It has now been three weeks since Wu and Lera departed from New Talonia. Things had been slowly changing for the better in that kingdom, and it all started from the top.

The aftermaths of both the Infinite Academy Saga and the Caligo Incident had simply exacerbated the already dire situation within the political systems of Talonia, and Ita, with the supports of her family, Alina, and Icy, was able to establish some semblance of stability within the palace, which then carried onto the matters outside of the palace.

And at last, Alina was able to take a break.

Standing in the midst of the melting snow, she listened as the streams rush by the river as sounds of crunching snow came from behind her.

She sensed the familiar presence in the Wave that she longed for, and she spun around slowly as her black dress danced in the wind. She wore a blue and white pin over her chest, creating a beautiful contrast befitting of her mature beauty.

Standing meters across from her was a towering red-haired man, and he easily surpassed her in height despite the fact that she’s already among the tallest women in Talonia. He wore his winter jacket awkwardly, and his muscles threaten to explode out from the still poorly-fitted clothes at any moment.

He had cut his long red hair, leaving behind only a handsome sideburn that he kept tied up and hidden under his winter hat, and when he laid his eyes onto Alina’s face, an awkward smile of excitement floated up to his chin.

“You getting excited already?” Alina teased, surprising even herself that it was the first words to have come out of her mouth.

“You are always teasing me…” Joseph Atlas sighed before he rushed forward and hugged Alina in his arms, “That’s how I know you are okay. I was worried.”

“If you were really that worried, then you should have come here yourself.” Alina buried her face in his muscular chest and tapped it with her knuckles until the strength started to make Joseph wince, “What is this big man thing, huh? Leaving the business of your woman to other people?!”

“I…am sorry. I wish I could be here, I really do.” Joseph accepted her punches before he held onto her hand. Alina raised her eyebrows at his initiative, but she didn’t pull away, “If I had known how crazy things would turn out, I would be there in a heartbeat.”

“And you would have revealed the truth about Varous to PORA!” Alina bonked him on the head lightly, “Oh my Joseph…my little Joseph…always getting bullied by big sister Alina…”

“What do you want from me then?” Joseph asked, still holding onto Alina’s hands before she giggled excitedly before leaning into his ear.

“I want you to satisfy me to make up for your failures.” Alina said as Joseph’s face became as red as his hair, “But before then, I wanted to show you something.”

With Alina wearing her hood, and Joseph wearing his hat, they looked nothing more than a pair of exceptionally large couple. However, no ordinary couple would venture this far off the main roads. Despite Joseph’s initial suggestion of taking a chariot, Alina instead insisted on traveling on foot.

“Here…here’s where we tried to hide when we wanted to get out of an exercise.” Alina said, pointing to a ditch behind a fallen tree that’s nearly been completely burried by snow, “He would always send his guards to try to catch us, but we would only get punished if we were caught.”

“I scraped my knee against that tree in a movement exercise. And Shadow bumped her head into it. Everybody was laughing.” She continued, gesturing to another tall tree that seemed completely ordinary to Joseph’s eyes.

“And there, we spent three nights in a row in a surviving training course. One of the girls…didn’t make it.” Alina took Joseph down the slope to just behind a series of massive bedrocks, “We buried her here, under that piece of flat rock.”

And then, there was the main attraction.

Beyond the trees stood a castle that was painted pure white, and it stood their silently like a guardian deity. From the look of the accumulated snow and dirt, it was abandoned for quite a while now.

“And here…it’s where we grew up.” Alina slowly said, reliving her early days that felt like an eternity away, yet viscerally recent at the same time, “The Valkyrie’s training fortress. The fort, as we call it.”

“Woah.” Joseph murmured slowly as Alina pulled his hand forward. She launched herself off the ground as Joseph matched her movements, and they easily landed on top of the railings at the top of the castle before hopping into the abandoned courtyard.

The metal railings were completely rusty, and everything looked old and dirty. The buildings were locked up completely, and Alina and Joseph continued walking along the snowy paths in the gardens.

“Someone once left a grafiti drawing of Caligo in the corner there, but we never figured out who it was.” Alina pointed into the back of the walls where there was a smudge of black paint, “And at the back there, we were trained to get used to standard torturing procedures.”

“This…is…I don’t know what to say.” Joseph kept on walking forward, “You…really did survive this. All of this.”

“We’d like to think so.” Alina lowered her head, “Every time one of the girls died, it felt as if a part of us died with them. But eventually…it stopped hurting. That was also part of training, but…”

“It’s not just that, right?” Joseph asked when the two of them turned a corner back into the sun. Then, a marvelous tree stood proudly despite the cold and the snow. Its leaves were of the blue-green color, and it absorbed the sunlight veraciously, leaving nothing to the ground beneath.

