The Shocking Bath Incident
“Ahigo, Your Highness. You’ve worked so hard since the early hours.”
“If you’re greeting me, I already did that earlier…”
Arkin raised his hand to cut off the useless chatter, but the steward’s guilt over how he had troubled the prince and princess seemed far greater.
“The bath is so narrow that it must have been difficult for the two of you to bathe together…”
“Uhn…”
“Truth be told, the screen was hardly effective at all. That’s why you must have been utterly confounded. My thoughts were short…”
Arkin’s face stiffened rigidly as he tried to gloss over his formal greeting.
“E, if I had known, I would have erected a solid wall of thick, sturdy wood right there. Yes.”
With his head bowed low in apology, the steward rambled on in broken excuses, unaware of the prince’s horrifying expression.
“Normally women enter together and bathe, then the men divide up similarly. When time is short and there’s an urgent need, men and women bathe without regard for gender. But nobles live quite differently from us common folk…”
Before the excuses and apologies were even finished, Arkin’s hand clamped firmly onto the steward’s arm. He yanked the man close so Serena could not hear and asked in a low voice.
“What about that screen…?”
“Ah, it’s fortunate you couldn’t feel it. What kind of screen could possibly be effective? On the right, sunlight pours in, and the steam blocks the view to the left person entirely. It’s like a separate shadow theater for them. That’s why the princess and prince must have suffered greatly…”
“That’s…?”
Arkin frantically replayed the events of that morning. What had he done? When exactly had his shameful organ surged up?
Thinking back, his mind suddenly went blank. Wait, had he… at that moment…
“Um…”
He covered himself slightly with one hand and opened his mouth. He meant no harm whatsoever—just too embarrassed to think of any other way to handle this nightmare situation, so he had done that…
“Once you’ve finished bathing, you may go first, Nefetia.”
Writhing in agony, he stroked his throbbing organ upward. Had his waist trembled at that moment?
He was not hiding behind the screen like some dirty pervert, twisting it grotesquely even though the other person was right beside him. No, he had simply been so tormented and flustered that he had acted that way…
“I’ll follow shortly.”
His voice sounded unnaturally low. But if Nefetia had seen his figure clearly…
The steward’s hoarse voice echoed in his ears and distorted.
“It’s like a separate shadow theater for the left person.”
A shadow theater. A steam theater. A pleasure theater.
Had Arkin ever felt his spine turn ice-cold like this before? The blood in his body seemed to drain away as he pressed his temple.
What must Nefetia have thought of his appearance?
The proud Arkin Seilir who had kept his distance had shamelessly touched his own organ and declared that he would perform a vulgar pleasure ceremony and asked her to step aside?
Good grief.
The world collapsing, the ground sinking beneath him. The collapse of his human relationships. His social standing. Solinar’s national favor. Everything had shattered.
Was there even the slightest chance that Nefetia had not noticed?
Arkin prayed and prayed that she had not seen his body, but no matter how he thought about it, the probability that she had witnessed his behavior was close to zero.
Thinking back, Arkin himself had been so startled that Nefetia’s body had been far too visible through the dangerous screen. Even without the screen, he would have been seen somehow.
What now? Looking back, from the very moment they had drawn the lots, Nefetia’s gaze had been anything but ordinary. Whenever Arkin looked at her, she had avoided it. The frequent averted eyes…
“Ah…”
No matter what he imagined, the worst was always what he saw. His head pounded in agony. He was truly going insane.
Rubbing his face with his palm, Arkin sighed heavily, utterly forgetting the presence of Serena walking beside him.
He had no idea that the unnaturally intense agitation he showed, which Serena found extremely unfamiliar. ***
Serena quietly followed the dazed Arkin. The gorgeous face, smoothed like a file, revealed his inner turmoil without any filter.
What exactly had happened?
They had gone to fetch elephants at dawn, gotten muddy, then bathed together. That was all.
