The forest at night was cold and silent.
The chill pierced to the bone, and the only sound was the fading clatter of horse hooves in the distance.
To avoid the guards tracking them, Her Highness the Princess boarded a carriage that entered the dense woods.
After traveling some distance, she dismounted, letting the carriage continue deeper into the forest while she and her companion fled in another direction.
The snow in the forest had yet to melt, with flakes occasionally drifting down onto their heads.
Snow piled past their ankles, and their legs had grown stiff from the cold; each step forward required the effort of their entire bodies.
The only source of warmth between them was the hand they kept tightly clasped.
The moon hung overhead, and the night stretched endlessly ahead…
After an unknown length of time, even the well-trained Princess could no longer endure.
The grip on her hand suddenly loosened, and the Princess stumbled, falling into the soft snow.
“Her Highness the Princess!”
Moeji hurried forward, catching her in a panic.
She pressed Yulis tightly against her chest, trying to warm the Princess with her own now ice-cold body.
Unlike humans, as a Cat-demon, Moeji’s skin was more effective at warding off the cold.
Her four tails could wrap inside her clothes, shielding her from the biting wind.
Moreover, her body possessed other heat-generating functions unique to the Cat-demon Clan, natural adaptations for enduring the cold.
But no matter how warm her body was internally, her skin’s surface still struggled against the chill unless she could fully envelop the Princess within herself.
No matter how tightly she held her, it was futile without that.
“Please open your eyes, Her Highness! You mustn’t rest yet!”
Seeing Yulis’s consciousness fading, Moeji was frantic.
She no longer concealed her eyes; once she opened them, a pair of bright cat’s pupils suddenly shone in the night.
Those pupils flickered like two emerald fireflies in the dark forest, only far too anxious to be mistaken for peaceful lights.
They pressed onward, and finally, at a mountainside, Moeji spotted a cave.
Her pupils instantly lit up, as if hope had appeared.
“Her Highness, please hold on! I’ve found a place to rest!”
The cave sat halfway up the mountain; climbing all the way would take nearly until dawn.
Looking down at the Princess’s rosy, frozen cheeks, Moeji exhaled a breath as if opening the door to death itself with each breath.
She steeled herself and said, “Please close your eyes, Her Highness. You might feel a bit weightless soon.”
Yulis hesitated briefly, then obediently shut her eyes.
Seconds later, she felt something soft and furry brush her cheek.
Before she could fully register it, a sensation of rising overcame her, the biting wind slapping her face, and the noisy rush of air roaring past her ears.
Her hand gripping Moeji’s tightened involuntarily.
Then her body slowly began to descend.
A crisp ‘snap’ sounded, and the weightless feeling vanished.
“You may open your eyes now, Her Highness.”
A gentle voice reached her ears, no longer cold and biting like before.
She slowly opened her eyes to see that beloved face she could never forget.
At this moment, Moeji’s cheek was only half a foot away from hers.
She could even feel the warmth of Moeji’s breath softly blowing against her own face.
Yulis’s cheeks flushed even deeper…
Moeji carefully set her down at the cave’s mouth, then ventured further inside to check for any hibernating animals before returning to carry her deeper in.
Once Yulis was gently leaned against the stone wall, Moeji clasped her hand tightly and whispered, “Please wait for me, Her Highness. I’ll be right back.”
With that, she reluctantly released her grip.
The moment her hand was let go, Yulis instinctively reached forward again, but her weakened body failed to grasp anything, leaving her only to watch helplessly as Moeji ran out of the cave.
Alone inside the cave, Yulis hugged herself.
The warmth here was hardly better than outside, and strange sounds occasionally drifted in—sometimes like animals’ breathing in slumber, sometimes like demons from hell demanding her soul.
Her body could not hold on much longer.
Was she really going to die here…?
Each minute and second stretched as long as a harsh winter.
She had likely lost all sense of time and began to wander in her thoughts, wondering if Moeji had already abandoned her.
This ridiculous idea did not linger long; as soon as a thread of reason appeared, she immediately dismissed it.
Of course, Moeji would never abandon her.
She was her very own little maid…
She began to ponder: when had she started to like this clumsy yet adorable little maid?
Perhaps it was during the countless moments of careful care, or in the gentle tone of her voice.
Her consciousness started to drift, her thoughts returning to the past…
***
More than ten years ago, an epidemic broke out across the kingdom, leaving countless corpses and the wails and cries of the living everywhere.
At that time, the Princess was only twelve years old.
The plague came quickly and disappeared just as fast.
After her mother and two Elder Brothers passed away one after another, the epidemic mysteriously vanished.
People called it a curse on the Royal Family, and the sole surviving heir, Princess Yulis, was hailed by the common folk as “the one chosen by the goddess.”
As the last bloodline of the Royal Family, she became the sole heir at just twelve.
The King summoned the most famous magicians and swordmasters of the era to tutor her, all to prepare her to inherit the throne.
Yet the world only saw her excellence, never the mounting despair within her spirit.
Such pressure was not meant for a princess to bear, nor for a mere twelve-year-old girl.
Her mental state was at the brink of collapse.
For a long time, she felt like a fledgling bird perched on a cliff’s edge, certain that one day she would be pushed off.
If, at that moment, she could not spread her wings to fly, the only fate awaiting her would be to shatter on the rocks below.
She did not want to disappoint her father, nor the people who placed their hopes in her.
Her mother was gone, her brothers were gone, her father grew ever stricter, and the only source of warmth—her personal maid—had resigned due to age and returned home. She did not even have time to cry.
Those were the days when she most longed for death.
Until one day, she met Moeji—the one who saved her from the cliff’s edge…