Wedding Rites (10) — The Bath Attendant
When you hear the words bath attendance, what usually comes to mind?
Pouring water, lathering soap, drying off after. That sort of thing.
Yes. Exactly that.
"Mmm…."
Legend has it that a certain Empress of China would handpick four maids of exceptional skill and impeccable manners and frequently enjoy her baths attended by them. I don't know why, but what stuck in my memory was that she favored rose-scented bathing supplies.
"Nnh…."
Just to be clear — she really only took baths.
An emperor who relieves a bit of sexual appetite while bathing is a rare breed, after all.
Well, it's not like I can remember every emperor in Chinese history, so maybe it was more common than I'd guess. Who knows.
The emperors I do know of might not have kept records, but that doesn't mean they never indulged.
"Haah…."
So what I'm trying to say is… ah….
What was it again?
The moment I tried to wrench my attention away from the provocative scene before me, my body froze solid before I could even finish the stray thought.
White legs without a single blemish to be found.
I stared for a moment at that jade-like, luminous skin before my hand slid slowly down along it.
"Hyut…?!"
…What did I just do?
The instant I tried to focus on the Emperor, some possessed impulse made me stroke her in the most inappropriate way possible.
And this is why I shouldn't be letting my mind wander.
It may sound irreverent, but His Majesty the Emperor seemed extraordinarily sensitive.
All I did was rub a freshly bathed leg.
Yet even that was apparently stimulation enough — the Emperor shuddered violently, and for reasons beyond my comprehension, the robes that had draped that body were already half in disarray.
Having flinched once, the Emperor deliberately summoned a voice of lazy composure.
"You cannot have finished washing, and already you harbor such intentions?"
"The stimulation is a bit much for me, Your Majesty."
That little sweep of the hand had been instinct outrunning reason, pure and simple.
I've mentioned this before, but men are terribly susceptible to visual stimulation.
When a slight tilt of the head brings a woman's most intimate place directly into view, how is anyone supposed to keep a cool head?
And if that woman happened to be beautiful enough to warrant a second look even dressed as a man — with a flawless figure to match — well.
Even now I could feel a heat rising in my chest.
My lower half, precariously veiled by a single towel, was beginning to stir as if to say isn't this more than enough?
And yes, I did consider simply giving in to instinct and pouncing.
Given the feelings the Emperor had come to hold for me, such behavior would surely have been welcomed.
But I could tell.
Like savoring the moment before a good meal — a little more patience, a little more waiting, and the time to come would be all the more satisfying.
That much was pure gut feeling.
"…Hmm."
Hearing my answer, the Emperor gave me a slow once-over.
That gaze traveled from top to bottom, unhurried — and the moment it reached my lower half, the Emperor spoke.
"Making your lord wait so long. What a wicked thing to do."
"Your Majesty?"
With that, the Emperor sank deeper into the bath and beckoned to me, slowly.
The hot water in the tub carried a faint, pleasant fragrance for some reason. Probably fruit or herbs steeped in for their cleansing properties.
"Come here. I've had a rather good idea."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Evidently intending to be done washing and out of here as quickly as possible, I settled into place beside the Emperor without a second thought — and the moment His Majesty confirmed I was seated, he moved.
"…?!"
Watching that action, I had no choice but to widen my eyes in shock.
Naturally. Those slender, soft fingers had just closed around what lay hidden beneath my towel.
When I looked over in flustered confusion, the Emperor wore an expression of pure allure.
"I had my expectations, but… what a truly impressive specimen."
Having murmured that, the Emperor slowly climbed up onto my lap.
Straddling me as he was, I asked my question.
"Your Majesty, you don't mean to… here…."
"Hoho. Not that."
Still holding me, the Emperor drew his hand up and down — very, very slowly.
With external stimulation applied, my lower half, which I'd been struggling to keep calm, revealed its full grandeur as if it had only been waiting for this.
Flushed, the Emperor murmured in a low voice.
"If we moved at the same pace as before, wouldn't the water go entirely cold?"
He had a point.
Who ever heard of a boiler in an age like this? These days, bathing meant water heated in advance. If you couldn't be bothered, you washed in cold water. That was simply the era.
Then the Emperor favored me with a look of burning warmth.
