Translator: PastTimer
Editor: PastTimer
Proofreader: PastTimer
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The room fell into deeper silence. After a few seconds, the assassin realized what this sentence meant. He sucked in a breath, suspecting that he had heard wrong.
Like other imperial nobles who admired neatness, the emperor had no beard. He had a smooth face and a soft outline, but that face was more handsome rather than delicate. The emperor's nightgown had a button left open, enough to see his raised apple. Velvet covered most of his skin, and it was close enough to hide a pair of breasts. The assassin stared at his face, looked down to his chest, and...
"I'm not a woman." The emperor said again, "But have you ever seen someone born both male and female?"
"No," the assassin answered honestly.
"Then you'll see it today," the emperor said.
He lowered his eyes and unbuttoned his clothes. The robe covered him from neck to heel, which meant that he was wearing only one piece of clothing. When he started to untie his belt, the assassin found that he was wearing nothing, no underwear. No underwear. Another drop of blood leaked from the emperor's neck and the assassin's hand shook. The assassin hurriedly removed the blade to avoid accidentally slaughtering the emperor.
The damn nightgown had so many buttons, the belt's knot was beautiful and complicated, the assassin couldn't figure out how to untie it, and couldn't figure out how anyone would like to wear it to sleep. The emperor slowly untied one knot after another, his pale hands shone against the dark nightgown. His hands were well-knotted and his fingers were slender and flexible. He looked pampered and didn't even have calluses. His eyelashes quivered under the flickering candlelight, and the two shadows fluttered like butterfly wings. The assassin felt like a butterfly was flying over his chest, its wings scratching his heart.
The room temperature rose quietly.
The last knot was untied, and the belt fell to the ground. The emperor lowered his hands, his chest was bare, and his body was dazzling white in the night. The nightgown still hung on him, open, as if a door left half-closed, with only a vague view of the garden beneath surrendered. The hem of the nightgown rippled, revealing a leg and thin ankle, which made people suspect that it could be broken with a bit of effort.
"I really can't conceive," the emperor said. "Ironically, such a body can give birth to children."
There seemed to be a slender gap under his hanging penis, where the sac was supposed to be. The shadow between his legs obscured most of his vision, and the assassin couldn't see between them, but he became more uncomfortable because of it. He wanted to remove the sparse hair there, and wanted to put his fingers in. He wanted to know whether there was a delicate place hidden underneath the dignified emperor's robe, whether the rumoured cold-blooded monster was soft and hot, whether it would become submissive and moist because of his touch...
"What a joke," the assassin said dryly, struggling to fight against his rising desire. "Even so, it doesn't prove that you're fertile..."
"Whether it's true or not, you can verify it yourself." The emperor said.
The emperor leaned on the back of his chair and slightly adjusted his posture.
The royal nightgown was exquisite and luxurious. The cuffs and collar were embroidered with dark patterns made with gold thread. One sleeve could probably meet the cost of food and clothing for a commoner's family for a year. The emperor wore the nightgown, sitting in the bedroom facing the assassin who was only one step away, but he was as dignified as if he was sitting on a throne. But such an emperor; the conqueror of most of the known world, a monarch with unimaginable wealth, a rich and unattainable nobleman, a clever man with a clever tongue, who made thousands kneel before him¹, was spreading his legs to a vulgar desperado. The emperor's body was both male and female; it looked solemn, sacred, incomparable. The assassin heard the sound of himself swallowing his spit, and he felt more and more that he was fighting a battle that could only lead to his defeat.
"Can you prove that you'll let me live after the birth of a child?" the assassin made a dying attempt, "How do you guarantee?"
"I can't guarantee that all you can believe is the emperor's credibility." The emperor gave him a deep look. "But even if you regret it, at least you can tell them that the 'Great Conqueror' is a male and female monster. And that you fucked him."
This was the last straw, blood rushed to his head, and then rushed down. Before the assassin could make a decision, his hand had already went forward. The emperor's skin was more delicate than any other woman he had touched, like a piece of condensed milk, and the assassin's rough hands slid all the way from his chest to his lower abdomen, as if stroking silk. Once he got closer to the emperor, the assassin smelled the emperor's faint scent, not powdery, but a mixture of ink and incense. He felt that his teeth and hands were itching, and a destructive desire was burning in his heart, making him want to crush something.
