139. Duanmu Clan (2)
Duanmu Clan (2)
139. Duanmu Clan (2)
I was now blessed beyond my worth with three fiancées, but women had been part of my life for less than a single year. I could hardly claim to understand a woman's heart. Even so, even I could tell that a trace of sexual delight had appeared on Lee Eun-ha's face.
"[We left off earlier, didn't we? I think my inclinations are probably very similar to those of Seungdeok Manor's Junior Manor Head Peng Gang. Would Junior Brother still accept a woman like me as his wife?]"
Without warning, she switched to Joseon speech and dropped a terrible name that should never have been spoken. G... good god. Of all the countless, myriad fetishes under heaven, why did that bastard's netorare fetish have to come out of Lee Eun-ha's mouth? I really could accommodate pretty much any bizarre fetish. I'd gone along with Jeong-hyang's gangbang fetish and her anal preferences. I'd more than gotten used to Son Yeong, whose one-of-a-kind-under-heaven fetish was reaching enlightenment by babbling to herself mid-sex. Ever since the Red Flower Pavilion, I'd even learned to roll with it and accommodate Master, who had a gangbang fetish—being taken in every hole at once by disciples including me.
But an NTR fetish?!! My mind reeled. Was that really possible? Her, losing herself in absolute rapture in another man's arms. Honestly, wouldn't cutting off the Demonic Cult leader's head be a hell of a lot easier than accepting this?
"[Come to think of it, ever since I was little, I listened in on the married women talking about their nights and imitated masturbation. Lately I've masturbated while imagining you embracing Master and our Senior Sisters. It's embarrassing, but this is the kind of woman I am. When the Junior Brother I adore embraces another woman, my body grows unbearably hot.]"
Lee Eun-ha's continuing confession snapped me back to my senses, as if I'd had cold water dashed over me. Ah... right. Peng Gang didn't get off on holding other women himself—he liked watching his own wife in another man's arms. Damn it. The genders were reversed, so I'd mixed it up for a second. Peng Gang. That bastard's name coming up must have rattled my brain. What Lee Eun-ha wanted was not Hong Seon-hwa's position—it was Peng Gang's.
The way she'd been listening to my romantic history, quietly getting worked up past enjoyment into real excitement ever since we started—that was her fetish. Which was why even now, she was looking at me with her eyes shining with a racing excitement and telling me to take Gahong. Master and Jeong-hyang also wished for their man to savor the pleasures of holding other women. Lee Eun-ha, though, was different in that she derived sexual excitement from it. That was still a messed-up enough fetish, but compared to the image that had flickered through my head moments ago—her pinned under another man—this truly was nothing.
Shame. Anticipation. Anxiety. And a faint excitement that barely showed. Several tangled emotions were painted plainly across her expressive face. The others didn't matter, but anxiety was something I couldn't let her feel. My trauma from being tormented by Murong Rin made the idea of being sold for money to a prestigious-clan woman somewhat repellent, but if this was what satisfied Lee Eun-ha, I had to do at least this much. She was worth bringing into my embrace even at that cost.
"[I told you. I can accommodate anything. I'll show you how the man Senior Sister chose handles a woman.]"
Her expression brightened radiantly at my answer, which carried a touch of bravado. This was enough. Come to think of it, she was the easiest. I was somewhat inclined toward sadism, but since the target had been Master, I'd felt a bit of resistance, and violating a perfect beauty's anus had also come with resistance. But from the start, I never had anything like single-hearted, steadfast fidelity. In the past, when I'd agonized between Master and Jeong-hyang, the person who'd advised me to pick both was none other than her.
"Hey. Don't talk in Joseon speech where only the two of you understand. Let me in on the conversation too."
Gahong spoke with a coquettish laugh. She naturally sat me and Lee Eun-ha down on either side of her and served food onto our plates. It was a somewhat rare sight for a daughter of a prestigious house, but the action was so natural that we picked up our chopsticks without realizing it.
"My, look at your skin, both of you. I've heard that northern people have fair, fine skin—I'm just a little envious of Liaoning. The sunshine in Jiangsu is so harsh."
With light, careful touches she stroked my forearm and then Lee Eun-ha's cheek, talking away happily.
"Not everyone's like that. Not everyone who lives in Jiangsu is wealthy, you know."
Lee Eun-ha, who normally recoiled at Jeong-hyang's touch, was oddly smiling naturally under Gahong's touch as she answered.
"Even if not everyone is, you two have fair skin, and your main families are truly rich, aren't they?"
