One Night of Guilt
"Husband."
"What is it, my dear wife?"
"Why are you spending the night with that palace girl instead of me?"
"You've already given her a nickname. You two must be getting close."
"She calls me rockhead, so it's only fair."
I stroked Lu Ming's silver hair and pulled her into my arms. She nestled against me without a word and offered more.
"The eldest sister is having her monthly time."
"So you've started calling Lady Cai your big sister. That's a good development."
The girl who had once been so broken was adapting faster than I expected. Even now, as she clung to me and heard that I was going to Yuan Jing tonight, she pressed herself closer and asked why it couldn't be her.
"But you have to get me a proper sword in return."
"Fine. I'll find you a good one. Just don't swing it around inside the house."
"I won't."
After thoroughly indulging myself with Lu Ming, I straightened my clothes and made my way to Yuan Jing's chamber. Her bath had ended some time ago and her hair was almost dry, leaving her looking crisp and refreshed.
When I opened the door, the room was already filled with the rich, heady fragrance of countless incense burners. This estate had a clever design; when the bridal chambers were built, the windows had been placed high up purely for ventilation. The walls were so thick that no matter how loudly anyone cried out in pleasure, the sound never carried. I remembered Cao Cao's blunt instruction when we renovated the place: Make the walls of any room shared by man and woman twice as thick. So that was the reason.
Yuan Jing, who had been sitting on the bed, rose immediately and approached.
"You've come?"
"Mm."
The moment I entered she stood before me in a thin, fluttering garment that did nothing to hide the generous sway of her breasts and hips. Then the voluptuous beauty dropped to her knees in complete submission, pressing her forehead to the floor.
Her snow-white skin and the way her bottom rose invitingly in that posture of total surrender made me reach down at once and lift her up. Since our first night I had tried to teach her a few things, but she was still clumsy even at the simplest acts. So I simply held her close, savoring the warmth of her body and the faint, clean scent of soap that clung to her skin after her bath.
Of my three wives, she had the most bountiful figure. No matter when or where I embraced her, her skin felt impossibly soft. Her body seemed to produce almost no natural scent, and the slightest caress would make her drip with sweet nectar. She was a delight to touch and tease.
I cupped her face and claimed her lips. She closed her eyes naturally now, parted her mouth, and offered her tongue. I explored her freely, tasting the cool mint that lingered from her evening rinse. While our tongues tangled, my hands roamed over her body. Each time I stroked her, she would flinch in surprise, her hips trembling.
This time I slid my palms down her back while holding her waist, then lower still until I gripped her generous bottom with both hands.
"Mmph!"
The firm squeeze made her whole body jolt as if electrified; her spine stiffened. When I finally pulled my mouth away, her face was flushed and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She truly was an adorable concubine.
"Up we go."
"Kyaa?!"
I lifted her by the buttocks. Startled, she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist. Carrying her in that position, I walked slowly to the bed and sat down comfortably. Yuan Jing remained straddling me.
Her face burned crimson with embarrassment. I stroked her cheek, then reached beneath the fluttering hem of her robe and yanked the ties of her side-tied undergarment. The thin fabric slipped away easily.
The moment it was gone, I felt scorching heat against my lap.
"Mmm..."
She had been barely contained by that single layer. Her folds were already soaked, slick nectar coating everything. There was no need for further foreplay. I lifted my hips, pushed my trousers down, and positioned myself.
Grasping her bottom, I slowly lowered her onto me in the face-to-face sitting position. Even though she was drenched, her passage was still tight. I had to work my way in inch by inch until I was buried to the root.
"Nngh!"
"Hic... ugh!"
She was still trembling from the stretch. I held her close and kissed her again. Her tongue responded instinctively, wrapping around mine as she clung to me. The pleasure of taking her while seated like this was immense. Yuan Jing rocked her full hips and thick thighs, sending waves of ecstasy through me.
When my hands returned to squeeze her bottom, her inner walls fluttered wildly around me.
"Haah!"
So that was it. Some women reacted even more intensely when their rear was spanked or gripped. Her passage was already clamping down on me almost painfully. I began to thrust harder, bouncing her on my lap.
The wet sounds of our joining filled the room as we moved together. When I felt my climax rising, I pulled her tightly against my chest and released deep inside her, flooding her womb.
"Haa... ah... ngh!"
The moment I filled her, Yuan Jing came as well. A fresh flood of her juices soaked my thighs and the bed. I held her shuddering body for a long time.
