Rut Fever - Chapter 3

“So Lua, you’ll be able to adjust well on your own, right? I have to go back to the Imperial Palace to report.”

As soon as Jay left to do his work, Robel dropped a bombshell. Leave? Leave me alone?

“Why to the Imperial Palace? What kind of report? I don’t know anyone here except you, Robel.”

“The one I serve is His Highness the Crown Prince. And the fact that you’re staying here is a very important matter.”

Seeing Robel’s face, which seemed as regretful as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to beg him to stay. Besides, being in a position to serve the Crown Prince meant he wasn’t just an ordinary knight.

It’s a relief he’s not Asha’s knight.

“If you leave now, when will you be back?”

“I’ll have to go to know. I’m sorry, Lua. For leaving you alone here as soon as I brought you.”

Whenever he came to see me, he always had to leave soon, and he would always stroke my hair with a gentle touch full of comfort. Even now, his large hand was wrapped around my hair as if to soothe me.

‘Ah, I like this…’

The corners of my lips naturally lifted. I didn’t particularly like people touching my head, but I just liked Robel’s touch. It made me feel like I was special to him.

“It’s okay. I’ll wait patiently. Until Robel comes back.”

“I’ll try to come back as soon as possible. Asha will be staying here with you too, so you won’t be alone.”

“Asha?”

Before I knew it, an extreme reaction of rejection was revealed on my face. Robel chuckled softly at that.

“I know. Asha is a little scary, isn’t he? He is the High Priest, whom you’d be lucky to meet even once in your life.”

“The High Priest? Really?”

The image of a kind High Priest that I had in my mind shattered in an instant. It can’t be, no way. Does the angelically kind and swan-like High Priest not exist in this world?

What a huge betrayal. Today was a series of shocks in many ways. Robel looked at my face, chuckled softly, and stretched out his arms to hug me tightly.

“Those with many burdens on their shoulders can’t help but be prickly. Asha’s attitude may not be to your liking, but at least he’s not someone who will harm you. It’s even safer now that it’s been proven that you don’t have demon blood flowing through you.”

I’d picked up a lot of stories from the villagers, so I knew some of the general rumors about the High Priest.

The High Priest’s biggest role was to protect the barrier stone that sealed the entrance connecting to the Demon Realm, to prevent demons from crossing over into the human world. This was because demons absorbed the energy of humans, eventually leading to their deaths.

However, since some time ago, fewer and fewer children were born with the divine power befitting the High Priest’s abilities, and as a result, the High Priest’s workload had increased dramatically. It was also a very tiring job, so he rarely moved publicly unless the Emperor called for him.

If Asha, the High Priest, was carrying out a very important and secret task under the Emperor’s orders, I shouldn’t get in the way. I should stay quiet and out of sight as much as possible.

“Okay. I can take care of myself, so don’t worry about me. Come back safe, Robel.”

After seeing Robel off with a cheerful attitude so he wouldn’t worry, I took a clean bath with Jay’s help. It was my first proper bath, so I was embarrassed to show Jay how much grime came off.

I thought I was grooming myself well, but it wasn’t enough.

After the bath, I immediately changed into a dress. It wasn’t the fancy dress I had dreamed of, but it was the first time I had worn a long dress that covered all my skin except for my face and hands, so I felt new and excited. I brushed out the tangled hair, and when I looked in the mirror, I felt strange and excited because I looked like a different person.

After washing and dressing up, I’m not so bad.

I was looking in the mirror, twirling the hem of the dress this way and that, and practicing a haughty expression like a princess in a fairy tale to match the clothes, when Jay, who had finished brushing my hair, dropped a bombshell while tidying up the dressing room.

“The preparations were later than expected. You can go to the dining room right away. There is a priest who will guide you when you go down. Asha is waiting for you.”

Why is Asha waiting for me? In the dining room of all places? Don’t tell me, he wants me to face that jerk while eating?

Even if I were to live in the same mansion as the High Priest, whom you’d be lucky to meet once in your life, I was planning to never catch his eye if the other person was Asha. If he was someone who hated me anyway, I didn’t think there was any need to run into him and make each other feel bad.

But why are we eating together? He’s the High Priest. Shouldn’t the priests take care of it if I said I’d just eat separately?

“Um, well… do we have to eat together, Priest?”

“Yes. Asha ordered it himself.”

Why?

My head was full of question marks. It seemed rude to ask the reason, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I feel like I’m going to get indigestion eating with him. Doesn’t he hate me?

If Robel were here, he would have explained at least a little about why Asha was doing this.

I sighed deeply and decided to accept the inevitable reality. I reluctantly left the room and went down the stairs, and this time a male priest guided me to the dining room.

“Please go in first. Asha will be here soon.”

“Yes…”

I should be grateful that Asha isn’t inside yet.

I passed the priest who opened the dining room door and went inside. There were two places set at a round table. One place had a wine bottle and a wine glass, and the opposite place had a glass of canary-yellow orange juice, which meant… he really treats me like a kid. I know how to drink wine too.

I pouted, thinking of Asha’s detestable pretty face. When will I get that adult scent? Then I’ll be able to loudly proclaim that I’m not a kid.

As soon as I sat down in the seat with the orange juice, the dining room door opened and Asha strode in. He had changed his clothes and was wearing a purple priestly robe that looked more comfortable than before.

