The girls all protested, but Mar-Yue was not having it.

With disappointed expressions, the girls all dragged their feet as they left Sol's tent.

"I thought Big Sis said she wasn't interested in him?"

"Yeah, how come she changed her mind?"

"That's not fair, we can't compete with Big Sis."

"But what else can we do?"

As the girls were leaving, they bemoaned their current situation. But one of them suddenly said.

"Hey, what about that boy named Yoon-Jae? He's not worse than Sol."

"Yeah, he's handsome, and I heard he's one of the Rising Stars in the Martial Alliance Academy."

"Ah! We've been so neglectful to welcome him to our Tribe, why don't we go do that now?"

"Where is his tent?"

"It's nearby, I think I know where it is."

"Then let's go!"

Mar-Yue watched as the group of girls beeline towards another tent rather than leave the area.

However, she didn't bother going after them to scold them again. She instead turned towards Sol's tent and approached.

"Mar-Yue, is that you?"

Mar-Yue respectfully stopped outside of Sol's tent and answered.

"Yes, it's me. I came here for the sandworms you promised me."

"Oh! Right, I'm sorry. I forgot because I was busy helping prepare for the Festival."

A pause was heard on Sol's end before he could be heard asking.

"Uhh… Are the girls still outside?"

"No, you're in the clear."

A moment later, Sol's head popped out of the tent flaps, and he looked around.

Seeing that the girls were truly gone, he sighed.

Then, looking at Mar-Yue, he smiled and said.

"Thanks for getting them to leave."

Mar-Yue frowned.

"If you're uncomfortable, then you should tell them not to bother you."

Sol went to scratch his cheek but stopped himself to keep a hold of the tent flaps.

"I-It's not that I'm uncomfortable, I just want to be alone for the time being."

Mar-Yue heard Sol crying as he left the tent.

"Well, instead of smiling, you should properly reject them."

"Reject them? I don't think I have to go that far."

Mar-Yue suddenly paused before she said.

"Well, I guess you are a boy after all, so you probably want to keep your options open."

There was a bit of bitterness underneath Mar-Yue's words as she said that.

However, Sol tilted his head when he heard her.

"Keep my options open? What do you mean?"

Seeing Sol's clueless expression, Mar-Yue paused once more and looked at him strangely.

"You... Don't tell me you're unaware that those girls were trying to court you?"

"Wah-Is that what they were doing?"

Sol asked with a stunned look on his face. However, he paused, and a thoughtful look overcame his face as he recalled the past four days.

Soon, an embarrassed smile crept onto his lips as he said.

"Okay, I see it now."

Sol would have usually picked up on those things, but his head really wasn't here at the moment. After hearing that he had to wait half a year for the Deep Autumn Flower, his brain had been clouded by worry since then.

"Now that you know, you can properly reject them. No girl wants a man who would purposely lead them on. Also, you should be straightforward when you reject them so you don't cause any more confusion."

Mar-Yue was like a teacher teaching a student.

Sol played along, and he nodded seriously as he said.

"I understand, I'll reject them as straightforward as I can."

"Good."

Mar-Yue nodded and held her hips. Afterward, she looked at Sol and saw that he was silently smiling at her.

Her hand immediately twitched before she raised it towards Sol's face.

Sol's expression faltered a little bit.

He was about to take a step back, but rather than punching him, Mar-Yue instead pinched Sol's bangs that were slightly covering his eyes.

"You're hair is really long."

Mar-Yue sighed internally.

She was actually about to punch Sol just now, but thankfully, she stopped herself in time.

"Really? I cut it at the start of the year, looks like it's starting to grow out now."

Sol let go of one of the tent flaps he was holding to touch his bangs. However, Mar-Yue's expression suddenly changed before she took a step back from Sol while pinching her nose.

Sol, seeing this, immediately lowered his hand and closed the flap.

"Ha-ha, is it that bad? I'm sorry."

"You-How long has it been since you've taken a bath?"

The smell coming from Sol wasn't just due to him not bathing, but it combined with the smell from the sandworms.

Sol let go of the flap and scratched his cheek.

"I'll go take a bath, but can you tell me where it is?"

Mar-Yue frowned when she heard that. Then she realized that Sol had been blocking her view of his tent this entire time.

"What are you hiding?"

She stepped forward and pushed past Sol.

Mar-Yue entered Sol's tent, and her eyes scanned the room. She didn't find anything suspicious, but when she saw Little Abdu lying on the bed, her eyes lit up and she went to pet him. However, her gaze suddenly landed on the bucket and rag by the bedside.

"What the…"

Mar-Yue stared at this depressing sight, and soon the image of Sol using this to clean himself entered her mind.

She couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I must be wrong, don't tell me you were really trying to clean yourself with this? It's the water we drink, you know?"

Mar-Yue turned to look at Sol, who blushed and said begrudgingly.

"I didn't know there was a public bath, okay? How could I have known when all I saw was sand and tents? Where even is this public bath? In the sky?"

Mar-Yue stopped laughing and wiped her tears as she said.

"You could have just asked."

"How could I ask for something that I thought didn't exist? I just assume everyone used their Aether Energy to clean themselves. But no matter what I did, the smell from the sandworms wasn't coming off, so I thought I'd use this."

Mar-Yue, hearing this, smiled.

"Okay, good point. But with the amount of physical training we do daily, it would be a nightmare if we didn't properly bathe. Also, just using Aether Energy can't be a substitute for it. And have you ever thought about those who can't cultivate yet? We're a simple-minded Race, but not to the point where we would use this to bathe."

Mar-Yue glanced at the bucket and rag once more.

"I... I never thought about that."

Glancing away from the rag and bucket, Mar-Yue looked at Sol. Being at this side angle, she was able to see Sol's eyes that were hiding behind his bangs. They had dark circles underneath them, and they looked slightly red.

'Is he not sleeping either? He's a complete mess…'

"Here, come with me. I'll take you to our public bath."

Mar-Yue said, grabbing Sol's hand and leading him out of the tent.

Little Abdu, who was sleeping on the bed, opened his eyes to watch them leave before closing them and going back to sleep.

"Ah, wait, I need to tell Brother Yoon-Jae about the bath as well. He doesn't know either."

Sol said when they were outside the tent.

"Just tell him to use your jade slip. You smell too horrendous to delay taking a bath for another minute."

"Okay, but I left my protective clothes in the tent. Can I go back and get it?"

Mar-Yue looked back to see that Sol was topless.

"Just bear with it, the public bath is located in a forest that isn't affected by the heat."

"A forest? Inside a desert?"

Sol was a bit taken aback by this.

"Yes, and there isn't just one. All of the Tribes have a Desert Forest. They're places that have all six elements rather than just Fire, Earth, and Metal. It's also where cultivators who happened to be suited with elements other than Fire, Earth, and Metal go to cultivate."

Mar-Yue explained a few more things about this special place to Sol as she pulled on his hand.

Sol smiled, but it was a different smile than he had shown to those girls before.

Perhaps it was the only genuine smile he had performed since he found out he had to wait for half a year to cure Little Zeel.

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