Chapter 25
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Heater Activation
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She couldn't endure it any longer.
Snowflower finally kicked off the blankets and sat up.
The maids were all lost in deep sleep. If they realized she was awake, they'd make a huge fuss—boiling hot water, summoning physicians, kicking up a storm. It was obvious.
But what she needed right now wasn't a physician.
'Cheonwi...'
That name alone filled her mind.
Snowflower didn't even think to grab an outer robe. Clad only in her thin nightgown, she slipped out of her chambers barefoot.
The stone floor of the corridor was ice-cold. Each step sent pain stabbing through her soles like her flesh was tearing, but Snowflower didn't stop.
Staggering, staggering.
Her steps were unsteady. Her disheveled hair veiled her face, and her unfocused eyes stared in only one direction. The eunuchs' quarters. Where Cheonwi was.
The palace night was deep and dark.
"Ugh... so cold..."
A beast-like groan escaped Snowflower's lips. Arms wrapped tightly around herself, she pushed through the darkness.
That was when she saw them.
A short distance ahead, two on-duty eunuchs patrolling the colonnade leading to the eunuchs' quarters. Chatting to chase away sleep, they turned at the sound of footsteps.
"Wh-who's there!"
The sight that met their eyes was pure terror.
In the pitch-black darkness, a woman in white mourning garb—her hair unbound—staggered toward them. Her face was pallid, almost bluish; her lips bloodless; her feet bare.
"Eek!"
"G-ghost!"
One eunuch dropped his torch and collapsed. The other screamed and backed away.
"Wh-what is that! A virgin ghost! A palace maid who died unjustly!"
"Save me! I did nothing wrong!"
The eunuchs turned pale and fled in panic. Their screams tore through the night sky, but nothing reached Snowflower's ears.
She didn't even glance at the fleeing men.
Only instinct.
Warmth.
The sun that would save her.
Like a zombie, Snowflower staggered past the torch the eunuchs had dropped.
At last, the eunuchs' quarters building came into view. And among them, one room radiating an especially potent energy. The very room she'd visited during the day—the one that had plunged her into heaven and hell at once.
Cheonwi's chambers.
Snowflower stood before the door. Her breath caught in her throat. Her legs trembled; she could barely stand.
With shaking hands, she knocked on the door.
Thud, thud.
Her weakened strikes made only faint, pathetic sounds.
"Cheonwi..."
Her voice cracked and wouldn't come out.
"Please... open the door..."
Thud, thud.
She tried to grasp the latch, but her frozen fingers wouldn't obey. Snowflower leaned her forehead against the door and scratched downward in desperation. Pride and dignity meant nothing now. She just needed the warmth beyond that door.
Cheonwi smiled.
"She's here."
It was a small but distinct sound. The scratching at the door, like desperate pleading.
"A guest has arrived. I should welcome her."
Cheonwi set down his teacup and slowly rose. No need to rush. The prey outside the door had no strength left to flee anyway.
He deliberately muted his footsteps as he approached the door. Pausing for a moment, he flung it open.
Creeeak.
"Oh?"
The moment the door opened, a rush of frigid night air poured in, along with a white mass tumbling inside.
"Princess?"
Cheonwi feigned surprise with masterful nonchalance as he caught the collapsing Snowflower.
"What brings you here in the dead of night? And dressed like this, no less..."
The instant she was in Cheonwi's arms, Snowflower drew a deep breath.
"Haa..."
It was the warmth she'd craved so desperately. The searing body heat emanating from his firm chest enveloped her frozen form in an instant.
Snowflower clutched at Cheonwi's robes like a drowning woman grasping for life. Her icy fingers dug into his clothes.
"Cold... so cold..."
Snowflower looked up at him. Through her tousled hair, her tear-glistened eyes shone. Gone was any trace of princessly dignity—only pitiable, seductive vulnerability remained.
"Please... hold me..."
Her lips quivered.
"Without you... I feel like I'll die..."
Cheonwi tsked as he gazed down at her.
"Tsk, tsk. For a princess to run barefoot to an eunuch's room—what if word gets out?"
Even as he spoke, his arms were already wrapped firmly around her waist. Yang energy flowed from his palms, piercing her thin nightgown and seeping into her skin.
"Ah...!"
A moan burst from Snowflower's lips. Her body went limp with languid pleasure; her legs buckled. Without Cheonwi's support, she'd have slumped to the floor.
Cheonwi savored her reaction, putting on a troubled expression.
"A patient comes to the doctor herself—I can't very well turn her away. What a dilemma."
"Faster... more..."
Snowflower nuzzled his chest, mumbling petulantly. She'd completely abandoned reason.