"I merely… wish to wash the places you find difficult to reach."
"…."
"So tell me, Hwahyeon — can you make clean the place my hand cannot touch?"
And even as the Emperor said this, that hand never stopped moving.
Logic that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Then again, maybe that was the fun of it — that despite the nonsense, I knew exactly what the Emperor wanted.
Just as His Majesty had done earlier, I let out a small chuckle.
"Then this flimsy garment is in the way, isn't it."
"Hyut?!"
The thin robe that had been hanging on by a thread upon the Emperor's body was gone in an instant.
A supple line running from hip to breast. The flat plane of the stomach, the little navel making its adorable claim for attention. And even a perfectly shaped chest, usually hidden beneath the imperial dragon robes and rarely glimpsed.
After one long sweep across that feast of bare skin, I buried my face into the nape of the Emperor's neck.
If I had one regret, it was that the lower half submerged in the bath water showed only as a blur.
The Emperor's voice came out startled.
"You're… quite, quite forward, aren't you."
"Isn't this what you were after?"
"Do not tease me…."
So even His Majesty got flustered when it actually came down to it. I teased the slightly deflated Emperor playfully.
"Then I'll start moving."
"Hng—?!"
The moment both my hands reached out and seized that rear, the Emperor's whole body jumped.
Paying the reaction no mind whatsoever, I kept my hands going.
The Emperor's moon-round backside was overflowing with elasticity — and honestly, it didn't lag far behind women who exercised religiously.
"You're in fine health, Your Majesty. Do you exercise?"
"I— I do. When the palace gates close, in what moments I can spare, I… hyaht!"
I nodded with satisfaction.
There had been a time when the Emperor seemed somewhat frail — perhaps the residue of old heartache. The anxiety that flared whenever I wasn't at hand was one symptom. That willowy frame, so slight it seemed a single gust could carry it off, was another.
Worried, I had whispered to him day after day, drilling it in like brainwashing that I would have to look after his health for him — and the Emperor, who could only blush and nod at my words, had apparently taken up exercise as well.
"Splendid. Then I ought to reward you."
"What is that supposed to mean…?"
The Emperor looked at me with the faintest tremor in those eyes. I smiled.
"You'll see."
"You— you've become an entirely different person all of a sudden… hyaang?!"
For the first time, the Emperor let out a moan wholly at odds with his dignified character.
While my fingers gently stroked the hidden cleft between those legs, I took a nipple into my mouth.
"Why would you put a breast in your mouth…? That is where a child is fed…?!"
The Emperor was stammering along in bewilderment when my tongue grazed the tip — and he could offer no resistance at all, simply trembling from head to toe.
What is this — his sexual knowledge has a few odd gaps, doesn't it. He'd reached for my crotch with such confidence, I'd assumed he knew everything there was to know.
"Th— that's strange…. I was told quite clearly that one loves being stroked down there by hand?"
Ah. So he received his sex education verbally — face to face.
It's not that he was wrong.
Not wrong at all, but….
Collapsing from this much stimulation would be a bit much. My lower half, seasoned by more women than I can count, was not so easily undone.
I could feel the Emperor's breathing growing ragged, and I resolved to bring things to a close. Now, let's see….
Ah — there it is.
Concentrating on the sensation at my fingertips, I laid a finger upon the little bud that had shyly emerged from within that cleft.
"Hngh?!"
"…."
"W— wait just a moment. Something about this feels… strange."
Sensing some dire premonition, the Emperor spoke up in haste.
I lifted my mouth from his chest.
"Your Majesty. It's quite all right."
"Mmnh…?"
"Because that's how it's supposed to be."
One of the greatest pleasure centers a woman possesses is precisely this — the clitoris.
In the modern age, that name would have been the more familiar one.
I applied stimulation at a measured pace — neither too fast nor too slow — and:
"Ah— aahh, ahh───?!"
At a sensation he had never once known in his life, the Emperor clung to me with all his strength and broke apart, cresting the peak.
In the moment the bathwater rippled and swayed—
I whispered to the Emperor, whose body had gone slack against mine.
"The water's gone cold. I suppose this is where bath time ends."
"…."
"Shall we return to the bridal chamber, then?"
"…."
Saying nothing at all, the Emperor slowly nodded his head.