Changes (8)
Time flowed steadily on after the sparring match between Zhang Fei and Ma Chao — the one that had left such a deep impression on me.
Nothing in particular happened as it flowed. Ma Chao kept a stubborn silence about whatever favor she meant to ask, and perhaps because of the cold weather, none of the rival powers were moving with any real energy either.
Truly, a stretch of time drifting by in perfect calm.
"General-in-Chief, I happen to have an excellent wine on hand today. Won't you share a cup with me?"
...Then perhaps "perfect calm" is carrying it a little far.
"...If you want it that badly, I suppose I have no choice."
"Thank you."
I had been gauging what hour of the day it was; when I answered in the affirmative, Liu Bei smiled and offered a courteous bow.
I knew perfectly well what intent lay behind the Peach Sisters coming to call at such a secluded hour.
They wished to share my bed again, as they had before — what else could it be?
Frankly, it flustered me, but we had already crossed that line together; there was nothing left to be coy about.
Before the drinking began in earnest, I made a point of saying one thing — a word of caution offered with care.
"Ah — Guan Yu is not to drink."
"...?"
At my words, Guan Yu tilted her head in obvious puzzlement.
Every time I saw this, it exposed how thin her medical knowledge was.
And it was not Guan Yu's failing alone — it was a problem with the ancient era itself. No, truly: things so elementary I wanted to ask, you don't know this? went right over their heads.
Needless to say, the less schooling one's class had received, the worse it got.
So I spoke to Guan Yu — a woman who grasped the art of commanding men with uncanny brilliance, yet lacked the most basic medical knowledge.
"Alcohol is bad for the baby."
"......"
A single sentence was more than enough to win her over.
Watching her sit in silence, I continued in a playful voice.
"If you truly wished to make the child suffer, I could hardly stop you, I suppose."
"...How could I ever harbor such a thought?"
Though my teasing put her in an awkward spot, Guan Yu answered with perfect courtesy.
"The drinking ban you have laid upon me, my lord — I shall observe it come what may."
"Good."
No one in this world matched Guan Yu when it came to a sense of duty, so she would never dream of breaking an order behind my back.
Still, hearing it called a "drinking ban" did leave me with a slightly odd feeling.
Somehow it made me picture myself being struck from behind by my own subordinates and hauled away in chains from head to toe.
"Whaaat?? Carrying a child means no drinking?? Your kidding, right?!"
Just then, a familiar voice reached my ears.
Among the sworn sisters of the Oath of the Peach Garden, exactly one person could be counted on to say such a thing.
"This trial comes far too suddenly for me..."
Zhang Fei Yide.
Thanks to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, she was the first name that sprang to mind whenever anyone said drunkard — and now that storied tippler looked utterly stricken.
Watching her, I murmured offhandedly.
"I see. If I rank lower than liquor, then there is nothing to be done."
"...Huh?"
"It is only natural that every person values things differently. Who am I to argue with that?"
The instant the words left my mouth, Zhang Fei's pupils began to tremble violently.
Like an earthquake had struck her. I wondered what magnitude that would register.
Of course, my speech did not end there.
"Even so, I would rather not see danger come to an innocent life. How about you keep at least some distance from the cup?"
I said it in jest, but on this one point I was entirely serious.
The harm alcohol does to an unborn child was more than two hands could count.
Raising a child is a matter that demands tremendous responsibility.
And could someone who cannot resist a moment's temptation — someone whose hand drifts toward the bottle — truly make a good guardian?
...At the very least, I did not think so.
Having dredged up a useless old memory for a moment, I gave a short laugh and spoke.
"Do let me know once you've steeled yourself for it, later on."
"I-it's just that it'll be hard! Who said I can't quit?!"
Zhang Fei bellowed back at my remark, and I answered.
"'Just one cup, then' — I won't allow even that sort of compromise."
"Uuuuugh...!"
"Can you truly stake everything you have on keeping this vow?"
When I asked with grave solemnity, Zhang Fei deliberated a moment before answering with her chest thrust out.
"Yeah! Just trust me!"
"...If you insist."
Honestly, I didn't place much faith in her — but I did trust Liu Bei and Guan Yu, who would be at Zhang Fei's side at all times.
The sworn siblings of the Peach Garden Oath were said to be so close they slept in the same room.
Things here would be no different, so the instant Zhang Fei tried anything funny, a knuckle would be waiting for her skull.
