Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Imperial Princess
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Objectively speaking, Tang Hwaryeon's appearance was outstanding.
Her long legs gave her perfect proportions, and while her chest and hips weren't overly voluptuous, they curved in a sleek line.
Her already beautiful features, which had been close to perfection, had softened even further, as if her sharp expression had melted away in the hot spring water.
Her emerald eyes, moist and shining like jewels, were strikingly alluring.
"No, wow..."
Tang Hwaryeon's allure paled in comparison—So-hyang's beauty was on another level entirely.
After all, they had traveled together for the past few weeks, rubbing shoulders the whole way.
As fellow women, So-hyang and Hwaryeon had already taken in each other's bodies while washing by the water's edge.
"And yet, I still can't get used to it every time I see you...?"
Her features were nearly perfectly symmetrical yet brimmed with vitality, far from inorganic.
The soft curve of her smiling eyes exuded a gentle, harmless warmth utterly divorced from any sense of martial prowess.
"Does the young lady smile a lot by nature?"
"No. It's just that seeing all of you makes me smile without thinking."
So-hyang held a great fondness for these people.
In her previous life, even at a young age, it had been rare to encounter someone with exceptional martial skills and a kind heart.
Every time she saw their steady strides, the calluses on their hands, and their well-trained bodies, a pleased smile naturally bloomed on her face—it was unavoidable.
Whatever the reason, a genuine smile had an enchanting charm.
"And your skin...!"
Her skin glistened from the hot spring water, warmed to a lovely rosy flush.
Hwaryeon, entranced by the almost transparently pale clarity of it, reached out to touch it.
"Wow, it's so springy. So soft. And no calluses at all—how is that even possible?"
The skin was tough and firm enough to resist calluses, yet soft and elastic—truly So-hyang's masterpiece.
Above all, there was that indescribable allure, an atmosphere of seductive eroticism that embodied the very word "beauty."
It wasn't for nothing that her companions had dismissed it as mere illusion when they first clashed with her.
Mysterious, captivating, almost demonic in its perfection—that was the most fitting description of her looks.
"Ahaha, is that so?"
Of course, So-hyang felt little from such praise.
Her sense of gender still leaned male, and her beauty was so extreme it felt unreal to her.
Above all, she simply had no interest in this kind of conversation.
So what did pique So-hyang's interest?
"More importantly, I'm curious about your throwing skills, Hwaryeon."
"Ah, interested in the Tang Clan's hidden weapons?"
Unquestionably, anything to do with martial arts.
"You call it hidden weapons rather than throwing? It certainly showed the form of a surprise attack that evades the opponent's perception."
"That's ri—"
"To handle so many different types so skillfully is impressive. Some were thrown using just finger strength instead of the whole body— to conceal the prelude to the attack, right?"
"Uh, yes?"
"Indeed! But that must lack power, so you compensate with internal energy? For instance, throwing a thin needle by hand is structurally hard to infuse with force, but you solve it with your inner power!"
"Uh, uh...?"
In her previous life, So-hyang had rarely met fellow martial artists to cross swords with, but even rarer were those she could discuss martial arts with.
Even swordsmen who "spoke with their blades" found value in exchanging ideas through words.
So-hyang's thirst for such conversation, pent up for decades, spilled out excitedly as her eyes sparkled.
"Uh, uh, whaa...???"
"Palm strikes are typically loaded onto rigid palms, but you struck with the full surface—it's not a bad habit; you must have learned it that way from the start, with infusing inner energy in mind—"
As So-hyang's enthusiasm built into increasingly complex analysis, leaving Hwaryeon's eyes spinning...
"—But do you have some business with me?"
So-hyang turned to meet the golden gaze piercing right through her.
"How curious. To think I'd run into the child who killed my wastrel kin here of all places."
"...!"
Hwaryeon's mind, dazed by the torrent of advanced martial discourse, snapped sharply awake.
"Your name was So-hyang, if memory serves?"
'No presence at all—!?'
The woman who had suddenly spoken exuded an intense presence that made it unbelievable she hadn't been sensed until now.
Her golden hair and eyes, the vertical slit pupils, and above all, her words.
"Your Imperial Highness...!?"
"Indeed. I am the rightful blood of this empire."
As Hwaryeon stammered in shock at the abrupt situation, So-hyang calmly took up the thread.
"What brings you here?"
The princess's eyes narrowed sharply, and with a meaningful smile as if she'd been waiting, she pointed her pipe at So-hyang.
"So-hyang, slayer of imperial blood. I've been waiting for you."
"—Eek!?"
Tang Hwaryeon's emerald eyes widened like saucers as she shrieked, but So-hyang's reaction was utterly nonchalant.
"...Hwaryeon, do you really believe her?"
"Eh...?"
"Didn't Her Highness just say with her own mouth that this was a chance encounter? Something curious?"
Hwaryeon gawked blankly between the two, her sharp features overwhelmed by confusion.
So-hyang gave her a pitying, lukewarm look, while the princess covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Uh, yes? Wha?"
-----
"I never knew the Tang Clan's daughter was such a cute child."
The princess teased with a playful expression, eyeing Hwaryeon—who sat there redder than the hot spring's heat.
"As I said, running into you here was pure coincidence."
With a splash, she sank deeper into the water and took a deep drag from her pipe.
"This place's hot springs are excellent, and the inn's food is famously good. It's a regular rest spot for me."
So-hyang sensed something off in the princess's words.
"Wouldn't an inn hosting an imperial scion clear out the other guests?"
