The Wind Calms the Fire - Chapter 70

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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 70
“There’s such a thing as basic courtesy, you wretch. If I’ve fed and raised you to adulthood, I’d show respect even to a complete stranger as a benefactor. Did I ever demand money from you? Did I ever force work upon you? And you can’t even greet me when you arrive?”
Orbin scratched his head with an awkward expression. He had nothing to say.
“I’m sorry. I left home so abruptly that I didn’t have the courage to face you, ashamed as I was.”
Morga’s eyes wavered.
‘The boy’s grown a little after all.’
Time was, he’d answer back with two retorts for every word she spoke, turning her insides out with indignation.
Hearing her son’s honest apology, Morga’s anger softened.
“Shame has no place between mother and son. That’s not something we count.”
“When did you know I’d arrived?”
“On the first day, you fool. Everyone around here was chattering about the Black Seal coming to the Capital—do you think I wouldn’t hear it? And they’re still noisy about it. So the person you serve is marrying soon, is she?”
But Morga’s true reason for seeking out her son today lay elsewhere.
Not long ago, she had finally discovered the identity of that mysterious young lady who had come as the proxy of “that person.”
She’d assumed she’d learn eventually, but the revelation of her unexpected station had shocked her.
A princess of the Zephyros Kingdom.
‘There was that rebellion not so long ago that turned the kingdom upside down.’
She was certain her own intelligence network surpassed even the Empire’s Information Department when it came to the Zephyros Kingdom.
No matter how closed a kingdom might be, there were always a few merchants who moved through its borders steadily.
“It’s an engagement, not a marriage.”
“An engagement leads to marriage soon enough.”
“That’s not necessarily so.”
‘Look at this boy.’
Morga’s eyes narrowed slightly.
She detected that her son disapproved of this union.
‘Pathetic creature. He has no eye for quality. And yet he plays the Information Department officer.’
Morga had been deeply impressed by her meeting with Rhea.
A capable, spirited princess.
And wasn’t she also the proxy of “that person”?
Curious about what information the princess might demand in lieu of a debt, Morga had been counting the days until their next meeting.
“Mother, does the merchant company have information on the Zephyros Kingdom?”
“What if it does?”
“You really do? I need that information.”
“If you price it fairly, there’s hardly anything we won’t sell. You know as well as I do—we don’t hawk our information to just anyone. Consider it a special privilege.”
Orbin’s brow furrowed.
“You’re conducting business with your own son?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Orbin knew well enough that his mother was precisely the sort of woman who would do such a thing, so he pressed his lips together in silence.
“You can pay in information if you like.”
Orbin replied curtly.
“I’d rather not. Do you want to see an Information Department officer have his neck cut for peddling secrets?”
“I was showing favor because you’re my son. Consider it settled if you answer my question. If it troubles you, you need not answer.”
“What is it?”
“The 4th Imperial Prince has achieved something grand lately, hasn’t he? His usual conduct—drifting only through the Northeast, showing no interest whatsoever in Capital politics—seems to have changed. Do you think he’s now earnestly entering the Succession War? I’m asking for your opinion, so this isn’t information.”
“How could I possibly know His Highness’s intentions? But what’s done is done and cannot be undone. I doubt he’s unaware of that.”
“Mm.”
‘So the Imperial court is already stirring,’ she inferred.
“Did that person change his mind suddenly because of the princess from Zephyros?”
Orbin’s expression grew complicated.
He didn’t want to admit it, but there was no way around it.
Circumstances had shifted dramatically since the princess’s arrival.
He had never wished for the one he served to wander the borderlands all his life.
Was it not natural to hope that his lord would rise to the very top?
Only the sudden approach of the princess from Zephyros troubled him—her intentions seemed suspect.
Morga studied her silent son’s grim expression and pieced it together.
‘The princess played a decisive role. And my son doesn’t care for it.’
Orbin was not a man whose face was easily read in public.
But Morga was a mother who could see straight through her son’s eyes, and Orbin, in her presence, let his guard slip.
Orbin left in high spirits, having obtained the information on the Zephyros Kingdom he desired.
And Morga, with the intelligence she possessed, began to piece it together.
‘Could it be that the Zephyros princess, entrusted with a special mission by the King of Nortia, has now aligned her purpose with the 4th Imperial Prince?’
If the 4th Imperial Prince were to become Emperor.
