Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 023
Chapter Title: I'll Save You
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"Everyone, get out. From now on, I need complete concentration."
Cheonwi issued the order to the maids, his face flushed and slick with sweat.
"If even a speck of yang energy is injected wrong, the princess could fall into qi deviation. Not even a single ant gets in until I come out."
Clunk.
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, slicing through the silence of the sealed chamber.
The head maid and court physicians, who had been fussing moments ago, had ebbed away like the tide.
Now, only two remained.
Snowflower Princess, trembling atop the bed.
And Cheonwi, the chef gripping his knife to prepare her.
Cheonwi feigned a solemn expression as he stared at the closed door, then slowly turned to gaze at Snowflower.
"Finally, the nuisances are gone."
"......"
"No distractions if we're to focus on the treatment."
Snowflower instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and twisted her legs together, desperately trying to hide her vital spots.
"D-don't... look......"
She mumbled, head bowed low, her voice barely audible.
Her body shook like an aspen leaf, pitiful to behold—but to Cheonwi, she was nothing more than the finest, perfectly prepped ingredient.
The perfect feast.
Cheonwi licked his lips and climbed onto the bed.
The mattress sank deeply beneath him, making Snowflower flinch and shrink back.
Without hesitation, he settled behind her back.
"Covering up blocks the energy flow. Lower your arms."
"But...!"
"Do you want to die?"
A short, blunt threat.
Cheonwi didn't wait for a reply. He seized her arms and pulled them down by force. Her bare back was exposed, defenseless—a thin white string bisecting the line of her spine.
Needs more thawing first.
Cheonwi drew inner energy from his dantian, channeling it into his palms.
Whoosh. Invisible flames enveloped his hands.
He swept his searing palms down the smooth expanse of her back, from top to bottom.
"Haaah...!"
A long moan escaped Snowflower's lips.
Wherever his hands passed, white steam rose as if hot water had been poured over ice.
Color rushed into her pale skin in an instant.
Sizzle.
A shiver raced up her spine, arching her upper body backward until her back pressed against Cheonwi's chest.
"Hnn... So hot... too hot......"
"Endure it. This is drawing out the chill embedded in your bones."
Cheonwi played the part of the physician, never pausing his touch.
Having warmed her entire back, his hands naturally slid along her sides, forward.
Top to bottom, back to front.
"The coldest spot is near your heart."
His palms brushed the sensitive skin inside her underarms, finally grasping her full breasts.
"Hnnngh! N-not there...!"
Snowflower twisted reflexively, trying to escape.
But he'd anticipated it. His legs shot out, binding her lower body tight.
Trapped helplessly in his embrace.
He breathed hot air against her ear and whispered.
"Stay still. This is an acupoint."
"Liar! Ngh... what kind of acupoint is th—hyah!"
Her protest turned to a scream.
Cheonwi's thumb pressed firmly into her nipple, injecting blazing yang energy.
"It's called the Breast Center Acupoint. Vital for igniting the heart's fire energy."
Pure nonsense, of course.
But truth meant nothing to Snowflower now.
The intense heat surging through his thumb melted the frozen milk ducts, delivering a sharp, stinging jolt.
In the void left by the agonizing cold came a flood of unfamiliar, illicit pleasure.
"Ah, anh! Aaaahng!"
Her body bowed like a drawn bow, burrowing into his chest.
Head thrown back, unfocused eyes staring into nothing.
White breath mingled with stifled moans spilling from her lips.
Cheonwi savored her reactions, hands working busily.
Kneading, rubbing, pressing.
The frozen lump thawed beneath his touch, soft as dough.
Good. Upper body's chill is mostly handled.
The first round of stormy treatment ended.
He pulled back his hands and checked her condition.
"Haa... haa..."
Snowflower slumped against his chest, drenched in sweat, panting weakly.
Her pale face was flushed red, lips glistening with saliva. The sensations had overwhelmed her mind.
He gently brushed her damp hair behind her ear and asked tenderly.
"Feeling a bit better now?"
Snowflower looked up at him through hazy eyes—a tangled gaze of shame, relief, and lingering ecstasy.
"......My body's... hot."
"Good. But don't let your guard down yet."
He adopted a grave expression, eyes drifting downward.
His gaze traveled past her navel, over her smooth lower abdomen, to the secret forest below.
"I've extinguished the fire up top, but the most crucial spot remains."
"What... do you...?"
Snowflower shuddered. A dark premonition flickered through her.
"Your lower abdomen. The chill around the womb—source of a woman's essence—is still there. Leave it, and your whole body freezes again. It's only a matter of time."
