and only ally, Michaelis.

His friend was gazing at Elia with a sorrowful face. His gaze held not only pity for Elia, but also a sense of exhaustion from the long winter. That made it even harder for Elia to lay bare his complete pain.

“Hah. That’s why…”

“Yes. Say it, Elia.”

“That’s why I’m just letting them bring in as many wives as they want, aren’t I?”

“That’s not all it means. Elia, you too, for 100 years, have been alone…”

“Yes. It’s not just the commoners and the nobles who are tired after 100 years. I, too…”

Like a person suffering the pain of having their raw flesh torn, Elia Winter’s face contorted intensely.

“…”

“I, too, wish for a flower to bloom soon. I need a flower to succeed me. At this rate, I can’t even disappear as I wish.”

“Elia… you, right now…”

A somehow meaningful voice. At Elia’s words, which sounded as if he had lost the will to live, Michaelis was startled.

“I’m going in to rest. Don’t let anyone into the inner palace for a while.”

“Elia…!”

Michaelis Eve, unable to shake his worry, tried to hold back his old friend, but his friend, Elia Winter, disappeared into the room without a second thought.

In front of the firmly shut, ornate, and antique door, Michaelis let out a sigh. It was not only the commoners and the nobles who had been exhausted by the long winter. Their monarch, Elia Winter, had also been unable to welcome the soft and warm spring as the cold winter winds raged on.

“I wish winter would end soon…”

Michaelis sighed and turned away from Elia’s room. Now that the noble council was over and Elia had holed himself up in his room, no one would be looking for him for a while.

Having made his preparations, Michaelis, on behalf of his friend who was trapped in a state of exhaustion and unable to do anything, left the royal castle.

To bring forth the spring that existed somewhere.

❄️🐺❄️

‘Spring exists everywhere, but it is in a place unseen.’

The method to bring spring by stirring a warm breeze in the monarch’s heart. There were various ways to interpret Daniel Blossom’s last words.

From the interpretation that the spring that exists everywhere ultimately signifies the moment the monarch falls in love, nothing special. To the interpretation that focused on the words ‘in a place unseen,’ meaning someone under one’s nose, like a maid in the royal castle. People tried to pair up their monarch with various deductions of their own.

Then what about the flower? Among the public, the prevailing opinion was that the ‘flower’ in the prophecy literally meant the Flower Nobles who had been exterminated. The interpretation that the heart of the previous monarch, who had deeply loved Ariel Glory, had been passed on, and that this curse, or rather, not-quite-a-curse, continued on to the current monarch, Elia, was also frequently heard.