Rating: mature
[collapse]
Aurelia felt strained. The urgent matter in the outskirts of the Capital was growing bigger and bigger. Lady Helios sent her brief messages via their connected miniature communication mirrors to keep her updated.
But she had to stand by and guard King Augustus—the very person she suspected was behind the discovered underground tower.
When she got the chance, she sent messages back to Lady Helios, ordering her to keep control, to not let the captured escape, and to not let anyone tamper or remove any evidence.
In the late afternoon, King Augustus went to his quarters and had Aurelia stand guard outside.
No one else went into the quarters through the door that Aurelia guarded. It was also unnaturally quiet.
She knew that King Augustus was speaking to his secret agents. She had a strong suspicion it was about the underground tower.
Aurelia’s eyes darkened. This made handling the matter all the more important.
She had to admit it: if this happened before, she wouldn’t have cared that much. But now that she wanted to take over, revealing King Augustus’s corrupt secrets was in her best interests.
Lady Helios and Viscountess Venenum and their teams were all very competent people who did their best to keep everything contained. However, given all the commotion and all the people involved, they couldn’t stop the news about a huge underground tower discovered so close to the Capital.
What they didn’t realise was that another piece of information was quietly spreading: whispered rumours of necromancy in that tower.
Regardless, those ‘lucky’ enough to attend dinner at the castle didn’t mention anything. They weren’t stupid enough to speak while King Augustus was seated at the front of the dining hall.
Back in Sedaveria, Rian gaily hooked his arm around Ren Xiyang’s waist the moment he closed the door to his quarters.
Dinner was done, and this was the last night Rian would have with Ren Xiyang for a while (i.e. two weeks).
“You’re great friends with Florence, hm?” Rian said meaningfully.
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “You still remember that.”
“I remember everything you say.”
“I remember you didn’t tell Florence that we only recently got together.”
Rian pouted. “Neither did you!”
“I suspect that it was mostly your fault,” Ren Xiyang said.
“She also mentioned some of your actions, like sending me roses!”
“I also sent her roses,” Ren Xiyang rolled his eyes.
“But the important part is that you sent me roses,” Rian said. He smiled roguishly. “Does that mean you secretly liked me for years as well?”
“I also sent Florence and Adrienne roses,” Ren Xiyang said, tapping Rian on the head.
“I wondered if you secretly liked them…”
Ren Xiyang placed a hand on Rian’s chest and pushed. “Don’t stand so close while we’re talking.”
Rian stubbornly didn’t budge. “What’s wrong with standing a little close to my lover?” He lowered his voice and put on a seductive tone. But aside from a faint redness in Ren Xiyang’s ears, he couldn’t provoke a stronger reaction.
“I wonder what Alexius is doing—”
“How can you think about other men at a time like this?” Rian said, getting disgruntled.
Ren Xiyang looked at him. “Alexius is a kid. You’re not seriously threatened by him, are you?” A little smirk grew on Ren Xiyang’s lips.
Rian narrowed his eyes. The hand on his chest suddenly grew hot—
A beat later, fireballs and ice shards flew around the room. They darted through the air, jumped over sofas and ducked behind tables, making full use of the space.
Precision, accuracy, and agility was the aim of this game. Destroying any property in the room would be an automatic loss. First, it was Ren Xiyang chasing Rian, and then Rian chasing Ren Xiyang, back and forth.
Finally, it was Ren Xiyang who took the initiative to stop first. He blocked Rian’s ice blades and didn’t dodge when Rian tackled him. He didn’t topple either, letting Rian hug his waist. He patted him on the head. “Feel better?”
Rian mumbled into his stomach.
“—Hey!” Ren Xiyang grabbed Rian’s shoulders as he was suddenly lifted by the waist.
One thing led to another, and almost an hour later, the two of them could be found in Rian’s bed. Ren Xiyang had just been ‘forced’ to do more Important Research.
