***
It was that night. After finishing his afternoon class and eating dinner waiting for the Emperor, Sansan was wondering with a question mark in his head why the Emperor wasn’t leaving even though it was time to go.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“…N-nothing.”
Looking at Sansan who quickly turned his head away, the Emperor let out a pfft, laugh.
“Come here.”
The Emperor, who had been sitting on the Arhat bed looking at books, reached out his hand to Sansan. Since this had become somewhat familiar over the past few days, Sansan approached the Emperor without resistance. The Emperor snatched Sansan’s waist and lifted him onto his lap.
“Mmm, mm.”
He immediately kissed him. Sansan’s lips parted inadvertently, and the Emperor’s tongue unhesitatingly pushed through that gap. It was an act they’d just done after finishing brushing their teeth. Mm, ah, Sansan’s moans leaked through the junction that occasionally opened.
After playing with the inside for quite a while, the Emperor’s lips withdrew after alternately sucking on the upper and lower lips. The Emperor gently patted Sansan’s dazed cheek.
“You’ve gotten quite good at kissing now.”
“…”
Sansan was quietly keeping his head down. Since coming to the palace, he’d been kissing the Emperor every night. Being repeated many times, it wasn’t as strongly repulsive as the first time, but his heart was still uncomfortable, and he felt somehow embarrassed. He kept pressing down on his pounding chest with his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Pardon?”
“Does it hurt there?”
“N-no.”
Sansan quickly shook his head while taking his hand away from his chest. The Emperor, who had been looking down at Sansan from an oblique angle, lightly flicked Sansan’s nose tip.
“If there’s anywhere that hurts, you must tell me right away.”
Sansan nodded while rubbing his stinging nose tip with his finger. Watching the Emperor who just passed it off as if it were cute instead of scolding him asking what kind of nodding that was, Myeong-ok secretly laughed to herself.
Even after finishing the kiss, the Emperor didn’t take Sansan off his lap and just fiddled with him here and there for no reason. Sansan, who had been squirming in that embrace, finally opened his mouth hesitantly as if he’d made up his mind, since the Emperor wouldn’t let him go no matter how long he waited.
“…Y-Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
“A-aren’t you leaving?”
“…”
“It seems like it’s p-past the time you should go…”
At the Emperor’s reaction of not giving any response, Sansan trailed off. Until now, the Emperor had usually left Mianggung Palace right after sharing a kiss or so with Sansan after having dinner. He’d never stayed on like this.
“Do you want Zhen to leave?”
Just as Sansan was about to nod, he made eye contact with Myeong-ok. From behind the Emperor, she made fierce eyes and shook her face from side to side.
“N-no.”
“Hmm.”
The Emperor looked down at Sansan with an appraising gaze for a moment. Then he chuckled again. What used to be pretending not to because he was afraid of being hit now seemed to be reading Myeong-ok’s mood. It was a good thing since he didn’t feel like teaching by hitting as before.
“Zhen will bathe here today and then leave.”
“Bathe?”
“Yes. It will arrive from Hondangsa soon, so you will attend to me.”
“M-me?”
Sansan’s eyes widened round like a rabbit’s in surprise. The Emperor found that cute again and pinched the pale cheek with his thumb and index finger, shaking it a bit painfully. Even making a tearful face made his lower regions heat up.
“Yes. While bathing, Zhen intends to see whether you studied hard this afternoon.”
The moment the Emperor finished speaking, as if he’d been waiting, Palace Eunuch Yi from Hondangsa arrived at Mianggung Palace.
“Your Majesty, the water is ready.”
“Prepare it here.”
As soon as the order fell, dozens of eunuchs entered carrying a large bathtub from which steam was rising. Sansan’s mouth fell open at the size that could easily fit three or four adults. It was because he’d never seen such a large bathtub in his life.
After the bathtub was placed, screens were quickly set up around it. While Sansan was spaced out, the Emperor, who had completely undressed with the palace maids’ attendance, entered the bathtub.
“What are you doing?”
The Emperor looked back at Sansan and asked. Sansan tilted his head, not knowing what the Emperor wanted. Though he’d been told to attend to him, since Sansan had also been a noble, he’d never done such a thing.
“Take off everything except your undergarment.”
To Sansan who was standing there blankly, an order like a bolt from the blue fell.
While Sansan hesitated, all of Mianggung Palace’s servants withdrew, and instead palace maids from Hondangsa filled those empty spots.
