City of Snow

Kai did not get an ounce of sleep that entire night, not one  bit. Unable to do anything, he ended up spending the entire night staring at the roof of his bedroom, still shell-shocked after last night.

Like seriously, how was he meant to react to that?

Kai blinked while still deep in thought.

However, just as he was about to let out a sigh and roll over, he heard a... bird chirping?

Kai's eyes widened as he realised what was going on. It had been three days since he arrived here, meaning that...

Jumping out of bed, Kai adjusted his pyjamas before basically lunging at the window of his bedroom, which was still covered by the dark red curtains from the first night he arrived.

Roughly, he pulled open the curtains and sucked in a shocked breath.

Sitting on the windowsill was a small, cute bird that reminded Kai of a robin, it even had that little red patch on its chest that defined the rather adorable birds that he was quite fond of.

However, while the bird was a beautiful sight in itself for someone like Kai who hadn't seen anything so peaceful in a while, he was moreso focused on the sight of the city behind it.

The wall of black that had been blocking every single window of the castle was gone, revealing the surroundings in all of its glory.

Gazing out, Kai was in awe of the city before him. The city was much larger than he expected, considering that the message at the end of his time in the tutorial had labeled it as a small tier Subdimension.

It was extremely spread out, countless medieval style houses as far as the eye could see. It wasn't like New York or anything like that, it reminded Kai of old England rather than anything modern.

Surrounding the city was a gargantuan wall, wrapping around the entire city. Kai could see the top of it, but he couldn't really make it out properly.

But even with all that, the beautiful sight before him that looked like something straight out of an old Christmas movie-

Well, this new addition only made it resemble a Christmas movie even more.

On the roofs of all the houses, on the streets in between them, and even on the lampposts that Kai could somewhat make out from his window, every inch of the city was covered in a layer of snow.

And there was even more falling from the sky, adding to the layer below.

Still, it was nowhere as bad as Kai had expected. The message he had received described it as a blizzard, but it was more like a calm snowfall rather than the so called blizzard he had been warned about.

Of course, it was a little stronger than a calm snowfall. The entire sky was covered by clouds, and even then Kai could barely make out the clouds with all the snow that was falling.

But Kai didn't care, no. In fact, he couldn't be happier to see the snow.

After all, this was the first time he had seen the actual sky in over half a year.

Of course, there could be the argument about the sky inside the Dome, but all of that was artificial, none of it was real. The sun, the moon, even the heat that the roof of the Dome emanated, all of it was magical and not real.

So Kai couldn't help but feel... happy when looking out that window.

It was almost a sense of achievement. He had ended up spending five whole months of his life inside the white room, but somehow, all of it almost seemed worth it at this moment.

Just looking out at the view before him made Kai feel as if any sort of worry or doubt he possessed had been washed away.

The snow, the bird that looked exactly like a robin, even the soft cold that was somehow affecting Kai through the window, it was all so calming.

However, Kai wasn't just going to sit at the window and look out at it like a princess trapped in a tower.

No, he was obviously going to go out and explore.

Still, he had some things to do beforehand.

He wasn't an animal, so he made sure to make his bed and get changed back into his tunic so that Yelena would have an easier job, who knew what other jobs she had to do throughout her day.

After making sure his room was clean, Kai equipped his boots and quickly made his way to the door.

But after closing the door of his bedroom, he realised the problem that he was about to face.

Kai... had no idea how to get out of the castle.

Sure he had kind of gone exploring the castle, but he had never actually seen any stairs. He knew from looking out his window that he was up a few floors, but he had no idea how to go down them.

Luckily, that problem was solved almost instantly as Kai spotted someone walking down the hallway towards him.

"Ah, Yelena, would you be able to do me a favour?"

Yelena, who had been carrying a basket of clothing in her arms, only then noticed Kai, he thought to himself that she must have been zoning out or something. After noticing Kai, Yelena smiled and continued approaching him.

"Sir Kai. If it is what you wish, then I would be willing to assist you."

