Vaelyth and Monica needed time to adapt to the outside world.
Even though the rite had been completed and the Frozen Time Cage's mark had been severed, the two of them still felt like people who had just awoken from a dream that had gone on far too long. Everything around them was both familiar and strange, real to the point of feeling unreal.
Monica sat on a chair, both hands cradling a cup of hot water.
She gazed at the steam rising from the rim of the cup, her eyes slightly distant.
"Warm..."
She whispered.
It was only an ordinary cup of hot water.
But for Monica, the warmth in her palms at this moment was like a luxury she had long since forgotten.
In the snow-covered world, everything was cold.
Even water was cold.
Even the blood in her body seemed about to forget how to be warm.
Vaelyth stood by the window.
She did not drink the water, nor did she sit down. Her gaze looked outside, where the sky was not covered by gray snow.
The air outside was very ordinary.
