The Art of Restraint
Banya let out a chilling laugh. "How utterly bewildered that bastard must have been—the one whose skin I wouldn't even hesitate to flay alive." He clenched his fists tightly. "He must have thought, 'This is strange. Why is Hwa Banya dead? Why is Baekri Yeongso perfectly fine? And it's not as if Hwa Banya was poisoned, either.'"
The breath of someone who had consumed the Soul-Severing Intestine-Rupturing Poison carried a distinct, fishy stench. However, three years ago, Banya's corpse had not emitted any foul odor.
"He was probably thrilled that I was dead, but utterly baffled because he couldn't make heads or tails of how it happened."
"...Then do you think the person who sent the anonymous tip also attended your funeral? To confirm the corpse with his own eyes?"
"It's highly likely," Banya said, tilting his head slightly. "Or perhaps not."
Banya added that, more than that, he needed to revisit something she had mentioned earlier. He had wanted to refute it immediately but had held back to let Yeongso finish her story.
"I don't know if you'll believe me... but you said that sixteen days before you killed me, at the beginning of the Hour of the Rat, you overheard a conversation outside my study."
"Yes."
"The day the informant told you to go and see for yourself."
"Yes."
"At the beginning of the Hour of the Rat that night, I was somewhere else entirely."
Yeongso stared intently at her husband. She heard his words and understood them. But understanding what he meant and accepting it were two entirely different things.
"Where... were you?"
"The underground dungeon."
"Why...?"
"Because I had finally captured the bastard who had mortally wounded my master in her youth. That crazy Dokgo Mimi used to curse him in front of me day in and day out. For nearly ten years, she ground her teeth over him."
If they were going to kill Dokgo Mimi, they should have made sure she was dead. Because she survived, she had spent years nagging young Hwa Banya until his ears practically bled. If they didn't have the ability to kill her, they shouldn't have even tried!
"She babbled about it constantly. She'd say, 'If you have even a shred of decency, you'll find that bastard later and beat him to a pulp on your master's behalf.'"
"Then the dungeon guards must have seen you that day."
"Yes."
However, Banya added that they couldn't use them as witnesses. "My memory isn't as precise as yours, but I recall that the guards on duty that night were likely not my men."
They would pledge loyalty to the Renju to his face, but if one dug deep enough, their true master lay elsewhere. This was a common occurrence not just within the Thousand Death Alliance, but also among the Orthodox factions.
"I dismissed even those guards and spent a rather delightful time with the bastard in question. It wasn't until the end of the Hour of the Ox that I came up from the dungeon and went to the main quarters where you were."
The color drained from Yeongso's face. How could I have made such a mistake? Even the one thing she had believed to be the absolute truth was a lie. Yeongso squeezed out a strained, pained voice.
"There is a group called the Muksu Clan. They are quite an eccentric bunch, even within the Orthodox path. One of the techniques passed down only to a select few within that group is..."
"The Voice-Mimicking Technique. A skill that allows one to perfectly imitate another person's voice."
He already knew. Yeongso nodded, her expression stiffening. "They say a master of this technique can mimic different voices and even make them overlap. To someone outside, it sounds like a conversation between two people, even though only one person is speaking inside."
"That means the Orthodox path was involved in my death three years ago." Banya curled up one corner of his mouth. "And of course, there must be bastards within the Unorthodox path who joined hands with them."
He spat out a curse through his teeth. "I think... I have a grasp on how to track them down."
Watching him, Yeongso was struck by how different they were. Yeongso was a deep thinker, always considering every possible variable and preparing an escape route just in case. Banya, on the other hand, possessed an almost animalistic instinct.
He might be straightforward, but he is by no means a foolish man.
Especially now, when he was burning with venomous intent to hunt down his enemies—just look at his expression. Those fiercely glittering eyes. An aura that suggested he would never tire until the moment he unmasked his foe. Yeongso felt she finally understood why people feared Hwa Banya.
"Wife, I would like our dual cultivation tonight to be a bit intense. I need somewhere to vent this raging fire inside me."
