A clean, steady hand was thrust into the frozen earth. Along with the movement of his palm, the icy ground was slowly dug up, revealing some black ashes within. He picked up a handful of the crumbs with his bare hands and sniffed them. He even stuck out his tongue and tapped on the crumbs. As the slightly bitter taste spread over the tip of his tongue, Zero already knew how many hours it must have been made.

Beside Zero, Merlin stood with the axe in hand. The grand duke's solemn ...