Even that suits him. You really can’t judge a person by their looks.

I quickly stood up from my seat again and bowed slightly to Asha.

“Have you arrived? I was just―”

“That’s my seat.”

His voice was still prickly, so it wasn’t new, but I wondered if I had sat in the wrong seat and looked at the table again. Clearly, the orange juice was in front of me and the wine was over there.

“What do you mean…”

Before I could finish speaking, Asha sat down irritably in the seat opposite me. Then the priest who had just guided me to the dining room hurriedly followed and switched the wine and orange juice.

He wasn’t treating me like a kid, that was just his taste?

Again, you shouldn’t judge a person by their looks.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’ll keep that in mind from now on, Asha.”

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

I felt sorry for cursing him in my mind, so I sat down with a bitter smile. It’s a good thing he can’t hear my thoughts.

Soon, my apologetic thoughts disappeared completely as an enormous amount of food appeared, and I was too busy admiring it to think straight. It was an artistic plating like a painting.

I had only heard that this is what nobles eat, but it was beyond my imagination.

Asha paused as he was about to take a sip of his orange juice and glared at me. I immediately shook my head and blurted out the words he wanted to hear.

“I didn’t touch it. I only looked at it. Please believe me!”

Only then did Asha’s gaze soften a little, and he abandoned his suspicion and drank the juice. I can drink juice too. He could have just given that to me and asked for a new juice.

As I smacked my lips and was about to drink the wine that the priest who brought the food had poured into my wine glass,

“Wine is too early for a kid.”

I knew it. I was wondering why he was so quiet.

I put down the glass without regret at Asha’s restraint and drank the water next to it. Honestly, I was just grateful to be able to drink such clean water, so I had no complaints.

I enjoyed the delicious meat party and felt happy with my excited taste buds. I was so focused on eating that when Asha was about halfway done, I only had a small piece of meat left, so I immediately put down my fork.

No matter how much I disliked Asha, he was providing such delicious and good food, so matching his eating speed was a courtesy to each other.

“I thought you would eat with your hands like an animal, but who taught you basic table manners?”

Asha, who hadn’t said a word since the start of the meal, started picking on me again. Just because I’m a Navi, does he think I’ve been living like an animal?

“Even babies learn how to use a fork and knife. I haven’t only lived in the mountains, and I’ve been to the village quite often, so I’ve seen and heard a lot of things. Robel has also taught me a lot.”

“I heard that Robel found you bleeding heavily from a serious injury and took care of you, but you don’t remember at all why you were hurt?”

I thought about the past for a moment and shook my head. Robel said that I had been shot with an arrow in the back. The arrowhead was stuck too deep, and I had lost so much blood that he wondered if I would survive. I didn’t want to think about it because it was too painful.

“Not at all. Robel said that I might have been shot by those who were secretly trying to hunt the Navi.”

“What do you remember about your childhood?”

“Um… just a little memory of reading fairy tales? It seems like it was a very long time ago. I don’t remember anything exactly, so I’m sorry.”

He seems curious about my past, but I’m curious too. If I’m a Navi, then my mother must be a Navi too.

They said that a child born to a Navi woman is always a Navi. So even if I don’t know my father, my mother is a Navi. I wonder if she’s still alive, and what kind of environment I grew up in.

“Okay, then I’ll change the question. Do you know anything about heat?”

I was curious about that earlier in the conversation between Robel and Asha. I was worried that there might be some serious disease among the Navi.

“What is that?”

Instead of answering, Asha gave a look to the priest standing in front of the dining room door. Then the priest went out and brought back a thin notebook and handed it to Asha. Instead of receiving it, Asha pointed at me with his chin, and the priest handed the notebook to me.

Asha smiled at me, who was holding the notebook in both hands with a bewildered expression. He had been maintaining a poker face, but his sinister smile sent shivers down my spine.

“Open it and look it up yourself.”

It seems that this notebook contains information about heat. I took a breath, moistened my parched lips with my tongue, and carefully opened the notebook.

From the first page, the notebook was filled with information about the Navi. The story of the Navi’s birth that I had heard from Robel was also written in more detail.

The content that four male and female cat demi-humans were given magic stone powder containing the dragon’s transformation ability. The content that the two females who turned into humans were repeatedly bred and gave birth, and that even the children of their children were continuously inbred made me frown. It was a passage that showed that the villain who created the Navi had no humanity at all.

I wanted to read all the contents, but information about heat comes first. I quickly read through the notebook, searching for the record I wanted.

[Heat

Abdominal pain accompanied by high fever.

Symptoms that appear in female ‘Navi’ cat demi-humans who have reached childbearing age. Navi women in heat experience sexual urges due to sex hormones. It can only be calmed down through intercourse and occurs irregularly. Further research is needed for more accurate information.]

“Intercourse…?”

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, closed my eyes tightly again, and looked at the contents in more detail one more time. I didn’t see it wrong. I felt dizzy as if lightning had struck the top of my head.

What the heck is this? Heat? Does this mean that this is a symptom that I, as a Navi, will experience in the future?

“Is this real?”

“Well. I can’t say for sure whether it’s real or not. I can’t be sure because it’s just information I’ve heard…”

Asha’s purple eyes, which had been responding indifferently, slowly rolled and met my eyes. In that instant, my heart sank and my face turned bright red.

“O-or not…?”