TFLP 24🔐

Chapter 24

The fading sound of the stars made Yero’s eyes snap open. The sandstorm had blocked out the sunlight, and she had shivered all night from the cold.

“My whole body aches so much…”

Groaning, Yero pushed herself up and stepped onto the dirt floor. Her cold toes wriggled slightly.

Moss and short grass tickled her feet, so she bent down to examine them closely.

“This moss and grass… they only grow near water. There must be a puddle or a spring nearby.”

She brushed her hair back behind her ear and lifted her head, listening for any signs of movement outside.

Judging by how quiet everything had become after the noisy night, it was probably still early dawn, when everyone else was asleep.

Yero stroked her dry, roughened skin with her fingertips and frowned. After a brief groan, she suddenly gathered her clothes in haste, as though making up her mind.

“If it’s now… maybe it’s possible…!”

She carefully lifted the tent flap and tiptoed past Ilip’s quarters.

I need to wash! At the very least, I have to get rid of this dirt smell in my hair!

But wandering aimlessly through the eerie desert dawn in search of clean water scared her, so she chose another way—she decided to follow the spot she had noticed earlier, where moss and grass had grown thick.

Before long, she finally heard it: drip—the sound of water falling. Yero’s face lit up as she traced the sound with her hand along the wall and discovered a cave just big enough for a person to slip inside.

It was tall and wide enough that even a grown man could pass through easily.

“Water’s coming from here… I can even smell it!”

Overcome with excitement at the thought of bathing in fresh water, Yero forgot how dark it was inside.

Sure enough!

At the end of the cave, a large pool had formed where water dripped down from the ceiling. Yero dipped her toes in and eased herself forward.

Thankfully, the edges of the pool were shallow.

“Thank goodness.”

Her whispered words bounced off the cave walls, echoing softly.

Before her breath even returned, Yero hurriedly pulled off her jacket, loosened the knot of her chest wrap, and reached for the sash tied around her waist.

“That’s troublesome.”

A low, rough male voice suddenly echoed from somewhere.

Gasping, Yero snatched her hands back and quickly tied the sash again. In her panic, she didn’t notice her chest wrap sliding off the edge of the pool.

“Ah!”

By the time she realized, it was too late—the cloth was already drifting away across the rippling surface.

She wanted to chase after it, but the ground beneath her seemed ready to give way, and she could only bite her lip in frustration.

After all, Yero, who had grown up in Hoan Kingdom in the middle of the desert, couldn’t swim.

“Oh? Then isn’t it you who’s troubled now?”

A man’s amused chuckle lingered in the cave.

Ilip leaned lazily on the pool’s edge, brushing back his wet hair. From his vantage point, he could clearly see Yero’s pale, round shoulders gleaming in the dark.

Clutching her half-fastened jacket across her chest and trembling—was it laughable? Pitiful? Or perhaps… just a little bit…

“Pretending to be bold, and yet shaking just because your wet body’s been seen.”

Drops of water slid from Ilip’s dark hair onto his chest, his sculpted muscles gleaming elegantly.

Drifting toward him on the water’s surface was Yero’s chest wrap. He plucked it up easily.

It was soaked through and nearly transparent, but some fool might think it enough to cover themselves.

Dangling the flimsy cloth from his fingertip, Ilip carelessly waved it in the air before stretching his hand toward her.

For Yero, the shame wasn’t only in losing the garment—it was that he had picked it up.

The cloth that had clung so closely to her body, absorbing her warmth and scent, was now in Ilip’s hands. The thought alone made her dizzy.

“What will you do? It’s already soaked like this.”

At his mocking words, Yero could no longer linger on the edge and waded forward into the pool.

The white cloth fluttered tauntingly in his hand.

“How could you tease a woman like this? Give it back at once!”

She splashed noisily as she swung her arms through the water.

“Hm? And how exactly would you cover yourself with this?”

Fear prickled that the ground might suddenly drop out beneath her, but for some reason, stubbornness burned in her chest.

Clenching her lips, Yero lunged forward, snatching the white cloth from his hand.

“Even if I covered myself, you’d just strip it away again!”

“Well… nothing stopping me, if that’s what you want.”

Ilip looked down at her face, so close now. She probably thought the darkness shielded her, but his eyes were sharper than most in the night.

It was both a gift he was born with—and the result of years surviving under threats in the dark.

Not knowing the reason for his smile, Yero huffed angrily and spun around.

Her pale figure retreated, but Ilip immediately followed.

Then, just as Yero gasped—

“Ah!”

Her foot slipped. In the same instant, Ilip’s arm shot out, catching her.

“That side is deep. If anything happened to you on this journey, it would only trouble me.”

He slung her over his shoulder and strode out of the pool.

The sudden shift in height, the closeness of his warmth—it all left Yero dazed until she blinked wide in realization.

“You brute!”

She scratched his broad back with her nails, leaving angry red marks.

Ilip frowned slightly, then calmly raised a large hand and gave her a light slap on the bottom. Yero flinched and trembled in shock.

“Stay still. Unless you want the two of us to vanish into the afterlife where no one can find us.”

From her came the faint fragrance of morning dew on flower petals—pure, untainted, noble.

And yet, he found himself wanting to sully it. Was that only because he really was a brute?

“Put me down this instant… or I’ll scream…!”

He had always thought of her as childish, but now her voice sank low, steady with quiet resolve.

Ah, trying to sound dignified, are you? Ilip sneered at her feigned courage.

By then they had reached a large rock, and he carefully set her down.

The first thing she did was cross her arms over her chest, glaring up at him with a spark of menace.

“Tell me. Do you see me as the princess of Hoan Kingdom—or merely as another concubine for Jianlong’s harem?”

Ilip wrung the water from his hair and fixed his gaze on her frozen eyes.

“What, should I start addressing you with honorifics now?”

Her sharp glare carried a faint trace of contempt.

“For someone I’ve only just met, you treat me far too lightly.”

“Ah, is that so?”

With a twisted smile, Ilip picked up the robe he had set on the rock. Then, deliberately, he dropped it from midair.

The silk cloak fluttered down and landed on Yero’s shoulders, its heavy scent of clove pressing against her throat.

“In that case, you guessed right.”

He offered no excuses.

Yero hastily clutched the cloak around her wet body and watched as Ilip slowly walked out of the cave.

His wet footsteps left traces across the stone.

That man despises my weakness. Just as I despise his arrogance.

Only when his presence had vanished into the distance did Yero finally leave the cave herself.

Little did she know that Ilip had deliberately led others’ gazes away, clearing her path.