Morning.
It felt like the first time in ages I'd slept so deeply.
After Rejuvenation to Youth and Bone Transformation and Marrow Shedding, I hadn't needed much sleep at all.
Rather than fully drifting off, I'd spent more time sitting cross-legged, lost in meditation.
So, I hadn't slept this long. Never this peacefully.
The woman nestled in my arms. Seolha, sleeping soundly.
Even with her hair down and makeup washed away from last night, her beauty hadn't faded a bit.
As a courtesan, decked out in her garb, makeup, and styled hair, she'd been seductively alluring.
But now? She was just a refined, elegant lady. Not a trace of the courtesan came to mind.
I gently squeezed the breast of the still-slumbering Seolha.
She cracked open her eyes, saw me watching, and forced the sleep away.
"No. Sleep more. I'm not waking you."
"How could I? Great hero..."
She started to sit up fully.
Stubborn woman. Doesn't listen at all.
I pulled Seolha into my embrace, and she melted into my arms willingly.
"You're not a courtesan anymore. No need to be so formal."
"Even if I'm no longer one, I'll serve you with utmost respect, great hero."
"Sigh. Fine. Do what you want. I'll do what I want."
With that, I laid Seolha back down and climbed atop her.
Eyes gazing up at me calmly. Deep, storied depths in those pupils.
Last night, I'd heard Seolha's full tale.
How she'd ended up in the brothel. How it had all come to this.
The funniest part? I was her first customer.
Even at Jade Radiance Pavilion, she'd been held back, saved for only the most esteemed guests.
In other words, she'd never writhed beneath another man.
Hearing that, I caught myself grinning like an idiot.
Probably wore a pretty dumb look on my face.
Didn't need to see it to know. Ugh.
Anyway, it made Seolha look even prettier.
Maybe even lovable. Something like that.
Never imagined I'd be the type to fall for someone this fast.
Who knows. Maybe her beauty was just that breathtaking.
"Great hero... You said you'd go see Yeonhwa this morning..."
"I will. But you think I can just hop up like nothing's wrong in this state? What about this?"
I pointed below, and Seolha's cheeks flushed pink.
Stripped of her courtesan mask, she was just a shy woman. Adorably so.
I took her breast in my mouth.
Peach-plump mounds, I sucked and swirled my tongue over the nipple.
"Mmm, haa. Great hero..."
Her voice grew moist in an instant. Gentle hands drew me close.
My mouth, still latched to her breast, trailed slowly downward.
Along her belly to her waist. Lingering there before dipping to her navel.
From her navel, inching lower. To that alluring mound.
"Ugh..."
Seolha shyly tried to press her thighs together, but my face was already buried there.
Soft, tender flesh. A woman's secret garden.
My tongue grazed it, and her waist bucked sharply once.
Then the tremors grew frequent, a clear spring welling from her folds.
"Haa. Ahhng."
Her body wriggled endlessly from embarrassment.
After lavishing it for a good while, Seolha shuddered in fine spasms, drawing in sharp breaths.
"Felt good?"
"Y-you tease... Great hero..."
Her mumbling as she hid her face behind her hands was a sight to behold.
Ha. Really. Beauty truly is the best.
Yeah. Being pretty means even a guy like me gets lucky breaks.
She was plenty ready now, so I thrust in my fully engorged shaft.
Her reactions as a no-longer-courtesan differed sharply from last night.
No 'welcoming the customer' pose. Just more honest surrender to pleasure.
"Ugh..."
Somehow shyer now. But I liked this version better.
Real reactions. No need to fake it.
Well, last night hadn't felt faked either.
Slowly. Ever so slowly, I moved.
Each withdrawal and plunge, I drank in her fully enraptured expressions, sinking into satisfaction.
My shaft stuffed full in her tightness. Her body enveloping me completely.
I warmed her body like that for a good long while, moving deliberately slow.
Not that it stayed slow forever.
Every beginning has an end. For peak ecstasy, this wouldn't cut it.
My pace quickened bit by bit, her heated moans growing louder.
Seolha clutched the bedding, then my arms. Hands tensing with strength.
I felt my own limit approaching. Time to let go.
"This time, inside."
I brought my lips to her ear and whispered softly.
Yesterday, I'd finished outside because she was still a courtesan.
But not anymore. This woman was mine.
Silly to claim her after just one day, but she'd been my first, so she was mine alone.
This was the mark of my possession.
Something only I could do. Proof she was wholly mine.
With that, I poured deep inside Seolha's body.
A swelling satisfaction, deep pride. A smile crept onto my face unbidden.
Seolha wrapped her arms around my neck and drew me in naturally.
Still joined, we shared a long, lingering kiss.
Having held her so intensely from the morning, I finished a simple breakfast.
Seolha continued serving me with utmost devotion.
