Tonight, the Winter Palace remains a snowy night.
In Teyvat, excluding Snezhnaya, the common folk of other nations always have an inexplicable longing for snow because they rarely see it throughout the year.
In their eyes, snow is beautiful, mysterious, and particularly interesting.
But in Snezhnaya, a nation that deals with snow almost every day, most of its citizens have almost no fondness for snow.
Snow.
It is very cold.
Accompanied by the wind, it lashes at one’s entire body like a whip, inch by inch.
Heavier snow can even crush the defenses of a house; even if one hides inside, one can still be frozen and shivering.
Snow is not a good thing.
Snezhnaya, a land of snow unloved by the gods.
But fortunately, tonight’s snow is not too heavy, tonight’s wind is not too fierce, and tonight’s night view is, as always, particularly beautiful.
A bright moon, accompanied by billions of brilliant stars, dots the ink-thick, black velvet sky, blinking, beautiful and vast.
But…
it is false.
Just like snow to the citizens of Snezhnaya, the false stars and moon could never stir too much emotion in Columbina.
For this reason, she even chooses to close her eyes, no longer watching, no longer feeling.
At this moment, Columbina is sitting quietly on the windowsill, just like on countless nights before her own.
Occasionally looking up to “admire” the moon, occasionally “watching” the snow scene in the courtyard outside the window, and occasionally lowering her head, not knowing what she is thinking about.
However…
what is slightly different tonight is that this moon Damselette seems to have spent more time lowering her head in thought, her two exposed calves, hanging under the windowsill, swaying gently, tireless, as if never stopping.
Just like…
Columbina’s mood at this moment.
“Columbina!
Are you inside?”
A slightly anxious voice rang out from outside Columbina’s room, breaking the quiet atmosphere and completely disrupting the heart of this Damselette, which had previously only had slight ripples.
This voice is…
Sandrone?
Columbina’s legs, which had been swinging non-stop, instantly stopped.
she lowered her head to think, or perhaps to compose her mood, and then with a flash, she arrived at the door.
Opening the door, what came into Columbina’s “view” was a familiar Damselette with an obviously angry expression, as well as her Pulonia.
“Sandrone?
Why did you come?”
Columbina tilted her head, her innocent face full of confusion, seemingly unaware of why Sandrone had suddenly come to her door.
It is true, shouldn’t this kind of plot happen to her?
Originally, Sandrone planned to question Columbina directly as soon as she saw her, asking what she meant by giving her a book…
that kind of novel, and she had also thought about what to say and do after Columbina’s various possible responses.
But after seeing Columbina, and seeing her usual innocent, indifferent, and ethereal appearance, that desire to directly question her somehow faded a lot.
The questions she had prepared somehow changed when they reached her lips—
“What?
You used to like coming to my door so much, can’t I come to see your door now?”
Sandrone regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
What on earth am I saying!
Sandrone, weren’t you going to question her properly?
How did your momentum weaken so much as soon as you saw her?
Sandrone, this time it’s her, Columbina’s, mistake, hurry up and pull yourself together!
On the other side, hearing this, Columbina smiled.
she lowered her head and noticed the novel that Sandrone was gripping tightly.
Instead, she opened the door wide and turned to the side.
“Of course, welcome, Sandrone.
Please come in.”
And this sentence forced Sandrone to stop those questioning words again.
Tsk…
Forget it, let’s go in first and talk later.
Sandrone only knew that Columbina lived here and had passed by Columbina’s door before, but she had never really gone inside.
However, after entering, Sandrone looked around and frowned unconsciously.
“Columbina, you live here?”
Sandrone certainly knew that the place where Columbina lived wasn’t very good, but she didn’t know it was this bad.
Although it wasn’t to the point of being very dirty, messy, or terrible, it was slightly better than the most ordinary citizens of Snezhnaya.
But Columbina is a Fatui Harbinger, and she holds such a high position as the third seat.
At least in Sandrone’s view, this place in front of her really didn’t match Columbina.
This place is not even as good as any room in her own house.
It is simply minimalist and plain to the extreme, only able to meet the simplest life needs.
Heh, calling it minimalist, in Sandrone’s eyes, it’s actually just crude.
But suddenly, in Sandrone’s mind, the image of Columbina’s reserved appearance in her room today surfaced, and her pupils widened unconsciously.
At that time, could she have…
“Hmm.”
Sandrone didn’t have time to think more.
Turning her head, she found that Columbina had already walked lightly to her side, with that faint smile still hanging on her face.
