The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 39

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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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Episode 39
“Loden. I received the clothes earlier. Please thank the tailor for me. And strangely, I couldn’t find an invoice anywhere. There seems to be an error—could you look into it?”
“I’ll handle that matter.”
“What do you mean?”
Orbin had received a separate message from Mariel.
⌜The clothes I’ll send next are a gift from me. I’ve accepted a commission of that scale, and I can’t very well charge for a few surplus pieces from stock. Since the young lady asked for an invoice, please arrange it accordingly.⌟
“There is the compensation we agreed upon as information fees. I’ll offset it against that amount.”
“Ah, well then—that suits me fine. Understood.”
Orbin turned to Lea as she rose from her seat.
“Are you going out?”
“I have an errand. I’ll be back before sunset.”
“May I ask where you’re headed?”
“The prince has already given me permission to go out.”
“I’m not saying you can’t go. But if you need my assistance, please tell me.”
Lea considered for a moment, then spoke.
“If you’re free now, would you come with me? I just thought of something I need to ask Loden about.”
“Yes, of course.”
He heard her destination and felt a moment of surprise, though he hid it well.
The carriage left the manor and headed toward District 7.
When it stopped, Orbin stood before the building and regarded the engraved letters with an unreadable expression.
—Droén Vault House.
It was a private bank operated by his own family, the Droén Family.
The staff attendant, perhaps sensing that Lea’s bearing and attire were no ordinary matter, especially with her escort knight at her side, promptly guided her to a reception room.
Soon a middle-aged man appeared, bowed deeply, and spoke.
“I am the manager of the Droén Vault House. It is my honor to meet you. How may I be of service?”
Lea drew a prepared envelope from her bag and handed it to him.
“Please review its contents. If you find anything unclear, I ask that you pass it to your superior.”
The manager unfolded the document inside the envelope and read it, then tilted his head in confusion.
He then excused himself, saying he would return shortly.
The wait was not long.
A more senior figure appeared, accompanied by the manager, whose posture had grown noticeably deferential.
The moment Orbin recognized him, he stiffened slightly and quietly looked away.
The senior man glanced at Orbin in passing without reaction, then bowed respectfully before Lea.
“I am Chief Executive Marius. Might we move to a more private space?”
He swept his eyes quickly over Lea’s other companions as he spoke.
“There are matters for the distinguished guest’s ears alone.”
Lea glanced back at Peni and Kasim and gave a brief nod.
She then left the reception room alone, accompanying Marius.
Orbin stood bewildered.
Chief Executive Marius was his mother’s right hand—the President’s right arm—and effectively the second in command.
Given that he controlled the considerable assets of the Vault House, his pride was correspondingly high.
Even nobles sought his favor and bent before him.
Orbin could not fathom why Marius would defer to the Princess of Zephyros.
* * *
Marius led Lea into the Distinguished Guest Chamber.
It was a space prepared exclusively for high-level clients to receive exceptional treatment.
Normally, the Chief Executive himself received dignitaries in this chamber.
As Marius entered with Lea, a middle-aged woman who had been waiting inside rose to her feet.
Her hair, a tan-brown, was cut short in a masculine style, and her sturdy frame gave her a somewhat masculine appearance at first glance.
Yet her voice was unmistakably female.
“I am Morga, President of the Droén Family. Please, be seated.”
She smiled and gestured for Lea to take a chair.
Marius, slender and fine-boned, appeared almost diminutive beside her.
The moment Lea saw her, she recognized someone of extraordinary standing.
Upon hearing the title “President,” she thought, ‘Of course.’
This woman possessed a unique presence that commanded the room.
Her deep-set eyes, with prominent brows and cheekbones, and dark irises, made it difficult for others to read emotion in her gaze.
She carried the bearing of one accustomed to leading many.
‘I didn’t expect the President herself to appear. Is this a good sign?’
Lea bowed slightly in acknowledgment and took her seat across from Morga.
Morga observed Lea without being overtly obvious about it.
Most people assumed that merchants were merely negotiators.
Morga was a predator—one who had thrown herself directly into the jaws of danger countless times and clawed her way back to life.
