In the far end of Romanos during the winter, a young woman is in a third-story room, looking at the window, watching at how the sun slowing raises to mark the first dusk of spring. Despite her cold and calm appearance, the young woman is having a whirlpool of emotions inside of her.
Her name is Aoi, eater of the awaken Fuyu-Fuyu fruit and dethroned queen of Forar
Her gloves were made from a very light, cloth-like form of sea stone, which she personally requested. These gloves made her feel secure when no else is around to comfort her.
The young woman had spent years with the Fuyu-Fuyu fruit since she was a young girl. When she was six, Aoi spent the next thirteen years training by herself or with her father, Kuzan. The end result is that the control has given her a god-like power.
And that was before she awakens it.
But there's a problem. Despite all of her training, Aoi is still inexperienced with her devil fruit. She shakingly took off her gloves and holds onto a candlestick to mimic holding a bouquet of flowers. She looks at the mirror with a smile, thinking for a moment that she was looking at a picture of herself.
She takes a deep breath and smile, hoping that the candlestick won't get any frost from her. However, not long after she holds it, Aoi sees frost starts to crystallize on the candlestick, causing her quickly puts it down and put on the sea stone gloves.
The young woman becomes sadden that she is unable to perform one simple, mundane task.
The door opens to reveal Apple, who is one of the first people to befriend her when her heart got thawed. "Liberty Bell" Apple Burger is not only a fellow revolutionary and eater of the Beru-Beru fruit but also the princess of the Ballywood kingdom and Ham Burger's daughter.
"Aoi, Benjamin is back~" The Ice Queen immediately perks up in happiness yet making sure she didn't cause any frost.
As soon Benjamin walks in her room, Aoi quickly hugs him. She is very happy that he returned from his mission completely unharmed. He hugs her back, glad that he gets to see his love again.
"I am so glad you're back~!" Aoi said in joy. She is still trying not to get too emotional.
Though it's easy to miss that there's a hidden motive in Benjamin.
"I think we should go outside today…~ It's sunny and beautiful for the first day of spring…~" He said. His girlfriend looks at him in a mix of dread and fear.
"I'm… I'm going outside…? During the spring…?" Aoi was concerned about being outside due to her poor control of the Winter-Winter fruit but Benjamin was quick to ensure her that she won't cause any problems.
"Aoi, you have spent weeks training. You hadn't even made a single snowflake for weeks. You shouldn't trap yourself because of fear. It won't help you. You need to go out and test yourself. I trust that you won't cause an eternal winter again like what happened in Forar.." Benjamin said, wanting his girlfriend to be comfortable with her devil fruit.
While Aoi is still unsure about her devil power powers, Benjamin kisses her right hand after he ungloves it. Seeing this, Aoi ungloves the left one, feeling strength once again.
The Looking Glass takes his girlfriend outside to see the beautiful natural landscape of Romanos, making sure that he has the important item in his jacket pocket.
When they reach the plains, Aoi is taken back by the very rare beauty of the untainted nature of Romanos. Various flowers start to bloom, animals are ending their hibernation and come out, and the sky has pink clouds and releases a small breeze of wind to the couple.
Aoi, when seeing this, is quickly reminded of Forar. It was known for its warm and beautiful spring weather. That until she becomes queen.
The former Ice Queen starts to think about her former position as queen of Forar. She looks back to see how horrible she was. Due to her frozen heart, she was completely apathetic and cruel as she caused a brutal eternal winter without care for the people. She remembers how she killed Cherry's parents by freezing them to death and tried to kill Pie on her wedding day because she had a misguided thought that Beowulf, Pie's husband, would thaw her heart.
Internally, Aoi cursed herself of how she lost control of her devil fruit as a child. 'How can I be so stupid!' She thought. Her hands start to drop in temperature, causing her to be scared. Benjamin notices and holds her left hand. She can tell he knew what she was thinking due to his Tele-Tele fruit.
As soon their hands touched, Aoi instantly felt calm from the warmth from his hand. She loses all fear and anxiety as Benjamin silently calms her down. She looks at him in relief as she begins to smile, which is the first time in a while.
"Aoi, there is something I want to ask you for a while now…~" Benjamin said with a smile.
Benjamin kneels down on one knee and takes out a small black box out of his jacket pocket. Aoi's warm blue eyes widen as he opens it to show an engagement ring. The engagement ring was silver with small white diamonds and a bigger blue diamond on top. Aoi gasps in shock as the diamond shines due to the sunlight.
"Will you marry me…~?"
Aoi felt an unknown fluid coming from her eyes. She touches them in surprise to see that they are tears. Though they pour down endlessly, she could care less.
"Yes~! Yes, I will marry you~!"
Benjamin smiles as he slips the ring onto her left ring finger as Aoi let tears fall out in joy, no longer worrying about being abandoned and unloved. The Looking Glass and the Ice Queen hugged each other in a loving embrace as they kiss each other.
"I love you, Aoi…~"
Aoi smiles as she further embraces her fiance.
"I love you too, Benjamin…~"