Reina Aurwood was tired.

She was a hard working student with stellar grades. Top of the class. Soon to enroll in a high ranking university of her country. But her life was not perfect. She had taken many part time jobs to sustain herself throughout the years - some illegal ones too - and sucked up to many people, especially her uncle and her cousins, who were raising her brother and herself.

Her cousin Victor and Veronica- she could never forget them even if she wanted to.

It was her blood, sweat and tears that had eventually paid off for her to get enrollment in a reputed university on a full scholarship. So in the past three days when everyone served her, she accepted it without question as the “rewards” of her hard work that she was not able to achieve due to her early death. She did not mind people serving her. She had done that enough herself.

But now that she had freshened up, she could not help but notice that the place she was living in was unnecessarily large, and wherever she went, she encountered someone dressed like a maid. Maybe they were all underworld servants, but they all bowed to her when they saw her, and then scurried away.

“She finally came out of her room in two months!,” she also heard some of them gossip.

“Did you see her face? She looks so pale…”

“The Master should let her leave the moment she is a little better !”

“That is good for all of us…,” they giggled.

She had only stayed inside her room for three days, but they exaggerated it to two months. Even the underworld servants had no self-respect, Reina thought. Also, why did they act like they knew her? It was her first time seeing them along with some old men dressed in unconventional medieval robes. The old men came to see her themselves.

“My Lady.,” they bowed.

“It seems the medicine has taken effect…,” said one of them. He seemed like he ranked higher in the group, wearing a green robe while the rest wore blue, and leading conversations.

“I shall report this to Sir Clement, and see how soon you can leave...”

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Reina nodded. She had only arrived there for three days, but they wanted her to leave...Maybe they were just being respectful all this time, calling her a lady and all – she could not complain. It was first class treatment.

That evening she went for a stroll outside. A lady accompanied her. In fact, she accompanied her all the time. But it didn’t matter to her at that moment, for Reina just realized that for the past three days she had actually been living in a castle – a castle that stretched across a mountain as if it were an extension of it, and stood at the top of a hill. It was enormous, and looked so desolate and grey that she actually felt relieved she was leaving this place.

But other than that despite the snow, the landscape was utterly beautiful. Tall snowy mountains surrounded the castle from all sides, and coniferous tress grew on the hills. At a distance she could see a small settlement. The hills were half green-half white; the mountains half-grey. If someone told her this was actually a place in some corner of the world, and that nearby settlement was a village with real people living in it, she would have believed it.

Where were they going in this rough terrain though, Reina thought? Maybe a river… Everyone said dying was like crossing a river. They said someone waited there with a boat. Yeah...maybe that’s what this was...And that’s what Reina Aurwood would have kept thinking if not interrupted by a fierce wind that blew her way. It howled so loudly she could hear nothing else, but the vague sound of someone calling her.

"My Lady!"

It was true.

“My Lady!!!”

It was a man’s voice. A boy’s to be exact.

A young boy who had probably been deployed in an errand. He stood few paces away from her, a little below in height amid the sparkling snow.

“My Lady, you have a visitor.,” he said.

His hair was as dark as the night, and his eyes as blue as the ocean. She had never seen him before, but out of all the people she had seen in this world he had the most beautiful face.

"A visitor?," she asked.

"Yes...”

Reina Aurwood did not notice it then, but he was also probably the only person who didn't avoid her gaze. His blue eyes looked straight into hers, almost as if looking down on her.

“Master Reigner Aurwood asks for your presence. ," he said.

Bells rang in the castle. And a fierce wind blew again.

“My Lady!!!,” her attendant followed her after seeing her run, while the young boy stood and watched.

“My Lady!!!”

But Reina could not hear a thing. Her heart throbbed knowing Reigner had also perhaps died, but nonetheless she was happy.

Her brother had come to see her.