After the tacit, unspoken ceremony between them, Faust and Selena had to face a rather practical problem.
How were they supposed to lift the curse? For that matter, never mind the curse, how were they supposed to deal with being hunted?
Honestly, the two of them standing against the entire Kingdom of Wintertide was a little absurd, when you thought about it.
Faust had gone through rigorous training in Mistoria, and could genuinely be called an elite fighter. If it were just a matter of venturing out on his own, even a war-torn nation wouldn't have posed much trouble.
But training and actual warfare were two entirely different things. Never mind him: even if the Elven Martial Saint came in person, he wouldn't dare go up against a nation as ancient and powerful as Wintertide. At best, he'd manage to escape with his life.
Of course, it wasn't as though they were entirely without support either.
"Every generation's Snow White, once her fame spreads, ends up enchanting a great many of the kingdom's people, who then throw themselves into supporting her claim to the throne, whatever the cost."
Selena hopped carefully from stone to stone along the forest path, arms spread wide for balance.
"All I'd need to do is take a tour through a few other cities in the kingdom, and I could raise an army capable of standing against the capital in no time at all. Just as it's happened throughout our history. Under the curse's influence, the Kingdom of Wintertide never knows a day of peace."
Faust said, "So that's what people meant when they talked about how violently the throne of Wintertide changes hands, how frequent the civil wars are."
The black-haired girl hopped down off the stone and clapped her hands together.
"But doing that would be no different from bowing down and admitting defeat to the curse. I don't intend to kill my mother. Not under any circumstances. So until I've dealt with the curse, I can't afford to see her."
Faust asked, "Do you have a plan?"
He knew almost nothing about the actual state of the Kingdom of Wintertide beyond outside rumors and the legend of "Snow White." With so little to go on, there wasn't much he could usefully offer, so for now he could only ask the local.
"Hmm... I didn't really have much of a lead before, but something the Frost Walker did earlier gave me an idea."
Selena tilted her fair face upward, a face as lovely as ice and snow given form, and pressed a hand to her chest, looking rather pleased with herself.
"My beauty doesn't just enchant flesh and blood. Even a mindless machine like a Frost Walker isn't immune to it! Which means, if I bring the Frost Walkers under my command, that alone should be enough to hold off the Chancellor's faction and their pursuit."
"The [Frost Walkers], huh..."
Faust's own interest was piqued at that. He'd learned from Mephisto that the Kingdom of Wintertide was descended from survivors of the ancient Tower of Babel, which meant these extraordinary alchemical war machines were, naturally, treasures left behind from that golden age.
Setting everything else aside, judging purely by these outlandish ancient alchemical constructs alone, Wintertide's latent strength was unfathomably deep. If he could bring Wintertide under the banner of Aurum as an allied state under Prince Faust, that alone would be enough to catapult him straight to the top.
"I remember seeing in the castle library that the main base for the kingdom's Frost Walkers is somewhere near the border. I could go take a look and try to secure control of the Frost Walker base."
Faust readily agreed:
"There's no better plan than that. Get ourselves stabilized first, then figure out how to lift the curse."
Just like that, in a few short exchanges, their next move was decided. All that remained was to hurry toward the Frost Walker base.
Just as the two of them were about to step out of the forest, the chill in the air finally condensed into snowflakes.
Strand after strand, tassel after tassel of slanting white drifted down in an endless stream from a sky the color of silvery gray fur. Like countless gentle brushstrokes, patiently painting over the boundary between heaven and earth.
In the distance, the forests, valleys, and hills gradually grew hazy and soft beneath that ceaseless, whispering white brushwork, losing their hard, defined edges.
"It's snowing."
A snowflake landed in the palm of her gloved hand. Selena gently blew it away and closed her silver eyes.
Faust said with a sigh, "It's nearly summer out there, and yet here in Wintertide, it's snowing."
The Princess of Wintertide lowered her eyelids slightly. "This is the dragon's curse. Our homeland will be swallowed by ice and snow. As long as [Snow White] exists, this bitter cold will never cease, and each time, it lasts a little longer than the last. Only through the combined power of our ancestors and the Queen can it be driven back. The name [Snow White] isn't exactly meant as a compliment..."
"Even setting everything else aside, that alone is more than enough reason for those ministers to view me as a thorn in their side, a splinter under their nail, itching to see me dead. In their own words, it's all for the sake of letting future generations see spring again."
Selena said this lightly, casually sliding a glance toward Faust:
"Do you think this is my fault too? That Snow White is the one to blame for bringing on the white calamity, the endless frost?"
"That's absurd! What fault could you possibly bear in this? At the end of the day, isn't this purely a matter of the curse? Whatever harm comes from the curse can't be laid at your feet, not by any reasonable measure."
Faust caught the probing intent behind Selena's words at once, and answered without a moment's hesitation.
He hadn't forgotten the role he was playing. His values needed to follow his pretty face wherever it led: whatever Selena said was right. Not that it was any burden to say so, since that happened to be exactly what he already believed anyway.
"Hahaha! Well said. I feel not the slightest shred of guilt over it. [Snow White] owes this kingdom absolutely nothing!"
Selena spread her arms wide and walked out into the open field to meet the falling snow, seeming rather delighted by the Prince of Aurum's approval.
Faust hurried to catch up, pulling off his own coat and draping it over the girl's slender, delicate frame.
"It's cold. Put this on, don't catch a chill."
"Aren't you smooth... Have you taken care of someone like this before?"
Selena asked, pulling the coat Faust had draped over her shoulders tighter around herself.
Faust offered an elegant bow. "It's only what any knight ought to do."
The prince had, of course, never actually been a knight himself. But did that mean he'd never seen one in action?
Viviana had certainly gone through no shortage of knightly romance novels in her time, and Faust could only draw on that now.
The Princess of Wintertide lifted a corner of Faust's coat to her fine nose and drew in a deep breath. The man's scent, warm and rich like fine, mellow wine, filled her nose and sank straight into her senses.
Selena tilted her head just so, her soft dark hair falling half over her faintly flushed cheeks, her pure silver eyes seeming to take on a rosy tint as well.
"Mmm... not a bad scent. Quite nice, actually."
Oh boy, and now we're doing the whole boyfriend's-shirt routine too? I see you've got a bit of a gift yourself!
Watching the girl's alluring, coquettish little display, Faust had to admit, his heart skipped rather hard for a moment there.
No way around it: [Snow White] came with a guaranteed [Transcendent Charm] trait. This girl, whose beauty went beyond the merely mortal, could stir a person's heartstrings with nothing more than a glance or a smile, especially when she was deliberately setting out to tempt and tease.
Faust himself had plenty of practical experience in this arena, but Selena, a deep-palace princess who'd never so much as set foot outside the castle, seemed to have picked it all up entirely on her own. Genuinely terrifying.
[Perfect opportunity to start cultivating the temperament of a Martial Saint while you're at it.]
Mephisto seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the little exchange between these two mortal children, and couldn't resist chiming in with a jab.
Faust and Selena traveled on together. The Kingdom of Wintertide was vast in territory, but its border regions were nearly deserted, and the two of them crossed the frontier without meeting much resistance at all.
Within just a few days' time, the two of them arrived at the [Frost Walker] base recorded in the archives.