Dragon-Phoenix Gathering (7)
Dragon-Phoenix Gathering (7)
"Now, hold on. What exactly is the relationship between you two?"
Just the two of them standing side by side was already a complicated story, but Im Seo-ryeon cut in with a bewildered expression. Her face was far more expressive than Hong Ye's, and she stared at me with wide eyes. I kneaded Hong Ye's waist as I answered.
"It has been a while, Miss Im Seo-ryeon. This is Yang Hong-ye, who will become my second wife. We have not yet held a formal ceremony, but she is already as good as my wife."
When I called her my wife once more, Hong Ye gave a little shiver. She looked like a dog getting scratched right where it itched. Im Seo-ryeon's round eyes blinked rapidly, and after hesitating for a moment, she gave a dry cough and spoke.
"M-marriage, you say... Your sect hasn't even been properly established yet, and if you carelessly keep adding w-wives in such a haphazard way, you could be inviting great disaster, you know?"
Strangely, a great many people seemed intent on obstructing my marriage plans.
"That does not mean I can simply stand by and watch my wife be harassed. Our second wife has a good heart and sought to live righteously, yet those around her offered no help. How could I call myself a husband if I did not show her as soon as possible that someone will always support her?"
"I-I am so embarrassed."
Hong Ye answered with a reddened face and a shy tone. The way she scratched her cheek and smiled bashfully was so harmonious it made my heart swell.
"No, that... I mean... Marriage ought to be with a wise and... modest woman who supports the household... and is capable... No, I mean... It is not that Miss Hong Ye is not that kind of person, but... I mean... well..."
Im Seo-ryeon tried to speak but failed to complete a single sentence. Her face grew redder, and her breath caught in her throat with every word, so her speech came out in staccato bursts; by the end, even her voice had dwindled to a whisper. Watching this, Zhuge Yeong-yu shook his head back and forth as if he understood something.
I could not know precisely what Yeong-yu was understanding and sympathizing with, but the reason Im Seo-ryeon was acting that way was obvious. When bodies grow close, hearts follow. Since I was a man who had driven his cock into her ass, hearing me talk of marriage was bound to stir up complicated feelings.
I felt an urge to tease her.
"Are you disappointed?"
"Wha—what? I-I-I do not know what you are talking about! Y-you insolent bastard!"
Im Seo-ryeon raised her voice in alarm, but it carried no killing intent. Genuinely flustered, she averted her eyes, and when I kept meeting her gaze without looking away, she spun on her heel and fled the scene as if escaping.
"I-I shall take my leave now!"
She seemed so flustered she could not even make the excuse that she was busy. Watching Im Seo-ryeon's retreating figure, Seon-go asked me a question.
"Is she the third wife?"
"It is too early to speak of such things, Wife."
Before I could answer, Zhuge Yeong-yu stepped in and replied. At those words, Seon-go covered her own mouth, then looked at Hong Ye and said.
"Oh my, I am sorry. I meant nothing else by it."
"It is quite all right."
Zhuge Yeong-yu stroked his chin and looked back at us. Then she spoke.
"Now, Great Hero Docheol, let us return to our lodgings as well. We have looked around here and there, so we ought to shake off the weariness of the journey, should we not?"
"You are quite right."
There were still many places to see, but Seon-go was starting to yawn, and leaving Hong Ye behind while we went sightseeing on our own was not something we should do. I looked at Hong Ye and said.
"Would you like to stop by our lodgings?"
Hong Ye was startled by the question and replied.
"What? Ah, but... your wife is here, how could I...?"
"You are my wife now. Why do you speak that way?"
Seon-go chimed in on my words.
"That is right. Do not worry so and come with us. When else would we get the chance to talk? I have had many things I was curious about as well."
"Ah, w-well then, I am in your care..."
Hong Ye gave a careful greeting and inserted herself between us. Beside me stood Seon-go and Hong Ye, while Yeong-yu was pushed off to one side. After staring at me blankly for a moment, Yeong-yu shook his head as if dusting it off and took the lead.
"Let us go to the lodgings, then."
*****
"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Yang Hong-ye, direct disciple of the Yang Family Taiji Sect. I am of southern barbarian birth, and we met and decided to marry in Sichuan."
Once we returned to the lodgings, there was no time to enjoy the scenery of the room. Zhuge Yeong-yu retired to his own quarters, saying she could not intrude upon a married couple's time to talk, and we sat at the table in the room, partaking in a modest snack of tea and sweets.
