The Sweetness of Poison
No matter how blinded by lust he was, this was too much. It wasn't as if he had done this in some hidden corner; how could he cause such a scene on the first floor of Chunyangru, which was wide open for business? The County Magistrate, who had been summoned to the scene, could only think one thing: I've walked right into a disaster.
"Now, since this venue is a bit inappropriate, why don't we all step outside to settle this dispute—"
"Step outside? Unless this dog in heat is bound in chains right before my eyes—the Alliance Leader of Cheonsaryeon—I won't move a single step."
"Who do you think you're calling a dog, you bastard?"
Banya and Mujin refused to back down even an inch. Caught like a shrimp between two fighting whales, the County Magistrate desperately tried to placate Banya, explaining that the County Lieutenant and the constables were currently gathering evidence. After all, Banya's wife was the victim in this situation. At that, Mujin glared fiercely, snarling at them for ransacking someone else's place of business.
Stop it...! Just get out, all of you.
Yeongso silently tore at the plush silk bedding. While the men bickered, the aphrodisiac had reached its peak, pushing her to the absolute limit of her endurance. If she opened her mouth now, she wouldn't just let out a faint whimper—she would spill a wanton cry that sounded like outright begging.
Please, hold me. Or at least let me touch myself...
Tears blurred her vision. The unnaturally raging lust paralyzed her mind.
Please... anyone is fine.
She felt as if she wouldn't care if every man in the room threw himself upon her, so long as this agonizing craving was quenched. If their rough hands tore her fresh, tangerine-colored court robes to shreds and groped her breasts, she felt she would only pant in mindless ecstasy.
I've lost my mind...
Horrified by her own thoughts, Yeongso desperately tried to regain her composure. Although Hwa Mujin vehemently denied the allegations, the incident had occurred in a restaurant he operated, so the situation seemed to be resolving with him being taken to the magistrate's office. In other words, she only needed to endure a little longer.
Ah... but I can't take it anymore...
Yeongso reached a trembling hand toward her waist. She untied the jade plaque of the Baekri Clan that she always wore and slipped it through the bed curtains to Banya. Her husband understood her silent plea instantly.
"Do not worry, my love. I will contact my eldest brother in the capital immediately. I shall report the injustice my wife suffered in vivid detail. If necessary, I will personally strike the drum of grievance outside the imperial palace!"
Hearing this, the County Magistrate gasped in sheer terror.
"I will soothe my wife's grievances."
"Are you out of your mind? It's not like Baekri Yeongso is dead. She was just hit with a common aphrodisiac, so what is all this nonsense about the drum of grievance?"
Mujin let out a scoff of disbelief.
"Hwa Banya, you've certainly improved your pathetic acting since you rose from the dead."
Mujin spat out venomous words, muttering that he should have thoroughly burned Banya's corpse to ashes when he died three years ago to prevent this headache. Just then, the door swung open, and the County Lieutenant entered.
"My Lord, we found this in a corner of the kitchen. It is a colorless, odorless aphrodisiac. They even labeled the bottle 'Soul-Bewildering Nectar' so the staff wouldn't mix it up."
The Lieutenant added that they had tested it on a martial artist, and the symptoms were identical to Yeongso's. Upon hearing this, along with a report that a guest had witnessed a waiter's suspicious behavior, the County Magistrate finally made his decision.
"Bind Hwa Mujin. Take him to the magistrate's office."
Naturally, Mujin flew into a rage. He glared at the Magistrate, openly threatening him to watch his back.
"Bind me? Don't make me laugh. How dare you treat the Palace Master of Jeokhwa Palace this way? I will walk on my own two feet, but I will never let myself be tied up with a mere rope—"
In a flash, Banya snatched the rope from a guard's hand and bound Mujin's wrists with brutal force. Tying it so tightly that it cut off his circulation, Banya turned to the Magistrate.
"A wise decision, My Lord. He is a vicious bastard, so it is only right to transport him in chains."
He then went on and on, claiming that though he had never expressed it, he had always been deeply grateful for the Magistrate's hard work, and that if the office ever lacked the manpower to guard the prisoner, they should let him know immediately so he could dispatch men from Cheonsaryeon.
