The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 1

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 1
The day she turned twenty.
Lea had spent the entire day in the stables, delighted by the birth of twin foals, happily deliberating over what names to give them, and had drifted to sleep.
Then, deep in the night, she woke to the urgent touch of her governess shaking her awake.
“Your Highness, you must get up.”
The governess, her face drained of color, hastily dressed Lea.
They fled like hunted things and reached the entrance to an underground secret passage, where Lea met her brother—Aren, King of Zephyros.
“Only the king knows of this passage. It will buy us time.”
Tears welled up in Lea’s eyes in an instant.
“Brother, aren’t you coming with me?”
Before she could finish speaking through her sobs, she broke down entirely.
Aren looked at his distraught sister and spoke.
“I will… I’ll follow you later. Lea. Let’s make sure we meet safely.”
That night, Lea and her attendants emerged from the secret passage and climbed westward toward Red Mountain.
In the darkness, only their footfalls echoed roughly. No one spoke. Silence was heavier than screams.
The barren, rocky mountain was sparsely populated, and the cave they found was suitable for hiding.
A knight who had gone down to learn news from the Royal Palace returned with a devastated expression, and the moment his eyes met Lea’s, he hung his head.
“No…”
Lea shook her head.
She stumbled toward him and grabbed at his sleeve.
“Tell me it isn’t true! Tell me my brother is all right!”
“Your Highness.”
His voice trembled.
“His Majesty has… passed.”
* * *
Sixteen years later.
Northia, a vassal state of the Terra Empire.
The ruler of that land, Queen Nella, let out a soft tsk as she gazed at a woman sitting limply on the bed.
Her faded blonde hair, cropped short like a man’s, had grown out unevenly at the ends.
She had heard that the woman refused to let anyone touch it to tidy it.
“Do you know how much the bounty on your head is worth?”
Silence.
“So the Red Specter—the one the Empire is so desperate to kill—looks like this. I’ve collected a corpse.”
Nella seized the woman’s jaw and tilted her face upward.
The cheekbones had grown slightly less prominent; there was a hint of flesh on what had been a gaunt face.
But her green eyes were still dead.
“Not a single word from you, they say. Is it that you can’t speak, or that you won’t?”
When Nella released her hand, Lea’s head dropped uselessly back down.
A single thought dominated Lea’s mind now.
‘Why am I still alive?’
A dozen years compressed into a blur—from a powerless princess who had lost her kingdom to the commander of a rebel army fighting the Empire.
She had lost everything once again.
Trapped in despair and self-loathing, Lea’s consciousness drifted aimlessly.
Nella sat in the chair beside the bed and regarded Lea in silence for a time, then spoke abruptly.
“If you could return to the past, would you go?”
Lea slowly raised her head.
Light returned to her eyes, fixing on some distant point.
What rekindled her was not the breath of life, but hatred and despair.
Something flickered across Nella’s eyes. One corner of her mouth rose slightly.
She knew the truth—that rage is the most powerful force that keeps a human alive.
“If I could return to the past, I would sell my very soul.”
Her voice, unspoken for so long, came out rough and scraped raw.
“And what would you do if you went back?”
“Stop one person. Just one. Everything crumbled in the hands of a single person on that day.”
“Who is that person?”
“Neria. My half-sister.”
“So you remember when that day was.”
“How could I ever forget?”
Lea spoke flatly, her eyes gleaming with fierce intensity.
Beneath that flatness, Nella could see the smoldering spark of an explosion held just barely in check.
“Do you truly believe you can change the past if you return to it?”
“Yes. Without fail.”
“Even if you must sacrifice something precious in exchange?”
‘Something precious?’
Lea let out a bitter laugh. As if anything precious remained.
“Your spirit.”
Lea’s eyes flew wide open, her entire body jolting with shock.
“What do you—”
Her gaze sharpened, focusing on the figure before her with sudden clarity. She drank in every detail of that face.
A middle-aged noblewoman, her hair a study in contrasts—black and white mingled—smiled down at her with cold elegance.
“Now you look like you might be useful.”
Caught in the gaze of those crimson eyes, Lea found she could not look away.
She felt as though she had been cast before an overwhelming predator—fierce and beautiful, against which resistance was futile.
“Let us devise a plan together.”
Lea stared blankly at Nella, struggling to comprehend her words.
“I have no need of your soul.”
* * *
“Your Highness, good morning!”
A cheerful voice accompanied the sweeping open of curtains, and morning sunlight flooded the chamber.
A woman with chestnut hair, warm hazel eyes, and an abundance of endearing freckles beamed with unbridled joy.
Was the brightness that stung her eyes from the sun, or from being able to see that radiant smile once more?
“Your Highness, I have the most wonderful news! Can you guess what it is?”
“Nasim gave birth last night, didn’t she.”
“How did you know? She gave birth, and—”
“Twins? Two of them.”
“How! You must have heard already!”
Lea tumbled from her bed and pulled Fenny into an embrace.
“Your Highness?”
“I’m happy.”
“Oh, you! Does that make you so happy? I told you not to worry. Nasim is strong—she would deliver safely, I said.”
Holding Fenny close, Lea squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden heat of tears.
The window swung open wide, and a powerful gust swept through the chamber, rushing past both their bodies.
Garments rippled; hair scattered in all directions.
“My! What a wind.”
Fenny squeaked in surprise before breaking into delighted laughter.
