Chapter 4: Awkward moments in the Palace Corridor

Exhausted and satisfied, Xia the servant crawled off Tang. She rolled herself next to him. Tang had been giving her the time of her life, as he did that to a female servant almost every night. It had been almost 2 weeks since he last slept with Xia, so Tang felt it was her turn again. Seducing her in the first place was as easy as piercing her with a spear. Tang had built up such a reputation that all he had to do was talk to you. Romance had been long gone, and Tang's sexual recreations were nothing more than an occupation, a relief of both stress and bodily fluids.

Xia was still gasping for breath from the extertion. Tang had a much better physique and didn't feel much more tired than after he would walk to his closet to fetch a new pair of trousers, even though they had been going at it for more than 2 and a half hours.

Tang got out of bed and sipped at a crystal jar filled with fresh water. He looked at Xia. When he had asked her to "accompany" him to his room, he had already seen the glint in her eyes. Now, 3 hours later, she lay in his bed, completely done for. He had needed one of his escapades, if that term were still correct, more than other nights. Mostly because of what he had seen that evening. And felt. And done.

Tang went to sit back on his bed, with his back turned to Xia. The servant girl finally sat up straight, crawled towards Tang and hung her head over her shoulder. Tang didn't really like this. Just because he had used her as a means of pleasure, didn't mean she had to become so familiar with him. After all, he was some kind of prince of the Empire. Compared to him, this little girl was nothing. Mere excrement from an abandoned Pekinese. Tang suddenly, violently, shoved her head off his shoulder. This caused her to fall off the bed as well, and unfortunately for her, she bumped her nose onto the ground, and it started to bleed.

"For heaven's sake, tell me you're joking?", Tang said, very angry. "A simple contact with the ground makes your nose bleed?"

"What did you do that for?", Xia said, trying to stop her nose from bleeding. "My nose hurts terribly!" And a couple of blood drops dripped onto the yellow carpet.

"Hey, stop ruining my carpet! Damn it!", and Tang kicked her in the face so hard she flew back more than a metre and landed on the wooden floor. Xia started crying. Salty tears ran from her eyes, and mixed with the thick blood that ran from the poor girl's nose before leaking onto the floor.

"What's wrong with you?", Tang shouted at her. You're waking the entire palace! Do you want the Emperor to wake up because you can't hold yourself together?"

This only caused Xia to cry even harder. Tang had about enough of her.

"Allright, that's it, get out of my room, you filthy piece of trash. NOW!!" And Tang opened the door, grabbed Xia by the hair and with one hand, he threw her through the door opening. "And if you tell anybody about this, you won't live to tell it twice, I can assure you." And Tang slammed the door shut. Suddenly, he realised that Xia's clothes were still lying on the foot-end of his bed along with his, hers being partially ripped, and that Xia was now making her way to the servant's dormitories completely naked, bleeding, and probably leaving an entire trail. For a moment, he cursed his impulsiveness. He grabbed her clothes and opened the door again.

Linmei couldn't sleep. Not from the pains her wounds caused her, though. First of all, she could bear pain very well, and next to that, the Imperial Palacedoctors were on uparallelled skill. They had stopped the wound in her back from bleeding, and made sure it wouldn't infect. In 2 days, it could be fully healed. And for some reason, the doctors knew exactly what to do with a severe burn caused by Dire Flame. Linmei didn't even have to guess why.

She turned around, the humiliation of defeat still burned on her retina and hammered into her mind. Time and time again she repeated the match in her head. What mistakes she could have made. How she could have countered his attacks better. But the longer she thought about it, the more she became desperate. Because, even with her most critical attitude, she couldn't find any flaws of her own, and yet he had countered all her blows in souch a way that she couldn't offer any resistance.

Linmei sighed. Back at home, she was the undisputed champion of the local arena. She always had been a prodigy when it came to fighting, and many a skilled warrior had already fallen at her feet. Of course, she had never killed an opponent before. Even thought she needn't, she had always offered her adversaries mercy. She felt it was not necessary to kill your opponent to prove you're better. But this Tang, though... He had a passion she had never seen before, and if he had wanted, he could've killed her.

Linmei shivered at the thought. Everything she thought about, seemed to lead right back to her defeat.

Linmei couldn't take it anymore, and she got up. She felt like going to the toilet, so that's what she did.When she sat there, she heard a loud thump coming from a couple of rooms further. As she got back to bed, she wondered what it was. She heard a voice say something, and another thump. She went outside to see what was happening. She saw the door of a suite opening, and a servant girl was thrown out in a very violent way, accompanied by some words she couldn't really make out. She walked over towards her and noticed that the girl was completely naked. Wondering what was going on, she hurried towards the girl, and heard her crying. She arrived next to her, and saw that she also was bleeding!

"What happened?", she softly asked. "Who...", and then the bedroom door flew open.

There Tang stood. Completely naked, in front of Linmei the Lotus Flower and Xia the servant, with the latter's clothes in his hand. Her clothes didn't cover up his genitals however, and he saw that Linmei was staring at them with a shocked look on her face. Of course, there was a lot to be shocked about as well, Tang quickly thought. But then, he covered up his parts.

"Umm...", he began. "What are you doing here, Linmei?"

Linmei awoke from a dream as she heard his words. She kept looking at the place that Tang had covered up, which she realised. She hadn't seen anything like that ever since her father took her to a gatherer of rare animals and showed her a snake called a Boa Constrictor!