There were proper protocols for attending nobles and high officials.
An imperial scion would demand even more ceremony.
Yet the inn bustled with guests as usual.
"I omitted one detail. It's a rest spot I visit secretly."
That explained the lack of maids around an imperial bathing.
Especially in an open-air bath connected to the outdoors, with no guards at all—it was absurd.
"Is that allowed?"
"Even I need a breather sometimes. As long as I don't get caught."
But she had been caught, So-hyang's look implied. The princess exhaled smoke and shot back with an incredulous gaze.
"How did you recognize me? I was using Hidden Smoke..."
Hidden Smoke.
The secret art of the Fragrant Mist School emanating from the princess's pipe.
A technique that warped and deceived all perceptions directed at the user.
Born of dragon blood, the princess possessed innate spiritual intuition, making her Hidden Smoke potent enough to fool even peak masters.
"When a gaze feels that piercing, it'd be weirder not to notice."
High-level technique or not.
So-hyang had pierced it with pure focus and unshakeable will, without relying on spirit eyes or the like.
"...Unbelievable."
The princess stared at her like she'd seen something bizarre.
-----
A little time passed, Hwaryeon's flushed face cooled, and she began following their conversation.
"By the way, are you really the So-hyang who killed my kin?"
"Hm? Why ask again?"
"Well, you see... The wanted poster I know shows a child of about ten."
She pointed her pipe at So-hyang's body with a laugh in her voice, as if to say look at this.
"Only a couple years passed—how does one grow like this?"
So-hyang, hitting puberty, hadn't finished growing, yet her body already showed womanly grace.
Her budding breasts like water droplets, curving hips, slender waist.
Her face still held childish traces, a wondrous body on the cusp between girl and woman.
"Kids this age shoot up overnight."
"Compared to Your Highness's figure, mine's a sparrow's blood. Your praise is too much."
As before, So-hyang had no interest in such talk, offering only a rote, courteous reply from muscle memory.
"Haha! I do have confidence there."
A chest that could make heads spin.
Distinctly curved lower body.
Subtle but firm muscles stabilizing her frame.
A violent, mature woman's body in every sense.
Listening in, Tang Hwaryeon quietly glanced downward.
"......"
Her own modestly budding chest, a body whose smooth lines were its charm.
She sank into the bubbling water with a gloomy expression.
"How is your skin so flawless? The Tang girl was raving about it—mind if I touch?"
The princess asked with a sly look.
A casual playful remark, but So-hyang had no qualms about such things.
"If you wish, go ahead."
"Hm? Really?"
After a hesitant pause at her ready nod, genuine curiosity won out, and she slowly touched So-hyang's forearm.
"...Oh? Oh my, oh my!"
The skin So-hyang had meticulously woven was beautiful to behold, but its texture was extraordinary.
Tough and sturdy as leather armor, yet smooth and elastic with innate beauty.
Demonic allure in tactile form.
"How can your skin outdo an imperial's? It's my first time jealous of another's body!"
The princess stroked obsessively for a good while, kneading away, then flinched and met So-hyang's eyes.
"...Ah, oops. Got carried away. Sorry."
"No, it's fine. If you're sorry, may I touch Your Highness in return?"
"Hm? Sure, as much as—"
Before she finished, So-hyang's hands descended fiercely.
"Kyaa!?"
Even in her past life, So-hyang had little interest in women's bodies—and now, changed gender, even less.
But imperial bodies intrigued her.
"Ah—ahh!"
The superiority she'd felt dissecting Ju Yeong-in before.
It looked like soft femininity, but So-hyang's eyes saw through to the core.
At a glance, the princess's body surpassed Ju Yeong-in's.
Muscles twisted tough as braided steel, bones hard as reinforced iron—but So-hyang already possessed such.
"What are you—eek!?"
What truly fascinated was the overall structure. Perfect proportions worthy of "golden ratio."
So-hyang's body wasn't fully grown. She could refine it further.
She'd settled for completion without a perfect model, but now chance offered new reference material?
"Revenge for touching me—ngh!?"
So-hyang's touch was relentless, greedy.
It roamed everywhere except morally off-limits areas, caressing as if dissecting externally.
Essentially massage, but using ultimate control over force, it became intensely stimulating, loosening muscles, organs, even joints.
"—I, I was wrong—eeeek!?"
Satisfied with the data, So-hyang pulled away with a pleased smile.
"He, heeek...!"
The princess slumped like fresh-steamed rice cake, panting amid her flushed glow.
"Y-You're a scary child...?"
"Uh, eh, ehh?"
Hwaryeon, witnessing it all, flushed crimson and sputtered in shock and dismay.
So-hyang, lost in plotting how to apply the inspiration, noticed nothing amiss.
"We've been in too long. Shall we head out?"
"Ah, yes."
"...Uh, ek?"
-----
Meanwhile, Wind Path Beggar and Namgung Su—who had entered the bath first—had finished their men's soak long ago and waited for the group.
"...When are they coming?"
"Lady Tang and young lady So-hyang must be taking their time—it's been a while since a proper wash."
And after even more waiting, the three women finally emerged.
"Huh? Two went in, three came out—no way, Third Imperial Princess!?"
So-hyang in the center, Tang Hwaryeon and the princess flanking her as they walked out.
"Lady Tang? Your face...?"
"G-Gaaah..."
So-hyang's refreshed, satisfied expression. The princess's twitching body. Tang Hwaryeon's still-burning-red face.
It was a profoundly... peculiar sight.