Gahong said it with a bright, unclouded smile. This wasn't mere boastfulness. Jiangsu was the land originally made the capital at the founding of the Ming Dynasty. It held the greatest plains in the Central Plains—a region that, in an agrarian society, produced rice with cheat-level abundance. Behind Fuchai, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period, and behind Sun Quan, who became emperor, lay that cheat-grade land. So in the Central Plains, when people thought of someone from Jiangsu, the perception that they were wealthy was incredibly strong. And in reality, although the Duanmu Clan's martial arts were nothing special, their financial power alone made them a truly rich sect that even the Murong or Peng Clans couldn't match.
"Since you two are from Liaoning, have you ever been to the Murong Clan?"
"Since Junior Brother is an outstanding Taoist, he has presided over Murong rites. I haven't visited yet, but I have met the Murong Clan Head. He was a much more benevolent man than I expected."
Huh? Murong Hyeok-jung, benevolent? No, Senior Sister. That was because that old man was coveting you, the perfect talent.
"He's a man who dotes on his grandchildren enormously. So when he sees young women, he's terribly fond of them."
Indeed, between prestigious clans, there was an intimate exchange of information that we were not privy to. She knew Murong Hyeok-jung—a man hard for an ordinary martial artist even to meet—in more detail than I'd expected.
"The Peng Clan Head, who is an old friend of the Murong Clan Head, also adores granddaughters, but the Peng Clan Head hasn't had one yet. So he dotes on Hero Peng Seok's granddaughter as if she were a treasure more precious than gold or jade. She really is an incredibly cute child, actually."
Peng So really was cute. Still, I thought Cho-ryeong was cuter. When I came to my senses, I realized I had unconsciously melted into her gentle atmosphere. Every time the plates in front of us emptied, Gahong served more food so naturally that not even Lee Eun-ha, let alone me, could notice. This was truly not the behavior of someone from the wealthiest family under heaven.
"Madam. I'll serve myself."
Lee Eun-ha, who was always looking after others, seemed uncomfortable even under Gahong's care, and she spoke up, flustered. Gahong, though, smiled a warm smile and spoke cheerfully.
"Just watching two such adorable people eat lifts my spirits completely. Since I'm raising a child myself, don't feel uncomfortable—just chew well and eat plenty."
As I'd suspected, she wasn't just a widow; she was a widow with a child. By now, I didn't particularly resent that. Do-hwa had also been a widow with a child.
"You had a child? You don't look it at all."
Lee Eun-ha was far more surprised than I was. Then again, Lee Eun-ha herself was a martial artist, so if she were an ordinary civilian, she'd be old enough to have a child...
"Of course! A son and a daughter. Such very, very beautiful children. But talking about my children is a little embarrassing. Since I'm about to join bodies with this young hero right now."
I understood then why she'd kept her surname secret at first. She wasn't a daughter of the Duanmu Clan—she was its daughter-in-law. The powerful were arrogant, but since her children couldn't be allowed to find out, she'd concealed her surname. In the end, ours was a one-night relationship, nothing more than today.
An uncomfortable topic had briefly arisen, but Gahong once again cheerfully dissolved the mood with this and that conversation. Rich, intense sex was obviously about to begin once this meal ended, yet here there wasn't so much as a speck of eroticism. Instead, a gentle, warm maternal feeling enfolded both me and Lee Eun-ha.
"What's Jiangsu cuisine like?"
"Nanjing duck, naturally. People praise Beijing duck, but for duck dishes, Nanjing is supreme."
Since the Ming's original capital was in Jiangsu, the place was called Nanjing and harbored a quiet rivalry with Beijing. When even their representative dishes overlapped, Gahong spoke with competitive fire shining through.
"And fried rice. Since the greatest rice under heaven comes from Jiangsu, rice dishes are Jiangsu as well. Beijing cuisine, all full of flour, can't compare to Jiangsu."
Peng Gang of Hebei had taken pride in Hebei wheat. In the same way, Gahong began to take pride in Jiangsu rice. As expected of a prestigious clan—they were prominent local figures, so their hometown pride was incredibly fierce. It was a pleasant meal, the first in a while, but my stomach was gradually filling up. The food still remained in towering piles, but Gahong never seemed to have had the slightest intention of eating it all from the start. Just taste a piece or two and discard the rest. Meals must have always been like this for her.
"As I said earlier, I have no husband, my martial arts are weak, and all I have are my lovely children and money. So please don't take it too badly. Young hero, you will be a magnificent man. I have an eye for quality. So please, satisfy me. If you satisfy me truly well, I will give you a grand reward."
She spoke while casually showing us a weighty silk pouch. I suspected that it contained neither Hongwu Tongbao coins nor even a single tael of silver. The truly rich did not carry heavy small change.
