Chapter 624: 102. Hot Springs
“In Raphael’s room for a massage?”
Jasmine was momentarily stunned, chewing over Fisher’s words without fully grasping their meaning. She even silly wondered where Raphael would go if she and Teacher Fisher were here.
They can’t just let Raphael go out, right?
But just a second later, it seemed like she became suddenly aware of something. Her pale, slightly chubby face was instantly flushed with a blush rising from her neck.
Her eyes darted away, and her ears twitched slightly, clearly indicating her racing heartbeat and overheating mind. She unconsciously muttered, barely audibly,
“Teacher Fisher, h.”
Raphael nearby also froze with a stiff smile. Her dragon claws tightened little by little, unsure if it was what he said earlier in the morning about “only accepting Jasmine” that made Fisher bolder to propose such a request.
But turning to look at Jasmine, she found that aside from being shy, Jasmine didn’t have any other reactions. Her body language seemed to say, “Actually, it’s not impossible,” further igniting Raphael’s frustration.
Seeing this, she gently tapped Jasmine’s head, bringing her dizzy mind back to rationality. Then, she turned to Fisher and said,
“You wish! For Jasmine to massage you in my room while my mother is resting next door. After taking a bath tonight, go back and sleep. If you truly want a massage to relax, I’ll have the soldiers from the Dragon Court come to help you.”
Clearly, there was still a long way to go regarding the harmony among Keken’s wives.
However, Fisher himself did not have high expectations, and certainly couldn’t say he was disappointed. It was already good enough that the two of them didn’t start fighting.
He had said that just to put Jasmine in a difficult position. Faced with such an obvious invitation from Jasmine, and with Raphael “watching closely” beside him, there was no way he could answer in a way that would satisfy either of them; he simply opted for “I want it all” to avoid the choice altogether.
So you see, as soon as Emhart heard this question, he had the foresight to throw Fisher aside and leave.
“Okay, then I’ll go take a bath first. I’ll come to check on Aunt Aria’s condition tomorrow morning.”
Raphael finally nodded and put her hands on her small abdomen, picking up a key from the table while softly saying to Fisher,
“The palace has a special hot spring just for me. Go straight down this corridor and turn left at the end, that’s where it is. Here’s the key.”
“Alright, I’ll head there now.”
Fisher nodded and turned to leave. Jasmine, who still wanted to say something, reached out her hand but melted away under Raphael’s invisible gaze.
Raphael sighed; Jasmine looked like a child indulging after having tasted forbidden fruit, wanting more after the initial sweetness. She could only softly say,
“Jasmine, my mother is still resting. You should go back to rest tonight.”
Jasmine’s and Raphael’s rooms were not too far apart, and conveniently, Aunt Aria’s resting room was perfectly positioned between the two rooms. This excuse could be said to be impeccable and equated to saying, “No one eats tonight.”
Although earlier that morning, after much contemplation, Raphael had set boundaries for Fisher. She knew what Fisher had done for her and the Dragon Court, hence made such concessions, but this was a special circumstance for a dragon race. She needed a bit of psychological preparation to get over this hurdle.
Perhaps she actually needed a chance to talk with Jasmine in person, but not at this moment.
However, it seemed this little foolish whale creature had no such complicated feelings—or perhaps she did but didn’t show them.
Jasmine, feeling embarrassed, retracted her hand as if she realized she had been too obvious and awkwardly laughed, nodding in agreement,
“That makes sense. While Aunt Aria is fine, it’s best to keep things quiet. Well, I’ll go back to rest. You should get some rest too, Raphael.”
“Okay, goodnight, Jasmine.”
As Jasmine turned to leave Raphael’s room, Raphael also touched her abdomen and sat back down, seemingly ready to look through some documents before resting.
Yet, at this moment, it was still July, not quite autumn. The evening breeze from outside rushed against her back, still hot, making her uneasily twitch her tail.
“Rustle.”
The Dragon Court’s characters on the documents were as if they were burning, making it difficult for Raphael to focus. Instead, they made her pout a little in loneliness.
Outside the Dragon Court, the sound of waves crashing against the shore seemed akin to the gentle flow of the hot spring, prompting Raphael to think of Fisher bathing in the hot spring at that moment.
