It was now that she noticed the post that Li Jungah was talking about. Clearly, the username 'BlackHorse' couldn't belong to someone authentic or reliable, and yet, people were believing the person blindly. Well, that's how the mass mentality worked, when accompanied by social media. Rong Xinghe was well aware of that. To mock or judge someone, and to make inhumane and insensitive comments against someone, just for the sake of personal entertainment was something people in this era enjoyed. Who cared about the facts and the truth, while they could engross themselves in the juicy gossips, right? Although it was unfortunate, it was a harsh reality still.

But she didn't care about the outsiders. Of course, it was hurtful to watch Country X's public react so thoughtlessly against her. She had endangered her life, and her time, and peace, for these very people on countless occasions, and this was their response to her efforts. How cold-blooded...

Even so, they were just a bunch of worthless punks, sitting in front of their computers, extracting pleasure from another's humiliation. What mattered the most to her was him. Her Yuan. Would he believe those baseless accusations too?

"I will talk to you later, Mother.", Xi Yuan furrowed his brows as the girl dashed out of the kitchen, and towards the lawn. Tossing the phone to Butler Tang then, he demanded the old man to get him the two overcoats from the living room, before striding out of the house as well. Damn it! It was freezing out there.

"Xinghe!", he called the woman from behind, after they were two blocks from the Farmhouse, "Stop right there." The girl halted, heeding to the man's words at once. He sounded enraged. Besides, where would she even go in this foreign country?

As he reached her, he didn't say anything else. He just covered her arms with the Maroon longline coat he'd brought along, stretching his hands further to pull her against him, her back facing his front. She was trembling already, he noticed, but he didn't have the heart to reprimand her for it today. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a warm drop fell on the back of his thumb and a bitterness rushed through his heart.

"I trust you, Xinghe.", he said to her, as tenderly as he could.

"I really... didn't do it.", the girl cried, "I would never--"

"I said I believe in you, Love.", the man cut in, planting a soft kiss upon her head, "I don't need to listen to you explain yourself in order to know that."

The girl looked at the snow-covered houses in her view before turning around to face her darling, "I am sorry... I worried you.", she said as he wiped her tears away, "It's just that I..."

"It's okay.", Xi Yuan smiled, "I get it. I would be scared to see you misunderstand me too, you know?

"However, you could've kicked me and Mr. Tang out of the house, if you really wanted to be alone. Pulling such a stunt in Scottish winters, Honey? Your brothers would've skinned me alive for letting that happen! Your well-being is extremely important for your to-be husband's survival, do you understand?"

The girl laughed a short but sweet laugh as she listened to the man's words, "Understood.", she answered, burying her head into his shoulders as she breathed in his comforting scent. "It's weird how I reacted, no? I am not so emotional, usually.", she said then, her voice low. Now that she'd calmed down, she herself found her behavior a tad out-of-place. Even when she'd opened her eyes for the first time after the Train incident, she hadn't responded so impulsively. Then why now, over such a trivial matter?

But Xi Yuan knew her better than she realized. The man caressed her head lightly as he looked at the soft and cold snow dust make it to them from the sky above. Their first snowfall together. In the land of the Castles. Romantic, wasn't it?

He then looked down at the girl. She'd stopped shivering, thankfully. Of course, he knew how rational and level-headed she stayed under pressure. She wouldn't have been entrusted with the position of an entire nation's highest Military Authority, had it not been the case. He had, in person, seen her deal with the trickiest of the situations with a calmness beyond belief.

Be that as it may, she wasn't the same person around the people she loved. To her family, and to him, she was this passionate and zealous woman, with innumerable dreams in her eyes. They had seen her most vulnerable side, and they'd been there through the nights she would weep. Wasn't it natural for her to fear losing them then? Just because she held a sword in her hands didn't mean she was not a human with a heart.

Besides, he could tell that a part of her reaction today was but a result of her past. Zhou Che. That man had implanted this fear in her heart; that her happiness was just a facade. A myth. That the people she loved could always leave her. Anytime. Anywhere. Zhou Che had done the same to her back then, shattering her heart to thousands of pieces, leaving her in tears as she wondered what had she done wrong.

Her fears, even if she didn't sense them, were buried deep down, troubling her to date. Xi Yuan hated to watch her being tormented by them, certainly. But he knew it'd take her some time, years even, to walk past them. And he was fine with it, for whilst she tried to move on from those dreadful memories, he would hold her hands and love her like no other man ever could.

"We're okay, Ma Jolie.", he whispered back to her.

"Now that we are out anyway, let's make a snowman!", the girl clasped her hands, exhilarated, blinking at the blanket of snow around her.

"You will be cold.", the man was opposed to the idea.

"It barely snows in City A.", Rong Xinghe frowned, disappointed.

Glancing at her puppy-like eyes, the man sighed, "Fine. But not here. In front of the Farmhouse.", he said, buttoning up the woman's coat, "I'll make you some Latté first. You need to have something warm now that you've cried so much. Otherwise, your head will just start aching again."

"Okie dokie!", the girl smiled, pulling the man in for a deep kiss. And as the two melted into each other, their neighbors and the other onlookers clutched onto their chests in aww, sinking into their mesmerizingly epic love.