146. Never Again Summer

2024.02.23.

When Yuan Pelliese forced her eyes open, as if weighted down by heavy pendulums,

the outside was already deathly silent, and warm sunlight streamed through the narrow gap of the entrance.

Precisely because the light shone directly onto her eyes, she immediately furrowed her brow and tried to sit up.

No—tried to.

“Ugh.”

A pain as if her entire body had been trampled surged through her.

Yuan caressed her sore waist and abdomen with dull aches, then looked around.

The nearby campfire, having apparently dumped all remaining firewood into its corner, still faintly flickered.

As Yuan slowly dragged her body toward the smoldering fire, she examined her own still-sensitive body.

Aside from the marks of sharp teeth biting and crushing, there were almost no other bruises or hemorrhages densely packed like those from rough handling.

She called out hoarsely for Clade Euphris, but all around was silence.

Only the sound of dripping water echoed from somewhere.

The grotesque severed head, previously shoved into the corner, had also disappeared.

The tension in her body suddenly drained away.

‘He’s gone.’

He’s gone……

Her lips, slack and dazed, fluttered without releasing a voice.

Simultaneously, relief washed over her—relief that Clade Euphris had left, and an audacious certainty that the previous night had not been a dream.

After sitting blankly for a long while, Yuan picked up her clothes, seemingly left neatly by Clade Euphris, and tried to rise.

The vibrant dress personally bestowed by the Empress was half-dried, completely caked in mud.

This, too, was a trace of last night.

Grunting in pain, Yuan struggled into her clothes, staggered briefly, then ended up vomiting blood.

Leaning against the wall, she pulled out a damp handkerchief from the herbal medicine basket bag, used it to clean herself hastily, then selected a few herbs, placed them in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed.

Each movement sent sharp sensations scraping against sensitive areas, making her body twitch.

She kept hugging herself, trembling uncontrollably.

Between her weary breaths, memories of the previous night surfaced abruptly.

It had been difficult.

But she liked it.

While held by his firm hands, receiving his intense warmth, she had wished time would stop right then and there.

It was different from Choya, who was impatient yet slowly savoring everything.

It was different from those gentle touches that seemed to caress the most fragile things in the world.

Last night, Clade Euphris had embraced her as if determined not only to plunder and take, but to break her apart.

His voice, taunting her to try and run, still lingered damply in her ears.

Each time his solid body rubbed against her soft one, the intense stimulation turned her mind to mush.

It wasn’t painful, but it was extremely rough and merciless.

Looking down at her as if she were about to die from disgust, he dug into her dark pupils again and again.

The afterimage of his face, trembling as he bit back animalistic groans, surged like waves into her mind before shattering apart—after digging until all light had vanished from her eyes.

Forcing herself to chew the sharp-tasting herbs,

Yuan remained seated in the dark cave for a long time.

Tears she had held back all along now poured down her increasingly crumpled face.

***

Noel Euphris had paced inside the food storage all night, waiting only for dawn.

At first, facing a disaster scenario he’d only read about in books, his mind had gone completely blank.

But he calmly joined forces with Eugene Kimfri to find a solution.

The Yuan Pelliese he knew wouldn’t simply stand in the storm and die.

While others called her early-morning herb search reckless, Noel believed that if Yuan did it, there must have been a reason.

After all, had the storm not struck, she would have calmly laid out the herbs she gathered and explained precisely how much they could help the sick.

‘Certainly dangerous, but not someone who would die like that.’

This firm belief of Noel’s supported Eugene Kimfri, who insisted on checking the surroundings whenever the wind briefly calmed, and soothed Tasha Kimfri’s outrage over Yuan’s solo action.

He himself had moments when his blood felt completely dried up, but he endured.

Since he likely knew Yuan Pelliese best here, he had to stay steady.

They moved to the coast early in the morning, as the storm gradually subsided, and set up tents again.

Just as the search party finished preparing and was about to leave the tents, Clade Euphris appeared first.

“B-Brother!”

Noel Euphris rushed forward the moment Clade Euphris stepped into the gathered tents.

Worried glances poured from the knights ready for search, but Clade Euphris’s face—after a night of distress—was utterly rigid.

Yet his appearance contradicted his cold, emotionless face, as if nothing had happened.

His all-black outfit, resembling something an assassin might wear, was layered with dried mud.

His sword was nowhere to be seen; he arrived bare-chested, holding only the pale severed head believed to be Captain Karso.

