The snow falling was not as white as it was supposed to be. The soot from the bonfires of the soldiers camping near the wall flew high enough to stain the heavens with its impurity. Lelouch looked around and recognized the gloomy shade of the scenery of before him, blanketed with the dullest, loneliest hue of winter. Gray.
The sound of his boots rubbing against the snowy ground snapped him back to reality as he took a step backward. He could hear the laughter of the children from a nearby shack, and he could feel the thudding vibration of the ground from a carriage approaching his position. Lelouch did not budge an inch, nevertheless. He remained standing there, gaping and examining the whole place before him - awestruck. Mindless of the worsening snowfall and cold, biting wind, he kept on turning around and casting fleeting glances everywhere. The question how he made it back played repeatedly in his head. He still had questions in his head, bugging him to the bones, begging him to be answered. And though his mind was plagued by these uncertainties, one thing was certain: Lelouch was back in Firmus.
His hand dropped back to his side; the woman whose chin was being chucked by his fingers, vanished in the thin air. Purple eyes widened in disbelief, his heart felt like it sunk ten thousand feet deep. The hardened snow cracked underneath his shoes as he began to inch away from where he stood. The man knew that nothing could be done now, that he was really back now, and yet he didn't know if this fact was worth rejoicing.
It finally dawned to him how cold and biting the air was, his face had gone numb. He didn't know it but the pallor of his face could be mistaken as winter itself. The kingdom was still quite peaceful, the war on the border had not resumed yet. He worked out his legs to walk, but as he waltzed away the rattling wheels of the carriages passing by him shook the ground.
"Lelouch!"
Lelouch whipped his head to where the voice came from, and he saw an approaching carriage with ornate and noble exterior. Its door was slightly ajar, and a ginger-head noblewoman had her head poking out. He recognized that pretty face and that smile, and he knew so well how she would wave her gloved hand to greet him. The carriage halted right in front of him, the horses stopped gracefully and silently. Immediately, he bent his knees slightly to greet his master through a curtsy.
"Lady...Shirley," he stuttered, her name felt like a strange word that had not rolled on his tongue for so long. "It's been so long."
The noblewoman flashed a tight smile as she went out of the carriage, her long red hair was flowing behind her with a swish. "Indeed, it has been so long. You were gone for three long days. Believe me, it had been the longest and the most enduring three days of my life."
Lelouch did not say anything in response, ignoring what possible meaning his lady had there. He looked down on the snowy ground, then he glanced up to watch the snowflakes drifting down to the earth. Lady Shirley fidgeted when replied with silence as it dawned to her just how bold her declaration to him was. With her cheeks dusted with pink, she called back his attention.
"I...ugh," she feigned a cough to cut off her own stuttering. "In those three days, the king reported you as missing. Your whereabouts were unknown to anyone in or out the palace, and the place you were seen was in that tiny hut of the palace's sorceress. Were you bewitched?" Her eyes studied the unusual coat and boots he was wearing, and weird bright yellow undershirt blatant from his coat. "Anyway, you wore such fine clothes. But they are a bit...unusual."
"Yes, my lady. I have gone to seek the sorceress's advice with regard to the king's lost heir. Though her abode was certainly intimidating, and she, herself, was an enigmatic person, I was unharmed." Lelouch chortled briefly when he remembered Lady Shirley's inquiry about being bewitched. "Therewith, I am not bewitched. I bet the sorceress knew it as well, that someone else would bewitch me. Someone, somewhere else."
Lady Shirley was puzzled as the blunt, oftentimes rude, and stoic servant of the king laughed in front her. It was not the usual laughter he had when coming across a jester or when talking with his fellow servant, Rivalz; she could tell his chortle was more genuine. Lelouch looked a tad smitten. He didn't mind the snow dusting his hair and shoulder of his coat, he kept wincing his head as he laughed there.
"Are you, by any chance, talking about a lady? Have you gone to some place? Kingdom?"
"I have been. It is a place uncharted by any maps before, but it is certainly nice and peaceful. People are kind and hospitable, and they seem to talk a language like ours. But after all the days I stayed there, I found no prince." Lelouch began to play at the sleeves of his coat. He also left out the information about the book which recorded all accurate information about Firmus.
Lady Shirley brushed off the snow from the shoulders of his coat. The bright smile she had earlier faltered as she listened to the man's utterances. "Have you met a lady of the night?"
"Definitely not a lady of the night," he winced with a smile. "She is a very eerie noble lady, never graceful, a tad perhaps, but she possesses a regal beauty." Lelouch did not give any more hints about the different world he had been to. Nevertheless, he did not stop smiling when he enunciated C.C.'s beauty. "My lady, if you stay out here a little longer, you will catch cold. Please, take your ride home." Bowing, Lelouch turned and ran away to go back home.
C.C. threw the bag of ingredients her dad asked her to buy on the table, a potato rolling out of the bag. Her dad did not miss the infuriated expression painted on her face, because it was the exact expression her mother would do when she was mad. The girl huffed and slumped on the counter, hissing and grunting noises out of disgust.
"What's wrong, honey?" her dad picked up the potato and tugged the bag closer to where he was. He busied himself washing the potato while humming some song. "Maybe it will cheer you up. I bought the book you wanted so much, Firmus. I had it in the pocket of my coat?"
"You shouldn't have done that. Milly had given me copy already. Just ask me first before you buy me books, dad. Anyway, thanks. Where is it?"
"My bad," the father chuckled. "It's in the pocket of my coat."
"The one hanging from the rack?" C.C. was way too listless to bring herself to talk properly. She could not forget how Lelouch ditched her amid the wintry pavement—not to mention that he basically left her when she thought he would kiss her. "Lelouch had it on. Where's he?"
"Didn't he come with you?" Her dad began putting all the ingredients and turned on the heat.
"No, he disappeared on our way to the grocery." C.C. rolled her eyes, still annoyed with the guy's sudden disappearance. She knew that he could not go anywhere since he did not know any place besides her house and the park. That time, V.V. came down from the stairs, his long blond hair fluttered behind him.
"Why the long face?" the boy asked as he threw himself to his sister, tackling her into a hug. "C.C., did something happen?"
"Nothing," she shrugged, patting his head. "Nothing."
a/n. to y'all guys reading and reviewing, tysm! tbh i want to make chapters longer but im not really doing well with my...uh, creative breakdown. i guess you can tell that based on my lousy chapters lol.