The door with a Leonhart's crest swung open. I pushed it a bit too hard that it slammed against the wall. However, the loud 'thud' made from the crashing didn't bother me at all. There was something more exciting that I wish to inform the silver-haired man.
"LUCIUS, IT'S SNOWING!"
The man was sitting in his usual place, behind the desk. There's a steamy cup of coffee next to him. Perhaps it was just served by the Santa Butler. He's wearing an extra layer today. It's freezing, after all. Upon hearing my excitement, Lucius glanced out of the window unenthusiastically.
"…I could see that," he said.
Yesterday night was colder than ever. I actually had to cover both of my feet with my blanket. I also woke up twice to take a leak, which I don't usually do at night. In the morning, Louie was so thrilled to see the piled up snow in the lawn that he urged me to wake up as early as the break of dawn.
"Let's go and take a look!" I said, approaching his table.
Hearing that, he looked up for a moment and met my gaze. His originally unbothered face actually lit up slightly from that. Perhaps my excitement was rather contagious.
"I've got work to do. But you can get a day off of work if you want," he replied.
"Good enough!" I exclaimed. "Call for me if you ever got into danger, though. But I'm sure that you won't, haha!"
Never had I imagined to be all excited over snow again. Maybe because I got affected by Louie's enthusiasm? Anyway, I got a day off today so I just want to enjoy it! After thanking Lucius, I immediately went to get Louie from the pharmacy and grabbed Jeremy on my way. It's always better to play with more people. As they said, the more the merrier.
"Yeay, let's make a snowman, sister!" Louie said. He was just as excited that he made a few happy little hops.
"We'll make a whole igloo!"
Looking at the white, thick snow, the two of us couldn't resist to dive onto it and made a snow fairy. While laying down, we faced the grey-coloured sky. The sun was not out but the falling snow had stopped. As we rolled around together, an exaggerated sigh was heard.
"Why did you dragged me along?" Jeremy asked. The scowl on his face never faded from the first time I saw him.
"You're going back to the academy soon, right? Come on, ease up a bit!" I said.
Louie and I got up and began rolling the frozen matter into a couple of large snow balls before stacking it onto each other. I picked up a few good branches and stones to decorate it. I even found a rare stick that resembled a claw! Louie was making a carrot-shaped water that freezes up from the low temperature. The ice carrot was then used as the snowman's nose.
"Sister, does this looks good?" Louie asked.
"Yeah, that looks excellent! Good job, Louie!"
"Hehe! Sister did great, too!"
We gave a high-five to each other before looking at the snowman proudly. A bit further from us, Jeremy had already turned away with an uninterested expression. That boy, he always acts unlike his age. He's still a teen, why must he act like an old man? He should really enjoy himself more, and I got just the right idea for it.
"Louie," I whispered, and the child leaned closer. "Let's make loootss of snowballs, okay?"
"Alright!" Louie nodded. He's so excited to do absolutely anything at the time.
Both of us squatted down and began shaping the spheres. Mine were a lot firmer compared to Louie's as I pressed them hard enough for it to be a compact ball of ice. Getting hit by it would surely hurt. Soon enough, the snowballs piled up into a pyramid of spheres. To launch my grand plan, I sneakily picked up a few that was made by Louie since it'll hurt less.
"Young master!" I called.
The teen boy didn't even bother turning back. And that was definitely a bad choice. As if there's a target at the back of his head, I threw straight towards it and hits the bullseye. Jeremy stumbled forward once he got hit. The snowball also breaks immediately since it wasn't as compact as mine. This time, he had no choice but to turn this way.
"Wha-ugh!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, another one hit his face. Some of the ice even got into his mouth! After spitting it out, the annoyed Jeremy shot a furious glare at me. He definitely couldn't ignore us now.
"Louie, hand me more," I said, not breaking the eye contact with Jeremy. Seeing that fiery eyes, he might as well attack me in a matter of seconds. I must be careful!
Louie immediately gathered some snowballs in his arms and handed me a few. "Here you go!" he said.
Just as I had expected, the irked Jeremy began his counterattack. His movements were fast, but not as fast as his brother. The snowballs in my hand became my 'bullet', one that holds him back. He also threw a few of his at me, and one actually hit my arm. I suppose I don't mind….that is if those were also snowballs.
"Ackk! Young master, use the snow! THE SNOW!"
My right sleeve was on fire! The brat had thrown fireballs at me, instead. Fortunately, there's snow everywhere we stepped. I immediately rolled on the ground to extinguish the spreading fire that was reaching my shoulder. And I did it while avoiding yet another rain of fireballs.
"Shut up, you started it first!" Jeremy said.
"YOU'RE MELTING THE SNOW!"
"I don't care!"
