After eating and drinking their fill, Luke lay back on the living room sofa with a look of total contentment and sighed. "Winter really does call for hot pot."
Everyone present actually agreed with that.
But at that moment, not a single girl answered him.
Luke glanced at them. "Seriously? Was it really that spicy?"
"Brutally spicy..."
Lux answered with an ice cube in her mouth, the words coming out muffled.
Even now, the redness the spice had brought to her face still had not fully faded.
The other girls were not doing much better. A whole bowl of ice cubes sat on the table, and the moment one cube melted down too much in their mouths, they grabbed another.
Even so, the burning, numbing sensation in their mouths had barely eased.
At a glance, it looked as though each of them had put on a coat of naturally vivid lipstick.
They had absolutely loved eating it while it lasted.
But the aftermath hit hard.
Now every single one of them looked miserable.
Demacians just did not have much tolerance for chili.
Although Luke had not emerged unscathed either, he had already toned things down quite a bit today. This had not even reached truly deranged levels of spice.
Seeing how badly they were suffering, Luke got up and went down to the basement to bring up the milk pudding he had prepared ahead of time.
Milk was known as nature's spice remover.
It was excellent for cutting the heat, and once Luke had adjusted it and turned it into milk pudding, it became an especially effective remedy.
After the girls had two bites and realized the burning really was easing off, they all immediately sensed that something was off.
Lux turned suspicious eyes toward the far-too-relaxed Luke. "If you already made this, why didn't you bring it out earlier?"
Luke replied, "It still needed time to chill."
"Did it really need that much time?" The more Lux thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Her eyes grew steadily more furious as she stared at him. "I knew something was off. You were eating just fine earlier, then suddenly vanished. You were sneaking off to eat this by yourself, weren't you?"
Luke denied it at once. "Why would I ever do something like that?"
"You absolutely would!"
Lux ground her teeth and glared at him.
"I absolutely wouldn't!" Luke refused to admit it to the bitter end.
But whether he admitted it or not no longer mattered.
Anyone with half a brain could tell what was going on.
This bastard had very obviously just wanted to sit back and enjoy watching them suffer from the spice.
So one pair of dangerous eyes after another slowly turned toward Luke.
"I just remembered I have something to do. I should go."
Sensing danger, Luke stood up immediately and tried to make a run for it.
But it was too late. Having successfully provoked the wrath of the entire room, there was no escape left for him.
"Get him!"
Lux slapped the table and shouted through gritted teeth.
In an instant, several figures lunged at Luke all at once.
After a round of pitiful cries...
The spacious courtyard once again returned to peace.
By the afternoon, a little sunlight had appeared in the sky, bringing a trace of warmth to the yard.
The light fell directly onto the snowman Luke had built, and before long, it toppled over onto the ground.
Seeing that, Lux laughed gleefully. "See that? Your snowman got smited by heaven."
Luke refused to accept that, but after getting thoroughly dealt with earlier, he no longer had the energy to build another. So he just sprawled lazily on the sofa and let it collapse.
Because the snow had stopped, Vayne and Frey headed off to the guard camp.
Lux and Kahina went to the Church of the Illuminators.
With nothing better to do, Luke began sketching woodcut illustrations. Hero vs. Dragon in the Royal City Bulletin was getting close to its conclusion, so he figured he might as well draw the rest all at once.
After the recent meeting, Luke had started putting heavier emphasis on the way magic was portrayed.
You could say he was dancing right along the boundary line.
Still, the response had been good.
The old mage kept helping the hero again and again, guiding him through confusion and helping him find his path, giving him the sense of being cared for by family.
The old mage's kindly, wise, and powerful image had won over a lot of readers.
Especially Lux. That girl's favorite character was the old mage.
Lately, Luke had been thinking about how exactly he should kill him off.
Just imagining people feeling sad because of the character's death made him oddly happy.
Then suddenly, inspiration came like a flood.
Luke's pen flew across the draft paper, a delighted smile rising at the corner of his lips. He had a feeling he would definitely finish it today.
The idea sounded great.
Actually carrying it out was another matter.
After drawing for two hours, Luke's wrist started aching, and his mind was no longer on the work at all. It had already drifted off somewhere far away.
He kept getting distracted, and eventually he gave up on continuing. He decided that was enough for today.
He would work harder tomorrow.
So he went back to sprawl on the living room sofa and let time wear him down.
That night, Miss Crownguard came back and eagerly opened the new illustration Luke had drawn that day.
