Volume 4, Chapter 64 – In the Water Mist

The night was deep and quiet.

The only sound in the spacious white bathhouse was that of flowing water. Because the ambient temperature was low and the water temperature was high, the room was filled with a pervasive white steam. The misty scene made it difficult to see what was in front of you. If a person wearing glasses were to come here, a thick fog would form on their lenses in just a few seconds. And if a weary person were to soak in the warm pool, they would surely let out a comfortable groan in an instant.

A bathhouse this large and luxurious was a rare sight even in the prosperous capital of Blossom. In the entire Royal Castle, there were only two other baths that could compare: one was the public bath for the exclusive use of the royal family, and the other was the place for the servants to wash. The former aside, the latter, in terms of both scale and layout, was far inferior to the one Fia was currently in. The servants’ bath was focused solely on the function of washing; there was no design for relaxation.

This was the Eldest Princess’s palace. In the entire Royal Castle, only Fia enjoyed a private, huge bathhouse. There were several hot water outlets on the walls, these dragon-head-decorated outlets continuously pouring hot water into the pool. As for how the water was heated and circulated, it was all done with magic. Fia didn’t know how much it cost to run such a bathhouse once, but she was sure that it had to be priced in gold coins.

“Hah—”

Shrouded in the water mist, Fia, sitting on the edge of the pool with only her feet soaking in the water, let out a long sigh.

Normally, if there was no one else in the bath, she would surely have thought of swimming in this hot pool, or just soaking in it and doing nothing, emptying her mind. But now, she was in no mood for that.

She held out her right hand and repeated the motion of clenching her fist, her eyes looking at it as if she were looking at something very far away, lacking focus.

—She had hit the Elf King. She had hit that man named Yelido, who was also her father.

It had not been a rational act, but an emotional one, done without thinking of the consequences. At that time, her mind had just buzzed, her reason washed away by overwhelming rage. Without a second thought, she had thrown a punch in her fury, and the result was this.

She had become strange.

Fia lowered her clenched right hand, her gaze also falling.

Although she had no memories of the past, she was certain that she had never lost her reason like this before. In her past life, she would always consider the consequences before doing anything and would never act out of line. But today, she had failed to control herself.

Although she didn’t think she had done anything wrong, to say that she had no regrets would surely be deceiving herself. Perhaps there had been a better solution at that time, such as not confronting her father, but slowly easing his anger with words from the beginning, turning a big matter into a small one, which would have also achieved the goal of not letting him punish Anastasia. But the fact was, she had chosen the worst way, making the future incredibly troublesome.

“Tsk.”

Muttering to herself, Fia clicked her tongue heavily.

She was now like those people who make a regrettable decision in a moment of impulse, making a choice without regard for the consequences in their anger, and then regretting it afterwards—utterly shameful.

“Hah…”

Fia let out a long sigh. While thinking about the afternoon’s events, she moved and stepped into the pool. She couldn’t remember what she had said to her companions after storming out of the Sea Palace. She had just lain in bed and slept all afternoon, not even eating dinner before having Colita prepare the bathroom, and then had come here alone. At that time, her displeasure must have been written all over her face, so the maids had not come to disturb her. Now, she was all alone in the entire bathhouse.

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How outrageous. Or rather, how unlike her.

Even if she did want to be alone for a while, to do such a willful and wanton thing, without regard for the thoughts of others, she had simply become the kind of spoiled young lady she detested.

It was terrible.

“More like an elf…?”

Letting her long black hair, which was damp from the mist, soak in the pool, Fia tilted her head back and murmured. She recalled what Greyan had said in the past. At the celebration banquet that night, he had said that she had become more like an “elf.” He must have been referring to the fact that she was more emotional now, and not always acting with absolute rational thought like the former princess, right?

Although he had said it with a smile, and was happy that she had become more like an elf, from today’s result, the absolutely rational princess would surely have done a better job than her. Not only had she not improved, but she had even regressed.

The trouble was the future.

Fia bit her lip lightly, but the water in the pool flowed into her mouth as a result. She had no choice but to get up from the water—considering that it would be disgusting to spit the water in her mouth into the pool, she simply swallowed it. Since she was the only one in the pool, and she had just arrived, the water quality was surely fine.

She closed her eyes and began to think.

Yelido had not come to find her all afternoon after being beaten, which meant that he was not so enraged as to want to drive her out of the Royal Castle. Not only that, but when she had come out of her room earlier, Colita had also had an expression as if nothing had happened, which meant that Yelido had neither done anything drastic, nor had he visited her palace, making it hard to understand what he was thinking.