"Whew~"
"I can't move..."
My length was still locked inside her. Her legs trembled so badly she couldn't rise to free herself.
"Up you get!"
"Kyaa—"
Using my strength, I lifted her off me and laid her gently on the bed. All the training and battles had turned my body into a weapon; girls like Yuan Jing and Lu Ming could be carried around in one arm without effort.
"Turn over."
"..."
She obediently rolled onto her stomach and lifted her hips high. The rear-entry position meant to please a man was now firmly imprinted in her mind.
Between her pale, generous buttocks, her swollen pink folds glistened. A mixture of her own nectar and my seed trickled down her thighs. The lewd sight was enough to make me hard again instantly.
I gripped her hips once more and pushed my rigid length back inside her. Her passage welcomed me smoothly this time, clinging perfectly. The pleasure was exquisite. As I began to thrust, Yuan Jing clutched the sheets and endured. Soon she was pushing back against me on instinct.
The obscene, wet sounds echoed through the chamber, spurring me on. I took her like a beast in that position. Her greedy, fluttering walls were perfection. She no longer cried out in pain; instead she accepted our union completely and drowned in pleasure alongside me.
"Haa... haa..."
Even at the peak of ecstasy she tried to hide her face. It was endearing. I made a mental note to grab that long hair like a ponytail next time so I could watch every expression as she came undone.
The constant stimulation brought me to the edge again. With one final powerful thrust I filled her a second time. Yuan Jing cried out in climax at the same moment, her voice ringing beautifully.
Afterward I cleaned us both, then lay down comfortably. Yuan Jing, still unskilled with her mouth, used a warm cloth to wipe me before curling into my embrace.
"Jing."
"Yes, husband?"
"I feel bad bringing this up right after... but..."
"?"
In the quiet afterglow, as I stroked her back, I finally spoke the words.
"It looks like I'll be going to war again. Lujiang and Huancheng."
"..."
"There will likely be many difficult things awaiting me there."
"You're going to kill my father, aren't you?"
The once-naive princess had been forced to learn many harsh truths while living in the capital. Her father was the greatest traitor of the age. Under normal circumstances she too would have been executed with the rest of her clan, her head displayed in the market square. Cao Cao had publicly declared, This child is not the daughter of the rebel Yuan Shu, but of the great general Yuan Shao, yet if the remnants of Yuan Shu's faction were completely eradicated, her family would still be doomed.
"I'm sorry."
"Will Mother and my brother... be killed as well?"
"It's possible."
At that, Yuan Jing burrowed deeper into my chest. I felt my robe grow damp where her face pressed against me. She was crying.
"Jing..."
"Are you really going to kill Mother and my brother too?"
After ravishing her so thoroughly, telling her I was about to hunt down and slaughter her family had clearly been a terrible shock. I had come here intending to have this conversation, so I held her gently and tried to comfort her. Even when I tried to lift her face, she kept it buried against me. I continued speaking softly.
"Yuan Shu cannot be spared under any circumstances. But I may be able to save your mother and brother."
"!"
She finally looked up. Her eyes were swollen, her face bright red. Somehow her tear-stained appearance only made her more adorable.
"Yuan Shu must die. But your mother and brother... I can ask my uncle to spare them. They will never be allowed to set foot in the Central Plains again. They will live out their lives in the borderlands, and you will never see them."
"Th-that's fine. As long as they can live."
How could the family of a traitor be spared? It was only possible because of the unique circumstances of this chaotic late-Han era, when warlords divided the land. Yuan Shu had come from the prestigious Yuan clan of the three dukes and four generations of high officials, yet he had dared to declare himself emperor. Normally his entire clan should be exterminated.
Yet in the original history, aside from Yuan Shu himself, his family had survived. Why? Because Yuan Shao in the north was still powerful. No one wanted to risk offending him by slaughtering his half-brother's family, traitor or not. Even after Yuan Shu's death, Liu Bei pursued them, Cao Cao's forces drove them away, and Liu Xun chased them further, but in the end every report simply read escaped by a hair's breadth. No one actually killed them. They fled to the south, where Sun Ce's Eastern Wu not only accepted the family of the fallen traitor but even granted them titles and arranged marriages. The bloodline continued.
"I will take responsibility and make sure your mother and brother survive."
"Thank you. That's enough for me."
Yuan Jing hugged me even tighter. Normally a wife might make such a request after lovemaking and the husband would grant it, but tonight the pillow talk had gone in the opposite direction.