The moment she saw the old mage exhausting all his magic to create a barrier that blocked the dragon's attack for the hero, only to be swallowed by the blast himself, she completely lost it.
Dropping the draft in her hands, Lux shot toward Luke like she could run a hundred meters in five seconds.
"I refuse to accept this ending! If the old mage dies, what is the hero supposed to do after that?! He only just started to feel like he had family!"
Her bright eyes were already full of tears as she grabbed Luke by the sleeve and loudly protested, "A kind old mage who spent his whole life doing good should not end like this!"
Luke answered with the cold face of an official announcement. "If he doesn't die, how is the hero supposed to power up? The plot needs it. You need to understand."
"I do not understand!" Lux shook Luke's arm with all her strength. "You could just scribble a little and change it, couldn't you? So change it!"
Unfortunately, Luke's heart was made of stone. No matter what she said, he ignored it all.
And since he ignored her, Lux switched tactics and started hounding him nonstop. Wherever Luke went, she followed right behind him.
Eventually, Luke could not take it anymore and turned around with a threat. "If you keep annoying me, I'll kill off the archer too."
The archer girl had originally been Lux's favorite character. After the old mage's death, she had become number two.
But really, there was not much difference between how much Lux liked the two of them.
The second she heard that, Lux snapped her mouth shut.
But she still could not swallow her anger.
So she grabbed Luke's arm, bit him, and then stormed off in a huff.
Luke chuckled.
He had been prepared. He had deliberately layered his sleeve extra thick in advance, so he barely felt a thing.
Watching the little blonde walk away with that slightly tragic back view, he rubbed his chin and started thinking that maybe, in another couple installments, he would kill off the archer girl too.
By now, he had already begun planning out the death scene in his head.
At dinner, Lux's mood had been hit hard enough that she ate two extra bowls of rice in gloomy silence.
It was as if she had turned her grief into appetite.
Nine at night.
In the backyard, the heat rising from the hot spring turned to steam in the cold air, covering the pool in a thin white mist.
This kind of weather was the perfect time for a soak.
Luke's whole body lay submerged in the spring. In one instant, the chill all through him was replaced by warmth, and that slow spreading heat was unbelievably comforting.
He let out a long breath and sank all the way down to the neck.
Tilting his head back, he looked up at the night sky.
Countless stars were scattered across it. The moon shed a pale white glow over the ground, making the snow below look even whiter.
Just then, tiny flakes began drifting down from the sky, falling slowly through the moonlight like fireflies.
It was exactly like Luke had once said.
In winter, soaking in a hot spring while a light snow falls was true enjoyment.
Not far away, a corner of the white curtain was lifted.
Fiora sat there, her pale, smooth body half-visible in the mist. Under the moonlight, it seemed to shimmer with a mesmerizing glow.
She too tilted her head slightly, looking up at the night sky, and said, "I'm leaving for High Silvermere tomorrow."
Luke paused at that. "That suddenly?"
Fiora said, "It was actually being prepared half a month ago. I just never mentioned it."
Luke was not too surprised. He nodded. "Want me to come with you?"
Fiora shook her head. "No. Once I'm back in High Silvermere, I'll have a lot to do."
Luke said, "So what you're saying is I'd just be in the way?"
Fiora smiled softly. "I didn't say that."
She glanced sideways at him. His face was still as handsome as ever.
And in a certain sense, being in the way was not exactly wrong.
After all, if he stayed around all the time, she found it a little too easy to lose control of her desires.
"Then I won't go." Luke pursed his lips and sat up slightly in the water.
Fiora's goal had always been to become the strongest swordsman in existence.
And if she wanted to achieve that, she had to return to High Silvermere.
High Silvermere gathered some of Demacia's greatest swordsmen. Though Fiora was already quite famous, if she wanted the true respect of every swordsman there, she had to earn a place on the rankings at Sword Hall.
And this time, once Fiora went back, her goal was first place.
Besides that, people in High Silvermere had been urging her to return again and again. The fact that she was only leaving now already meant she had delayed for half a month. It could not be put off any longer.
The talent Fiora had displayed was without question even more exceptional than that of her brother, Ammdar.
You could say she was the key to restoring the glory of House Laurent.
And now, the entire Laurent family would follow the direction given by her and Sébastien.
A complete restructuring of the family would begin in High Silvermere.
So once Fiora returned, it was absolutely true that she would have many things to do.
For quite some time to come, she would be very busy.