Once the fire got put off, my right sleeve was so tattered with an unrepairable large hole. Since it already looked like a rag, I pulled it off of the shirt, leaving my right arm bare. Surprisingly, there was no burnt skin at all. It was either that he was simply aiming to intimidate me or that I just had an impressively fast reaction that it didn't manage to burn me. Getting up from the ground, I got back to my footing and rushed towards Louie. The little boy instantly handed me a snowball without question.
"Thanks! Now, make a water sphere to protect yourself," I said.
The snowball Louie had given me was the one that I had made, one that is hard enough to be a baseball. Getting into the pose of a pitcher, I infused some of my mana into the ice sphere. It felt like such a long time since I last played a game and I kind of missed this position. Aiming at Jeremy's gut, the 'bullet' flew so fast with the help of mana infusion and hit its target yet again.
"Ugh!"
Jeremy groaned in pain. The boy instantly fell on his knees from the unexpected attack with his hand holding onto his gut. His continuous offensive move finally took a break after leaving multiple holes on the initially even snow.
"Then I shall get serious, too, young master," I said, taking advantage of his weak guard and head-locked him from behind. "Don't forget that I am still a knight."
Jeremy swung his arm up to land a punch on my face, but it was easily parred away. His unstable position had put him in the disadvantage to be on the offensive. Failing his first effort, he began twisting his shoulder to loosen my grip. He even tried to do a backflip my throwing a kick, adding on the momentum of his movement. Indeed, it was a successful try, albeit partially. Releasing the head-lock, I grabbed his shoulder and pinned him on the ground instead. My knee digging onto his back.
"HAHA! Nice try, young master!"
After a few more struggles to wriggle out of my grip, Jeremy finally laid still. Perhaps he realised how pathetic he looked while wiggling like a caterpillar beneath me. The teen boy shifted his face to the right, still closely pressed onto the snow below before uttering quietly.
"…let go," he said.
"Hm? I didn't hear a 'please'?" I said, making sure that he could see my smirking face.
"….let go," Jeremy repeated before his voice trailed off into a whisper. It sounds almost like he was embarrassed. "…please."
"Attaboy! Now, let's just play with the snow, yeah?"
My grip on his shoulder and arm loosened as I released him. He didn't get up immediately and was still laying there even after I had already stood up. My clothes were all soaking wet from rolling around on the snow, and his, too. Louie instantly rushed towards me with a concerned look. This little boy had been wearing that look for so many times these days.
"Did sister got hurt anywhere?" Louie asked. His eyes busy scanning my whole body from head-to-toe while his hand was already conjuring healing magic.
"Nope! Sister is still in a good condition," I said, pushing away his healing hands. My attention then returned back to the teenage boy. "And how is the young prince?"
The blonde-haired boy had already sat up and was ruffling the snow off of his locks. "…I'm fine," he answered short.
He never attacked me again after that, nor did he ignore us. Jeremy finally joined in the fun, albeit unwillingly. He looked blank-minded most of the time but at least it's better than his scowls. The three of us began making a few other creations with the pile of snow. There's a fortress, an igloo, a disfigured pony and a mini Lucius. Well, those were mine. Jeremy was making something akin to a sculpture from the ice block made by Louie. What a talented boy he is.
"Look, this is your brother," I said, showing him the mini Lucius I made. That was when the judging look returned to his face.
"This is an insult to him," Jeremy said,
"Oh, really?"
By the entrance of the mansion, I could easily notice the silver-haired man. Surrounded by the white scenery, he looked like a snow fairy, like an ethereal being. It somehow felt nostalgic, as if I've seen this view before. Did I? No, it's not possible. It's my first winter here…right?
*THUMP*
*Uh-oh. Did my heart just skipped a beat there?* I thought, holding onto my chest. It was as if an old feeling had resurfaced. One that had been forgotten.
"Lord, come here for a bit!" I called out to him.
Lucius, who had been standing still there for no reason, broke out of his trance. He said that he was busy before. Was he taking a break? Seeing that he was still frozen on his spot, I called for him again. This time, I even raised my hand up high and waved around. When he finally approached us, I stretched out the mini Lucius right in front of him.
"This is you," I said.
Lucius' gaze fell on the miniature. When I shoved it closer, he took it without complaint and gave an approving nod. Seeing that Lucius didn't find it ugly, I turned to look at Jeremy again with a mocking smirk.
"See, young master?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Your brother likes it so it's not an insult!"
"You—"
Jeremy was about to throw another word of disagreement but stopped when he saw Lucius' expression. The teen boy instead gritted his teeth in return. Look, he's so easy to tease. Not to mention his interesting reactions, always so grumpy. I couldn't help but annoy him as much as I could!