Ceres

122

How could one say that one had lived a wonderful life when...

That life hasn't even started?

Ceres remembered that 'Ceres', too, lost her mother before she could even know her. Was it also like that for her mother? Was her mother happy that she lived in exchange for her own mother's life?

What was it like to be that selfless and loving?

---

"Misha."

The granny's eyes twitch upon hearing that name.

"Do you even remember her?"

Ceres didn't show any emotions on her face. But, it's as if the weight of her words becomes heavier and heavier as more words are said.

"Do you remember all the children who grew up here? Do you even remember those children with no place to return to and those that pinned their hopes of living a better life here?"

Ceres slowly closed her eyes. Visions came into her mind. And, as she spoke her next words,

"I bet you can't remember them, their smiles, their tears, their laughter, and their sorrows."

...she opened them once again.

"Would you like to see them once more?"

All of a sudden, a sinister smile emerged from Ceres' lips.

Ceres dashed forward and started throwing knives at the granny. Even though the granny felt weak from Ceres' aura, she immediately calmed down and dodged all the knives with the help of her sword. But, instead of attacking Ceres head on, she started to retreat and destroyed the wall behind her. Ceres pulled out a sword out of the blue and followed the granny while also ordering Gil to take care of the rest.

In the midst of a snowy night, flashes of sword attacks can be seen throughout the Haletin clan. Ceres didn't mind the destruction of the town and the granny seemed to also not mind it as they continued their battle.

The rest of the clan members who were not unconscious looked out their houses. Some of these members do not know how to fight. They were kept here in the clan for tasks aside from assassination. However, some the clan members who can fight tried to interfere but were warned by the granny and Ceres. Instead, they protected those who cannot fight from the attacks.

Some of the clan members were also following Gil and started attacking him. It seems that Gil was looking for something within the town. He went from one house to another. He didn't kill anyone as instructed by Ceres.

The princess said that some of these people are innocent and clueless. But how she can know which is which?

When Gil was certain that he already looked everywhere, he was about to look for Ceres. He only stopped because of the number of people trying to kill him.

For some people, not killing is harder than killing and leaving bodies around. And for Gil, it became hard because the number of people attacking him kept on increasing. It seems that those he knocked unconscious a while ago were starting to wake up and help others.

Meanwhile, Ceres and the granny seemed to have strayed from the town. They seemed closer to the field of ice crystal flowers. But, this probably was a work of Ceres.

Ceres clashed with the granny's sword. She seemed to have retreated and stopped her attacks.

"Why stop? Do you pity this grandma?"

Ceres looked straight into the granny's eyes. She knew. She felt that the granny was not really able to keep up with her as they continued their clash. The granny, although proficient in teaching the clan members, does not have the same stamina she had when she was younger.

"I can still fight... If it's for this clan, I ca---"

"Bullshit."

Ceres sheathed her sword in what seems to be an invisible sheath and it disappeared out of the blue.

"Did you know? The baby boy was crying but he stopped when Misha touched him. That last touch seemed to have made him calm down. Everything else from that moment seemed to have stopped."

Ceres clenched her right hand.

"Weird. I was never fully taught of stopping time. I never tried to stop time. I never imagined anyone can stop time."

Ceres brought her right hand in front of her, opening her clenched fist as she spoke.

"Yet, at that time, I can feel that I can. I wanted to. I really wanted to, for that family. But, I wasn't able to."

The granny was confused as to what Ceres was trying to say. But she could understand that Misha had given birth already and must have died. Misha died without passing the legacy of Blood Snow. Isn't this news something terrible for their clan? If what she understood were true, why is there still snow in this region?

How can they still be alive without Blood Snow's core?

"Misha dedicated her life for this clan. All the previous Blood Snow, those who were tricked into becoming a Blood Snow for the clan's sake, dedicated their lives for the wrong things."

An ice crystal flower slowly and suddenly emerged near Ceres' foot. One flower was followed by another, and another, and another, until the flowers made a trail toward the field of ice crystal flowers.

The granny seeing all of this happening in front of her eyes started shaking a little. And slowly, it seems like at any time, she will not be able to hold her sword anymore.

Because the granny knew what these ice crystal flowers meant.

She looked at the field of flowers and then, she looked at Ceres with shaken and teary eyes.

Ceres, then, started speaking once again.

"Do you want to know the true legacy of Blood Snow?"