Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Three Days
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The uproar in the throne room just a few days prior—a veritable cauldron of madness—now felt like a complete fabrication. The morning air in the Imperial Palace was refreshingly clear.
It hung crisp and invigorating, as if some stubborn indigestion had finally cleared away. And small wonder: Baek Noble Consort, who had been strutting about like the palace's mistress and terrorizing everyone, along with her sycophants, had all vanished overnight.
Silence now reigned in the lavish quarters they had occupied, while rumors swirled of beastly wails—like the cries of wild animals echoing through the night—from the remote northern annex.
"Arf! Arf! (Open the door! Do you know who I am?)"
"Whiiiine! (I'm hungry! Give me food!)"
The palace maids shuddered as they glanced toward the Cold Palace, sly smiles tugging at their lips nonetheless. At long last, the world felt worth living in.
And here was yet another figure in the Imperial Palace, her very presence proving the shift in the winds.
Snowflower Princess's quarters.
Bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, Snowflower Princess sat before her mirror, radiant. The pallid, corpse-like complexion she'd worn just a fortnight ago was gone without a trace.
"Princess, your skin these days is like flawless white jade."
"You're right. Even without rouge on your lips, the color in your cheeks makes you look like a celestial fairy."
The maids fussed over her hair, their exclamations genuine flattery.
In the mirror, her cheeks glowed like ripe peaches, her eyes sparkling with vitality as if studded with stars from the night sky. The frail princess tormented by the cursed Nine Yin Severed Meridians was nowhere to be seen.
Snowflower Princess brushed her cheek with the back of her hand. It was warm. The unfamiliar yet pleasant heat at her fingertips thrilled her.
"Princess, have you started taking some new tonic?"
One oblivious maid ventured the question. Snowflower Princess's lips curved slightly upward.
"A tonic, you say..."
She recalled the mischievous, arrogant man who sneaked into her chambers every night.
Wherever his scorching touch had grazed, flames seemed to bloom. The yang energy he breathed into her was sweeter and more potent than any elixir under heaven.
"Yes, a very good medicine... that I take every night."
The maids tilted their heads at her enigmatic reply, but Snowflower Princess offered no further explanation, merely smiling at her reflection.
But that smile didn't last.
'Still...'
Her gaze clouded slightly.
'Why hasn't he come these past few days?'
Cheonwi.
The mere brush of his name in her mind sent a sharp pang through her chest.
Lately, Cheonwi had visited her every night, using treatment as an excuse for their intimate encounters. She'd first accepted his yang energy out of desperation to survive, but now she couldn't even imagine a night without him.
Yet for the last three days, he hadn't come.
The message relayed through the eunuch quarters was that he was "too busy with duties."
"Busy? What could a mere eunuch possibly have that's busier than even the Emperor?"
Snowflower Princess bit her lip.
She understood he'd been occupied dealing with Baek Noble Consort and her ilk. Rumors said he'd turned the audience chamber meeting into unprecedented chaos. Cleaning up after that must have him run ragged.
But resentment wasn't a feeling one could control with reason.
'Has he gotten bored of me already?'
'Does he think the treatment's mostly done and lost interest?'
Anxiety crept in like mist.
Snowflower Princess flung herself onto the bed and buried her face in the pillow where Cheonwi had laid his head. She inhaled deeply the faint trace of his scent still lingering there.
The smell of a man. No—a beast.
"Haa..."
A hot breath escaped her. Her body was warm now, the chill of Nine Yin Severed Meridians largely banished, but her heart felt the bite of Siberian winds.
"So cold..."
Snowflower Princess pulled the covers over herself, curling up tight.
"My body's warm... but my heart is freezing."
This wasn't mere thirst for yang energy. Instinctively, she knew what she craved wasn't the "energy" called yang, but the man himself—Cheonwi.
His solid embrace, his teasing whispers, the arrogant glint in his eyes as he looked down at her. She missed it all to the point of madness.
Snowflower Princess bolted upright.
She kicked off the covers and slid from the bed. No more cowering in her room, passively waiting for him like some damsel princess.
She was the ice flower of the north. Ice flowers bloomed amid the cold, but they knew to lift their heads toward the sun as well.
"Prepare me."
Her voice rang with resolve. The startled maids asked,
"P-Princess? Where are you going?"
"To the eunuch quarters."
"What?! The eunuch quarters? That's swarming with men (eunuchs or not)..."
"Doesn't matter. I'm going to claim what's mine."
Snowflower Princess flung open her wardrobe.
She pulled out the most opulent, most beautiful—and most provocative—crimson silk gown.
'Wait for me, Cheonwi. If you won't come to me, I'll come to you.'
Before the main gate of the eunuch quarters.
The place, usually dim and quiet, was in an uproar.
"H-Her Highness the Princess arrives!"
The guarding eunuchs panicked and cleared a path, eyes bulging.
The woman approaching from afar bore no resemblance to the frail Snowflower Princess they knew. Crimson silk billowing around her, she strode with the confidence of a female general marching to command the battlefield—or an empress come to seize the palace.
"Good grief. Is that really the Ice Princess?"
"She's completely transformed. Look at that flush on her cheeks."
"Shh! Quiet. Look where she's heading..."
The eunuchs' gazes followed her path. Her destination was clear: the office of Vice Chief Eunuch Cheonwi, the eunuch quarters' true power—and the palace's de facto ruler.
"The Vice Chief's lady has arrived."