She couldn’t help but swallow hard, her spirit, once dull from reading the documents, now became excited, clearly resembling a “greedy dragon.”
Clearly, she already had a baby, so why did she still…
Raphael’s face turned slightly red as she nervously rubbed her temples and leaned back against the soft chair behind her.
After hesitating for a moment, she stretched her hand and opened the drawer under the table, in which lay a key identical to the one Fisher had just taken.
Though doing so felt a bit unethical after just persuading Jasmine to go back to rest…
Raphael’s face was slightly flushed, her tail behind her swaying. Finally, she quietly stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, the nighttime palace looked very quiet; the guards had been dispatched outside to coordinate various tasks at the Blessing Tower.
Both her mother’s room and Jasmine’s room were tightly shut, indicating that they had likely already settled down for the night.
With a sigh of relief, Raphael stepped outside, glancing around as she quietly closed the door behind her. Then, gripping the other key that led to the hot spring, she walked deeper into the palace away from the current location.
In the Southern Continent’s southern Twilight Valley, many natural hot springs existed, and the bat race that originally lived there had large numbers of hot springs in their underground caves.
After Raphael established the New Dragon Court based on this, the local residents also began to enjoy the ubiquitous hot springs as one of the few benefits provided to inhabitants during wartime.
The hot spring within the palace might not be the largest or the best, but it was certainly adequate for the exclusive use of the palace.
Upon arriving in front of a small mountain deep within the palace following Raphael’s directions and using the key to unlock the closed door, what first emerged was a wisp of steam from which a massive cluster of hot springs, shrouded in mist, appeared.
The water pools were layered, separated by some wooden boards and frames, and due to the enclosure, the rising steam billowed like swirling smoke, obscuring the view while making the place resemble a paradise.
Fisher wiped the moisture from his face, relaxing his muscles involuntarily. He walked casually through the mist, quickly stepping onto a small path surrounded by several hot pools. After a few minutes, he chose a moderately sized pool to bathe in.
As he untied his white robe to reveal his solid upper body, he regretted that Emhart hadn’t come, though perhaps even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. That guy was afraid of water, let alone hot water.
Thinking about this and that, Fisher stripped down completely and began to enjoy the marvel of the hot springs.
There were few places in the Western Continent like this to indulge. It seemed that Shivali had some, but they were mostly private treasures owned by local nobles, with ordinary locals having no chance to enjoy them. As a foreigner, he certainly had no opportunity either.
Leaning against the edge, he closed his eyes to relax, occasionally splashing himself with the warm water.
“Creak.”
Before long, Fisher’s ears twitched slightly as he keenly heard the sound of a lock turning and the door gradually opening amidst the mist.
Someone else was coming.
Fisher opened his eyes, turning to look through the hazy steam. Soon, he saw a blurry, graceful silhouette. He noticed that the figure was undressing amidst the mist and glancing around. Unable to contain herself, she softly called out,
“Fisher?”
“…”
It was Raphael.
“I’m here.”
Fisher sat up, watching as she slowly approached after discovering his location. Her clothes seemed to have been set down elsewhere, and she wore a gray bath towel, her face slightly flushed as she gazed at the pool where Fisher was.
With the dual concealment of the towel and mist, he could only clearly see her dragon tail swaying lightly behind her and the crimson scales on her pale skin. The towel was gripped by her dragon claw, appearing quite loose.
Her face was flushed; she first glanced at Fisher in the pool before walking silently towards him and stepping into the waters little by little.
The spring water bubbled, and the towel draped over her floated on the water’s surface, unable to escape her grasp.
Fisher swallowed hard and grinned, asking,
“I thought tonight was off the table. Or did you come just for a soak?”
Raphael’s face reddened further as she shot him a reproachful glance. Though her purpose for coming was already quite evident, thinking of how he had dared to say such things earlier made her haughty and snorted, insisting,
“Of course! I’m only here to bathe, that’s all.”
“…”
Fisher blinked, motionless as he watched her settle into the water not far away, letting out a comfortable breath from the warmth of the hot spring.