Kai's smile faltered slightly as he noticed the small blush on Yelena's face, almost making him frown.

Just what did she think that he was about to ask?

Shaking his head slightly, Kai softly took the basket of clothes out of her arms and started carrying it himself.

"Where do you have to bring these? After, would you be able to show me how to get out of the castle? I want to go explore the city."

Yelena got a bit flustered after Kai took the basket of clothes, but she quickly composed herself and simply smiled.

"I have to bring them to the washroom, which is down two floors. I have to collect clothes from a few more rooms, but then I would be able to show you out.

Just let me grab the ones from your roo-"

"There's no need." Kai said as he shook his head, already starting to walk down the hallway so they could finish this job quicker. "I cleaned my room enough myself, and I'll just wear the pyjamas again tonight, so it's all good."

A surprised look made its way onto Yelena's attractive face, and Kai could tell that she was internally debating between not doing her duty properly but obeying a request from a so called 'honoured guest' or doing her duty properly but not obeying the request.

She chose the former.

"Alright then, if that is what you wish."

Yelena took her hand off the handle on Kai's door and started following behind the red-haired boy, who had a new pep in his step at the prospect of being able to actually go outside for the first time in half a year while being completetly safe.

Kai went to a couple of other bedrooms with Yelena, waiting outside while she went in and collected various items of clothing. He wasn't exactly sure who was living in these rooms, considering that the only people that he knew populated the castle were himself, Yelena, Castillian, Anastasia, Ezekial and Petunia.

The whole time, Yelena was humming to herself, a different tune to the one she was singing when Kai found her cleaning his bathroom.

However, one thing he noticed was that she only hummed the same tune. When she finished it, she would simply go back to the start and hum it all over again.

Not that Kai minded, it's not like it really affected him anyway.

After doing their rounds, Kai followed Yelena down one of the many hallways that the castle possessed.

However, he frowned slightly after noticing that the hallway was a dead end. All that was at the end was a painting that depicted a rather dashing image of Castillian, which seemed a little overexaggerated. The painting basically covered the whole wall, just barely not touching the floor.

"Uh, what-"

Unable to react properly, Kai watched in awe as Yelena lifted her foot and stepped into the painting, disappearing from Kai's sight. Kai stood blankly, staring at the painting and wondering if he was just imagining things.

However, he was quickly snapped out of it when Yelena's head burst through Castillian's chest.

"Are you coming?"

Kai quickly composed himself before walking towards the painting.

"Yeah, just a little shocked that the stairs are behind a wall that you walk through."

He heard a soft giggle from behind the painting as Yelena's head disappeared once more. A moment later, Kai himself stepped into the painting and-

Was a little surprised with what he saw.

The stairs were a stark contrast to the extravagant and posh hallways that he was just walking through. The stairs were made out of a dark stone and only had a couple of candles hanging from the wall for light. Even the walls somehow looked... wet.

"I apologise, but these are the stairs that the maids are to make use of, only the royal family know where the actual stairs are."

Kai frowned slightly.

"What's the point of having separate stairs?"

Yelena sighed softly as she put her hands behind her back as she slowly made her way down the stairs, looking strangely elegant as she done so.

"I'm not sure, it is not my place to ask. I apologise of not being able to provide an adequate answer, Sir Kai."

Kai sighed softly in response.

"It's fine, don't worry about it, I was just curious."

They continued going down stairs for a while before stopping at one set. Kai noticed that the stairs themselves continued going down, but Yelena stepped through the wall on this floor.

Kai followed right after, only glancing backwards to see what was the painting that he had stepped through this time. Not to his surprise, the painting he had stepped through was one of Anastasia. It made sense that the paintings of Castillian and Anastasia were linked.

Another minute later and they arrived at the washroom. Yelena directed Kai on where to drop the basket of clothes before sighing deeply, as if about to do something that might take a bit of time.

"I don't mean to offend you, Sir Kai, but you might catch the attention of people wearing an outfit like that.

So here, let me pick you out a new outfit, then I'll show you to the city."