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That aside, we were thinking about what to do when Luna suddenly said, “Lady Cielmer, may I interject?”

「What is it?」
「I believe it would be best to stay inside for today.」
「Why?」
「The snow has piled up heavily today.」
「The snow?」
「Yes. For that reason, it would be advisable to avoid leaving the manor for the next few days.」
「I see, I see!」

It seems like the snow has piled up.
I recall Ain talking about this a while ago.
In that case, I want to see it at least once. I want to go outside and see what it looks like.

「Ain! Ain!」
『I know. Would you mind if we switched for a moment?』
「Right, got it!」

It seems like Ain is also in favor of us going outside.
As she asked, I switched with Ain. In the corner of my eye, I see my hair changing color to black.
My eye color should be changing as well, so I wonder why the way I see things doesn’t change?

「Umm, Lady Ainsel…」
「Ciel will be alright, so can we go outside?」
「It is, in the end, a decision for the two of you to make, so it wouldn’t be a problem, but…」
「I know it must be worrying, but I will absolutely make sure of Ciel’s safety.」
「Understood. However, there’s no telling when a blizzard may occur, so please come back immediately if you sense something amiss.」
「Of course.」

It seems like Luna and Ain are satisfied with their exchange since I can now move again. I wouldn’t have minded if Ain stayed in control for a bit more, though.

「We’ll be off.」
「Certainly. Have a safe trip.」

Luna and the others saw us off as I left the room.
While I was walking through the hallway, Ain told me not to look outside.
Come to think of it, the snow outside should have been visible even from our room.
Ain must have realized it too, so maybe she wants to surprise me with it.

「Oh my. Ciel, are you heading outside?」

On the way, I heard Fii call me, so I stopped on my tracks.
Looking her way, Fii was watching us with a soft smile.

「Right, that’s right! There’s a lot of snow today, isn’t there?」
「Yes, that’s true. I believe it shouldn’t be dangerous, but take care of yourselves, alright?」
「Alright! We’ll be going now!」
「Have a safe trip. When you return, have a look at the garden.」

Right, the garden should have snow piled up too. I think.
For now, I have to leave this mansion.
As Fii waved us goodbye, I headed outside.

With the mansion’s big doors in front of me, I put my hands on the door handles, and pulled them open.
After being hit by a strong gust of cold wind, the first thing that entered my sight was a world of white as far as the eye can see.
A blanket of white has covered the town.
Reflecting the light, it gleams brightly.

『Ain, it’s white! It’s so white! Is all of this snow?』
『It’s snow, yes. The snowfall seemed to have been more intense that I expected.』
『Can I walk on it?』
『That should be fine, but your feet will likely sink on the snow, so it might be difficult to walk.』

Hearing Ain’s words, I tried taking a step.
And as she said, my feet sank in. I already knew that snow should be cold, but I was surprised at how quickly my feet got cold.
I stopped feeling cold immediately after, so I’m sure Ain must’ve done something.

Somewhat cautiously, I tried scooping up snow with my hands and it felt fluffy and light.
While falling snow does flutter down on me sometimes, it seems different from how it is right now.
It’s fluffy, but it clumps up when I squeeze it. After it clumps up, it won’t turn fluffy anymore.

『So this is what happens when there’s a lot of snow. It does look really difficult to move around like this.』
『For that reason, I believe there should be paths where the piled up snow is either flattened or moved to the side to make walking easier.
Would you like to go see the town?』
『Sure, let’s try going there.』
『The paths are more slippery than usual, so please be careful.』
『Right, understood.』

I see. I thought that clumped up snow seemed somewhat familiar; it’s similar to ice.
Maybe that’s why it’s slippery.

◇◇◇

As Ain said, snow has been mostly pushed to the side of the road with the rest of it flattened, making it a bit easier to walk.
It was pretty fun walking with my feet sinking into the snow, but it was also pretty cumbersome, so this does really help with walking.
The people are sparse; the usual liveliness is nowhere to be found.

Most of them are pushing off the snow on the roofs, and none of them seem to be headed to work.

『Why are they removing the snow from their roofs?』
『I’m not very knowledgeable about it, but apparently it’s to prevent the snow from getting heavy enough to collapse the roof.』

I don’t know how heavy snow is—it actually felt really light in my hands—but with this much snow, perhaps it can get very heavy.
As I walked aimlessly while chatting with Ain, I arrived at the plaza, where the stalls usually are.
However, even though this place is usually so busy, there isn’t a even single stall open today.

The plaza felt more spacious than normal, which makes this sight feel somewhat special but also somewhat lonely.

『Since this is a good opportunity, would you like to try playing with the snow?』
『There’s a lot of it everywhere, after all. Ain, can you teach me how?』
『Yes, I’d love to.』

The vague feeling of loneliness disappeared, and now I’m filled with excitement, wondering what Ain is going to teach me.

And with that, it seems like we’ll be having wholesome funtimes in the next chapter~! Yay~!

While contemplative Ciel isn’t that rare, I feel like it’s rare to see melancholic Ciel, since she usually doesn’t have much to be melancholic about. You can really tell how attached Ciel is to Central in the short time they’ve resided. The frequent binge eating must have been one of their favorite routines, lol.

Back to the mansion scene, Ain being the “older sibling who negotiates with the parent figure” was wholesome and a bit funny. And it was nice how Fii saw them off. Also, Ain inviting Ciel to play in the snow when Ciel was starting to feel sad, wholesome.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a nice day~!