"Hey, watch your mouth. But... they do make a picture-perfect pair."
The whispers reached Snowflower Princess's ears, but she paid them no mind. If anything, she lifted her chin higher.
'Yes, gossip all you want. I have no intention of hiding.'
Snowflower Princess crossed the corridor without hesitation and stood before Cheonwi's office. The escort eunuch guarding the door fidgeted nervously, blocking her way.
"P-Princess. The Vice Chief is currently reporting on critical duties..."
"Out of my way."
Her command was short and sharp.
"But..."
"Only Cheonwi can treat my illness. I need emergency care right now. If you block me and I collapse, will you take responsibility?"
"Eek! N-No, Your Highness!"
At the word "collapse," the eunuch flung the door wide in terror. Snowflower Princess snorted and stepped inside.
The office was buried in stacks of documents.
Cheonwi sat at the desk, brush in hand, reviewing papers without so much as glancing up.
"I told you to leave urgent approvals on the desk and go."
His voice was dry and indifferent.
Snowflower Princess was incredulous. After three days, the princess comes calling, and he's fussing over scraps of paper?
She approached silently and stood before his desk. Only then did Cheonwi sense something amiss and look up.
For an instant, his pupils dilated ever so slightly.
Today's deliberate ensemble was provocatively striking, even to him. The crimson fabric contrasted sharply with her porcelain skin, exuding sultry allure.
But Cheonwi was a sly fox. He feigned nonchalance, setting down his brush with brazen calm.
"To what do I owe the visit, Princess? What brings you to this humble office unannounced?"
"What brings me?"
Snowflower Princess let out a disbelieving scoff.
"It's been three days. Three days without so much as showing your face. And you ask what brings me?"
"Ah, that. I've just been swamped, you see. With all the palace trash cleared out, the cleanup paperwork is a mountain..."
Cheonwi gestured to the stacks on his desk—mostly trivial things like "eunuch quarters dinner expense claims" or "training ground repair estimates."
"So, treatment might be difficult today. Why not rest in your quarters..."
He was about to issue his dismissal when—
Thud!
Snowflower Princess slapped her hand over the document he was reading.
And then came an action that surpassed all expectations.
Swish.
With the rustle of silk, she climbed onto the desk.
"...Princess?"
Before Cheonwi could show surprise, she slid right onto his lap.
Her hips settled firmly on his thighs. A fragrant floral scent pierced his nostrils.
This was rebellion.
The pitiful patient's uprising against the one who'd always toyed with her in the palm of his hand.
Cheonwi gripped the armrests, looking up at her. Up close, her eyes blazed with desire and defiance.
"It's not treatment I need."
Snowflower Princess tugged at his collar, whispering,
"I need you."
A blunt, scorching confession.
Cheonwi chuckled softly. He hadn't expected her to go this far. No longer the north's ice flower—she'd become a volcano.
"This is troubling. I'm just a lowly eunuch, Princess. For royalty like you to do this violates imperial law..."
"Shut up."
Snowflower Princess pressed a finger to his lips.
"Eunuch? Don't make me laugh. My body knows better than that—you're no eunuch."
Her hips pressed deliberately against his thigh. The heavy presence there told her otherwise.
"And status means nothing. You're my..."
She paused, face flushing, but her eyes burned with conviction as she uttered the forbidden term.
"Big brother."
Thump.
Cheonwi's heart reacted strangely.
Big brother.
It wasn't just a title. It symbolized her casting aside her royal pride to submit fully to him—and a declaration of possession, claiming him as her man.
Moreover, with her provocatively dressed and perched on his lap calling him "big brother," even Cheonwi couldn't deny the dopamine surge.
'Well, well. She's gotten awfully cute.'
Main dish.
Yes, perfectly plated and served—the finest main course.
Cheonwi saw no reason to hold back.
He curled his lips into a smirk and wrapped his arms around her waist. His palms traced the curve of her slender waist through the thin silk.
"I like that title. Say it again."
His low voice tickled her ear.
Snowflower Princess's body shivered. His hand trailed up her waist, stroking down her spine. Electric tingles shot up her vertebrae to her brain.
She draped her arms over his shoulders, lips brushing his ear.
"Big brother..."
Her hot breath swirled around his ear.
"Give me my injection tonight too. A big, heaping dose..."
Those words snapped the reins of reason.
"If that's what you want."
Cheonwi gripped the nape of her neck.
"No reason to refuse."
Cheonwi claimed her lips roughly.
"Mmph...!"
Her brief moan was swallowed into his mouth.
The blazing yang energy she'd craved poured into her like a storm. Every cell in her body seemed to awaken with cheers.
Cheonwi pulled her closer. The papers stacked on the desk scattered to the floor amid their fervent movements.
Flutter!
The falling sheets were irrelevant. In that moment, the office filled only with ragged breaths and the heat of mutual desire.
Without breaking the kiss, Cheonwi pressed her body flush against his, intent on incinerating every last trace of cold deep within her.
"Haa, haa..."
When their lips finally parted, a delicate silver thread connected and snapped between them. Snowflower Princess's eyes were already half-lidded in a haze.
Cheonwi gazed at her with satisfaction, growling low in her ear.
"If you desire it, I'll fill you to the bone."
Cheonwi and Snowflower Princess's shadows merged as one.
The sunlight streaming through the window stretched their silhouettes long across the floor. The north's ice flower was fully broken now, melting away in Cheonwi's embrace.
It was a beautiful afternoon.