Ren Xiyang decided not to tell Rian that there was a limit to how much enforced-change his body could handle without physical pain (a lesson learnt when he was impatient with his physical transition). So he simply went along with the doctor and research-subject role play.
Now, they were both still lying in bed, facing each other.
“If only we could grow up faster,” Rian said.
“Time will pass quicker than you expect,” Ren Xiyang said wryly. “This does remind me—”
Rian perked up.
“—that the fief needs some formalised sex education.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Sex education.”
“I heard you the first time.”
Ren Xiyang kicked Rian’s leg. Rian countered by tangling his legs with Ren Xiyang’s.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Do you know how two women have sex?”
Rian opened his mouth and then closed it. “…I have to admit that I have not thought about this.”
“Do you know how two men have sex?”
Rian smirked. “Aside from what we’ve done already? Of course I know. One man’s penis enters another man’s anus.”
“Leaving aside protection for the moment, do you know why someone would want a penis up their anus?”
“Because it feels good for them,” Rian said confidently.
Ren Xiyang suppressed a mischievous smile. “And do you know how it feels good?” he said with a serious face.
“There, there must be something…” Rian faltered.
“Penetration can be pleasurable for men because of the prostate. It’s a gland in men’s bodies that can be pressed from the outside, but best manipulated from inside the anus. In the right circumstances, simulating the prostate alone can be enough to trigger orgasm.”
Rian’s eyes grew bright with interest. “Is that so?”
“As it turns out, the prostate is also one of the glands that contribute to the production of ejaculate fluid,” Ren Xiyang said. “I didn’t focus on it before, so it’s one of the things my body needs to grow.”
Rian’s brain went through the implications of this.
Did it mean that Ren Xiyang would have to massage his prostate to study its pleasure-inducing functions?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would it not be pleasureful for Ren Xiyang?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would he have to be the one being penetrated?
Could prostate simulation feel that good?
“But coming back to the topic,” Ren Xiyang said. “Aside from signalling to the people in my fief gay sex is fine, and aside from making sure consent is understood, the important part of sex education is protection. Prevention is the best medicine, as you know. I’m not familiar as you, what kind of protection is available?” Ren Xiyang brightened, sitting up. “In fact, this could be a business opportunity. Although, our apparent ages may be a restrictive factor…”
“I can find a way, you don’t need to worry about that.” Rian also sat up.
Ren Xiyang looked at Rian.
Rian looked back, slowly getting suspicious.
Ren Xiyang suddenly ‘smiled’.
Uh-oh, Rian thought.
“I’m still waiting on those chests of gold.”
Rian was rendered speechless for a moment. “Xiyang! What would you do if I lost my money and power? Do you love enough to support me?”
Ren Xiyang made a thoughtful hum.
Rian tackled Ren Xiyang down onto the bed again. “Your answer should have been an immediate yes!”
At that, Ren Xiyang burst out laughing.
Rian huffed, but he liked seeing Ren Xiyang laugh so he let it slide and even joined in chuckling until he realised—“Wait, you never answered!”
Ren Xiyang suppressed his laughter. “I’ll support you, unless you’re too expensive.”
Rian wasn’t satisfied though until he extracted a few kisses first. He had to sigh inwardly—something about Ren Xiyang just brought out all of his inner child. Normally, he was much more refined than this!
After messing around, the two of them neatened themselves up and headed to Rian’s study. They sat down next to each other at Rian’s desk.
Rian took out his secret journal with its secret compartment with letters from his agents. “Earlier today, an underground tower was discovered in Angio.”
“The laboratory?”
“Yes.” Rian handed the newest report to Ren Xiyang. “Two of the three main researchers of the plague-curse have been captured.” Rian smiled innocently. “We’ve been quite lucky that they’ve been apprehended before the plague-curse development even started.”
Ren Xiyang skimmed the report before handing it back. “Such efficiency. And yet no efficiency on the matter of my chests of gold.”
Rian swiped at Ren Xiyang, causing Ren Xiyang to dodge and laugh.
Rian huffed, straightening his coat. “Be mature, Xiyang. I’ve prepared an agenda for tonight.”