Lea curled her hand into a loose fist, as though to grasp the wind itself.
The breeze slipped through her fingers, arriving and departing like breath.
‘It’s you, isn’t it? You came back with me?’
As if in answer, the wind caressed her cheek.
On that day when she turned twenty and learned of her brother’s death, she awakened Spirit Power amid suffocating despair.
⌜The probability is slim.⌟
Nella had said so.
⌜You are moving against the order of the world, returning to the past. The likelihood of success is vanishingly low. The chance of you awakening Spirit Power again is lower still.⌟
‘I have succeeded, Your Majesty. And a miracle has occurred.’
She had returned to the past with the spirit—not awakened it anew.
An outcome that defied prediction. There was no other word for it: a miracle.
Lea closed her eyes, then opened them. Her gaze blazed with brilliant intensity.
‘Neria.’
Tonight, I will stop you without fail.
* * *
At the southern edge of the continent lies the desert kingdom of Zephyros.
In the kingdom’s sanctuary rests a great Sacred Artifact known as the Eye of Zephyros.
The Eye of Zephyros was a wondrous instrument that would summon sandstorms to sweep away invaders whenever enemies crossed its borders.
The kingdom had built its thousand-year history upon this perfect defensive treasure.
Even now, when an empire has risen across the continent and all lands bow beneath its dominion, the Kingdom of Zephyros maintains its proud independence.
Sheltered by the Sacred Artifact, the kingdom knew peace and safety.
‘Is that truly so.’
Lea stood upon the high tower of the Royal Palace, gazing down at the kingdom spread beneath her with a cold, measured eye.
‘No. It is sinking, little by little.’
Born a princess, she had spent her childhood in happiness, unburdened by worry.
She had loved the kingdom and believed it was a paradise.
Protected by mysterious Sacred Artifacts, the Kingdom of Zephyros seemed to her to be blessed by the gods themselves.
But then.
At some point, the kingdom’s Sacred Artifact had become poison, gnawing away at the realm it once protected.
What was more tragic was that no one had noticed.
Lea only understood this after losing the kingdom.
Relying on the power of the Sacred Artifact, the kingdom had grown lazy and decayed.
Eventually it would have crumbled to dust at the mere breath of wind.
‘That doesn’t excuse what you’ve done, Neria.’
The Eye of Zephyros was the greatest treasure of the kingdom, yet its guards were not particularly vigilant.
Anyone without the blood of the royal house would find their mind crushed and their body paralyzed the moment they drew near.
There was a legend passed down through the ages: only those of Zephyros’s bloodline could destroy the Eye of Zephyros.
Lea had never taken that legend seriously.
How could the royal bloodline ever dare to destroy a Sacred Artifact?
The Sacred Artifact was the very foundation of Zephyros.
And yet her half-sister, Princess Neria of the kingdom, had done exactly that—something so terrible, so unthinkable.
Tonight was that very night.
“Lea.”
She spun around sharply.
A fair-haired young man with green eyes identical to her own spoke in confusion.
“Why did you suddenly call me to a place like this…?”
Before Aren could finish, Lea threw herself into his arms, catching him off guard.
But when he felt his sister’s shoulders trembling against him, his shock deepened.
“Lea, what’s wrong? What is it?”
This wasn’t how Lea had planned this. Yet the moment she saw Aren’s face, the tears came flooding out, unstoppable.
That he was alive, that she could touch him again, that this was real and not a dream—she felt both afraid it was all an illusion and grateful it was real.
Aren waited patiently, stroking her back until her tears subsided.
Her brother was as gentle as she remembered.
“Your Majesty.”
Aren’s eyebrows rose sharply.
“Your Majesty?”
“Please listen to what I’m about to say. The fate of us both and the kingdom depends on it.”
Aren studied her for a long moment, then nodded.
The sister he knew could be a bit petulant, but she was not one to speak nonsense.
“I’ve received a Divine Oracle.”
Lea had no desire to explain everything she had lived through in exhausting detail.
It would take far too long and sound absurd besides.
Mentioning a Divine Oracle at all sounded absurd, but this was the Kingdom of Zephyros—a land that actually received the protection of the gods.
“Terrible things will happen tonight. Many will die, and the kingdom will face destruction.”
“What?”
“I cannot tell you the details now.”
If she told him the Sacred Artifact might be destroyed, Aren would strengthen the guards.
That could not happen. Everything had to unfold as it was meant to.
“I can stop it. I must stop it. So please, ask me nothing and trust me just for tonight. You know I would never lie about the fate of our kingdom.”
Aren studied her in silence for a moment, then tapped her nose gently with his fingertip.
“Your nose is all red. If you had a nightmare, go back to bed and sleep.”
“Your Majesty!”
“His Majesty has no time for nonsense, but apparently others do.”
Seeing the playful smile that had appeared on Aren’s lips, Lea blinked.
“…Brother.”
Aren laughed softly and spoke.
“What can I do to help?”
“Tonight… please don’t sleep. Keep the knights standing by.”
Her voice caught, wavering with barely suppressed emotion.
“That’s all?”
“That’s enough.”
Lea pulled Aren close in a tight embrace.
“Thank you, brother. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
“All right.”
Feeling the gentle touch of Aren’s hand on her shoulder, Lea’s anxiety and dread began to settle.
‘In my past life, how could I have survived after losing him?’
This time, I will not lose him.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————