Contrary to his wishes, their dual cultivation session proceeded slowly today as well. Yeongso knelt before Banya, who stood leaning against the wall, and gently gripped the base of his twitching shaft. Just as the secret manual instructed, she blocked the slit where a pale droplet was seeping out with her tongue, then slowly took him into her mouth.
First, taking the head into her mouth, Yeongso lightly moved her upper and lower lips to stimulate the sensitive indentation just below the crown. It was her first time learning that this was the most sensitive part of a man's member. Three years ago, Banya had simply forced himself into his struggling wife's mouth, thrusting until her eyes welled with tears. Furthermore, as she drooled and floundered in confusion, he would often make unreasonable demands, telling her to suck harder or to swallow every last drop. Because of this, Yeongso had always found performing this act on him to be nothing but painful.
But today was different.
"I think... the creator of this secret manual... must have harbored a terrible... sadistic streak toward men."
Yeongso worked her lips. The more intensely she tasted the pre-ejaculatory fluid on her tongue, the more she recalled the manual's instruction to seal the slit even tighter. When she applied pressure with her tongue and firmly pressed against the tip, a ragged, breathless gasp escaped Banya's throat.
It was somehow fascinating. It felt as though the reins of control had completely shifted to her.
I was always the one holding back my cries of distress.
Once she felt she had sufficiently stimulated the area below the crown, Yeongso moved on to the next step. Using her tongue, which had been blocking Banya's slit, she began to rub in circular motions. At that, her husband's hips jerked upward. Since the manual stated that such a reaction meant the stimulation was working perfectly, Yeongso relaxed the pressure of her tongue.
Her saliva coated his smooth crown. As her tongue swirled even more softly and slowly, Banya's lower abdomen contracted sharply. The rugged, uneven scars running along his abdominal muscles tightened right before Yeongso's eyes before relaxing back into place.
"Ha..."
Banya reached out toward the back of his kneeling wife's head. He intended to bury his hand in Yeongso's hair, which felt like black silk thread, and force her to take him fully into her mouth. He was trying to revert to his usual habit.
Yeongso gently caught Banya's hand. Then, she guided it back to rest against the wall, just as it had been before.
From far above her head, a strained, impatient chuckle sounded. "Are you forbidding me from even touching your hair now, Wife?"
You weren't trying to touch my hair; you were trying to push down on the back of my head, Yeongso retorted inwardly, focusing her attention back on stimulating his member.
About half a notch of time passed in this manner. Banya threw his head back, letting out a breathless, half-crazed laugh.
"I feel like I'm actually going to die..."
Yeongso, who hadn't heard him clearly due to her intense focus, quickly pulled away. "Does it hurt? Did my teeth graze you?"
"No, keep..." Banya trailed off, laughing again as if utterly dumbfounded by his own state. "I can't even speak properly now."
His focus seemed entirely shattered. His eyes were hazy and unfocused, like those of a man heavily intoxicated by potent liquor.
"Circulating my qi... just as the manual instructed... haaa, I've already... held it back three times."
Realizing that his state was due to forcibly suppressing his climax, Yeongso quietly looked up at her husband. His thick, veiny neck, his tensed jaw, his completely undone expression—his face, flushed with intense pleasure, was incredibly erotic. The realization that Banya's pleasure was entirely at her mercy struck her with a novel, thrilling shock.
Taking him back into her mouth, Yeongso unconsciously placed her hand on Banya's thigh. As her fingertips traced his firm muscles, his shaft twitched inside her mouth. Sliding her palm along his thigh, she slowly reached back and gripped one of his buttocks. Her neat, pale-pink nails dug into his flesh.
"...No more," Banya murmured hoarsely. "I can't."
"..."
"Baekri Yeongso."
"..."
"Stop."
Banya's hips kept twitching. The taste of his pre-ejaculatory fluid grew increasingly potent in her mouth. Yeongso could tell he was at his absolute limit. Having held back his release three times, they were permitted to move on to the next stage. Yet, for some reason, she didn't want to let go.
Had he caught on to her strangely mischievous whim?
Suddenly, Banya gripped her jaw. The eyes looking down at his wife were incredibly dark and deep.
"Wife, do you think I haven't memorized the steps of our training?"