The nightgown fell to the ground, the assassin's tightened fingers almost left a bruise on the emperor's shoulder, and his other hand came in-between the emperor's legs. There was indeed something there, you could touch the hot and tender entrance by opening the seam guarded by soft lips and pressing down with your thumb. The thighs under the palm of his hand abruptly tensed, and the emperor suddenly said something.
The assassin was immersed in desire and lust, and only after the emperor repeated it once more did his head finally register the meaning of the noise: "Go to bathe".
"Go take a bath." The emperor said, "You don't need to call someone, there's a bathroom inside and I'll go in with you. It's next to the dark shelf on the right of the door, which can be opened by just pulling the handle. The bathroom provides hot water all day long. The room is fully equipped, and there's also a small refrigerator and some snacks. If you like the wine we just drank, there's also..."
The emperor didn't look at him while he was speaking, but looked straight ahead, his expression blank as if he was wearing a mask- now he looked more like that majestic portrait. His tense muscles haven't relaxed, and a layer of goosebumps formed on his skin. Just now, the assassin didn't respond, his movements kept on and the emperor kept talking.
Was there something in the bathroom? In this moment, it would be too abrupt to not be a trap. Who'd be fooled? The assassin thought reflexively.
After a while, he realised.
Even if he always claimed to be a "dying man", the emperor never really planned to die. He wanted to live, probably more than anyone else. He wasn't as calm as it seemed, and what he was willing to pay for survival, what he was surrendering, his body and the secret of his body, wasn't a bargaining chip that could be simply thrown out. Even for the emperor, it was precious.
This realization allowed the assassin's evil desires to cool slightly, and a little pity vaguely formed.
He nodded, and the emperor immediately stood up, walking over to the shelf and opening the door. There was a short corridor there and at the end of the corridor was another door. The emperor instructed him to hang his clothes on a hanger outside the door. Steam wafted from the second door and the assassin followed him in, almost thinking that he had come to a hot spring.
"A group of servants boil water to serve you at all times," was already the limit to a civilians' imagination of luxury bathhouses but there was actually no one in the royal bathhouse. The bath was as big as a swimming pool, and water flowed from the mouth of the stone griffon carving constantly, injecting a steady stream of hot water into the pool. He didn't know what spice exuded the pleasant smell, there must've been a secret vent somewhere which served as a distraction to not make people feel dull while keeping warm. The bathroom was misty and it was hard to imagine that this was still inside the palace.
The emperor instructed him to unscrew the swan neck by the pool. The swans that looked like ornaments were all taps and could also be used to adjust the water temperature. "Behind the walls are buried cold and hot water pipes. The switch controls the ratio of hot and cold water and mixes them in the trunk of the 'swan'," he said.
The steady flow of water continued, and the water temperature was slightly higher than body temperature, which made people groan comfortably, especially for the assassin who had been accustomed to eating and sleeping on the go, and had been lurking on a cold rock wall for most of the day. He sighed contentedly and looked to the side. The emperor stood under the shower beside him, opening a small crystal bottle, he poured thick cleansing oil into the palm of his hand and wiped it on his hair. The assassin took the crystal bottle and opened it like a gourd, he smelled the fragrance added there and suddenly realized that it smelled the same as the emperor. This recognition made his penis pulsate with interest, the assassin coughed and asked, "The hot water comes from magic?"
"It's more like a product of alchemy." The emperor replied, "Hot water is used to cool alchemical materials, it's actually a waste. If the Southern Alliance is willing to open trade, the cost of the alchemy materials used would be cut down by 50%. The system would also be promoted for civilian use, not only for imperial nobles."
"Wow," The assassin could only say.
He barely understood what the emperor was saying, but he could imagine the prospect described by the emperor. A house with hot water at any time throughout the year? It sounded great. Could you open just a faucet and distribute that hot water to every household in the city? It was magic that existed only in stories. Talent determined that less than one in ten thousand people could become a mage. All magical creations were priceless, but alchemy could be learned and used by ordinary people.