After pulling in the servant and urgently asking a few questions, Arkin had appeared like this. The prince’s cheeks had turned white as winter snow, then pale without a trace of color, flushed pink, and finally scorched until they were black as if thrown into fire.
But why?
The Lake Princess’s gaze swept Arkin Seilir once more with meticulous care. She could not help wondering what event had so disturbed the ice-cold Arkin.
Among the ten kingdoms of the World Union, Solinar and Lakelium shared an especially similar emotional climate.
They were even neighbors so close they could touch. Both kingdoms had noble houses that served as decision-making centers, and their marriage customs—ranging from the way the king was chosen to the way marriages born of political alliances eventually blossomed into affection—were largely the same.
Even stories were told that the two countries had once been one. Their friendship ran unusually deep.
That was why Arkin, the only son, and Serena, the only daughter, had promised their future to each other from their earliest memories.
Arkin visited Lakelium every season, and Serena traveled to Solinar twice a year. They spent days together, exchanged letters when apart, and maintained lively exchanges.
…At least on the surface.
Serena had thought quite a long time had passed, but she now felt she still did not truly know Arkin. This behavior of his now proved it.
She had never seen the prince of Solinar reveal any irritation or anger without restraint.
The dazzling Arkin Seilir, only heir to Solinar, had always been measured by a ruler’s standards, polite, dignified in dress and posture, calm and intelligent. Before her, he had never shown any other emotions.
“Hello, Serena. I hope you’ve been well?”
She had believed she knew exactly how he spoke and moved. His calm tone, neither smiling nor frowning, quiet and composed.
She had never delved deeply into the heart of Arkin Seilir. He had only been the one who always accommodated her.
Ask for this and he brought it; say it’s no good and he silently changed it; when she nagged him to fix what annoyed her, he stared at her with those blue eyes for a moment before silently complying.
When Arkin listened and obeyed, Serena thought “He really is my fated one,” yet somehow felt irritated. Why did he never get angry?
Serena’s whims and nagging had been a kind of test to flip his insides. Every time she dealt with the prince who only spoke and smiled when needed, an odd sense of disgust welled up. Even though she knew there was no great love between them…
Around that time, something happened to Arkin the prince. His father declared he would no longer stay with Solinar, and naturally the engagement with him vanished.
“What do you mean annulment? What face will I have left if something like this happens? How do I even look at Arkin the prince at the training tournament?”
“Don’t worry, Serena. Your father has everything planned. Listen to me carefully from now on.”
The king remained calm even as he watched Serena’s confusion. Instead, he clicked his tongue and scolded her for her still immature political sense.
Then, with conviction in his voice, he whispered that this was a kind of test.
“Listen, Serena. Right now, Arkin’s position is precarious. He needs legitimacy. Pretending we are unaffected by all the chaos in Solinar and continuing this engagement will give him a solid backer.”
“But you’re taking such a risky step. What if they accept the annulment and cut ties with us?”
“That won’t happen, Serena. In the end, the Solinar birch family will reach out to us. At that time, we will intervene deeply in Solinar’s affairs and gain a different position. We will make contracts advantageous to us.”
“But…”
“If they fail to grasp the situation and accept this annulment willingly, there is also an alternative.”
A large map unfolded on the table. The Lakelium king pointed to a spot on the map with his fingertip.
“Perhaps we will ally with those possessing even greater power than Solinar…”
“Even greater power?”
“Do we really need Arkin Seilir as the partner?”
The Lakelium king smiled leisurely, and the strange smile made Serena sense that the matter was already decided.
Her father was the kind of man who possessed a lake-like depth and darkness of heart. Before taking any action, he made many arrangements beneath the still waters.
Serena looked back and forth between Solinar and the map her father had pointed to. After carefully considering the two countries that were opposites in every way, she spoke.
“First, I would like to give Arkin the prince one last chance, Father. I want to see him once, clinging and pleading with me.”