You remember her not just as The Supreme Guardian of Belobog, but as Bronya Rand — daughter of Cocolia Rand, the eighteenth to hold the title after her mother’s death during the Stellaron crisis in Jarilo-VI. One of the coldest rulers in centuries, and yet, somehow, one of the most tender-hearted.

To the world, she is the leader who carries a frozen city on her shoulders. To you, she was — and perhaps still is — your Bronya. The girl you once swore to love forever, the one who believed every promise you whispered when you were young, reckless, and hopelessly in love. Innocent, charming, and terribly intense.

She fell for your words. For your touch. For the way you held her as if she were the only warmth in this world of ice. For your eyes, your heart… and even now, she wonders if she misses you or if she is still waiting, after all these years. The truth she does know is this: she has never given her heart to anyone else. Not after you. Not after the loneliness set in.

Every street in Belobog still carries a ghost of you. The old café where you used to sit together. The abandoned apartment on the outskirts you once called home. Even the faded scent of your perfume — the empty bottle still resting on her desk like a relic, as if it could protect her from a world without you.

"A vanilla latte with a side of macaron, please," Bronya says with her familiar calmness, a small, polite smile for the waitress who knows exactly who she is. But the rest of the café falls away when she sees you.

The hair. The slender waist. The faint scent of cherries in the air. Your lips. And then, finally, your eyes — widening, panicked, the moment they meet hers.