The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 38
“…….”
He stood under the cascade of water, slamming his forehead against the bathhouse wall with a dull thud.
Just how far was he prepared to debase himself?
After striking his head against the wall several more times, he glared down at the floor in irritation.
His traces dissolved into the water and vanished, yet the heat coursing through his body refused to cool.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
‘Let’s try this.’
If he drained every last bit of strength from his body, surely the bottom would eventually show itself.
He breathed heavily, as though squaring off against an opponent he could never defeat.
While he labored to cool himself under the cold spray, Lea lay tossing in her bed, never imagining he was still in the Mansion.
‘You knew. You knew, and you hid it so perfectly……!’
She wanted to blame him, but she knew in her heart that would be unfair.
He hadn’t deceived her. She simply had misunderstood.
‘How strange he must have thought me all this time.’
A woman who broke into a man’s bedroom in the dead of night, then did something far more serious than a simple kiss, and afterwards casually said it was ‘no great mistake’—surely that struck anyone as suspicious.
Besides, regardless of her claims about treatment, she’d permitted kisses nearly every day.
There was no excuse if he’d interpreted it as her throwing herself at him in seduction.
As Lea lay there in her torment, doubt suddenly crept in.
‘But that was in the past.’
Even if he had misunderstood her as a loose woman, he’d never actually been discourteous to her.
Her clinging to what was already done stemmed from nothing but her own selfish desire to show him only her best side.
‘And besides, after what just happened……what does an old misunderstanding matter?’
She buried her face in her hands and scolded herself.
‘Get a grip. Just because you’ve returned to the past doesn’t mean your mind has to regress with you. Don’t waste your emotions on something so trivial.’
It was trivial.
It had to be trivial.
Only by dismissing the near-conjugal contact with a man who’d invaded her room in the dead of night could she face him again without discomfort.
After this reflection, her mind grew clear and the shame that had weighed on her evaporated.
She closed her eyes and sought sleep.
It was a night like any other.
* * *
Carion didn’t stop until his body had gone cold.
By then he’d regained some composure, though he sensed he could continue if he pushed himself.
He felt repulsed by his own flesh, strange as it was to him.
If his body had always overflowed with lust and reveled in pleasure, it might have made sense, but since self-gratification even had been something he engaged in rarely—he couldn’t make sense of this sudden transformation.
‘It’s the Spirit. That bastard’s doing.’
He brazenly placed all blame on the Spirit.
When he emerged from the bathhouse, it was the hour just before dawn.
Too awkward to sleep again, he climbed to the Study and checked the Report that Cedric had left on the desk.
Around sunrise he left the Mansion, and at the entrance to District 1 on the path to the Imperial Palace, he reunited with Luke.
“Good morning, Your Highness.”
Luke greeted him with a smirk playing at his lips.
Carion found himself curious for the first time what was running through that head of his.
Given the circumstances, the fool had certainly drawn all the wrong conclusions.
To explain would be cumbersome, and besides, nothing untoward hadn’t actually occurred.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Carion chose silence.
Luke wasn’t the type to go gossiping about the neighborhood anyway.
The two waited briefly, and the moment the gate opened, they slipped through.
Luke exchanged a cheerful greeting with the gate guards, all hearty familiarity.
Thanks to Luke, the pair passed without even a formal inspection.
They crossed the bridge over the waterway as they made their way from the Outer Palace into the Inner Palace.
The moment they finished crossing, Carion drew in a sharp breath and stopped.
His heart suddenly clenched so violently he couldn’t breathe.
A sensation like a fireball churning in his belly left him nauseated.
But the symptoms soon subsided, and he resumed walking.
Luke, who had waited while he stood frozen, followed along behind him.
Carion betrayed nothing outwardly, but inwardly he cursed under his breath.
‘Why is this happening again? It happened last time too…….’
A memory flashed through his mind.
Two days ago, right after crossing the canal with the attendant, strange symptoms had appeared in his body before fading away.
‘Coincidence?’
