Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 121: Too Close to the Emperor?

Chapter 121: Too Close to the Emperor?

[Suggested song for this Chapter: Idea 10 by Gibran Alcocer]

Meili ran to the kitchen with Tricky close on her heels, the dog in a state of high alert, sensing the moods of his mistress and their pack leader.

Meili remained close by the Emperor’s side all day, only leaving him when classified reports were being given.

A steady stream of officials from various palace departments were brought in to give their updates on the theft, military officials were tasked to investigate the allegations the Crown Prince was building a private army, and spies gave the Emperor their reports.

She kept his favourite tea fresh and warm whenever he reached for it, and brought in his most favoured snacks to help keep his strength up.

Normally, she worked hand-in-glove with the palace physicians to ensure the Emperor’s snacks were light and healthy with the right medicinal effects, but today, she had the kitchen prepare all of his favourites, including those that were considered too oily or too sweet.

It was dark by the time the last of the visitors had left the Emperor’s chambers, and he was alone with Feng Bao and Meili.

The man sighed heavily and rested his head on one hand, reminding Meili of her father when he had returned home from a difficult day at court. She would usually offer to massage his shoulders, but she remembered her mother’s admonishment not to engage in any work that required her to touch the Emperor.

She thought that it might be okay on just this one occasion, when the man was so clearly suffering...

"Y...your Majesty?" she called him.

"Hm?"

"W...would you like me to give you a shoulder massage?"

He didn’t raise his head from his hand. "Do you know how?" he asked doubtfully.

"Of course," she said softly, "I would perform these regularly for my father".

"Go ahead then," he sighed wearily.

Feng Bao nodded encouragingly at her, wishing he had known sooner that she had this skill.

She stood behind the Emperor’s chair and started delicately and expertly massaging his tired muscles.

He sighed with pleasure. Surprisingly, she was actually very good. Her father had trained her well, he thought with approval.

"Lower... Lower," he instructed her until she reached a particularly sore spot on his shoulder blade, and she carefully massaged away the tight knot.

He rested back against his chair and closed his eyes, rumbling with pleasure.

"My head," he commanded her, "especially my temples".

Her tiny fingers gently massaged his temples, and he allowed himself this small indulgence. She moved her hands to his head.

"Would you like me to take your hair down, Majesty?"

His eyes flew open, and he looked directly into her large hazel green eyes, which were inches from his own as she leant over him to rub his temples.

She was likely not aware of the fact that her pillowy chest was pressed against the back of his neck, though he certainly had a heightened awareness of the fact.

As usual he found not a hint of guile present in her face.

Her parents seemed to have left her in innocent ignorance of the intimacy of a woman unravelling a man’s hairdo and massaging his head for him... as they had done with most matters in relation to the opposite sex, he had come to see.

He nodded at her, with uncharacteristic ambivalence.

Meili took out all of the complicated clips and the guan ring holding up His Majesty’s top knot, placing them on a tray which Feng Bao was holding, hovering nearby.

When all of the clips were removed, she ran a comb through his long hair, placing a pillow beneath his head so he could rest properly.

Then she used her delicate fingers and hands to gently rub and restore the circulation to his scalp with just enough pressure.

Mmm, it was heavenly. He watched her with hooded eyes while she was focussed on his head, giving a grunt of pleasure that had an edge to it that led Feng Bao to withdraw from the room, taking the other servants with him.

After a few minutes, Meili looked around the room in surprise. Where had everyone gone? She couldn’t recall ever being left all alone with the Emperor before...

"What’s that scent you’re wearing?" he asked her, his gaze becoming predatory.

"It’s a mixture of violets and hyacinths, Majesty. If you don’t like it, I can choose another that’s to your liking?"

"I like it. Keep on wearing it," his voice was low, but all of the danger signs were entirely missed by Meili.

It was just right for the girl, he thought with satisfaction. He continued watching her surreptitiously. Her innocence and lack of awareness of her own beauty, made her all the more beautiful, he reflected.

It was getting harder and harder to suppress his desire to take her into his harem. He might be the Emperor, but he was, after all, still a man.

If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he would have thought that she was going about trying to seduce him; quite successfully too, as it turned out...

For now, with all that was going on, he would keep her in play on his chessboard, but who she would belong to in the end remained undecided.

"Your Majesty’s bath is ready," Feng Bao reappeared.

The eunuch followed his Lord into his bathhouse and checked the temperature for him, before the Emperor stepped into the warm water and settled down to rest among the floating rose petals.

"Would you like me to send Miss Mei in to continue your massage, Lord?" he asked, watching the Emperor’s face closely.

He smiled, "I think we’ll save her from massaging an almost naked grown man for now, Bao, though I would very much enjoy watching her face in such a situation."

The Emperor and Feng Bao laughed together just to think of how awkward she would look and how red her cheeks would become.

"Very good, Lord."

"But I want her to play the guqin for me every night now. Place a small cot in my room and she’s to sleep there. Move her belongings somewhere nearby so she may attend me to play her instrument in her bedclothes and retire from playing to her cot after I fall asleep."

"I’ll attend to it right away, Lord."

Feng Bao hurried off to make the arrangements before his Master was ready to retire for the evening.

This news would ricochet around the harem like a gunshot.

He hoped his Lord was preparing to have the girl more closely guarded at the same time as he was increasing her duties...

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.