‘The most exquisite revenge she could achieve.’
A steely light kindled in Morga’s eyes.
She would devote every ounce of her strength to help him realize his ambition.
Once the 4th Imperial Prince became the empire’s next ruler, the Droën Family that backed him would bask in glory as well.
She could repay her debt and restore the family’s fortunes in one stroke.
Of course, a single misstep would erase the Droën Family without a trace.
Morga smiled to herself.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward.
Her heart raced rather than faltered—she was a merchant born and bred.
* * *
Enoch visited the Empress Palace.
“I offer my respects, Your Majesty.”
Helena merely glanced at the unexpected visitor and continued arranging flowers without pause.
“What brings you here, 1st Imperial Prince?”
Enoch paid no mind to the Empress’s cold reception.
The Emperor and Empress were the only two people above him in his eyes.
One must respect hierarchy—that was his principle.
“Your Majesty. You’ve done something quite unbecoming of an Empress. You’ve taken charge of the 4th Imperial Prince’s betrothal.”
Yet for someone who spoke of respecting hierarchy, Enoch’s words suggested otherwise.
Helena’s brow twitched slightly.
“It is hardly unusual for an Empress to concern herself with a prince’s betrothal.”
“You rarely involve yourself in such matters, so naturally I’m curious. It seems you harbor special affection for the 4th Imperial Prince. To suddenly take charge of the betrothal of a prince who’s been absent from the Imperial Palace for six years—how intriguing.”
“You’ve come running here like a beast with its tail on fire, desperate to uncover what hidden relationship exists between myself and the 4th Imperial Prince.”
This time, it was Enoch’s brow that twitched.
“How dare you compare me to a beast.”
“By taking charge of the betrothal, I’ve managed to quell the rumors surrounding the princess of a minor kingdom. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?”
“Are you saying you did this for my sake?”
Enoch let out a bitter laugh.
“I’ll accept that explanation, though I find it difficult to believe.”
The Empress remains neutral.
Her stance has been unwavering for years, beyond reproach.
And that fact infuriated Enoch.
He was the 1st Imperial Prince with the empire’s most distinguished family as his maternal relatives, yet he possessed no clear advantage over the other four princes, tainted as they were by common blood.
Had the Empress actively supported him, his position would be entirely different now.
“Your Majesty. The blood of Your Majesty flows through my veins. I beg you not to forget that fact.”
Enoch’s biological mother was a direct descendant of the Valentino Family, the empire’s most prestigious house.
And the Empress herself had been the rightful daughter of the previous Valentino family head.
That is why Enoch could not fathom the Empress’s position.
They were in the same boat; surely she ought to support him in ascending to the throne.
The Empress’s insistence on neutrality appeared to Enoch as nothing more than selfish attachment to her imperial seat.
After Enoch departed, the flower stem Helena had been holding snapped sharply in her grip.
Her expression as she stared at the broken stem was cold, yet her inner turmoil raged.
The Valentino Family was both loved and hated by her.
They had elevated her to Empress, and when she failed to bear a child, they pushed her sister into the Emperor’s bed as a concubine, resulting in Enoch’s birth.
She could never forget the profound humiliation she felt the day Enoch was born.
She clenched her teeth.
The shameless presumption of the family—taking it for granted that she would sacrifice everything for their sake—and Enoch’s arrogance in mirroring that very attitude, sickened her.
* * *
‘Tomorrow is the betrothal ceremony.’
She who had been lying flat shifted to her side.
Soon after, she rolled to the other side.
After repeating this motion several times more, she finally sat up entirely.
She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her face.
‘I need to sleep.’
It’s only a betrothal ceremony, not even the wedding itself.
What will I do when the actual wedding arrives?
‘I don’t know.’
She has no idea how her relationship with him will change after this betrothal.
Perhaps having already lived one life and returned, the privilege of that knowledge makes an unpredictable future all the more unsettling.
Yet already so many futures had shifted in unexpected directions—so why did this betrothal loom before her like an ache, a restless unease she couldn’t name?
He’d said he wanted to kiss her, though it wasn’t healing.
He’d said that once they married, they’d live as an ordinary couple.
That had never been Rhea’s original plan.
⌜Don’t make such a fuss over marriage.⌟
Nela had spoken these words to Rhea, who sat bewildered at the mention of this new plan—marriage.

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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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