His entire appearance clearly showed he had rolled around violently.

His face and body, exposed through torn clothes, were oddly clean, as if he’d been drenched in rain enough to wash away any blood splatter.

His gloomy, sunken eyes made him look like someone who hadn’t properly slept all night in the storm.

“B-Brother. Did you come alone?”

“……”

“D-D-Didn’t you see Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess?”

Despite Noel’s persistent barrage of questions, Clade Euphris didn’t stop in his tracks, continuing only toward the coast.

Even when he encountered Federico Companni rushing back from the shore, he merely tossed the severed head of Karso indifferently, without pausing his steps.

“Brother!”

As if all emotions visible on his face had been washed away by wind and rain.

Clade Euphris let every worried glance pass by like the wind.

Then, with astonishing speed, he boarded the ship.

Noel Euphris could only stare blankly at Clade’s retreating back.

Silent Eugene Kimfri quickly pushed through the soldiers preparing to raise anchor and stepped forward.

“You were with her.”

His voice carried a certain level of certainty.

Only then did Clade Euphris’s gaze shift from the ship to the island.

Clade Euphris stared at Eugene Kimfri blankly, like a lifeless doll, then opened his mouth in a whisper.

Only a brief piece of information: Yuan Pelliese’s location.

Having left just that, Clade Euphris boarded the ship alone.

Federico Companni watched Clade Euphris from afar, seeming unwilling to hear or say anything, then approached Noel and Eugene with an extremely awkward expression.

Soon, he left only the words to handle the cleanup, then followed Clade.

As the ship carrying Clade Euphris, Federico Companni, and the vanguard slowly moved away from the coast,

Noel Euphris could do nothing but stare dazedly at the entire sequence.

While Noel stiffened, struggling to comprehend the situation,

Eugene Kimfri moved first.

Instead of the dazed Noel, he turned to Tasha Kimfri and gave instructions.

“I’ll go up the mountain with the search party. Prepare for emergencies.”

“What? Send only the search party? You need to stay and get treatment now! You’re soaked in blood on your chest—who do you think you are? The Crown Prince? The Crown Princess? You should bring her back!”

“The Crown Prince only gave her location. That’s enough. My duty is to safely bring everyone here back to Her Majesty the Empress. It has nothing to do with the Crown Prince.”

“At least get treated before you go!”

“We don’t know how someone so frail survived this storm. This was a disaster even strong men would struggle to endure. Every moment counts. Your Highness.”

Eugene Kimfri fixed a firm gaze at Noel, as if entrusting him with the aftermath.

Under that intense look filled with trust, Noel relaxed his stiff body and slowly nodded.

Tasha Kimfri shouted.

“Eugene Kimfri!”

Eugene vanished in an instant.

***

Above the calm sea, as if it had never cried.

The soldiers returning with news of the long-feared pirate Karso’s death and the pirate crew’s disbandment were in the highest of spirits.

Not only Federico Companni’s retainers, who saw hope in Clade Euphris, but even several anti-imperial faction members who had supported the troops let out small cheers toward the distant port.

Cheerful voices declaring they must hold a grand victory celebration immediately upon return even stirred Federico’s usually calm heart.

Yet he couldn’t feel complete joy.

Federico walked past the wooden box carefully storing Karso’s severed head, heading toward Clade Euphris, standing alone in a corner of the deck.

Without even changing into clean clothes.

Unlike the others, who cheered toward the visible mainland port, Clade Euphris continued gazing back at the island they had left behind.

The southern sun-like golden hair shattered brilliantly in the fast-blowing sea wind.

It was a scene beautiful enough to evoke awe, yet the man’s radiant face looked as lifeless as a rough black-and-white sketch scribbled over with thick pencil lines.

His eyes, holding the blue sea, sank deeper than ever, as if he were submerged not on the surface, but in the abyss.

“Your Highness.”

Federico followed Clade Euphris’s unresponsive gaze forward.

The island, growing distant, now appeared like a mere dot.

He had many questions, but Clade Euphris didn’t seem like he would answer.

“You’ve worked hard.”

After staring for a long while at Clade Euphris, whose chapped lips couldn’t even form a faint smile, Federico bowed deeply and rejoined the others.

Behind the excited voices of the people, Clade Euphris’s eyes sank even deeper.

The short, scorching southern summer was coming to an end.

…Perhaps Clade Euphris would never experience summer again.

Somewhere between winter and spring.

As if forever deprived of the ability to savor that season.