Alina stopped just short of the tree, and she squatted down before placing her hand near its roots.

“Just like Talonian girls, right?” She murmured, sensing the vivid Wave within the body of the tree before smiling slowly, “Joseph, you know, it’s just me left. This Valkyrie’s program, decades of history, and now…it’s only me.”

Joseph watched her closely as she looked up at him, her eyes hidden behind her silver mask as her lips twitched slightly.

“Sometimes, I wonder why I am still alive, why am I the last one here…” Alina said, glancing into the shadow cast by the tree and hoping to see her there, but there was no one besides them.

“Someone had to remember.” Joseph said, stepping forward and placing his hand over Alina’s shoulder as she caught it and pressed it against her face, feeling his warmth slowly spreading to her, “And those memories…they are with you. But you shouldn’t just live for them, but also live for yourself. That’s what they would have wanted. I believe.”

If anything, that’s what Shadow would have wanted.

As selfish as it seemed, Alina will now live her life exactly how she wanted to live it. Not only for herself but also for the girls that never got to do it.

She closed her eyes and stayed still for a moment as Joseph silently stood behind her. Then, she muttered a traditional Talonian phrase using the Talonian dialect before standing up slowly.

“What did you say?” Joseph asked out of curiosity when Alina grabbed onto his hand again.

“May they rest in the great winter.” Alina said, “Now…come on. I got a life I want to live.”

After departing the once home of the once Valkyrie program, Alina instead took Joseph straight into Fang city, where they toured the street vendors selling the Talonian street foods of roasted rabbits, fried root vegetables, and pickled peppers. However, even Alina knew that she would be too recognizable despite her disguises, so they simply bought enough food before returning to the grand palace.

“So…I have been meaning to ask.” Joseph finally opened up when Alina sat right across from him and placed food containing in single-use structure Cast down onto the bowls, “Are you wearing the mask because…”

“Because he messed me up.” Alina lowered her head as her silky white hair covered the top part of her face, “Even in death, he still haunts me like this.”

“And you think I would care for such a thing?” Joseph asked, leaping over the table nimbly and sitting next to Alina. She instinctively tried to move away, but chose not to do so.

Joseph then placed his fingers around her face, and slowly pinched onto either side of the mask.

“When you see what I really look like, you will be turned off.” Alina said half-seriously, “And I will be forced to kill you.”

“I thought you know me better than that…” Joseph sighed before sliding off Alina’s mask. There were thick layers of scars and burn marks right over her eyes, and the only intact in the top half of her face are her deep black eyes and tall nose.

“See?” Alina avoided Joseph’s eyes before she tried to move back and away from him, “I am not the beautiful Alina you used to know.”

“No.” Joseph admitted, “But you are not one ounce less of a woman I love.”

Alina’s body stiffened for a moment, and the next time their eyes met, hers had tears in it.

“You are just saying that…”

Joseph smiled warmly, and he leaned in close to kiss her on the lips. It tasted like the seasoning used on the roast meats that they supposedly packed in a box and kept warm, and Joseph tilted his head back before smirking.

“Did someone eat before me?” Joseph asked before looking back at the bowls on the table, “Someone’s acting naughty~”

“Hey! I was hungry, okay? We walked all day today.” Alina protested when Joseph laughed and pushed her down onto the mattress before she wrestled control and rolled up on top.

Her heart was pounding, and the entire world was spinning around her, with only Joseph’s big juicy lips at the middle.

She wants him, and she wants him now.

All of a sudden, her physical thirst and hunger seemed to have gone away, and she instead grabbed onto him before pinning him against the mattress.

“I have missed you…so so much…” Alina murmured.

“Then stay with me, forever.” Joseph asked, his fingers reaching to touch Alina’s skinny back, “That’s one of the reasons I had come. Or rather…one of the conditions for me being here.”

“A condition?” Alina squished Joseph’s cheek together, “What condition?”

“Wu and Lera’s getting married, and…” Joseph looked to the side before biting his lips as he looked at Alina with a blush she had never seen from him before, “The King will only allow me to come here if you become my wife! I…please marry me!”

“Wow…” Alina giggled, “Is that how Varous men propose?”

“How are you supposed to do it?!” Joseph sat up as Alina hugged onto his body and smiled.

“I…don’t know.” Alina tightened her arms around Joseph’s body as he caressed her hair, “But…I am happy…I am so happy, that I don’t know what to say…”

“Well…you could always say yes?”

“Yes, of course, yes.” Alina said, “I suppose getting married is a part of living, right?”

“It will be the start of our lives together.” Joseph held her face before leaning in and kissing her. As their lips melted into one another, so do their hearts and bodies.

In life, you will never know which cards are dealt to you. However, all that you could try to do is to live your life to the fullest, to thrive regardless, like a Talonian tree in the Talonian snow.