The Moonlit Puzzle in the Courtyard
Lady Zou had finished making Guan Yu’s futon and was now leaving the room after confirming he was fast asleep.
She turned and noticed Lady Gan standing in the courtyard, eyes fixed on her in the gathering darkness. Lady Zou paused for a moment, then walked toward her.
“My lady, is there something else you wish done?”
Under the moonlight, Lady Zou’s seductive figure was on full display. Her fluttering clothes were far too elegant for a mere maid sent to tend to the household.
It was truly praiseworthy that she accepted Guan Yu’s vomit without complaint, changed his clothes, and helped lay him down. The only thing that nagged at her was...
“...Lady Gan, that... hair...”
Even at the bathhouse in Xuchang during the daytime, her three-strand long hair had hung all the way to the floor. Now it ended abruptly at the neck, as if sheared clean off.
Why... was it... so short?
The woman who had spent her entire life nurturing her hair could not understand the meaning behind cutting it. The short bob that framed her ears and fell sharply to her jawline had never existed in the world she knew.
“...What is the meaning of a woman who has groomed her hair her whole life to cut it like this?”
A well-kept head of hair was also a symbol of a virtuous woman. She had washed, trimmed, and lengthened it every day, braided it neatly, then let it flow down, curled it, or arranged it in two braids—whatever pleased her. And at night, she would let her husband’s hand gently unravel it, one strand at a time, alongside the ribbons of her modest robes...
Unless her master himself raised a knife and cut it all off, who would willingly wear such a short style?
“...My lady, you are no doubt arranging your hair the way my lord Liu Bei wishes,” Lady Zou said with an oddly refined bluntness.
“Hng?”
“That’s correct...”
“I only do what my master desires. Nothing more.”
Lady Zou replied with a composure so strikingly plain yet somehow elegant.
“...Lady Zou.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“...As for Lord Cao...”
She hesitated, the two questions fighting for her tongue: what did he intend to do with us? What had he done to you?
Ultimately she blurted out, “No. Go rest now.”
“Yes, my lady. Have a peaceful night...”
Lady Zou bowed with a knee, then left.
Lady Gan felt an inexplicable discomfort even in that brief farewell.
‘Peaceful night? Usually people say “comfortable night”...’
She shook her head several times to dismiss the thought, unwilling to dwell on it. Tonight’s worries were only beginning.
‘Strange. Too strange.’
Standing under the moonlight, Lady Gan recalled the events in the imperial palace of Xuchang.
***
After leaving the massage room, the two women were escorted straight to the palace where the emperor waited.
They had drunk much tea and emerged steaming from the hot spring bath, yet neither felt the urge to relieve herself. Their bladders were strangely empty.
“Milord, you drank a lot of tea but still don’t feel like using the privy. I suppose the sweat has dried you up.”
Lady Gan felt refreshed, yet somehow exhausted. Her throat burned even though she wasn’t thirsty, and the strange, unrelieved itch in her body left her chest tight with unease.
“Yes, sister. The palace’s massage ladies were very thorough.”
Lady Mi had felt a slight unease from the unusual stickiness still dripping between her legs, but she kept silent...
“......”
Lady Zou, who had quietly guided them, knew the truth: the two women had been forced to squat deep in the lavatory while the Cao Cao generals stood right outside the screen, and their bladders had remained empty because Lady Gan had been kept in constant, agonizing arousal without ever receiving the proper release from a cock, while the sticky liquid flowing from Lady Mi was none other than Lord Cao’s semen—her first-ever creampie, which the post-coital contraceptive pill had been meant to mask.
Yet the women knew nothing of it and were led before the emperor...
“Please enter here. I will wait outside.”
After several rounds of search and inspection, Lady Zou announced from in front of the audience hall, “My ladies, please enter.”
Lady Gan and Lady Mi nodded and stepped through the doors. Lady Zou closed it behind them.
The revered Emperor of the Han Empire, Emperor Xian.