The women who immediately entered inside the screen casually took off the red dubong they’d worn in, plop, plop. Without exception, all they wore underneath was at most a chest covering and short pants that came to mid-thigh. Sansan’s face rapidly reddened at seeing women’s bare skin for the first time in his life.
“What are you doing? Shall Zhen undress you?”
Then, a voice that sounded displeased urged Sansan again.
“…Do I have to take it off?”
Sansan asked in a tearful voice.
“Of course. If you’re going to attend to me, you’ll have to come inside, and it’ll be difficult with clothes on.”
Sansan, who became even more tearful than before, hesitated helplessly and then began to untie his sash.
Meanwhile, the palace maids from Hondangsa were moving busily, paying no mind to Sansan. Someone scattered flower petals into the bathtub where the Emperor had entered, and someone else put pouches of medicinal herbs they’d brought into the bathtub from which steam was rising.
“Your Majesty, please lift your head for a moment.”
When one palace maid went behind the Emperor and whispered while holding a small silk pillow stuffed plumply with cotton, the Emperor slightly lifted his head as she said. Soon the pillow was placed between his head and the edge of the bathtub. Two other palace maids were each holding one of the Emperor’s arms draped over the bathtub and massaging them.
“Your Majesty, this is Gweryeongju.”
The last palace maid knelt to the Emperor’s left and brought a wine cup to his lips. Emperor Yeonghwi was originally a heavy drinker, so he’d installed a royal brewery in the imperial palace to brew wine directly, and as they catered to his picky tastes, many fine wines were created during the Yeonghwi reign.
Gweryeongju was a wine the Emperor especially enjoyed drinking among them, a treasure among treasures that took a month just to boil after refining 33 kinds of rare ingredients. He took a sip of wine without discomfort as the palace maid offered it to him. Then he opened his mouth.
“You look cold. Why don’t you come in?”
Sansan, who had been standing at a distance wearing only his undergarment and glancing at the Emperor’s bath preparations, flinched and stiffened his waist.
“…Yees.”
No matter how slowly he walked, the distance was limited, so he was bound to reach the bathtub eventually. Sansan, who turned his head slightly to the side, covered his groin with his hand and finally entered the bathtub.
At the sight of him flushed red up to the nape of his neck, the Emperor covered his face with his hand and laughed. It was cute and novel that he was shy like a bride on her wedding night. It felt exactly like reenacting the wedding night. That unforgettable night for the Emperor as well, when he’d been absorbed in lovemaking like never before.
Though he wore undergarments, as with most undergarments, the inside showed through completely, so as soon as Sansan entered the bathtub, he hurriedly crouched down first. Perhaps the water was quite hot, because even while curling his body in the water, he trembled his upper body, shiver, shiver.
“What are you doing?”
“…Pardon?”
“You’re not bathing together, you’re attending to me. You have to come closer here.”
Sansan approached the Emperor on his knees with a face that looked like he was about to cry. The undergarment already thoroughly soaked in water wasn’t functioning as clothing and was revealing his lower parts completely. Though the flower petals and medicinal herb pouches above the water surface covered him to some degree.
“Give that to this child.”
The Emperor gestured with his chin to the palace maid kneeling beside him. Then the palace maid handed Sansan a folded white washcloth with demure movements.
Taking the washcloth inadvertently and hesitating right near the Emperor, the Emperor snatched Sansan’s waist with one arm and pulled him between his legs. In that instant, something hotter and harder than the water touched Sansan’s knee.
“Eek!”
Sansan was shocked and tried to back away, but the Emperor’s arm didn’t allow it. Sansan, who knelt between the Emperor’s legs, looked down slightly at the Emperor with a face that didn’t know what to do.
“Wash me.”
The Emperor, who had been staring at that face overtly and intently, commanded in a quite sunken voice. Since Sansan didn’t move right away, he grabbed the wrist holding the washcloth, dipped it in the water once, pulled it out, and even placed it on his shoulder.
In the end, Sansan reluctantly moved his hand holding the washcloth while keeping his gaze only on the Emperor’s broad shoulders.
“What did you learn in yin-yang theory today?”
The Emperor asked while subtly touching Sansan’s bare lower back.
“…About pairs. The scent, Y-Your Majesty!”
At the hand that suddenly grabbed his buttocks, Sansan was shocked and pushed the Emperor’s shoulders. Though his back hit the bathtub wall, the Emperor didn’t particularly punish him. Rather, he only pulled Sansan’s buttocks and kneaded them more lewdly.
Footnote
1) Dubong: A sleeveless cape-style outer garment in one piece (a rain cloak has sleeves).