“Oh? Let me see.” Ren Xiyang leaned against Rian’s shoulder. “Following up on the actions from our last meeting…”
Aurelia had a proverbial headache. She ended her guard work at the usual time and hurried away once Marcus arrived.
She had been planning to speak with Prince Pollux tonight. But that would have to wait.
Guarding King Augustus didn’t require much thought. So instead, she had been thinking about what needed to be done regarding the underground tower.
Her proverbial headache was from the realisation that not everyone who worked there would have been there at the time of the raid.
This meant there were four main tasks:
Interrogating those captured. Managing those imprisoned. Investigating the purpose of the underground tower. And somehow uncovering anyone else involved.And all of these tasks required more people. Aurelia would have to carefully pick those she trusted.
As the day had passed, Aurelia became increasingly sure that King Augustus was behind this. King Augustus had a large amount of ‘invisible’ expenditure; the financial books of Angio were vague at best and fabricated at worse. Aurelia had thought that most of that expenditure was used on King Augustus’s secret army, his bandits. But there must have been even more hidden expenditure.
It was impossible for anyone else to set up something so large and audacious right outside the Capital without King Augustus’s knowledge.
If it had been without King Augustus’s knowledge, he should have had a very angry public reaction today.
“Lady Helios, thank you for your work today,” Aurelia said when she saw Lady Helios downstairs.
“Viscountess Venenum is currently managing the site,” Lady Helios said. “I have cleared your schedule.”
“Good, we’ll go over there now.”
Aurelia was flanked by her ladies-in-waiting and a small group of guards. When she arrived at the site, she didn’t see anything aside from a few mages standing around. A subtle probing spell found nothing.
Lady Helios leaned in. “The Viscountess has arranged a shield.”
Aurelia nodded in approval.
One of the mages standing around, Lord Valerio Silex, walked over to them. “Your Highness, do you vouch for the eighth members of your contingent?”
“Yes.”
“Then please, follow me.”
Lord Silex ushered them through the subtle shield. Upon passing through, the site was revealed.
Bright lights lit the area, revealing a very large hole in the ground. There were several metal cages with people inside, slumped and appearing unconscious. There were also a handful of temporary earth constructions.
Viscountess Venenum strode over. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
“What should I see first?” Aurelia asked directly.
Viscountess Venenum pursed her lips. “Follow me down.”
They had left the people imprisoned in the outer wall of the tower within their cells—they needed to identify them first before releasing them. All they did regarding those prisoners was cast some healing spells and send in some food and water through the bars. They also used spells to test which ones were alive, dead, or undead.
Right now, Viscountess Venenum showed Princess Aurelia the undead.
Upon their approach, the undead stood up and slammed against the door grates, saliva dripping from their rotting mouths.
Aurelia was taken aback. “What kind of disease or curse…”
“They’re undead,” Viscountess Venenum said.
Historically, necromancy was either a misguided method to revive dead loved ones, or an aberrant method to create obedient slaves. Regardless, the raised dead tended to be mindless and do nothing without explicit magical puppeteering.
These undead persons weren’t blank morbid puppets. They were rabid.
“We need to sit down and discuss how we will manage this,” Aurelia said.
“Yes.”
The group went back up to the surface. Viscountess Venenum invited Aurelia and her group into one of the temporary earthen buildings.
They talked long into the night, discussing what was known so far and what needed to be known; and deciding what was whose responsibility, and the personnel required to complete what needed to be done.
Aurelia didn’t find it as stressful as she had feared. Viscountess Venenum was as direct as her, which saved them a lot of time.
She realised that would very much like Viscountess Venenum in her faction. But that was an issue for another day.
Did you know that Dao of the Salted Fish had 126 chapters in total? And yet, this novel is still going? Not to mention, the chapters in this novel are longer????
