TWQA 09

Chapter 9

In Karion’s blurred vision, he saw a pair of green eyes trembling.

He clearly knew who those green eyes belonged to, but he could not remember.

Right now, he could not think about anything.

Only the desperate thought that he must not let go of the person in his arms filled his mind.

“Karion?”

He wrapped an arm around the back of her neck, pulled her closer, and swallowed the lips that were calling his name.

He wanted to touch her more, to go deeper.

Only one thought dominated Karion’s mind.

Instinctively, he realized that this contact was his lifeline.

He tilted his head so that their lips met more deeply.

He pushed his tongue inside and entwined it with her soft tongue.

‘What is this?’

The moment their tongues became entwined, Lea felt an energy surging through his body.

If this was the power of the spirit he possessed, then it went against everything she knew.

Spirits were beings of nature with strong wills, so she had been told that they would rather disappear than waver.

She tried to push him away, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her even tighter.

Following his instinct to survive, he continued the desperate kiss.

This was Lea’s first kiss this deep.

Their fluids mixed, and the body temperatures where their mucous membranes touched gradually became similar.

The unfamiliar, chilling sensation that she could not tell whether she liked or disliked left her confused.

‘Help me.’

She asked the spirit to help her, asking it to separate this man from her.

But for some reason, the wind only circled around her.

It almost seemed to be giggling.

‘Are you really going to do this?’

The spirit of wind sometimes acted like a kind mother who embraced everything, but at other times, it played mischievous tricks.

“Ah.”

When he strongly sucked on her tongue, her fingertips flinched.

‘Ah…… somehow…….’

The energy that had been rising and falling in waves seemed to gradually calm down.

She decided to wait a little longer.

Karion, who had clung to Lea for survival, began to regain his lost reason as the terrible pain tearing through his body subsided.

He remembered who the owner of those green eyes was.

‘The princess.’

Even so, he could not let go.

Was a woman’s body always like this?

He liked the feeling of her slender, soft body fitting perfectly into his arms.

Even though he knew that he had made a terrible mistake and should let her go, he could not give up this blissful feeling of fullness.

He could almost understand how people became addicted to alcohol or drugs for pleasure.

When Lea felt that his energy had almost completely calmed down, she pushed him away again.

Karion slowly separated his lips from hers.

Unable to let go of his lingering feelings until the very end, he sucked on her lower lip for a moment before finally releasing her.

Their eyes met at a distance where the tips of their noses almost touched.

Without saying anything or moving at all, they simply stared at each other.

CRACK, THUD!

Part of the roof of the burning cabin collapsed with a loud noise.

Startled, Lea pushed him away with both hands.

Karion obediently relaxed his arms.

He stood up, took several deep breaths, then clenched and unclenched his hands.

‘This is crazy.’

Unlike his mental state, his body was perfectly fine.

When an attack occurred, he had always felt that it took a full day after the attack subsided for his body to return to normal.

But now, he felt fresher than ever.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Lea.

There was no way what had just happened was simply a coincidence.

What exactly was this woman?

What did she know about this curse?

Was that why she had approached him?

She took a step toward him and spoke.

“Why were you here alone?”

Karion did not like her first question.

He had been prepared to receive at least a few slaps, yet her expression was calm, as if nothing had happened.

Her lips were so red, and yet she acted as if nothing had happened.

“I came because I thought the child might have been left alone.”

He answered bluntly, then immediately regretted it.

“Did you find the child?”

There was no displeasure in her voice as she asked back.

Feeling embarrassed by his childish behavior, Karion avoided her gaze and shook his head.

“We cannot waste any more time. Let us leave before our escape route is blocked.”

The cabin where the fire had first started was burning fiercely, and the flames were beginning to spread into the surrounding grass.

“Wait a moment.”

Lea slowly looked around and moved her hand slightly.

She sent out a small wind that quickly swept through the entire village.

“There are no children nearby. We should leave too.”

Karion looked at her with a strange expression and asked,

“How did you know the way here? Why did you come?”

Lea did not answer, and Karion did not ask again.

The fire was spreading quickly.