Cheonwi grinned.
"Come in, then. To my treatment room."
Cheonwi scooped Snowflower Princess up in a bridal carry. She was light. But the weight of the desire burning within her was anything but.
Snowflower clung desperately to his neck. Like a newborn seeking its mother's embrace, she buried her face in his nape and inhaled his scent deeply.
Cheonwi carried her to the bed and tossed her onto it like a sack. Meeting the eyes of the thirsting princess gazing up at him, he murmured lowly.
"Looks like we'll need 'full-body anesthesia' tonight."
Her body was already shuddering beyond her control.
The extreme chill that had tormented her relentlessly.
Even the cozy warmth of Cheonwi's room the moment she entered couldn't melt the ice embedded in her bones.
"C-cold... so cold..."
Snowflower groped instinctively around her. In the corner of the bed lay a thick quilt. She had to survive. She needed to cover herself with that. She stretched desperately toward it.
But.
Thwack.
Cheonwi's foot indifferently kicked the quilt away. It rolled helplessly to the floor.
"Ah... no... the quilt...!"
Snowflower looked up at Cheonwi with tearful eyes. A mix of resentment and pleading. But Cheonwi merely crossed his arms and gazed down at her coldly.
"Quilts won't help."
"A north wind blizzard rages inside your body— what's the point of piling cotton fluff on the outside? You need to warm from within, the core."
Cheonwi knelt one knee onto the bed. His shadow engulfed her. Snowflower flinched at his overwhelming presence.
"You came here on your own two feet seeking treatment, didn't you? Then follow the physician's orders."
"B-but... it's too cold..."
"That's why we're removing the clothes. No need for obstacles."
Riiip!
A sharp tearing sound echoed through the room.
Cheonwi seized the collar of her thin nightgown and ripped it apart in one go.
"Kyaaah!"
Snowflower screamed and covered her chest. Her pale flesh was laid utterly bare. Normally, shame would flush her face red, but her skin remained bloodless—ghostly white and bluish, like a doll sculpted from ice.
"Ah, aaah! W-wait!"
"Tch. Noisy. If the patient won't cooperate, I'll have to operate by force."
As if it wasn't worth responding, Cheonwi roughly tore off the remaining scraps and flung them to the floor. Now fully nude, Snowflower curled up, trembling violently.
The cold gnawed at her skin like teeth. Instinctively, she tried to curl tighter to preserve body heat, but there was none left to preserve.
That was when it happened.
Searing.
A massive heat mass descended upon her.
Cheonwi had pressed down atop her in a prone position.
"Ah..."
His firm chest crushed her soft breasts; his muscled thighs wedged between hers. Skin to skin, not a sliver of space between them—a perfect seal.
"Stay still. Human heater activating."
Cheonwi murmured lowly.
In that instant, unbelievable heat poured through their touching skin.
Whoosh!
It was like standing beside a blast furnace—no, embracing one. Cheonwi had circulated his inner energy from his dantian, raising his body temperature to its absolute limit.
"Haa... haaa..."
Moans spilled unbidden from Snowflower's lips.
Her body, like a frozen slab of ice, began melting the moment it touched the fireball that was Cheonwi. Her aching joints loosened languidly; warm blood flowed through her frozen veins.
I feel alive.
No, it feels too good.
Her reason screamed in shame, but survival instinct pulled the opposite way. Unthinkingly, Snowflower wrapped her arms around his neck.
"More... warmer..."
Like a baby koala seeking its mother, she entwined her limbs around him. She wanted maximum contact. Not a speck of the heat radiating from his skin could be wasted. Her chilled belly rubbed against his scorching abs.
"My, Princess. Aren't you being a bit too forward?"
Cheonwi chuckled and breathed hot air into her ear.
"If you squeeze that tight, I can't treat you. Hang on moderately."
"Just stay quiet..."
Snowflower mumbled with glazed eyes. Pride be damned—for now, losing this heater terrified her more than anything.
"Can't do that. The outside's thawed enough; now for the inside."
Cheonwi lifted his upper body slightly. The moment his chest pulled away, cold air rushed in.
"Ah! Don't go...!"
Snowflower desperately wrapped her legs around his waist, but Cheonwi firmly gripped her hips and spread her thighs.
"No whining. I'll give you something more reliable."
Cheonwi's hand brushed her intimate folds.
Thanks to the daytime treatment—or perhaps the recent contact—they were mercifully a bit slick. But the depths remained filled with chill.
Cheonwi aligned his thick, swollen member at her entrance.
"Here comes the special antidote."
His voice dropped low.
"Don't spill a single drop. Take it all. This medicine's expensive."