Having confirmed that something shifted slightly in the eyes of Liu Bei and Guan Yu, I opened my mouth at once.
"The preamble has run long. Let us enjoy ourselves."
"Gladly."
The moment permission left my lips, Diaochan, who had been observing nearby, signaled the attendants to bring wine and food.
Liu Bei poured my cup with a serene smile, while Zhang Fei began dumping liquor straight into her stomach like a condemned man savoring his final meal.
As for Guan Yu, she did not so much as glance at the wine, having received my warning.
Her constant forays into the sweet dishes, I supposed, were also a change from her usual self.
I'd heard that while morning sickness takes many forms, the most common symptom by far was a surge of appetite.
Nausea supposedly settled while one was eating something, so many women went around with something perpetually in their mouths.
Hence one of the classic preventive measures: eat smaller portions at a sitting, and add more mealtimes.
Seo Yeo and Lü Bu were practicing exactly that method right now.
Every time I watched them nibbling away at something, hamsters came to mind — altogether adorable.
"So like I was sayin'... if I put my mind to it, that Ma Chao brat, I'd just— crunch..."
"Is that so."
"I get the feeling you're not really listeniiing..."
I humored the slurred complaints of Zhang Fei, who had gone and gotten herself drunk mid-rant.
"Have some of this too."
"Th-thank you."
"What are you doing? Once you're carrying a child, you must eat plenty."
When I looked after her a little, Guan Yu flushed red and turned bashful.
"......"
Liu Bei watched the scene and said nothing, only smiling calmly.
Was this what they called the poise of the eldest sister?
And so night fell completely, and around the time the moon climbed to the very crown of the sky, Zhang Fei latched onto me.
"Sooo... when does the real thing staaart?"
"......"
"You knooow roughly why we came, don't you..."
A fully grown woman clinging to my waist and acting spoiled — for an instant, I was thrown.
"...You're being rather bold."
"We have little choice."
Reading my reaction, Liu Bei continued in a quiet voice.
"Before we fall any further behind, ought we not try all the harder?"
"......"
"We're rather pressed ourselves, you see."
Having said that much, Liu Bei flashed a winsome smile.
"Ah — though of course, Yunchang is enjoying a very leisurely pace."
"...Lady Xuande."
Liu Bei's sudden attack left Guan Yu with a flustered expression.
So she had been carrying that around inside her quite a while.
It seemed to be the price of leaving her sworn sisters behind and running ahead alone.
"General-in-Chief — the mood is well and truly warmed now. Shall we... ease into it?"
For Liu Bei, showing off that beautiful smile as she said it, I had exactly one answer.
"...Very well. Let us see how much has changed since last time."
"My, how thrilling."
Liu Bei and I smiled at one another, face to face.
To give the result first: in the end, I won.
With Guan Yu I went gently, her pregnancy taken into account — but with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, the moment they lost consciousness I brought them back around by force and carried on regardless.
They had come asking me to put a child in them, so answering that call was only proper duty, no?
Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were generals who ran battlefields in person, so even under my full assault they recovered at a remarkable clip.
Guan Yu, who had clung to consciousness by the barest thread, could only tremble as she watched her sworn sisters dying gloriously atop the blankets.
The man who struck terror into the fearless Match for Ten Thousand — that was me.
...This is a good thing, right?
Oh, and the Liu Bei sisters still smelled of peaches.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it was. How did a human body give off a scent like that?
It was likely a riddle that would never be solved, this life or any other.
"General-in-Chief, won't you spend some time with us again today?"
In any case, ever since that incident, the peach sisters would come looking for me whenever they had a spare hour and press a shared drink upon me — the kind where you sit face to face and raise your cups together.
"...You mean right now?"
"Yes."
At the secluded hour when the sun had grown drowsy and sunk low, naturally.
I chuckled.
"Then we have no need of wine at all. Follow me."
At my brazen front, Zhang Fei made a face of genuine admiration.
"Wooow... at night he really is a different person."
"Yide, mind your tongue."
At Guan Yu's warning to mind her manners, Zhang Fei merely shrugged.
"He works us that hard between the sheets — isn't this much fair game?"
"......"
"And Yunchang, sis, if you keep acting so stiff, even the little charm you've got will end up all gone to— EEK!"
Truly, a conversation no different from any other day.
Leaving behind the sight of Zhang Fei receiving her comeuppance for teasing Guan Yu, I set my feet in motion.