By the way, the BL Palace will be having a (free, online) workshop on Saturday 12th August 2023. I’m not speaking, but I will be attending and hosting the first half ^_^
Rating: mature
[collapse]
Aurelia felt strained. The urgent matter in the outskirts of the Capital was growing bigger and bigger. Lady Helios sent her brief messages via their connected miniature communication mirrors to keep her updated.
But she had to stand by and guard King Augustus—the very person she suspected was behind the discovered underground tower.
When she got the chance, she sent messages back to Lady Helios, ordering her to keep control, to not let the captured escape, and to not let anyone tamper or remove any evidence.
In the late afternoon, King Augustus went to his quarters and had Aurelia stand guard outside.
No one else went into the quarters through the door that Aurelia guarded. It was also unnaturally quiet.
She knew that King Augustus was speaking to his secret agents. She had a strong suspicion it was about the underground tower.
Aurelia’s eyes darkened. This made handling the matter all the more important.
She had to admit it: if this happened before, she wouldn’t have cared that much. But now that she wanted to take over, revealing King Augustus’s corrupt secrets was in her best interests.
Lady Helios and Viscountess Venenum and their teams were all very competent people who did their best to keep everything contained. However, given all the commotion and all the people involved, they couldn’t stop the news about a huge underground tower discovered so close to the Capital.
What they didn’t realise was that another piece of information was quietly spreading: whispered rumours of necromancy in that tower.
Regardless, those ‘lucky’ enough to attend dinner at the castle didn’t mention anything. They weren’t stupid enough to speak while King Augustus was seated at the front of the dining hall.
Back in Sedaveria, Rian gaily hooked his arm around Ren Xiyang’s waist the moment he closed the door to his quarters.
Dinner was done, and this was the last night Rian would have with Ren Xiyang for a while (i.e. two weeks).
“You’re great friends with Florence, hm?” Rian said meaningfully.
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “You still remember that.”
“I remember everything you say.”
“I remember you didn’t tell Florence that we only recently got together.”
Rian pouted. “Neither did you!”
“I suspect that it was mostly your fault,” Ren Xiyang said.
“She also mentioned some of your actions, like sending me roses!”
“I also sent her roses,” Ren Xiyang rolled his eyes.
“But the important part is that you sent me roses,” Rian said. He smiled roguishly. “Does that mean you secretly liked me for years as well?”
“I also sent Florence and Adrienne roses,” Ren Xiyang said, tapping Rian on the head.
“I wondered if you secretly liked them…”
Ren Xiyang placed a hand on Rian’s chest and pushed. “Don’t stand so close while we’re talking.”
Rian stubbornly didn’t budge. “What’s wrong with standing a little close to my lover?” He lowered his voice and put on a seductive tone. But aside from a faint redness in Ren Xiyang’s ears, he couldn’t provoke a stronger reaction.
“I wonder what Alexius is doing—”
“How can you think about other men at a time like this?” Rian said, getting disgruntled.
Ren Xiyang looked at him. “Alexius is a kid. You’re not seriously threatened by him, are you?” A little smirk grew on Ren Xiyang’s lips.
Rian narrowed his eyes. The hand on his chest suddenly grew hot—
A beat later, fireballs and ice shards flew around the room. They darted through the air, jumped over sofas and ducked behind tables, making full use of the space.
Precision, accuracy, and agility was the aim of this game. Destroying any property in the room would be an automatic loss. First, it was Ren Xiyang chasing Rian, and then Rian chasing Ren Xiyang, back and forth.
Finally, it was Ren Xiyang who took the initiative to stop first. He blocked Rian’s ice blades and didn’t dodge when Rian tackled him. He didn’t topple either, letting Rian hug his waist. He patted him on the head. “Feel better?”
Rian mumbled into his stomach.
“—Hey!” Ren Xiyang grabbed Rian’s shoulders as he was suddenly lifted by the waist.
One thing led to another, and almost an hour later, the two of them could be found in Rian’s bed. Ren Xiyang had just been ‘forced’ to do more Important Research.
