Canis growled and Clette carefully patted its back. The distinct smell that Canis was emitting infiltrated her nose. Shepaced back and forth in front of Tita’s room. She didn’t immediately enter because she was afraid that he was asleep and that she would wake him up if she suddenly barged in.

After she paced in front of the room for a while, she finally came to a decision. She took a deep breath and calmed herself down before knocking on the door.

“Who is there?”

The door creaked open. Clette didn’t know why, but she immediately hid herself when the door opened. Tita looked around his surroundings and only found Canis standing in front of his door. Canis was frightened and its body immediately grew taunt. It bared its small but sharp teeth, trying to defend itself from the stranger in front of him. Tita took a tentative step back and crouched down.

“It’s okay, come here.”

Although Canis was still tense, Tita waited patiently for it. Even though Tita’s current position was uncomfortable, he remained still. Soon, Canis finally realized and approached Tita. It licked Tita’s fingers and Tita touched Canis’s head carefully. Tita picked up Canis and held it dearly in his arms when he noticed that Canis was finally comfortable in his presence.

“Where are you from? Are you alone like me too? Did you come here because you are afraid that I will get lonely?”

The young boy and the puppy rubbed their cheeks against each other, sharing the warmth between them. It seemed like two were able to make an instant connection because they recognized that they were both facing the same situation. Although Tita rarely expressed his loneliness, it was obvious that he must’ve felt quite alone from the way he looked at Canis.

“I should give you a name. What name do you like? Let me think about it.”

Canis growled softly in response; it seemed as if Canis understood Tita’s words. After Tita realized that he had been standing outside his room for too long, he walked back into his room with Canis in his arms. Clette could hear the clear sound of laughter inside Tita’s rooms. The corners of her mouth subconsciously twitched into a faith smile, but her expression instantly hardened when she realized that she was smiling. ‘What am I doing?’ She must’ve looked like an idiot, smiling to herself. She hurriedly left before anyone could see her.

***

The long awaited sunlight melted away the snow of Velos. It was a rare sunny day in the city, so Clette and Edmund went for a walk. It had been a long time since Clette was out of the castle.

“The weather is quite nice today.”

“I know. If only the weather is always like this, perhaps the population of Velos would increase.”

“It’s sad that the weak are left behind. To survive, one would need strong bones and a strong body to overcome the cold here.”

“It’s strange to see the Lord that creates and distributes potions to the people of the land feel sympathy and sorrow for those who had died.”

“When I was younger, I was quite handsome and cute. We had a lot of things to talk about, so why do you ask the same questions each year?”

“Do I?”

Clette looked at Edmund once again. It seems like it was only yesterday when they had first met. “When did he become so old?” Edmund’s chocolate brown hair had turned completely white.

Only

“Oh, I remembered Tita said something strange today?”

“What is it?”

“He told me that a puppy was left outside his door last night.”

There was a big smile plastered on his face when Edmund said that. His gaze revealed that he knew that she was the one who left the puppy at Tita’s door; she couldn’t fool him.

“Really? Where did he see it? I didn’t notice.”

“Of course, you didn’t. So I’m here to inform you about it. I didn’t see who it was that sent the puppy to Tita, but she must’ve been an angel that had fallen from the sky.”

Clette thought, ‘When can he stop teasing me?’

“Oho, look! Tita is walking with his puppy right now.”

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