"Hello?", she heard Tang say.

"Oh, erm. I heard this noise, and...". Slowly, she remembered what had happened before. "And I wanted to see what it was."

"Well, here's your answer. Poor girl fell from my bed and bumped your nose, didn't you?"

Linmei looked at the girl, who soflty aznd slowly nodded.

"And then", Tang continued, "she tripped while going away."

"She went away?", Linmei asked.

"That's what I just said, yes", Tang said.

"Naked?"

"Yes, well, erm... She can be quite impulsive sometimes, she likes to do daring stuff and so on. I let her, you know, you can't terrorize the servant, you need to give them some freedom as well."

"I see", Linmei said. She didn't believe a word he was saying. According to her, Tang had just violated this poor girl. But what could she do about it? And who could she tell about it? And what would it matter? And was the life of this girl worth more than Tang's? Unfortunately not. Tang would get away with this, no matter how. So Linmei breathed deeply.

"I'm not sure if I believe you, Tang", she said. "Give the girl her clothes back, and let her get some medical attention. Please."

Tang did as she asked. Unfortunately, she forgot that by doing so, he was no longer under any cover. Quickly, he went to stand behind his door. Xia put her clothes on as good as was still possible, bowed for Linmei and Tang and then went away.

"So...", Linmei said when she was gone. "Does this happen often?"

"Do you mean inviting a servant to my room, or standing completely naked before the most beautiful newest female member of court ever?"

Linmei felt flattered. She thought Tang was very good looking as well, and he could certainly fulfill all of her needs, judging by what she just saw. But he was arrogant. And a brute. And a dashing good fighter...

"No,I mean, naked servant scoming out of your room, drenched in their own blood."

"Oh, that", Tang said with a faint smile. "It happens about 3 or 4 times a week, actually."

Was he joking? Or was he serious? She only knew him for a very short time, but she wouldn't be surprised if he was telling the truth. Sheasked him a very stupid and banal question.

"Really?"

"Yep," he replied. "Well, they don't always bleed through the nose, but... Anyway, you get the picture."

Linmei now suspected he was exaggerating. She didn't know what to sy, so she kept silent. What did she have to say to a man who literally kicked her ass in the arena and now shows up in front of her, completely naked after probably just having violated a servant? Nothing. Then, Tang asked her a question.

"Why can't you sleep? It can't have been the noise we made..."

"Oh, no", Linmei said with an embarassed smile. I erm,... Have been thinking about today all the time."

"Oh, that", Tang said, still hiding himself behind the door. "Just a sec."

He disappeared, and then the door opened a bit more. Tang had put on some shorts. She couldn't help but notice how detailed every muscle in his upper body was, when he opened the door further.

"Don't worry about it."

"What?", Linmei replied.

"Your defeat. Don't worry about it. I have never lost before, so... It's quite normal I beat you actually."

"Well, to be quite frank, I've never been beaten before, either. So I do worry about it. You seemed to beat me so easily."

"Yes, your defence was very flawed, I must say. Your training was good, but not excellent. You've got a lot of potential that is still locked inside your body."

Linmei didn't know what to say. Thank him or be offended by his words?

"What do you mean by that?", Linmei asked curiously.

"Just that. Your training could've been a lot better. If you would've trained from birth at the Palace, you would be Jin's equal. Now, you're not. Not yet, at least."

"How can you know I can't beat Jin? I've never fought him before."

"Look, not that I don't like this conversation, but I'd rather sit down while talking. Care to come in?"

Linmei didn't know what to do. She wanted to hear Tang out, but she was worried about what might happen afterwards. Tang had a reputation, and she just witnessed that it was well-earned. But her curiosity prevailed, and she stepped inside his room. She sat on a chair, while Tang went to sit on his bed.

"This isn't really... proper conduct, you know", Linmei said.

"Yeah, so? I never made you come inside, you know. Anyway, i have fought Jin countless times. I know how good my opponents are. Jin is much stronger than you, although not as quick. But his block is virtually impregnable. Jin is also very resistent to magic. If you two would fight... Jin would be the winner, I am confident of that."

"Then what should I do to improve?", Linmei asked, desperate for knowledge on how to acquire more power. She was so interested in the conversation that she sat on the edge of her chair.

"Well, I ain't no teacher, oh Heavenly Lotus Flower, so I can't tell you", Tang said with a smile.

"Oh, come on, you do know!"

"Maybe. But what kind of a warrior would I be when I share my knowledge of combat with everybody? Not a superior one, that's for sure."

"Well, if you won't tell me, then I've got no further reason to stay here. Goodnight!" And Linmei stood up, and angrily she walked towards the door.

"Well,well. She's not even here for a full day yet, and already she's trying to manipulate others. I must say, I really do admire you."

Linmei turned around and gave Tang a look full of contempt. "I'm not manipulating anybody!", she said with a voice that was louder than usual.

"Of course not. Goodnight", Tang said as he waved at her.

Linmei walked through the door and slammed it shut.

Back in her room, her heart was still pounding. What an asshole! Telling her of all people that she was but a mediocre warrior, and then not even giving her ways to improve. "Perhaps he wants others aaround him to be weak", she thought in herself. "So he's even more dominant."

"Ugh, why do I even care", she spoke, and got into bed.

And that night, she dreamt of Tang beating her in combat.