Their hearts seemed to draw closer, and time itself seemed to accelerate. Autumn passed into winter, and the golden lakeside woods gradually lost their color.
As the weather turned completely cold, the arrival of the First Snow made life by the lake difficult. Fortunately, both of them were highly capable, so they had ample supplies. With most of their usual daytime work gone in winter, they could snuggle together, either by the lake or on the roof of the cabin, talking about the past and present, and dreaming of the longer years they would spend living here together.
"I always feel that this happiness frightens me. Do I deserve it?"
Flora Winslet often said this whenever they imagined their future together. Shade always answered with a warm embrace, though he had more questions of his own.
At some point, the curtain separating the two single beds at night had quietly been removed by the witch responsible for tidying the room. Thus, the beds that had come into being at the same time were finally pushed together on a snowy night in the depths of winter. Flora Winslet was finally able to nestle in Shade's arms, listening to stories she had never heard before, tales that seemed to come from some foreign land, amid the firelight and the storm raging beyond the window.
Time seemed to be permanently fast-forwarding. As their feelings deepened, even their dull and simple lives became colorful. After the two beds became one, it was as though the barrier between their hearts had vanished completely. They truly became happy lovers who would live forever in this cabin by the lake.
Far from the clamor, far from social obligations, far from political turmoil, and far from all those countless dangers, Flora Winslet truly lost herself in this happiness.