Book 4: Chapter 28
Humanity’s early mornings were very cold. While there’s no rule about staying indoors late at night in the royal capital, drunkards lying on the streets and cleaners were found early in the morning. Winter had come so the night patrol units had an extra job and that was to pick up drunkards, because if they didn’t, the drunkards would freeze to death.
“Your majesty!”
The guards up on the city walls spotted me walking up the tower, and bowed to salute me. I nodded and then walked out of the tower while the guards surrounded me and stood on the city gate. Humanity’s city walls were massive. Looking down from the top would make you dizzy. The freezing early morning wind pricked all my exposed skin. I reached my hand out to stop Luna who intended to walk out of the tower and softly said: “It’s windy outside, so wait for me here.”
Luna paused for a second. She then smiled and said: “Alright, your majesty.”
“Your majesty!”
The guards at the top of the city walls noticed me coming up and saluted me. I nodded and asked: “How much longer until the church’s heavy-goods horse carriage arrives?”
A guard answered: “There is roughly half-an-hour before it arrives.”
I looked at the end of the street. The sun had just come up. Its bright rays shone in my direction and the cold breeze came along for the ride. The breeze blew my thick cape away. I looked at the bright sun in the distance. People say that looking at the sun can make one happy, but I wasn’t feeling any hope or joy. To the contrary, I could only feel the ice-cold air and hear the wind whistling. Every breath I took felt like I was breathing in ice, pricking my organs.
“Masks are very useful, but if you wear them for too long, it’ll merge with your original nature. It’ll merge with your skin and become part of your flesh, stopping you from removing it forever.”