The blizzard of freezing winds, which seemed as though it would rage on for eternity, finally ceased. The dark clouds gradually parted, and the sun rose high in the blue sky.
Though the warm mother sun shone graciously upon the world, the weather remained cold.
The snow piled upon branches and leaves showed no sign of melting, and not even icicles—the toy swords children used for pretend battles—formed from the snow and ice that fell and froze again.
For the day was still cold enough that nothing would melt at all.
"Long live Her Majesty the Queen!"
"Long live Her Majesty the Queen!"
"Long live the Snow Queen!"
In the sky above the labor camp, where soldiers were sparsely positioned throughout the square, grotesque monstrous birds flew about.
Apple-shaped sculptures of ice were on display, and though the weather was clear, the criminals gathered in the square chanted words of thanks for the Queen's grace in the biting cold.
Could it be because they were such loyal and devoted subjects?
Of course not.
Everyone gritted their teeth in anguish. With their mouths, they gave thanks for the Queen's grace and strove to receive her blessing, but inside, they thought:
'Drop dead, Your Majesty.'
'You demonic bitch.'
'Be cursed, cursed again! I await only the day you, bitch, drown in the melted waters of this frozen hell you created!'
'Just die!'
Some were crude, others dressed in flowery rhetoric, but in the end, the same curses wishing for the Queen's misfortune were repeated in their minds enough to drown out these cheers.
This was a labor camp that resembled a square of praise. Under the pretense of giving thanks to the Queen—who had bestowed the miracle and grace of welcoming the sun once more—when the blizzard she deliberately summoned ceased and the sun rose, the criminals of the labor camp, along with many people gathered in spaces that had become hollow, defunct churches, shouted praise for the Queen at the top of their lungs.
So loudly that the voices reached the frozen, cold royal castle visible in the distance.
On the castle terrace, Snow White—no, she who had become the Queen—looked down at her subjects in the distance, not smiling in the slightest. As always, she merely appraised those beneath her with cruel, cold eyes.
A single flower more beautiful than even the most miraculous blossom blooming in the frozen tundra, yet with deadly poison in every petal and fragrance, with small thorns growing on leaves and stems, so that the moment one touched it, they would suffer from the cold running through their blood and face only death.
Those who could stand against the mad Queen who sought to bury the entire world in unmelted ice and frost—
Did not exist.
The righteous outlaw Robin Hood had attempted to assassinate the Queen but failed.
The Four Sacred Beasts of Bremen had stood against her, but were defeated and sealed before the numerical superiority of the Seven Demons.
Tinker Bell the fairy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook from Neverland in the south had joined hands to challenge her, but Tinker Bell died, and the remaining two were left with only their heads, becoming frozen taxidermy atop pillars erected before the royal palace.
This was to display the horrific truth of what became of those who opposed the Queen.
The heads of the two traitors, revealing their resentment with eyes that could not even close within the ice, wandered forever in that place, trapped in unmelted ice like the Queen's unshakeable rule, passing eternal time emptily and without purpose.
The world, including the present kingdom, was a massive hell and the very capital of suffering.
A massive cauldron boiling over with the food of demons—suffering and despair.
And the chef was none other than the Snow Queen, the former Snow White.
In the massive palace, the Queen looked at the mirror hanging on the wall beside her throne and asked her reflection.
"Mirror, mirror. Didn't you say now is the time for a hero to be born?"
A mirror only ever reflects the image of the one before it, reversed left to right, so before a mirror, whatever one does is merely a repetition of the same actions.
No matter what words are spoken, a mirror does not answer.
But this mirror was strange.
Inside it was not the white Snow Queen standing before it, but a black Snow Queen.
"To be precise, it is time for one chosen as a hero to appear. The hero's star, though faint, has risen as a morning star."
It even answered properly. The magic mirror created by demons—to be exact, the Black Queen reflected within that magic mirror—was a loyal subject who claimed the role of the princess's greatest advisor and closest confidant.
"What would be best? It would be amusing if the hero, even upon appearing, were afflicted by the curse spread throughout the world. And the more the hero rampages after appearing, the more suffering would be born to become our food. Should I eliminate them quickly? Or would it be better to wait a while?"
"A hero is a hero for a reason. Eliminate them quickly. However, if you send soldiers too noisily, it will cause a commotion and attract attention. While waiting to sweep them all away at once since it would gather the remaining rebels under a symbol of resistance is also good, you don't need to fan the embers into a blaze that burns down the entire house, do you? I recommend handling it quietly."
"As expected, should I send that one? Geppetto's mechanical doll. Shall I assign some knights to accompany him?"
"He is the best at killing people quietly. Whether he succeeds or fails, it will make for excellent entertainment."
"Then shall we see where the hero will appear? Hmm? This is..."
The place where the new hero would be born was an utterly unexpected location.
*
The 'Forest of Eternity,' so named because the moment one set foot inside, it would instantly grow dark, causing one to lose their way and never escape again.
The beasts of the forest had become strangely ferocious and large, so the inept who recklessly entered never left alive.
The blood of intruders who failed to escape seeped into the earth, enriching the soil to become nourishment for the plants, while their flesh fattened insects and animals.
Their bones weathered and crumbled, scattered by the wind and mixed with dirt, leaving not a single trace, becoming only nutrients for the forest.
A predator's forest that swallowed whole all intruders who entered unknowingly, never letting them leave.
