Jaera woke up the next morning still feeling extremely cold. There was a slight roughness at the back of , and it was a sure sign that she was going to have a sore throat in a few days’ time.

“Is it just me or is it much warmer today?” the head healer of the Water Kingdom asked.

Frankly, Jaera did not know. It was still cold to her, but judging from Seungwan’s expression from the bed beside her, she knew that the weather had improved.

She was still groggy from the lack of sleep she had gotten the night before. She could still hear Prince Junmyeon’s voice ringing in her ears, asking her to stop healing him at all. Their argument, how she even touched him; she remembered it all so clearly.

“Rough night?” Seungwan asked. “Your dark circles have gotten worse.”

Jaera smiled stiffly. “Not used to the weather yet.”

“The weather?! It is already much warmer than before!” Seulgi piped up from the next bed. “What on earth did you feed the prince to cause such a change?”

“We only prescribed him with ginger root tea.”

“Perhaps the gingers that grow in the Fire Kingdom are especially powerful,” she mused. “This is incredible!”

Jaera yawned. “What time is it?”

“You and a few other members of your team have just missed breakfast. We decided not to wake you all because it seemed like you needed the sleep. Oh, and Madam Jung was called to meet King Kim. She should be back any minute now.”

“Hm. It must have to do with the improvement. Truthfully, I did not think that our treatment was going to have such an effect.”

She mildly wondered if the prince’s improving health had to do with their talk yesterday. It was highly unlikely that the ginger root tea would be so strong.

She went to chat with the rest of her team members for a while, before washing up and grabbing a bite to eat. All her team members had to agree that the ginger root tea was unexpectedly effective. She chose not to say anything about her guess about bending, and about her talk (argument, more likely) with the prince.

Munching on a bun that was supposed to be for breakfast, she almost choked when Madam Jung came in bursting through the door.

“His Majesty said we were miracle workers!” she exclaimed, looking overjoyed. “He said that we had shown the most progress out of the other healers he called in before!”

“Well-deserved praise, if I say so myself,” said the head healer of the Water Kingdom. “We most certainly have to stock up on herbs from the Fire Kingdom after all of this.”

Madam Jung looked very pleased with herself. “King Kim allowed us access to the Royal Library to do more research. I would like my team to get ready as we should get to work as soon as possible.”

“My team as well, then. We can work together and show you the way around, even.”

The two heads seemed to be getting along fine. Jaera was glad that the citizens of the Water Kingdom were kind and friendly, unlike the Ice King. According to Seungwan and Seulgi, he only began to act in that manner since his fiancé left. If that were true, it meant that his fiancé was the cause of distress of the castle staff.

Oh, well. It was unlikely that they would even have a conversation again. He was obviously offended by what she had said the previous night, and she would only really have to see him during his checkups.

She had to focus on finding out the source of his ice heart. Perhaps there would be books on bending in the library. She would have to be discreet about it, though.

She pushed her notebook a little deeper into her satchel.

-

The royal library was magnificent. Every shelf was stacked with books, from poems, biographies, to plants and herbs. Of course, they would only need to stick to the medicinal section of the library.

The two teams of healers got to work at once. Some of them read on the symptoms of the prince, others read on the different types of herbs that came from the Water Kingdom. Jaera could not manage to find a book on bending, so she settled on reading about herbs.

However, it was a little difficult to pay attention as the prince was in the library as well. Albeit in a different section, Jaera could get a glimpse of him if she turned her head just a little.

He did not know about the healers entering the library, as he seemed to be very engrossed in something. He was seated at the section about the history of their land, together with someone who looked like his tutor.

She scoffed. Even while reading, he did not have any expression on his face. It remained stoic as he turned the pages of his book.

She had given up on studying herbs that she had already read about hundreds of times back in her training days. It was much more interesting to observe the prince and figure out just what was going on in his mind.

Prince Junmyeon made eye contact with her as she was burning holes with her eyes into his figure. She immediately looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring.

She waited for five seconds before looking back up, only to find that he was scrutinizing her instead. He narrowed his eyes and shut his book, muttering something to his tutor.

The healers all stood as the prince left the room in long strides, making a point to even send a look to Jaera. No one commented on it, if they even noticed since he was always glaring anyway.

Suddenly, Madam Jung called out for her. “Jaera, could I have a word with you, please?”

The head healer had a serious expression on her face as the both of them stood in the corner of the library. It made Jaera feel a little nervous, but she could not think of anything that would warrant a scolding. Except...

“I did not intend to offend Prince Junmyeon!” she exclaimed, quickly. He must have complained about her attitude from the previous night. “Really!”

“Oh, so you must have already heard. I was informed this morning from the prince’s personal staff.”

Nodding slowly, she braced herself for the scolding that was sure to come.

“I am sure that you are aware that His Highness is much colder to you than to the other staff. And he has a good reason for it as well. It appears that you possess similar features with his ex-fiancé.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“His Highness was due to be wed two years ago, and unfortunately, it did not come through. He was quite heartbroken, and since then, he was never really the same. And now that you look quite like the person who left him, he seems to relish in taking his frustration out on you.”

“Oh, I see. I will be more conscious of my presence around Prince Junmyeon, then.”

“It is better if you totally stay out of his way. I will not put you on the daily routine check-ups, so you can contribute by doing more research.”

Jaera frowned. “Madam Jung, what if his frozen heart has to do with this heartbreak? One of the Water Kingdom healers brought up to me that his illness could be from his mind, and not his body.”

She sighed. “That is a theory that we are discussing. We suspect that the prince may have developed a frozen heart from his heartbreak, but there has not been any other evidence to support this theory.”

“Madam, have you heard,” Jaera started hesitantly. Was it right for her to bring it up? “Have you heard about bending? Like water bending, and fire bending?”

“Of course, I have. Bending died out ages ago, Jaera. Where are you going with this?”

So she was not aware that royalty still possessed this ability. “Is it possible that as a result of water bending, or something related to it, the princes heart turned to ice? Since ice is technically still water.”

Madam Jung looked at her as if she grew another head. “Where on earth did you come up with this? I knew you were a bright and diligent student, and that is why I offered you a place on my team. But this idea of yours is too far-fetched.”

“But what if it managed to pass down generation after generation! The reason that Prince Junmyeon’s heart turned to ice by itself is because the prince subconsciously manipulated the elements!”

“Control yourself, child. Do not speak of such nonsense so openly.” She looked around them to see if anyone had heard Jaera’s short outburst