Hong Ye gave her self-introduction while fidgeting with her fingers, and Seon-go sat in her chair, beaming broadly. It was a face smiling with pure goodwill, but Hong Ye fretted with excessive worry that Seon-go might be angry, cautiously reading the mood all the while.
"I am pleased to meet you, Miss Hong Ye. No, should I call you second wife now?"
"S-second wife... I-I mean, we have not even married yet..."
"But you are going to, are you not?"
When Seon-go tilted her head and asked, Hong Ye chewed on her lip. She rolled her eyes this way and that, searching for words, but then her face flushed to its limit and she let her head droop low. It was at the point where you could set a kettle on the crown of her head and the water would boil.
"W-well, we are going to, but..."
Hong Ye let her words trail off. Seeing her act so timid was so endearing that it kept giving me the urge to tease her. Seon-go spoke.
"What was it about my husband that you found so good?"
Hong Ye flinched at the question. As she hesitated, unable to find an answer, Seon-go began her story first.
"In my case, I grew up trapped by my father. The reason I could no longer walk was also... because of my father."
Hong Ye's eyes widened at the story that came out of nowhere; she could not react. Seon-go lifted her skirt and revealed her ankle. Seeing the scars, still vivid, Hong Ye covered her mouth with her hand and could not find words.
"My husband rescued me from that. I was fated to be dragged around, unable to do anything, but he changed me. An interesting story, is it not? And beautiful, too?"
Hong Ye looked at me. Her face wore an even more buoyant expression, and her eyes were drenched in rapture.
"I... was adopted into the Yang Family Taiji Sect and grew up doing nothing but training. I worked hard, but no one acknowledged me, and there was no one who truly tried to understand me."
She reached out her hand. She laid her own hand atop my rough one, then wrapped around it softly, like a Taijiquan stance. Before I knew it, our fingers were interlaced, her hand twisting around mine, rubbing palms together as if a man and woman were coupling, pressing down and engulfing me.
"He recognized me, and he loved me. I thought that alone was reason enough to spend a lifetime together."
"Right? My husband is wonderful, is he not?"
Seon-go said with a smile. Hong Ye radiated an amiable warmth as well.
"The pride of Shaolin! Mu-jeong! Good luck at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering!"
In the brief moment where silence seeped in, noise from another room filtered through the building's walls. It seemed there were Shaolin Temple disciples staying at this inn as well. Seon-go glanced toward the next room and said.
"Since it is the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, there truly are a great many people, are there not? I had hoped the next room might be empty, so we could have used two rooms. Miss Hong Ye, which inn are you staying at?"
As if having regained her composure after hearing the noise, Hong Ye's face settled once more. She wore the same expression she had when training with me as she spoke.
"I am staying at the inn at the end of this alley. Those who accompanied me for training are here as well, and they are going to pester me with questions a bit... later on."
Ah, so it was not that she had regained her cool—it was the face of someone growing irritated, thinking about being hounded with annoying questions. If I were in their place, and a sect member suddenly announced they were marrying someone from another sect without my knowledge, I would likely shower them with questions at once, too. Seon-go showed a regretful look at those words and said.
"Ah, so you will be going back soon, then? That is a shame..."
"No. Today is not the day of the tournament itself, and there is no special schedule leading up to the day of the talks, so it is all right to be a little leisurely. Though, of course... I say that only if it is truly all right... You have come on such a long journey... And it would be a bit awkward for me to keep lingering in the room like this..."
Even as she spoke, Hong Ye's voice crept downward. Seon-go's eyes, meanwhile, were sparkling as she tapped the table with her hands—tuk, tuk. She tapped her hands as though accompanying an orchestra from the middle of the ensemble, then lowered her voice and said.
"Excuse me, second wife. I have one request, as the first wife. Could you grant it?"
"A-a request? Wh-what is it?"
Hong Ye straightened her back in embarrassment. Sitting stiff and upright, she looked down at Seon-go and gulped audibly. Seon-go ran her eyes over Hong Ye's full breasts and solid arms, then shifted her gaze to the bed. Following Seon-go's gaze, Hong Ye's face, after seeing the bed, flushed even redder.
I looked at Seon-go, too.
'No way.'
'Really?'
'It has not even been half a day since we met?'
With her face flushed, Seon-go interlaced her fingers and smiled. She panted with a lewd breath, then pressed her chest against the table and looked up at Hong Ye.
"Would you like to do it with my husband before you go?"
Well, this is a good thing for me.