Yet there were those who came and went through such a forest as if it were their own home.
A wild boar whose tusks had grown as large and sharp as a saber-toothed tiger's, a snake grown large enough to swallow a person, and a man-eating deer with antlers transformed into demonic talons.
Demon beasts that could no longer be called mere beasts lay piled up, covered in blood.
Those who knelt there, having hunted the beasts transformed into savagery by the curse spread throughout the world, were surprisingly a golden-haired man and woman.
Slow to mature, they looked younger than their actual age, but both were proper adults, old enough to marry.
And the two, in the dark forest littered with blood, flesh, and corpses, were exploring each other with romantic deep kisses that ill-suited the surroundings.
"Mmm, mm... slurp, smack... Hansel..."
"Hmm, nggh, hmm... Gretel..."
The man and woman, licking every corner of each other's lips, teeth, and palate with their tongues as they deep-kissed, were Hansel and Gretel.
They were siblings.
Gretel was the one with long twintails and golden-green eyes.
Hansel was the one with golden hair and blue eyes, his hair grown long enough to cover his forehead slightly.
Embracing each other, their bodies pressed tight, the swollen stiffness between Hansel's legs and the twitching, damp place between Gretel's legs touched and rubbed against each other.
Several years had passed since they began enjoying these secret trysts.
They had long since abandoned the moral notion that siblings should not do such things.
The sensation of their most precious and shameful parts brushing against each other through layers of clothing and underwear felt so good. They wanted to continue together like this, taking it one step further.
No matter what anyone said, no matter how they pointed fingers and cursed, the two wanted to cross the line.
But they hadn't truly crossed it yet. This was not a place safe enough to cross such a line.
"Slurp... smack... slurp... haa... let's stop here for today."
Gretel slowly separated their overlapping lips.
Hansel wore a disappointed expression, but he too understood.
Both felt the same desire to cross over into a forbidden relationship, but if they were even once discovered outdoors like this, the aftermath would be uncontrollable.
The thrill was more than enough, but this place was too dangerous.
The two, placing their hands on each other's cheeks and gazing at one another with eyes containing both regret and affection, slowly began preparing to process the hunted demon beasts.
They were such outstanding hunters that even if demon beasts, wild animals, or bandits attacked while they were entangled with each other, they could immediately fight back.
Thus, they could make a living by coming and going through this Forest of Eternity, hunting demon beasts to sell their bones, hides, and pelts, or gathering rare medicinal herbs and fruits.
The reason the two stopped their liaison was simple.
Their father was nearby.
They knew very well that they mustn't show this side of themselves to their father.
And their father had raised the siblings alone in a disabled body without a mother; they couldn't show him the sight of siblings engaging in incest.
In fact, Gretel had once proposed something.
"Father won't live long anyway. Why don't we help him pass comfortably, then marry and live together? Just the two of us can live happily."
It was a tempting proposal for Hansel too.
Since they had been reborn as members of a world where the story they knew—Hansel and Gretel, albeit twisted—was partially reflected, a father who would abandon his children in the forest surely awaited them.
Strike before being stabbed in the back by so-called family.
It was a lesson learned from his previous life. But Hansel refused the proposal.
"We still have much to learn from Father."
Was it because he feared Gretel would betray him like the family in his previous life?
No. Whenever Hansel pressed his body against Gretel's, he felt something connected from the soul, not merely the bond of siblings.
He couldn't be sure about the father of this world, but Gretel would never betray him. He could stake his life on it. Having been backstabbed by family in his previous life, he had loosened the distrust and wariness toward others embedded in the depths of his psyche, if only when it came to Gretel.
The family of his previous life had mostly been people who constantly asked for his help and leeched off him.
His father had merely been a man who borrowed money in his son's name for some strange business venture.
But the father of this life didn't sell his children's names and showed Hansel the image of an ideal father.
'This isn't so bad, really. Do we really need to make trouble?'
Because Hansel was satisfied with his current life, even though he didn't fully trust his father, he had no intention of stabbing him in the back or betraying him first.
And whatever schemes Hansel and Gretel tried, they would obviously be detected by their father as crude and pathetic attempts.
So the two waited and waited. Since their father was not in good health and wasn't long for this world anyway, they decided to wait instead of committing the immorality of killing their father to seize their forbidden love.
Since some food tastes better when properly cooked.
"Hansel, Gretel! Where are you? Is the hunt finished?"
A thick man's voice was heard from afar. It was the siblings' father.
The man walking from afar was also a hunter. A first-class hunter who had taught Hansel and Gretel everything from skinning hides to shooting crossbows and using weapons—all the skills needed to survive.
But now, that hunter was in a miserable state where, compared to his fledgling children, he had nothing to show but experience and years of practice.
Because.
The man's right arm had been cut off below the elbow and no longer existed, and his left hand was missing its thumb and index finger. It had been long since he became unable to wield even a sword, let alone the bow that had been his specialty.
"Dad!"
"Fatherrrr!"
But the children did not despise such a father. Growing blind with love and lust for each other to the point of considering immorality, they still possessed human hearts.
Gretel and Hansel ran with bright smiles. The rich, seductive atmosphere from moments ago seemed like a lie as they assumed the appearance of ordinary siblings, pretending to be a brother and sister with a good relationship.
A bit twisted and unstable, but they were a happy family of three.
For now, at least.