Banya saw the Magistrate off with an unbelievably cooperative attitude. Yet, the Magistrate looked more unsettled by Banya's sudden politeness than by the task of escorting the troublesome Hwa Mujin; his face remained tense until the moment he crossed the threshold. He would likely throw coarse salt to ward off bad luck the moment he arrived back at his office.
Click.
To Yeongso, who had been desperately holding back her whimpers, the sound of the door closing brought an overwhelming wave of relief.
They're finally gone. Now I can suffer in peace.
Yeongso let out a feverish sigh. As she slowly pressed her legs together, her inner thighs rubbed against each other, putting slight pressure on her private warmth. At the friction, a slick moisture seeped from her aching cleft.
"Ah..."
Yeongso's delicate brow furrowed. Would it feel better if I squeezed harder? She remembered how her body had trembled uncontrollably when Banya had rubbed her down there before.
If I do it myself...
Just the thought sent a throb of heat straight to her core. As she slowly began to move her hand, she suddenly felt a strange, intense gaze and snapped her head up.
Her husband was still in the room she had assumed was empty. Banya, who must have watched every single moment of her panting, squeezing her thighs, and whimpering in heat, was leaning casually against the bedpost, a slow smirk playing on his lips.
"Ah..."
Yeongso seemed completely unaware that her husband was still in the room, let alone that he had stepped to the foot of the bed and pulled back the curtains. Banya deliberately kept silent, watching her for a moment. His wife, panting heavily with a flushed face, was a truly spectacular sight.
During the four months they had lived as husband and wife in his previous life, he had once intentionally gotten her drunk before taking her. The way her snow-white skin had flushed with a cherry-pink heat had been incredibly stimulating. Feasting on his wife back then had felt like biting into a sweet, wine-soaked fruit.
Watching Yeongso now, utterly intoxicated by the aphrodisiac, brought back those memories. Her weeping face, helpless against her own uncontrollable body, was just as devastatingly seductive as it had been then.
Whenever I look at this woman, I'm constantly reminded that I really am the biological son of the lecherous Eighth Uncle of Jeokhwa Palace.
He was a man who would normally push away a naked beauty with nothing but annoyance. Why did only Baekri Yeongso arouse such a maddening, insatiable lust in him?
"Y-you..."
Yeongso's eyes widened. Ah, she noticed I was watching. Banya let his lips curl into a smirk.
"My poor, pitiful wife."
He deliberately reached out and gently cupped her stockinged foot. Yeongso's small foot twitched in his grasp. In her current state, even a touch as trivial as this would make it impossible for her to hold back her whimpers.
Banya slowly slid off her pristine silk stocking. It felt exactly like unwrapping a sweet honey pastry—the kind of treat he had desperately yearned to taste just once as a child. When Yeongso's exquisite foot, which resembled that long-sought pastry in more ways than one, was finally revealed, Banya gently caressed the arch of her sole.
"Ah..."
Her body was burning, yet she lacked the strength to resist. At her husband's touch, Yeongso let out a sweet, helpless cry. Banya watched with immense satisfaction as her face contorted in a mix of ticklishness and intense pleasure.
"I intended to just watch, but really, you look far too pitiful to ignore."
Keeping his eyes locked on Yeongso, he slowly leaned down. He took her dainty big toe into his mouth and sucked on it firmly, drawing a ragged gasp from her lips. He then meticulously traced the soft crevices between her toes with his tongue. It had been a long time since he had licked his wife's feet, which were completely free of calluses.
Normally, Yeongso would have been mortified by such an act and tried to pull her foot away, but today was different.
"Ah, mnh...!"
His beautiful wife slightly lifted her hips off the bedding, welcoming the pleasure with her entire body. Her half-lidded eyes swam with tears.
Feeling his own engorged member reaching its limit, Banya finally released her toe. He parted her thick tangerine-colored robes and guided Yeongso's hand down to her private cleft. Overlapping his hand on top of hers, he slowly rubbed her up and down, causing her pale inner thighs to tremble violently.
"Ah! Ah...!"
"Like this."
"Ha... ah, mnh...!"
"If you gently rub it up and down like this, it will feel good."