Ren Xiyang decided not to tell Rian that there was a limit to how much enforced-change his body could handle without physical pain (a lesson learnt when he was impatient with his physical transition). So he simply went along with the doctor and research-subject role play.
Now, they were both still lying in bed, facing each other.
“If only we could grow up faster,” Rian said.
“Time will pass quicker than you expect,” Ren Xiyang said wryly. “This does remind me—”
Rian perked up.
“—that the fief needs some formalised sex education.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Sex education.”
“I heard you the first time.”
Ren Xiyang kicked Rian’s leg. Rian countered by tangling his legs with Ren Xiyang’s.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Do you know how two women have sex?”
Rian opened his mouth and then closed it. “…I have to admit that I have not thought about this.”
“Do you know how two men have sex?”
Rian smirked. “Aside from what we’ve done already? Of course I know. One man’s penis enters another man’s anus.”
“Leaving aside protection for the moment, do you know why someone would want a penis up their anus?”
“Because it feels good for them,” Rian said confidently.
Ren Xiyang suppressed a mischievous smile. “And do you know how it feels good?” he said with a serious face.
“There, there must be something…” Rian faltered.
“Penetration can be pleasurable for men because of the prostate. It’s a gland in men’s bodies that can be pressed from the outside, but best manipulated from inside the anus. In the right circumstances, simulating the prostate alone can be enough to trigger orgasm.”
Rian’s eyes grew bright with interest. “Is that so?”
“As it turns out, the prostate is also one of the glands that contribute to the production of ejaculate fluid,” Ren Xiyang said. “I didn’t focus on it before, so it’s one of the things my body needs to grow.”
Rian’s brain went through the implications of this.
Did it mean that Ren Xiyang would have to massage his prostate to study its pleasure-inducing functions?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would it not be pleasureful for Ren Xiyang?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would he have to be the one being penetrated?
Could prostate simulation feel that good?
“But coming back to the topic,” Ren Xiyang said. “Aside from signalling to the people in my fief gay sex is fine, and aside from making sure consent is understood, the important part of sex education is protection. Prevention is the best medicine, as you know. I’m not familiar as you, what kind of protection is available?” Ren Xiyang brightened, sitting up. “In fact, this could be a business opportunity. Although, our apparent ages may be a restrictive factor…”
“I can find a way, you don’t need to worry about that.” Rian also sat up.
Ren Xiyang looked at Rian.
Rian looked back, slowly getting suspicious.
Ren Xiyang suddenly ‘smiled’.
Uh-oh, Rian thought.
“I’m still waiting on those chests of gold.”
Rian was rendered speechless for a moment. “Xiyang! What would you do if I lost my money and power? Do you love enough to support me?”
Ren Xiyang made a thoughtful hum.
Rian tackled Ren Xiyang down onto the bed again. “Your answer should have been an immediate yes!”
At that, Ren Xiyang burst out laughing.
Rian huffed, but he liked seeing Ren Xiyang laugh so he let it slide and even joined in chuckling until he realised—“Wait, you never answered!”
Ren Xiyang suppressed his laughter. “I’ll support you, unless you’re too expensive.”
Rian wasn’t satisfied though until he extracted a few kisses first. He had to sigh inwardly—something about Ren Xiyang just brought out all of his inner child. Normally, he was much more refined than this!
After messing around, the two of them neatened themselves up and headed to Rian’s study. They sat down next to each other at Rian’s desk.
Rian took out his secret journal with its secret compartment with letters from his agents. “Earlier today, an underground tower was discovered in Angio.”
“The laboratory?”
“Yes.” Rian handed the newest report to Ren Xiyang. “Two of the three main researchers of the plague-curse have been captured.” Rian smiled innocently. “We’ve been quite lucky that they’ve been apprehended before the plague-curse development even started.”
Ren Xiyang skimmed the report before handing it back. “Such efficiency. And yet no efficiency on the matter of my chests of gold.”
Rian swiped at Ren Xiyang, causing Ren Xiyang to dodge and laugh.
Rian huffed, straightening his coat. “Be mature, Xiyang. I’ve prepared an agenda for tonight.”