The aura etched into her very being by a brutal existence could not be suppressed.
Usually, people meeting Morga for the first time were unnerved or intimidated, so she preferred to leave such dealings to her subordinates.
But this time, she had come herself because she needed to see it firsthand.
She was startled to discover that the sender of the letter brought by the Chief Executive was someone entirely unexpected.
‘Who could it be?’
Morga could usually read a person’s station from their bearing alone.
The woman was certainly of noble birth, and if she was this beautiful, word of her would have spread.
Yet Morga had never heard mention of her.
“When the distinguished visitor’s letter reached me, I came rushing over in shock. You are not quite whom I expected.”
“She told me that anyone who understands integrity would not pretend otherwise. Did she perhaps need to come herself?”
“Oh, no. No, of course not. The fact that she has not forgotten me and has given me this opportunity to repay her kindness—I scarcely know what to do with myself. Was the letter written by her?”
“No. I heard the message from her and wrote it myself.”
“Do you understand the meaning of what was written in that letter?”
Lea recalled the contents of the letter she had delivered to the Manager in the envelope.
—I wish to ask about the price of a life paid with a single piece of bread in the Valley of Silence.
Nela had only instructed her to relay that message to the President of the Droén Family, without revealing the circumstances that bound them together.
Lea hesitated before answering.
“I don’t.”
Morga smiled with deep satisfaction.
“How perfectly like her.”
Morga’s gaze drifted toward empty space.
A distant, hazy memory flickered across her eyes.
It had been twenty-six years ago.
At that time, Morga’s position had been precarious.
Though she had inherited the family after her father, her relatives—merely because she was a woman—watched for any opportunity to seize her place.
Morga needed to prove herself.
And so she chose a dangerous gamble.
The Empire was in the midst of its great territorial expansion at that time.
When the Empire launched its full assault against the Nortia Kingdom, Morga was certain of the Empire’s victory and established a supply depot at a strategic position that would cut off the Nortian army’s line of retreat.
But before the Imperial forces could arrive, the tide of battle shifted—if only temporarily.
The vanguard of Nortia, led by Nela, who was then the crown heir of the Nortian king, arrived first.
Morga fought desperately to at least save her people from the trading company.
From Nortia’s perspective, Morga and the Droén Trading Company were enemies deserving of summary execution.
But Nela, impressed by Morga’s courage and audacity, spared them all.
Morga could never forget the words Nela spoke that day.
“Without merchants like you, the world will not move forward even when the war ends.”
Morga wept and spoke through her tears.
“I swear to repay you. I will repay the value of our lives a hundredfold, a thousandfold.”
“There is nothing as hollow as the promise of a human being.”
Morga held out a piece of bread before Nela’s eyes.
“This is the price of my life. My life cannot be worth only this single piece of bread. I will repay with interest someday. As a merchant, I stake my honor—which is worth more than life itself—on this promise.”
Nela laughed quietly and took the bread, then turned to leave.
After escaping alive, Morga learned something.
She had been pregnant.
Not just her own life, but that of her child as well—both had been saved.
Morga would have gladly surrendered her position as President of the Droén Family if it meant the Nortia Kingdom would emerge victorious.
But in the end, the Empire was the victor, and Nortia became a tributary state under Imperial rule.
When she heard that the crown heir would go as a hostage to the Empire, she could not sleep a single night.
During the ten years that followed, while Nela remained in the Empire, Morga waited constantly for news—for an emissary to arrive bearing her instructions.
She was too ashamed to presume to visit her first.
In the end, no word ever came.
Nela had returned to the Nortia Kingdom at last.
On the day Nela departed, Morga watched the procession from a distance and prostrated herself on the ground in obeisance.
Morga longed for the day of repayment to come, and when it did, she would repay with generosity befitting the high price she had proclaimed her life to be worth.
And so she worked, day and night.
In the great wealth the Droén Family had amassed today, that woman’s contribution must account for more than half.
Morga spoke.
“The letter you brought is a Blank Promissory Note that I issued. Even if you asked for the entire Trading Company, I would be prepared to honor it.”

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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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