"If you've been to the extreme north in recent years, you'll find that the cities there has already started to test this system." The emperor said, "The civil hot water system is still under construction, but the hot water pipes runs through the underground of the residential area. It can provide heating for the residents. In recent years, except for three drunkards who slept on the side of the road, no one has died of cold in the northern cities."
The emperor quickly finished washing and sank into the bath, leaving the assassin standing there, digesting what he said. He felt a shudder rushing from his back to his forehead. This wasn't sexual desire or a desire to conquer, it was more like some kind of... awe, the kind of respect that drove one to climb to the top of a mountain and watch the sunrise. Every winter, someone froze to death in the assassin's hometown, and the northernmost part of the Empire was colder than where the Northwest tribes were located. Splashed water froze into ice in an instant, fishermen had to dig a fish hole more than one meter thick on the lake, and the thinly-dressed person wouldn't be able to last longer outdoors. No wonder the soldiers of the empire would willingly die for their emperor, the assassin thought.
If I was born in the empire, would I be like those soldiers? The assassin thought again.
This passing thought made him uneasy, and he suddenly didn't know what he was doing. Having said that, the assassin never seemed to know what he was doing. He was just alive, dealing with the things that were going to kill him in front of him, so he didn't want to live. The emperor was different. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing and what he was going to do. The assassin suspected that he could list his plans until after his death. If he could live by willpower, the emperor would probably live for hundreds of thousands of years.
In order to interrupt these headaches, the assassin plunged his head into the water and lathered the foam in his hair vigorously. The training from his youth allowed the assassin to move freely whenever he lost his vision. He wasn't afraid to close his eyes on the enemy's territory. The hot water from the shower fell on the tiles, and the sound of falling rain surrounded him. The sound of rippling water came from a little far away, and the assassin could sketch the emperor's movements in his mind, imagining how he would sit down in the bath, the milky white water engulfing most of his body...
Click.
The next moment, the assassin had already went straight towards the bath and grabbed the emperor's wrist, moving as swiftly as a leopard. When he finished his actions, he opened his eyes and looked at the thing on the emperor's hands. The only sound in the bath told him that a certain hidden compartment had been opened, and that the emperor took out some powder from it.
Maybe it was some medicine. The hand wasn't wearing gloves, the powder couldn't be too toxic. The assassin lowered his head and sniffed carefully, unafraid with his strong immunity. No, it wasn't poison.
"It's just some drugs for fun." The emperor said, without the panic of being suddenly caught, "It's not for you."
Now the assassin remembered what it was, he had smelled it in the room of a senior prostitute. The things in the emperor's hand were of course different from those in the brothel, but some compounds were the same. As a person with a very good nose and proficiency in pharmacology, the assassin instantly got acquainted with it: a dormant herb extract that could relax the muscles and make the taker fall into a half-dream and half-awake state. If the emperor took this, even if the assassin fucked him later, he probably wouldn't be able to feel the pain.
"Shit- this medicine, you can drown in the bath if you eat this one." The assassin asked: "You put this thing in the bathroom?"
"Sometimes I would use this to aid meditation." The emperor admitted, "I've used this for many years and have a certain resistance to it, I won't react strongly."
"'Meditation', you mean sleeping?"
"No, it's a trick I learned from a wizard. A few hours of meditation can effectively replace long sleep."
Now the assassin began to wonder how long the emperor hadn't slept. At first, he thought it was only for days, but now it seemed likely to be far beyond that. He pressed the emperor's hand down into the water, and the emperor regretfully watched the water wash the powder away, he looked up at him and said, "Would you like some wine?"
"No."
"There's some ointment in the grid next to it, which can..."
"No." The assassin emphasized.
The emperor's jaw tightened, as if he was gritting his teeth, but said nothing. He just nodded, his eyes were cold and confessed, as if he had affirmed that the assassin was going to torture him severely. The assassin released his hand, stepped into the pool, and placed him on the edge of the bath. The emperor spread his legs obediently and looked up at the ceiling. The assassin saw him clench his hands on the edge of the bath, biting his lower lip.
Then, the assassin knelt down.
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Author's Notes:
I found that it's impossible to finish this in three chapters, maybe it'll become a medium-length novel hahaha...
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Translation Notes:
1- I tried my best but didn't succeed, can't my head around this one