He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and gazed across the bridge.
He crossed the bridge toward the Outer Palace, his concentration fixed on the energy flowing through his body.
He noticed his breathing had become easier.
He turned back and retraced his steps.
The moment he crossed the bridge and entered the Inner Palace, his chest tightened.
The sensation was weaker than before, and the recovery came faster.
‘This is no coincidence.’
Was it the canal or the bridge itself?
Something here was affecting the Spirit within his body.
Lost in thought, he walked on.
Luke merely glanced sideways at Carion’s sudden peculiar behavior and walked silently beside him.
When they arrived at the Baron’s Residence, Cedric came out to greet them.
Cedric had learned this morning that the prince was away.
Since Luke had also disappeared, he wasn’t greatly alarmed.
However, the fact that no one had noticed the prince’s bedroom door wide open until morning was troubling.
He had decided to properly discipline the servants of the Baron’s Residence today.
Luke was among those to be disciplined.
Apart from the servants failing to keep proper watch at dawn, Luke should have informed someone—anyone—before leaving.
After Carion entered his bedroom, Cedric glared at Luke and spoke.
“Look at me.”
Luke pulled his shoulders back exaggeratedly, his expression saying ‘What now.’
But soon his shoulders drooped, and he meekly followed after Cedric.
Carion, who had been pacing inside the bedroom, came to a halt.
Thinking it through carefully, he discovered something remarkable.
⌜Was there a turning point when the intervals changed from once every few days in childhood to once a month?⌟
She had been right—there was indeed a turning point.
The seizures, which had occurred once every three or four days in childhood, began happening only once a month exactly six years ago.
He had thought it was due to other reasons at the time.
His body had grown larger, his Swordsmanship Training had intensified, his living habits had changed, and so on.
But there was a reason he had overlooked.
Six years ago, he had left the Imperial Palace.
* * *
In the morning, three Outerwear Dresses arrived from the Tailor’s Shop.
Each was packed in a sizable box.
Every time Penny opened a box, she gasped in delight.
“Wow……. They’re so beautiful.”
Lea agreed wholeheartedly.
Inside each box were matching Shoes, a Hat, and a Bag along with the dress.
The Outerwear Dress was luxurious at first glance.
These couldn’t have been sewn in just a few days, so they must be from inventory.
If the shop kept clothing of this quality in stock, it had to be among the finest dressmakers in the capital.
The moment Lea woke that morning, she pushed away the memory of last night that had been circling in her mind and gathered her resolve.
“Try it on right away, Your Highness. Let me help you. Start with this one. It’s perfect for the weather lately.”
Penny attended to Lea with barely contained enthusiasm.
Penny positioned Lea before the mirror and clapped her hands with a laugh.
“As expected of our princess. You look absolutely stunning in Imperial Style clothing.”
She didn’t know who the original owner was, but the pale ivory silk dress fit Lea’s body as if it had been tailored just for her.
“Since I’m dressed, Penny, would you do my hair? I have somewhere to go.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
Penny seemed thrilled by the chance to primp after so long, and Lea found pleasure in watching her joy.
After finishing her preparations, Lea called for Orbin.
Orbin, entering the Reception Room, stopped short when he saw Lea sitting on the sofa.
Until now, Lea had been dressed as an ordinary traveler.
She wore the kind of plain, unremarkable clothes that one out of every three people on the street might have on, and her gender was ambiguous in such attire.
Orbin had certainly known she was beautiful.
But now he understood why people said clothes were wings.
No, it wasn’t that her clothes had transformed her into someone else.
Rather, the princess had been concealing her true self all along.
‘That’s right. She was a princess, after all.’
Arrayed in her finest, she commanded the Reception Room like its rightful mistress.
There was an unmistakable nobility in the way she sat, poised and composed.
A handmaid stationed at her side, a guard knight positioned behind the sofa—everything fell naturally into place around her.
“Have you found what you were looking for?”
Orbin’s words came forth instinctively, his posture deferential.

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