Ghorise wasn't always clean, not every part of it is this paragon of beauty either, and much like Flotol, one part of the town is full of the poor, housed in buildings they built themselves, streets with so many cracks she couldn't count them all, and a visible lack of guards. The slums.

  Everywhere she looked, she saw walls full of grime, doors with broken hinges and holes big enough to peep through, in some cases, even that is a luxury and a few houses instead have tarps covering the entrance. There's no protection there, not from the cold nor from criminals.

  She passes underneath a building whose upper half has collapsed and is now leaning to the side, the only thing stopping it from falling completely is the building on the other side of the street, which is supporting its weight.

  How long this will last is unsure, for now, it holds strong.

  Laself walked quicker, her boyfriend, sensing her impatience, followed suit.

  The shadow covering the two of them disappeared and sunlight shone down on them again, they are now safe. Relatively speaking, if that building falls, stray rocks can hit them in the head.

  Other people also passed the crumbling building, yet they didn't care. Actually, almost everyone here had a vacant look in their eyes, their cheeks hollow and their bodies more bone than skin.

  Here, the support of the local churches does not come, the helping hand of priests and their acolytes does not reach this far, if you want to survive, you would have to do so with other means. Like selling your body. Even with the surplus of adventurers staying in Ghorise, that type of market is nonexistent in this kind of season so people here are forced to starve.

  Usually. Thanks to Rontress' efforts— or Laself supposed, theirs. Rontress refused to acknowledge it was her work alone that made things possible. — everyone here got to eat, they received donations before winter and most of it is food.

  Rumor has it the church is occasionally coming here as well, but Laself hasn't seen them yet so she will continue to believe that they are just rumors.

  Laself believes that it is thanks to their donations that the people here aren't robbing them despite the obviously expensive— by their standards. — winter clothes the two of them are wearing. Anyone else would be naked and cold on the floor before they even took three steps into the slums.

  Yet they passed it without issue, they only got odd looks, Laself assumed this was because they are walking openly during winter.

  If some noble acting like they aren't bothered by the cold passes her during winter, she would stare too.

  The change was immediate, once they were out of the slums, everything looked much cleaner.

  Streets full of filth weren't unfamiliar to her, before the Owellines took her in, her room had been riddled with pests, the walls chewed up by termites, and whenever it rained, water would often spill down from the ceiling.

  What was the difference between having a roof and not really? She's convinced herself that kind of life is what she would always have back then, that there's no hope for greener pastures for her.

  Yet one girl changed that, the first meeting between her and Rontress she felt... Happy, seeing Howaph's younger sister, the one who he's bragged about whenever they played together or when she stayed by the edges of the raft to watch him work, it had been a treat.

  And Rontress was even more interesting than she first expected! Her first assumption of Rontress is that she was smart— admittedly, not to the point of being a genius, that belief has crumbled by this point. — and the little girl has proven those rumours true.

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  Minutes after they met, Rontress was talking about things she couldn't understand, Rontress was also conversing with extreme familiarity, like they hadn't just met, and it was like the girl didn't care if she was a nobody struck with poverty. Rontress treated her well, she was patient with her, and was quick to be physically familiar with her.

  Laself's cheeks burned hot when she remembered the younger girl hugging her knees back then, she didn't expect that to happen and even now, the memory serves as a reminder that if she lets her guard down around Rontress, she would be eaten alive.

  "Your hands are warming up," her boyfriend chuckled. "Are you okay?"

  "... No, I'm just... I've never done this before." A lie, Rontress often took her around Ghorise, the first time she explored areas beyond Flotol was with her sister in law. "I think it's quite nice."

  "Yeah, it is." The grin Howaph wore was full of happiness, he faced forward and Laself allowed her expression to relax, to stop being forced. "I've always wanted to do this with you, you know? To walk like this, together... I was too scared back then, sorry."

  "You don't have to keep apologizing for that silly," she pinched his forearm, making him flinch. Rontress solved that issue for him, for her.

  Truth is, she always liked Howaph, all the food he brought her, the coins, his kindness, all of that made her fall for him. Call her materialistic or something worse but that's how she truly feels, without Howaph, she would have been starving and hopeless.

  Rontress is cut from the same cloth as her brother, in that she's helpful, positive, and incredibly careless when it comes to giving things to the people she likes. Laself wasn't sure what to think of it, only that with her intellect, Rontress is able to make her help more efficient. Better.

  Laself knew that it was wrong to compare Rontress to her brother— or anyone for that matter. — but she couldn't help it, compared to his sister, Howaph seemed rather... Ordinary? Then again, that's how it is with most people, Rontress is a shining beacon of light and everyone is a candle exposed to the wind.

  "I know, but I still believe that I should have been braver."

  But you weren't, Laself internally replied. She held his hand and gave him a reassuring smile, "it's fine, we're together now aren't we? That's what matters more."

  "You're right, I still can't thank Rontress enough for this."

  Laself chuckled to hide the conflicted expression her features are threatening to turn into, her feelings for Rontress are fairly complicated. No, that probably isn't even enough to describe the complexity she's experiencing in her heart.

  She loves, respects, cares about, gets jealous of, and even hates Rontress.

  For the former, of course she would love and care for her sister in law, that's perfectly normal, her respecting Rontress may seem weird to outsiders who don't know the proper context however.

  The last two... Are reasonable in her mind.

  Rontress is smarter than her, can do more things than her, and can solve issues Laself would never be able to solve. Who wouldn't get jealous of someone like that? What woman would look at Rontress and her achievements and think, "yes, this is perfectly normal."?

  No one, that's who.

  "Winter looks better here huh?" Howaph murmured as the two of them walked out the gate. "Back in Flotol, all we did was walk around or train, it was pretty boring all things considered."

  Laself smiled, did he forget she's also from that village? Why is he talking like everyone he knows back at the village isn't here? Doesn't he remember them playing together? She was about to punch him when he says:

  "Right, you were there too weren't you?

  "Yes, Howaph, I was there." She giggled, what did he even by that? "I was as bored as you are, but that is exactly why we were playmates right?"

  "Yep!" Howaph started humming a tune she couldn't quite catch. "Do you regret it? Us meeting?"

  "No, not really." Laself shook her head,

  Would she ever say that she does? No, of course not. This is the best thing that has happened to her since... Forever really. To say that she has regrets marrying into the Owellines is just being blatantly ungrateful.

  Without Howaph, she wouldn't have ever met Rontress, and Laself didn't know how her life would have turned out if that happened. She sighed.

  "Other girls liked you back then didn't they?" That was true, Howaph didn't spoil them as much as her— which was a dead giveaway for his feelings for her now that she thinks about it. — and mostly did it knowing he had money but that doesn't change the fact that he could have picked anyone but her.

  "... Why do you like me?" Laself suddenly asked, she didn't know why she did it either.

  "Remember when we were young and I scraped my knees when I fell bumped against one of the raft's wooden beams?" Howaph touched the part where the scrape is. "You panicked so much that it attracted the attention of the guards, you were also the only one who stayed."

  "Is that so?" Laself smiled gently. "I don't think that's a good reason for falling in love, I think that it's only normal to feel sympathetic towards other people."

  "And that's why I like you." Howaph said, his smile bright.