Normally, as the king of a country, to be punched in the face by his own daughter under his throne, he should have been furious enough to have smoke coming out of his seven orifices, and to place his daughter under house arrest or even abolish her status as crown heir. To be so calm, on the contrary, made one feel uneasy.

Of course, this unease did not mean that Fia was worried that he would harm her, but was a sense of guilt. If he had done something, she would have had the courage to face him. But if he did nothing and easily forgave her for hitting him, it would make one feel guilty.

Although he deserved all of it, if one thought about it carefully, Yelido was not bad to her, this daughter. In fact, he was so good that one could not find any fault. He clearly had beautiful and capable consorts like Mother Yulisha who liked him, yet he only liked Veronica and her, this daughter. In the end, not only did Veronica ignore him, but she, his daughter, had even punched him in the face. From the perspective of a man and a king, it was really pitiful. It was as if he were a beggar on the roadside, so weak that anyone could come and step on him.

How troublesome.

Fia’s mind was in a mess.

No matter how she thought about it, the future was too troublesome.

She really wanted to just leave, but her sense of responsibility prevented her from doing so. She disliked Yelido, but that dislike had already been dissipated a lot by those two punches in the afternoon. His bewildered expression at that time had made her feel pity—that’s right, she felt pity for this man who was both a king and her father. It was because of this pity and her responsibility as a daughter that she could not choose to just leave, let alone leave after he had been beaten without a single word of rebuke.

Then should she apologize?

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This thought appeared in her mind.

If she went to find Yelido and frankly admitted that the punch in the afternoon had been an impulsive act, that she shouldn’t have been so extreme, he might also apologize to her out of his love for his daughter, saying that he shouldn’t have slapped her either. In this way, their conflict would be resolved, and their on the verge of breaking relationship would be restored. Everything would be fine.

But she would not go and apologize.

As a daughter, she indeed should not have raised her hand to him. But from an objective point of view, what he had done was wrong. Not only had he destroyed Anastasia’s family, but he had also wanted to hang her. For her to apologize in this matter was absolutely impossible.

—If he were to apologize to her first, she might say it more tactfully.

That being said, since it was impossible to leave, then she had to think about how to face him in the future.

Avoid him? It was feasible. The Royal Castle was very large. It wasn’t like a normal house where people would see each other all the time. As for the morning meeting, she could just not go to the audience chamber, like the former princess.

But she still had some things to deal with. First was to acknowledge her relationship with Claire, then Mizuki’s marriage and the revival of the Holy Tree.

Even if she did not fulfill the duties of the princess and did not care about the life and death of the Holy Tree, she still had to communicate with the Elf God to solve the curse on Claire. And as Veronica had said, there were still many unsolved mysteries about the Holy Tree, especially the dim altar and the Black-Flamed Monsters she had seen. It was possible that only Yelido, as the king, knew a thing or two. To solve them, she had to meet with him.

Of course, besides these highly purposeful issues, it was also very important to properly handle the father-daughter relationship. As she had thought long ago, since she had accepted the identity of the Eldest Princess, then she could not only accept the good parts and refuse to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations she should have. More specifically, she could not only accept the warmth of Anastasia and Mother Yulisha and treat her father on the side as air.

Not to mention that there would always be various conflicts between people. To refuse to communicate because of conflicts was tantamount to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. The correct way was to handle these conflicts properly and then get along well as before.

But how should she take this first step?

In handling emotional matters, she was a complete amateur, a novice, and did not know what to do.

To act as if nothing had happened, and to continue as before—it was possible, but even if Yelido didn’t mind, Fia would feel a knot in her heart, an discomfort.

“Aaaahhh…”

Why did everyone have to pick on Anastasia? It was so annoying.

Just like when one remembers something embarrassing they’ve done in the middle of the night, Fia, soaking in the pool, begins to move about randomly. The originally quiet bathhouse was instantly filled with the sound of splashing, like waves.

Until, a few seconds later, the sound of a door being pushed open suddenly sounded in the bathroom.

Fia immediately stopped. At this moment, she no longer had her initial gloominess. Her heart was only filled with the nervousness and unease of her unsightly state possibly being seen.

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As the pervasive water vapor blocked her vision, Fia could not see who had come in. However, from the cautious footsteps, she soon judged that it was Anastasia—no, there was a lighter set of footsteps following behind her. More than one person had come.

Liti was here too.

That was no wonder.