Then, she looked at Fisher and saw him not coming over but just sitting there staring at her, causing her to flick her tail and pat the water beside her, urging him,
“What are you doing? Come here.”
“I’m not coming over.”
“?”
Seeing Raphael’s increasingly agitated look, Fisher deliberately said,
“Did you not say you were just here for a bath? You’re too cute; if I come over, I won’t be able to help myself.”
Raphael shyly twitched her tail that she had reached out, then grit her teeth, tossing the floating towel over. Just as Fisher raised his hand to catch it, it splashed a bit of water as she continued,
“Who said I wanted you to come over to do that? I need you to help me scrub my scales!”
“I can’t help it.”
“Come over now!”
Realizing he was being urged, Fisher slowly approached Raphael. Watching her lightly hum as she turned her back to him, he gently lifted the towel, just like before, and began to gently wipe her scales.
This was a special duty only suitable tail partners could undertake.
“Hehe.”
She looked extremely content, allowing Fisher to clean her scales, making the tightly adhered scales smooth while humming a tune in her throat.
Seeing her so relaxed uplifted Fisher’s spirits. He gently wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his hand on her still-flat abdomen, seemingly wanting to feel its presence, but touched without using his soul’s power.
“… The baby won’t take shape until two months from now.”
“That’s faster than humans.”
“It will be a dragon race; I can feel it.”
“Yes.”
The main characteristics of half-bloods usually follow the mother. Strictly speaking, mixed species can actually be categorized by race, possessing traits of both.
For example, the original Sardinian women of the Northern Region were a mix of the troll race and humans, specifically being the offspring of “human mothers and troll fathers.” Only such combinations would result in children who appeared mostly human rather than troll yet still bore the characteristic of “yin and yang reversed.”
Thus, the Sardinians born from such combinations remained humans and not trolls, and after several generations of mixing and combining, the historically significant Sardinians were born.
Similarly, the children birthed by Raphael would also possess specific human traits as dragon races.
“However, when you talked to Jasmine earlier, I thought that meant tonight was off altogether. I didn’t expect you would still come.”
Upon hearing Fisher say this, Raphael, who had been comfortably relaxed, showed a somewhat awkward expression because she had genuinely planned it that way, but in the end, she couldn’t resist and came over for a ‘taste.’
“…”
Watching her suddenly fall silent, her body stiffening slightly, Fisher raised an eyebrow, amused,
“Wait, you wouldn’t be…”
“You’re so annoying, Fisher.”
But before he could finish, Raphael domineeringly turned her head around, puffing her cheeks in annoyance, lightly wrapping her tail around Fisher’s waist as in the past, pulling him closer. Then, she eagerly cupped his face with her hands, kissing his lips and blocking all his words.
“Pop!”
The water in the hot spring rippled softly as Fisher had no resistance, leaning against the wall that rose to his back, holding her back.
Only after a long while did their lips part, Raphael, feeling dazed, leaned back a little and hazily looked at Fisher, saying,
“I came over secretly, but I don’t care. Didn’t you say in the carriage earlier that you wanted me when we got back?”
“I also said this is not good for the baby…”
“Smack!”
Her tail behind her slapped the warm spring water in dissatisfaction, clearly rejecting Fisher’s answer.
At this point, Fisher had clearly no way to escape or refuse.
Yet before that, he couldn’t help but remember the harmonious trio of wives on Keken’s ship. As a true gentleman of Nali, he might still hold onto a bit of unrealistic hope.
Thus, he asked,
“Wait, what you said this morning…”
Raphael puffed her cheeks, not wanting to discuss that topic for now and tightening her tail around him even more to prevent his escape and further words.
Well, it seemed there was no escaping now.
“Creak.”
But just as thunder rumbled and fire ignited, just before Fisher was prepared to brave everything, a soft, careful sound of a lock turning and the door creaking open echoed in the steamy surroundings of the hot spring.
For two individuals who had simultaneously attained mythical ranks, such sounds were extremely clear, almost like thunder.
That virtual thunder made Raphael and Fisher’s bodies in the hot spring stiffen. They both fell silent, staring blankly towards the door enveloped in mist, unable to see clearly.
The next moment, a timid whisper floated from within,
“Teacher Fisher?”
“…”