“Oh? Let me see.” Ren Xiyang leaned against Rian’s shoulder. “Following up on the actions from our last meeting…”
Aurelia had a proverbial headache. She ended her guard work at the usual time and hurried away once Marcus arrived.
She had been planning to speak with Prince Pollux tonight. But that would have to wait.
Guarding King Augustus didn’t require much thought. So instead, she had been thinking about what needed to be done regarding the underground tower.
Her proverbial headache was from the realisation that not everyone who worked there would have been there at the time of the raid.
This meant there were four main tasks:
Interrogating those captured. Managing those imprisoned. Investigating the purpose of the underground tower. And somehow uncovering anyone else involved.And all of these tasks required more people. Aurelia would have to carefully pick those she trusted.
As the day had passed, Aurelia became increasingly sure that King Augustus was behind this. King Augustus had a large amount of ‘invisible’ expenditure; the financial books of Angio were vague at best and fabricated at worse. Aurelia had thought that most of that expenditure was used on King Augustus’s secret army, his bandits. But there must have been even more hidden expenditure.
It was impossible for anyone else to set up something so large and audacious right outside the Capital without King Augustus’s knowledge.
If it had been without King Augustus’s knowledge, he should have had a very angry public reaction today.
“Lady Helios, thank you for your work today,” Aurelia said when she saw Lady Helios downstairs.
“Viscountess Venenum is currently managing the site,” Lady Helios said. “I have cleared your schedule.”
“Good, we’ll go over there now.”
Aurelia was flanked by her ladies-in-waiting and a small group of guards. When she arrived at the site, she didn’t see anything aside from a few mages standing around. A subtle probing spell found nothing.
Lady Helios leaned in. “The Viscountess has arranged a shield.”
Aurelia nodded in approval.
One of the mages standing around, Lord Valerio Silex, walked over to them. “Your Highness, do you vouch for the eighth members of your contingent?”
“Yes.”
“Then please, follow me.”
Lord Silex ushered them through the subtle shield. Upon passing through, the site was revealed.
Bright lights lit the area, revealing a very large hole in the ground. There were several metal cages with people inside, slumped and appearing unconscious. There were also a handful of temporary earth constructions.
Viscountess Venenum strode over. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
“What should I see first?” Aurelia asked directly.
Viscountess Venenum pursed her lips. “Follow me down.”
They had left the people imprisoned in the outer wall of the tower within their cells—they needed to identify them first before releasing them. All they did regarding those prisoners was cast some healing spells and send in some food and water through the bars. They also used spells to test which ones were alive, dead, or undead.
Right now, Viscountess Venenum showed Princess Aurelia the undead.
Upon their approach, the undead stood up and slammed against the door grates, saliva dripping from their rotting mouths.
Aurelia was taken aback. “What kind of disease or curse…”
“They’re undead,” Viscountess Venenum said.
Historically, necromancy was either a misguided method to revive dead loved ones, or an aberrant method to create obedient slaves. Regardless, the raised dead tended to be mindless and do nothing without explicit magical puppeteering.
These undead persons weren’t blank morbid puppets. They were rabid.
“We need to sit down and discuss how we will manage this,” Aurelia said.
“Yes.”
The group went back up to the surface. Viscountess Venenum invited Aurelia and her group into one of the temporary earthen buildings.
They talked long into the night, discussing what was known so far and what needed to be known; and deciding what was whose responsibility, and the personnel required to complete what needed to be done.
Aurelia didn’t find it as stressful as she had feared. Viscountess Venenum was as direct as her, which saved them a lot of time.
She realised that would very much like Viscountess Venenum in her faction. But that was an issue for another day.
Did you know that Dao of the Salted Fish had 126 chapters in total? And yet, this novel is still going? Not to mention, the chapters in this novel are longer????
By the way, the BL Palace will be having a (free, online) workshop on Saturday 12th August 2023. I’m not speaking, but I will be attending and hosting the first half ^_^