If it were only Anastasia, she would surely have knocked first and only come in after getting her permission. But with Liti here, she would have urged Anastasia to open the door and then run in with a patter. Although they were sisters—no, come to think of it, Liti and Anastasia were not actually related by blood. Anastasia was her half-sister on her mother’s side, and Liti was her half-sister on her father’s side. Yet when the three of them stood together, they were blood-related sisters. How strange.

Her voice laced with a hint of guilt, as if asking for permission, Anastasia asked from a distance.

“Your Highness, may we come in?”

Aren’t you already in?

Thinking this, Fia said lightly.

“Come in. I’m properly dressed.”

By “dressed,” she actually meant a white bath towel that covered her from her chest to her upper thighs. She had wrapped it around herself before getting into the pool.

Following her words, Liti muttered in a low voice.

“I don’t think that’s what Sister Ana meant…”

Not long after, with the pattering sound of bare feet on the wet floor, Liti and Anastasia appeared beside Fia one after another. The two of them had clearly already washed in the washroom outside. Their damp, light purple and golden hair was coiled up high on their heads, and their skin looked exceptionally fair. But for some reason, although Liti was the type who would jump into the pool and deliberately make a huge splash, today she was exceptionally well-behaved. Like Anastasia, she first cautiously tested the water temperature with her small toes before daring to slowly walk in.

Normally, Fia would have been embarrassed by this “frank encounter.” Liti’s flat, undeveloped body aside, even with a bath towel, Anastasia’s perfect proportions could not be hidden. The towel at her chest was exaggeratedly prominent. Even through the water vapor, Fia could see the faint, deep cleavage on her chest. The S-shaped curve from her slender waist to her rounded hips, even wrapped in a towel, made one want to take another look.

But the current Fia was preoccupied and in no mood to feel embarrassed. She averted her gaze from Anastasia and looked down at the pool. She vaguely guessed that Anastasia and Liti were not just here to take a bath. Her companions were surely worried about her. But she was too embarrassed to say that she had beaten up Yelido. The entire bathhouse thus fell silent, with only the sound of hot water gushing from the outlets.

In the end, it was Liti’s sigh of emotion that broke the silence.

“Whoo~ this is so comfortable. This is the first time I’ve been here. I didn’t expect you to enjoy such a large bathhouse all to yourself, Sister. Father is too good to you.”

As she spoke, Liti did what Fia had not—swam in the pool. And whether it was intentional or not, her movements always accidentally loosened her bath towel, occasionally exposing her flat chest or the hem of the towel, making her seem completely unguarded.

Fia forced a smile and picked up the conversation.

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“Then how do you usually bathe, Liti?”

“I soak in the bathtub in my palace, or go to the public bath for the royal family. That’s usually how it is. Besides Father and my brother, there are no other men in the Royal Castle, so it’s fine as long as I go when they’re not there.”

Liti stopped swimming and stood up. As she had coiled up her light purple hair, her snow-white nape and smooth back, exposed to the light, were exceptionally dazzling. Her shoulders, which had turned pink from the bath, were quite alluring.

Although elves could have same-sex marriages because of the mana surge, Liti disliked men, which was why she had said that.

“Then have you never tried to ask the former me—the princess—to let you bathe here?”

“No, no, no… the Sister of that time looked very scary. How could I dare to ask? I would have definitely been ignored.”

Was the princess that cold?

“But let’s not talk about the past. It’s fine as long as the current you let me use it as I please,” at this, Liti pretended to be casual and quietly swam to Fia’s side. She gently pressed her shoulder against Fia’s water-droplet-covered arm and cautiously looked up with her reddish-purple eyes. “What did you say to Father in the audience chamber, Sister?”

At the mention of this topic, Fia instantly felt Anastasia’s breath catch beside her, listening with full attention.

This topic was definitely unavoidable.

Fia sighed helplessly. It would be better to let her companions know what had happened sooner to put them at ease. And maybe Liti and Anastasia could give her some advice.

Fia bit her lip and said in a small voice.

“…I beat up Yelido.”

“Uh.”

Very obviously, the atmosphere in the entire bathhouse stiffened for a moment. Liti and Anastasia had looks of bewilderment, both of them thinking they had misheard, until Fia added another sentence.

“Although he wasn’t seriously injured, I did indeed beat him up. Did he not come to find me this afternoon?”

Liti and Anastasia looked at each other. In the end, Liti’s facial muscles twitched, and she said with a stiff smile.

“As… as expected of you, esteemed Sister… to do what no one else would dare…”