The two of them left the burning village behind and entered the forest.

As they traveled, Karion said to Lea, who kept looking back several times,

“The wind stopped earlier. You do not need to worry about the wildfire catching up with us.”

Lea only smiled slightly without saying anything.

She was trying to call the wind to put out the flames in the village.

Just like when she had seen it from the watchtower, the wind was not moving according to her will.

It was a phenomenon that occurred when the powers of spirits collided with each other.

In her previous life, Lea had met only one person besides herself who could control a spirit.

That person was the King of Nortia.

Then the owner of the power clashing with the spirit of wind nearby had to be Karion.

Just because Karion was beside her did not mean Lea’s power was completely restrained.

She simply could not summon strong winds. She could still freely summon small gusts of wind.

Only after the two of them had moved some distance away from the village did the wind inside the village begin to move.

‘Please. Hold the flames back so they cannot spread.’

The main force of the wildfire would be put out using a backfire strategy, but the fire that had spread into the village was a separate source.

If this fire was left alone, it would grow into another large-scale wildfire.

So Lea surrounded the village with a wall of wind.

The fire would continue burning inside the wind barrier, and after it burned down the entire village and used up all its fuel, it would naturally go out.

“Wait a moment.”

Lea stopped while they were walking.

She looked around the dark forest, then pulled one side of her lips and let out a sharp whistle.

Soon, a horse without a bridle or saddle appeared from inside the forest.

It approached Lea, pushed its head against her, and acted affectionately.

“You waited nicely. Good job.”

Karion watched with interest and said,

“Clever horse. Have you trained it for a long time?”

“No. It is His Highness’s horse.”

“……My horse?”

“It is a horse managed by the camp, so isn’t it His Highness’s horse?”

Lea walked ahead confidently.

Watching her back, Karion opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, then closed it again.

There were so many things he wanted to ask that he did not even know what to ask first.

Lea finished her bath while listening to Penny’s endless scolding.

“Good night, Princess.”

“Yeah. You sleep well too.”

“You really are going to sleep peacefully, right? Should I guard your bedroom?”

Penny stood with both hands on her waist, looking exactly like her nanny—Penny’s mother—when she was angry.

“I’ll stay still and sleep quietly until tomorrow morning.”

Lea spoke with a nervous expression.

“It is a relief that the flames have died down and will not reach here. Once it is morning, things will probably settle down somewhat.”

“Exactly. Do not worry and get some sleep.”

After Penny left, looking back several times, Lea closed her eyes.

But she could not fall asleep.

Lea touched her lips with her hand.

Her first kiss had been hot and long.

‘Who did he mistake me for?’

It had been a desperate kiss, clinging to her.

It seemed like the kind of kiss someone could only give if they had experience.

‘He said he has no lover……. He meant he has no one now, but he could have had someone before.’

He had mistaken her for someone else, and on top of that, her first kiss had been without her consent.

The worst.

If it had been twenty-one-year-old Lea before returning to the past, she would not have been able to hold back her anger.

She might have jumped around and cried.

But surprisingly, she was fine now.

A kiss was nothing compared to all the hardships she had experienced.

Rather, the fact that she was thinking, ‘Could this be a good card to bring up the subject of marriage?’ made her feel that she had become completely worn down by life.

‘I asked you to help me. But you just watched?’

Lea complained to the spirit in an annoyed voice.

A gentle wind softly tapped her cheeks as if soothing her.

‘I’m disappointed in you. I’m really angry.’

When she turned her head sharply with a little huff, the wind brushed against her skin as if it were desperately trying to make amends.

As the gentle wind continued to caress her skin, Lea found herself smiling.

‘He has the power of a spirit too, right?’

The spirit touched her cheek as if answering her.

‘His Majesty never said anything like that…….’

Even when she had run toward the forest, she had thought, ‘No way. That cannot be.’

‘There was no reason to hide it. He did not know either. His spirit must be fire, just like his father’s, right? When did he awaken……?’

Lea suddenly sat upright.

‘Fire!’

Could he have awakened because of today’s wildfire?