The Fox's Bath
“No, wait! I can go by myself! Put me down! Please!”
Yeo-won held back from saying “Hey,” but that didn’t change the situation.
“How could someone who cannot even stand on her own possibly find her way? Be still.”
He glanced down at the struggling Yeo-won with clear annoyance, then seized both her hands. Her two wrists were completely trapped in one of Shin-wol’s hands. That alone was enough to make her go docile, as if she had forgotten how to move.
But her sudden obedience wasn’t only because she was restrained. She blinked her large eyes and looked around again, unable to believe what she was seeing.
A dark corridor. Slightly chilly air. It was a sight she could never forget, even though only a few days had passed.
This was Myoilgung. More precisely, it was Shin-wol’s personal quarters.
She had no idea how things had come to this. Yeo-won stared at Shin-wol with a dazed expression.
The moment he had said, “You need to wash,” he had snapped his fingers. Countless teal-colored lights had flooded her vision before gently scattering apart.
When she opened her eyes again, instead of gray asphalt, she saw latticed sliding doors.
She was in Shin-wol’s room—more precisely, on top of his bedding.
The blanket beneath her felt damp. When she looked down, she realized the moisture from her clothes had soaked straight into the cotton.
Startled, Yeo-won scrambled off the bedding and checked herself over.
Her clothes were completely drenched, clinging to every inch of her body, and water dripped steadily from her hair.
On top of that, sticky remnants of a ghost still clung to her face. If anyone saw her like this, they would have every right to mistake her for a ghost.
Yeo-won swept her soaking hair back and opened her mouth toward Shin-wol.
“Um… I’d like to wash first.”
Shin-wol gazed at the drenched Yeo-won in silence. Perhaps because of the darkness, his expression was hard to read. He answered in a flat voice.
“Do as you wish.”
“Then could you tell me where the bathroom… whoa!”
Suddenly Shin-wol approached, scooped her up, and strode out of the room without hesitation. Yeo-won, her face drained of color, shouted for him to put her down, but he didn’t listen at all. And that was how she had ended up in this predicament.
While she was still reeling, retracing the situation in stunned silence, Shin-wol stopped. They must have arrived.
He opened the door without the slightest hesitation. Behind the unmarked door was what appeared to be a changing room.
Before she could even look around, he carried her deeper inside and opened another door. Steam that had been trapped within rose like mist, blurring her vision.
When the steam cleared, a massive bathroom was revealed. Its enormous size was enough to make her shrink back instinctively; Yeo-won’s mouth fell open.
Unlike the rest of the palace, the bathroom was unusually bright.
“What kind of bathroom…”
In the center was a bath so large it filled the entire space. Pink petals that looked like apricot blossoms floated gently across its surface.
When she looked to the side, one entire wall was made of glass, opening onto a small garden with an apricot tree.
It was smaller than the tree in front of Shin-wol’s room, but still a splendid specimen. Its fully bloomed apricot flowers rode the breeze into the bath, drifting lazily across the water.
Yeo-won, momentarily lost in the beautiful sight, shook her head vigorously and scolded herself.
This is no time to admire the scenery!
She looked up at Shin-wol and spoke cautiously.
“Thank you for bringing me here, but you can put me down now…”
[…….]
Shin-wol looked down at her. The golden irises that met hers darkened deeply, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved upward. A sense of foreboding washed over her.
Seeing that ominous smile, Yeo-won unconsciously clutched the front of his robes and shook her head frantically.
“Wait, no? This isn’t…!”
Splash.
A huge wave surged across the surface of the water.
This crazy bastard!
Her vision dropped in an instant, and she plunged straight into the water. Yeo-won flailed at the surface before pushing off the bottom and standing up.
Coughing and sputtering, she finally caught her breath and roughly wiped her face.
“What the hell was that for?”
When she glared at him with wide eyes, he smiled and leaned down.
“You asked to be put down, so I put you down.”
“No, you didn’t put me down—you threw me!”
Yeo-won raised her voice, fuming. Shin-wol, who had been staring intently at her anger, let his eyes cool and darken.
“I thought you did not wish to touch me, so I let you go—yet now you are angry with me.”
“What?”