Lee Eun-ha, who had looked unexpectedly close to having her eyes roll back at the sum of money before her, furrowed her brow just slightly and looked at Gahong as she spoke.
"It may be laughable for a virgin like me to say, but as one who studies the Bedchamber Arts, intercourse is not something a man performs alone. Madam, you should also give your utmost to satisfy our Junior Brother. If Junior Brother is satisfied, I will give you a great reward, madam."
This was the first time I'd seen Lee Eun-ha wear such a boldly confrontational look since I met her. Strictly, by age or by her standing in the martial world, Lee Eun-ha dared not speak to Gahong in such a way. But we were never going to see her again. In this one moment, right now, she was my lover and future wife. Gahong was merely an outsider permitted a fling, nothing more.
Lee Eun-ha, who had always seen herself so lowly it bordered on obsequiousness, had learned to establish her position through the incident with the Seungdeok Manor maids. That was right. At least for now, she held the upper hand. And to tell a high person of the Duanmu Clan like Gahong that she would give her a reward might sound laughable to anyone watching, but she was a maker of medicinal pills with astronomical value. If she truly meant to reward someone, she was perfectly capable of it.
Was it that Yeongsan Sect had lacked even a few silver taels and had very nearly starved to death, so Lee Eun-ha disliked Gahong for casually swinging a gold-coin pouch in front of her? Yet Gahong, who should have been offended, took Lee Eun-ha's hand with a look of utter fondness and said,
"Oh my! This heroine! You're far too beautiful. Your face, your chest, your martial arts, even this gaze—not one thing is lacking. Yes. I'll look forward to it. Your big sister here will show you for certain. I promise to show you what expression your beloved young hero wears when he's truly satisfied."
The provocation failed. With absurdly vast magnanimity, Gahong tucked even Lee Eun-ha's challenge adorably into her embrace. What on earth kind of woman was she?
While we consumed the remaining food and wine, Gahong summoned the waiter and had him prepare the inn's finest room. Since people who could afford to rent a top-tier room normally rented a whole manor instead, I'd never even once visited a premium room, even back in my Baek Clan Estate days. Originally, as a guesthouse's single most luxurious facility, it wasn't easily rented without a reservation no matter how rich you were, but luckily, since this was just after New Year's, it could be rented simply. Even so. Renting a guesthouse's premium room worth several dozen taels of silver the way you'd rent a motel for a couple of hours. The genuinely rich really were different.
When the waiter descended from the second floor and reported that the room was ready, Gahong linked arms with me on one side and Lee Eun-ha on the other and cheerfully rose to her feet. She led us into the premium room. Since the town was so small, and there was a higher-grade facility called a manor for rent, even this premium room was inferior to the Murong Clan's guest hall. Still, it was a spacious room, decorated as best they could. On the table: a few simple snacks and several bottles of wine. Aside from the slightly larger bed, nothing much set it apart.
The only difference from an ordinary room was the bath inside. Gahong took each of us by the hand, strode briskly into it, and stripped me in an instant. She really was a mother; with the skill of a master, she had me naked before I even had time to resist.
"Just as I thought. My eye didn't fail me. A solid frame. A gallant member. Young hero, you were born on this earth to satisfy women."
Gahong squatted in front of my cock and spoke with an expression of rapture. I hated to break it to her, but the reason I was reborn in this world was that the demon wanted to destroy this place too and reincarnated me for it.
"Look, heroine. Doesn't this inspire adoration? You said you're a virgin still, didn't you? This thousand-year treasure is yours, heroine."
She pulled Lee Eun-ha by the hand and brought her in front of me, showing off my equipment. Though flustered, Lee Eun-ha stared fixedly at my cock and swallowed audibly. We were adults anyway, and from here on we were one step short of lovers. Embarrassed as she was, she calmly observed the member she'd been imagining all this time. And catching her in that moment of distraction, bewitched by my cock, Gahong stripped Lee Eun-ha's clothes off just as instantly.
"Ma... Madam! I'm only here to watch today?"
This time truly flustered, Lee Eun-ha was met by Gahong with a brightly innocent smile and a perfectly artless reply.
"That won't do. If you've come to the bath, you must wash your body. The idea that bathing often makes your luck flee is just a superstition spread across the Central Plains. I told you your big sister would teach you how to handle a man, didn't I? The very first thing to prepare for before intercourse is washing your body clean."
Lee Eun-ha's first naked body, met at a completely unexpected moment. Master, Jeong-hyang, Son Yeong. Really, I kept seeing our Yeongsan Sect women's naked bodies at the least predictable times.