After the hot spring, everyone returned to the living room, where the roaring fire in the hearth extended the warmth they had brought back with them.
Now that her mood had recovered, Lux dragged a rocking chair over in front of the fireplace and lay on it in complete contentment.
This girl never liked wearing socks after a hot spring. She often went barefoot, and right now her two small, pale feet looked especially delicate. In the glow of the fire, they were rosy and translucent, the faint blue veins beneath the skin clearly visible. Her heels were rounded and soft, touched with a girlish pink. Her little feet looked both elegant and adorable.
As she lay there, sleepiness gradually crept over her, and before she knew it, she had drifted off.
Maybe dozing off by the fireplace simply felt too good.
By the time curfew came and it was time for her to head home, when Luke tried to wake her, Lux instinctively tried to stay in bed. Half asleep, she turned over and mumbled, "I'm sleeping here tonight. I'm not going anywhere."
Unfortunately for her, this was not her decision to make.
Luke reached out with an iron hand of merciless authority, pinched her soft cheek, and woke her up with a yelp.
Then she was sent home, looking deeply unhappy about it.
Naturally, the one who took her home was Luke.
She was so sleepy and limp that she did not want to move at all. Even with her cheek being pinched, she had already decided to play dead.
In the end, Luke had no choice but to carry her on his back all the way to the Crownguard house.
When he returned to his room, Miss Swordmaster was already waiting for him there.
As she watched Luke step inside, an enchanting smile curved onto her lips. "Time to pay your debts."
Luke: "..."
The next day.
When Luke woke up in bed, he looked slightly worn out. This morning, at least, the swordmaster had not stolen his blanket.
That was because she had already left.
By now, she was probably already in a carriage heading back to High Silvermere.
Just thinking about the fact that she had still had the strength to get out of bed left Luke sighing faintly in bitterness.
Vitality Arts really was useful, but it was the kind of thing that took time to build up little by little.
Even though he had already been practicing it for a while, his combat power was still lacking.
Still, last night he had managed a small breakthrough past his own limits.
In the past, Luke had assumed the whole seven-times-in-one-night legend was pure nonsense.
Now he felt that maybe it was not quite as unrealistic as he had once thought.
He got out of bed, rubbed his aching lower back, changed his clothes, and decided to make some nourishing soup this morning to recover.
The snow in the courtyard had already been cleared away by Yurna, leaving only two snowmen still standing there.
The first person to enter the courtyard that morning was Quinn.
He had not seen her for a few days. She seemed calmer and steadier now, though there was also a touch more weariness and road dust about her.
"Your Highness, I found it."
Quinn stopped in front of Luke and said, "Back when your mother first arrived in the capital, the leader of those who pressured her and His Majesty during the council meeting was named Russell Chambers."
"This man was Tourt's uncle, the previous head of House Chambers and the former representative of the nobility. He was also a highly respected senior minister, someone who had stood at King Jarvan II's side during his reign. I also investigated some of the other ministers who supported Russell back then. They're all recorded here."
As she spoke, Quinn took a small notebook from her pocket and handed it to Luke.
Luke accepted it, opened it, and began reading.
Written in dense, tiny script were one noble and minister after another, all people who, back when his mother Melli had come to the capital, had opposed Jarvan III's decision to make her queen.
Some names were circled in red. Others in blue.
"The ones marked in red were the people who actively cooperated with Russell and helped apply pressure back then. They were all old ministers, the backbone of the court at the time. The names in blue are the ones who are already dead."
Quinn continued speaking.
Luke turned the pages one by one and realized there had been quite a lot of opposition back then.
Minister Roy Nian's name was among them too.
Roy had already been an old minister serving under Jarvan II, powerful and deeply entrenched.
And there had been many others like him at the time.
They were all men with long seniority, great prestige, and considerable reputation.
Together, the power held by these people had even outweighed Jarvan III's.
Under that kind of pressure, Jarvan III had been left with no choice but to endure in silence.
And in the end, the result had been that Melli, unwilling to make things harder for him, had chosen to leave the capital on her own and go far away.
But Luke still felt that what had happened back then was not that simple.
The reason he had not seen Quinn at all yesterday was because, half a month ago, he had already asked her to begin investigating the matter.
By now, Quinn had trained Godspeed Footwork to LV7, the same level Luke had.
Combined with her own extraordinary talent for reconnaissance, if she wanted to move without leaving a trace, she was almost impossible to detect.
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