Yeo-won’s eyes widened. For a moment she was stunned, as if she had been hit on the back of the head. Did not wish to touch him? After being carried all the way here in his arms, what was he even talking about? She thought back carefully and suddenly remembered how she had avoided his hand earlier.
At first she thought it couldn’t be, but when she saw Shin-wol’s smile disappear, she let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Are you seriously acting like this just because I avoided your hand earlier?”
She had thought it couldn’t be. Especially not from someone who wasn’t even human. She had assumed he wouldn’t be so childish.
She thought he might mock her for being ridiculous, but Shin-wol slightly lifted his chin and asked in a displeased tone.
“Then tell me. Why did you avoid it?”
“……”
She was at a loss for words. If she admitted that he was sulking because she had dodged his hand once, she wouldn’t know what to say next.
But she couldn’t tell him the truth either.
I had a dream where you brutally killed people. It seemed like it was from the past, but I’m not sure. How could she possibly say that? Instead of answering, Yeo-won let out a small sigh and swept her wet hair back.
“…I was just startled. It didn’t mean anything.”
At her answer, a strange light flickered in his eyes. Those sharp, piercing eyes gleamed coldly as he tilted his head. A short silence fell. His expression was unreadable, but the absence of his usual smile was enough to make anyone watching feel tense.
He quietly stared at her, then reached out once more.
She saw his hand slowly approaching, but this time she didn’t avoid it. His long thumb slowly stroked her cheek. When his finger pressed firmly on the wound on her cheekbone, Yeo-won flinched.
The stinging pain made her want to pull away immediately, but she stubbornly endured his touch.
Some instinct told her that if she avoided him now, there would be no turning back.
How much time passed? Only after a long while did his fingers finally leave her cheek.
“Your courage is admirable, so I shall overlook it this once.”
Remnants of the ghost from earlier clung to his fingers. A teal light settled over them, and the residue vanished without a trace.
“There will not be a second time.”
When that sharp, snare-like gaze finally withdrew, Yeo-won let out the breath she had been holding. The bath was so hot that she felt slightly dizzy. When she pressed the back of her hand to her face, it was burning.
She seemed to have gotten past the immediate crisis, and no matter what, she wanted to wash.
What on earth was he doing in the bathroom with her?
Come to think of it, she had nothing to change into after washing. Her clothes were completely soaked and couldn’t be worn again until they dried.
She was wondering if she should borrow something from Shin-wol when she noticed something strange.
It seemed like the conversation was over, yet Shin-wol showed no sign of leaving. Watching him rub his thumb and index finger together, Yeo-won spoke carefully.
“Aren’t you going to leave?”
He only moved his eyes to look at her.
“I really want to wash now…”
“Then wash.”
“That’s why I’m asking you to leave.”
“Why?”
Yeo-won bit her lip hard as another wave of dizziness hit her. Was he doing this on purpose?
“Are you still angry?”
When she asked, just in case, Shin-wol simply stared at her without answering. The atmosphere seemed softer than before, so he didn’t appear angry. If it had been any other time, she might have tried to guess what he was thinking, but she was too tired and strangely dizzy to manage even that.
“I feel really gross and I want to wash. I fell earlier and got dirty. I’ll leave quickly, so could you wait outside for just a moment?”
Yeo-won practically begged him. He should understand by now.
“Dirty, you say…”
He murmured. He looked down at his own hand as if thinking, then rubbed his index finger with his thumb. She had wondered why he kept doing that. Maybe he was bothered by the ghost residue that had been on his hand.
If that was the case, she hoped he would wash his hands and leave. She waited quietly for his answer, desperately wanting him to go, when he suddenly smiled.
“Yes, I suppose I should wash as well, since something filthy has touched me.”
“Yes, yes… wait, what?”
He suddenly stood up. Instead of his face, Yeo-won’s vision was filled with his feet. Something fell with a soft thud at his feet.
It was the outer robe Shin-wol had been wearing. Then, one by one, the rest of his clothes dropped on top with the same soft sound.
While she stared blankly ahead, his feet moved.
From the side came the sound of water, gentler than before, and the surface rippled violently.
Yeo-won’s face grew paler and paler as she looked to the side, as if refusing to accept reality. Shin-wol was leaning against the edge of the bath, smiling seductively as he reached out a hand.
“I shall undress you as well, so come here.”