Well, considering what lay ahead, her reaction made sense.
"Let's go. Lead the way."
"Yes, great hero."
Seolha stepped out of Luminous Jade Pavilion and led me ahead.
Her steps quickened, as if eager to get there faster.
She headed to the inner recesses of Jade Radiance Pavilion, behind the annex to a secluded corner, and opened a door.
A cramped room thick with the scent of medicinal decoctions.
And there, a gaunt woman lay sleeping as if dead.
"This is Namgung Yeonhwa?"
"Yes, great hero."
"Can I take a look?"
"Please... I beg you."
I sat by the bed and examined the girl lying there.
Terribly emaciated. Yet even so, hints of striking beauty shone through.
Sigh. Why was I like this? Having such thoughts even for a patient.
Couldn't help it? That's just how men are, right?
I lifted the blanket slightly and took hold of Namgung Yeonhwa's wrist.
I wasn't a physician.
But when it came to martial arts and qi cultivation, I dared say I knew better than anyone.
So, I sent a light flow of internal energy into Namgung Yeonhwa's body.
A single casual small heavenly circuit.
But my energy scattered inside her before even completing it.
"Ugh."
The sleeping Namgung Yeonhwa grimaced fiercely and let out a pained groan.
"This is serious."
I'd heard it was bad, but worse than described.
Maybe even worse than Seolha's shattered dantian.
"Let me see... Still, not impossible."
"R-really!? Great hero!?"
Seolha looked at me with eyes brimming with hope.
"If you kiss me here, maybe."
I pointed to my lips playfully, and Seolha kissed me without hesitation.
"Hey, hey. It was a joke. Felt nice, though."
"Joke or not, it doesn't matter. If it means Yeonhwa can recover, I'll do anything."
Her resolute expression. Utterly earnest.
Always these long-winded backstories.
"Got it. Don't worry. It should work. But it'll take time. Can't just snap and done."
"I'll wait, no matter how long. Great hero."
"No, no. Don't get so serious. Anyway... Can't do it here. Need a place to stay first. Can't keep hanging around the brothel. I'll go scout. Should be back by evening. Wait easy."
"Understood, great hero."
"Oh. And you're not a courtesan anymore. Still in the brothel for now, but you're mine. I bought you. Got it?"
"Yes, great hero."
Buying a person felt a bit absurd, but it was the unavoidable truth.
Seolha had been Jade Radiance Pavilion's courtesan, after all.
Leaving the brothel, I loosened my body lightly and retraced yesterday's path.
Should've grabbed a few more Night-Luminescent Pearls yesterday. Such a hassle.
Anyway, as I moved, I pondered what lay ahead.
Our talk from last night, too.
Seolha was twenty-three this year, real name Ha Jinhee.
And she hailed from the Namgung Family.
More precisely, she'd been the friend and bodyguard to its patriarch's youngest daughter, Namgung Yeonhwa.
The Namgung Family had taken in the orphaned Seolha as a child for Yeonhwa's sake.
The two had been inseparable, like blood sisters.
The trouble started with the Righteous-Demonic-Evil Great War.
The Namgung Family suffered near-annihilation.
Patriarch and elders mostly slain, few survivors left.
Even so, true to one of the Five Great Families, they'd tried rebuilding bit by bit.
But the world doesn't bend to one's will.
A vast legacy like the Namgung Family. Yet not enough to defend it anymore.
Vulture-like scum naturally swarmed.
Their target was a foregone conclusion.
Three years ago, disaster struck.
Intruders breached the Namgung estate at midnight.
The scant remnants fought desperately, but the situation deteriorated fast.
Annihilation loomed. A gruesome end.
The patriarch entrusted Yeonhwa to the twenty-year-old Seolha and bade them flee the estate.
Seolha had wanted to fight alongside them despite her lacking skill, but Yeonhwa stopped her.
A path carved through blood and lives. Seolha and Namgung Yeonhwa escaped that way.
But not without cost.
Seolha lost her dantian in the process; Namgung Yeonhwa took grievous wounds.
Even stripped of her martial prowess, Seolha fled desperately with Namgung Yeonhwa in tow.
Through connections, they ended up at Jade Radiance Pavilion in Chang'an.
Never intended to stoop to a brothel.
But Namgung Yeonhwa's condition worsened steadily, and healing her demanded vast sums.
Having spent every last jewel from their escape, Seolha had no choice but to sell herself to the brothel.
A young woman bereft of martial arts had only her body to earn big money.
A tragic tale. Heartbreaking events.
But the Namgung Family wasn't alone.
From Seolha's account, the current Central Plains was little more than a blood-soaked inferno.
Hearing that, I figured I had even more to do.
Helping folks like them wouldn't be hard for me.
I could grant them lucky encounters, after all.