"Th-that means...?"
"Yes. The next treatment requires injecting deeper."
Realization dawned. Her pupils quaked like an earthquake.
Instinctively, she clamped her thighs together and shook her head.
"No... not that... anything but..."
"Princess."
Cheonwi called her name softly.
His hand rested on the inside of her thigh, the spot that should have been warmest and most intimate. It was ice-cold, like the mouth of a frozen cave.
"Don't you want to live? Stopping here wastes all the pain and humiliation so far."
"......!"
"Choose. Shatter as an ice statue... or surrender everything to me and melt away."
Snowflower bit her lip. Tears welled in her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.
Humiliating. To offer a royal body—even its most private depths—to an eunuch.
But her body remembered the heat of his touch. That fierce, vital warmth.
In the end, survival instinct crushed her final pride.
Shlick.
Tears streaming from shame, Snowflower... slowly parted her rigidly clenched legs herself.
The mattress sank heavily.
Snowflower Princess squeezed her eyes shut, feeling Cheonwi's presence burrow between her legs with her entire body.
Humiliating.
A noble royal's body—an unmarried virgin, no less—laid bare to an eunuch.
But the arrow was nocked.
"Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness."
Cheonwi's voice was excessively polite, but his actions were not.
He gripped her kneeling knees and spread them wider. The porcelain-smooth inner thighs were exposed in stark detail.
"Hnnngh...!"
Snowflower tilted her head aside, swallowing a moan.
The cold air brushing her most secret place felt utterly alien.
Cheonwi couldn't hold back his admiration.
A single snowflower blooming amid northern blizzards. True to her name, her body was snow-white and pristine. The chill poison had its benefits—her skin was taut, poreless, ready to burst at a touch.
Top quality. The bounce alone...
Cheonwi licked his lips and pressed his thumb to the spot behind her knee.
Squeeze.
"Ahh!"
"No whining. We haven't even started."
His thumb applied heavy pressure, slowly tracing up the inner thigh line.
"Hnn, th-there...!"
"Stay still. Opening the Foot Jueyin Liver Meridian now. Blocked liver energy means stagnant blood and a cold body."
Plausible excuse, of course.
The meridian did run along the inner leg, but his movements were blatant caress, not therapy.
Red marks bloomed vividly where his hot thumb passed.
"Ah, nnngh...! Strange... feels weird...!"
"Relax. Tense muscles block the qi."
Cheonwi scolded sternly, pressing harder.
Her thigh flesh dented deeply under his kneading, her hips twisting on their own. The icy flesh quivered faintly in response.
Before long, his hand passed mid-thigh, reaching dangerous heights.
The groin.
The sensitive juncture where leg met torso, lymph nodes clustered.
As his fingers delved into the hollow, her body jerked upward.
"Hyah! N-no...!"
Like a fish hooked on a line.
The first foreign touch there. And so hot, rough, insistent.
"See? Your body responds honestly."
Cheonwi chuckled, rubbing circles inside the groin.
"This must open for the womb to warm. Lymph here's clogged with waste. Empty the trash for fresh energy to flow, right?"
"S-stop... too hot... too much...!"
Snowflower lost her senses.
Heat from his fingertips spread through her veins, igniting her core. Her cold lower belly blazed; sweat beaded on her forehead.
Foreign pressure, heat, and an itching tingle blanked her mind.
But Cheonwi had no intention of stopping.
Now for the main course.
"Now, checking the most vital spot."
His hands slid past the groin, reaching for the tightly shut 'petals'.
"Kyaaah!"
Snowflower screamed, legs snapping shut reflexively.
Treatment or survival be damned—that place was her final line.
"No! Not there! Absolutely not!"
Sobbing, she grabbed his wrist to push away.
But Cheonwi didn't budge. Instead, cold eyes looked down.
"Princess."
Chill laced his low voice, freezing her body.
"Do you think this is a game?"
"But... that place...!"
"The chill's worst here. Feels like a solid ice block."
He easily shook off her wrist and covered her secret spot with his palm.
"Hnnph...!"
"Treat everywhere else, leave this? Your womb fails. You'll be a barren stone woman forever. Want infertility for life?"
"B-barren...?"
Her pupils shook violently.
For a royal woman, barrenness was a death sentence. Useless for political marriage, womanhood ended. Worst curse.
Those words shattered her last defenses.
"N-no... not that..."
Her strength drained away.
Cheonwi seized the moment.
"Then stay still. I'll melt it for you."