Who should never have become emperor, he had been forced into the throne by Dong Zhuo, then suffered under the claws of Ji and Guo, and had finally escaped with his life to return to the Central Plains. Now he was firmly in Cao Cao’s grasp...
Lady Gan and Lady Mi knelt and bowed before him.
“We greet Your Majesty, the Emperor.”
They remained perfectly still. That was the proper etiquette after offering the greeting: wait until the emperor speaks first.
Yet after a long time, the emperor said nothing...
‘......? Even so, it’s taking far too long...’
Lady Gan glanced sideways and nearly screamed in shock.
hah... hah
“!?”
hah... hah
hah... hah...
Her composure shattered. She nearly fell over.
The emperor sat several steps above them on the throne, yet only his upper body was visible—his lower half hidden behind a long, wide screen large enough for several people to pass through comfortably.
And rising proudly from that screen was the emperor in his magnificent robes, clearly...
hah... hah
hah... hah...
...moaning as if being pleasured by a woman, wearing the unmistakable expression of a man on the verge of climax.
‘The face of “almost there”!’
‘What... what in the world is this?!’
Was this some bizarre nightmare? Were they still asleep in the massage room?
Lady Gan squeezed her eyes shut and prayed it was not so for a few tens of seconds. Then a calm voice came from above.
“The two consorts of Emperor Liu’s second son, raise your heads.”
They looked up. Emperor Xian wore a gentle, wise smile as he regarded them kindly.
‘What an honorable emperor’s expression! I must have been mistaken earlier...’
The two women exchanged pleasantries about Emperor Liu’s well-being and cried softly together.
The emperor missed his distant blood relative Emperor Liu deeply.
But since they had no news of Liu’s survival, there was nothing to offer.
He could only say “be strong” and exchange empty comfort.
That was when...
“If Emperor Liu had lived, he would have been a great help to me... hah!”
“Y-Your Majesty?”
The emperor suddenly lowered his head and hid his expression, startling the women.
He trembled for a moment, then lifted his head with visible effort. His face was a strange mix of strained restraint and forced laughter—somewhere between pleasure and pain—making it overall grotesque.
“Y-Your Majesty? Are you unwell somewhere...?”
“No... hah! It’s... fine... hah! I’m... hah! N-not... hah! I’m... hah! Fine... hah!”
‘You’re not fine at all!!’
Lady Gan wanted to shout it a hundred times, but she dared not before the emperor.
The two women quickly exchanged glances. Leaving the emperor alone right now was the kindest thing they could do...
“Your Majesty, this humble servant thanks you for granting us an audience. We have only just arrived in Xuchang, so please allow us to stay.”
The emperor’s expression was sincerely warm.
“T-then... hah hah! What? Ah, right, please bring... a snack! A snack!”
‘Eee? Suddenly offering snacks?’
‘Sister, didn’t the emperor just seem to be speaking with someone...?’
Creak. The door opened and eunuchs entered carrying a tea tray with cakes.
“Please, ladies! Imperial palace snacks!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
The women, eager to tidy up, bit into the food without ceremony. It was almost indecent.
‘Huh...? What kind of snack is this...?’
Lady Mi, who had carelessly stuffed a round, pill-shaped cake into her mouth, wondered if this was the first time she had ever tasted anything so flavorless—neither sweet, nor salty, nor even bitter.
It was like... an actual pill?
Lady Gan’s tray had no such cake. The rice cake Lady Gan had already eaten was still on Lady Mi’s tray. Upon counting, Lady Gan’s snacks were one less than Lady Mi’s...
‘Why... why would they give her an extra one and an utterly tasteless snack?’
Lady Mi’s sensitive senses told her the truth, but she could not guess why, and since it came from the emperor’s own hand, she dared not question it.
If she had been able to describe the cake’s exact appearance and lack of taste, she might have connected it to the post-coital contraceptive pill and the fact that her own crotch was still leaking male semen—concluding that the two of them had endured some horrific act.
---