As if all of this didn’t matter.
“Although this isn’t strictly my home, I’ve lived here for a long time, and I’ve developed some feelings for it.
And here…”
As Columbina spoke, as if thinking of something interesting, she turned her head and smiled at Sandrone.
Amidst Sandrone’s full confusion and a trace of pity, she reached out, grabbed her wrist, and led her running towards a direction in the room.
“Columbina, where are you taking me?”
Sandrone’s heart had completely softened at this moment, her tone much gentler.
she didn’t try to break free, just letting Columbina lead her forward.
Just for a moment, Sandrone almost forgot the purpose of her coming here.
The room wasn’t very big.
Soon, Columbina stopped, pulling Sandrone, let go of her, crouched down, and turned to wave at her.
“Sandrone, come closer, come and see.”
It was a corner of the wall.
Sandrone could vaguely see that something seemed to have been drawn on it.
It’s a bit small; if you don’t get close, it’s hard to see clearly.
Sandrone hesitated for a while.
If she leaned over, she would inevitably be close to Columbina.
Although they were both boys, but…
Tsk…
But after seeing the consistent clarity on Columbina’s face, Sandrone’s heart softened.
I…
I suppose you wouldn’t dare do anything.
she stepped forward, crouched down, and as Columbina said, leaned in closer.
Sandrone was almost squeezed together with Columbina.
Their two heads were stuck together, a bit silly, just like…
two children secretly sharing some precious treasure.
But one of the children, Sandrone, did not focus her attention on the “treasure” at first, but tried hard to tilt her head slightly, looking at Columbina, who was close at hand.
she saw that Columbina was smiling as she “looked” at her treasure, seemingly unaware of her gaze.
From this angle, Sandrone felt that Columbina looked a bit different from usual.
her soft side profile lines, the warm, faint smile always hanging there, the strands of hair raised for unknown reasons, and…
that faint, clear aura like moonlight…
For some reason, Sandrone felt her heartbeat suddenly accelerate a lot, and her face also inexplicably began to heat up…
What is happening to me again?
Sandrone quickly averted her gaze and turned back.
But this change still caught Columbina’s attention.
she also turned her head and saw a faint blush appearing on Sandrone’s face.
Seemingly confirming something, Columbina’s face also rarely turned slightly red.
However, after a moment, she adjusted her mood and asked with a smile.
“Eh?
Why did you get hot again, Sandrone?
Heat dissipation…”
“It…
it’s just too crowded here, a bit stuffy!”
Before Columbina could finish, Sandrone directly interrupted her, “Also, Columbina, why…
why did you call me over?
I don’t have time to play this kind of house-playing game with you!”
Hearing this, Columbina covered her mouth and chuckled, then, without explanation, pulled Sandrone’s hand and guided her gaze to look in a direction.
“Look,” Sandrone felt as if Columbina’s voice was ringing in her ear, a trace of cool air brushing past her earlobe, “This is what I drew before.”
Sandrone tried hard to control himself from thinking about Columbina, her gaze following the hand Columbina was holding, and finally landed on a place.
It was a painting.
Or rather, many small paintings.
“When I first came to the Fatui, Her Majesty did not arrange any tasks for me, nor did she tell me what to do, so I just stayed in this room.”
“It was very boring in the room, even more boring than in the Children of the Frost Moon, but later I discovered something that could be done alone.”
Columbina held Sandrone’s hand with one hand, leading her to brush over the paintings on the corner of the wall one by one in order.
“Look, Sandrone, these are all paintings I drew.”
“At first, I drew small animals I saw in the Children of the Frost Moon, drew stars, drew the moon, and later I started drawing Snezhnaya, drawing snow, drawing castles, drawing all interesting things.”
“The process of drawing is just like they are keeping me company.”
“So it wasn’t that boring.”
Speaking of this, Columbina’s voice lowered.
“But later, Her Majesty let me accompany the Doctor to do some experiments, and slowly I rarely drew anymore.”
“Later on, I found that Snezhnaya and the Fatui were nothing special either.
This is not my home, so I stopped drawing.”
“Of course, sometimes seeing these paintings reminds me of that carefree time in the past, and will also…
have a feeling of comfort?
Anyway, I still like these paintings.
Sandrone, what do you think?”
After finishing this long speech, Columbina “looked” at Sandrone, her tone full of expectation.
And Sandrone, at this moment, also turned her head, looking at Columbina, silent for a long time.