The Tale Continues (Saiunkoku Monogatari Fanfiction: Ryuuki x Shuurei lemon)

Chapter 27: Kouyuu and Shuuei

(These are Kouyuu and Shuuei's conversations as they trailed behind Ryuuki when he was being chased.)

''What the hell! Are you sure we won't help that stupid king? Those girls are clinging to him,'' Kouyuu said with an angry expression.

''Oh, are you jealous? I did not know you fell inlove to the emperor that way. Then go and help him. I'm sure they will cling to you too. We had barely managed to run from our pursuers and hide. I guess it is time to see how His Majesty, as a man would deal with such matters alone.''

''Fine,'' Kouyuu surrendered. ''And don't lump me with your dirty mind you man-whore!'' He did not like the idea of girls clinging to him too. They trailed Ryuuki silently as he ran away from girls. Kouyuu clenched his fist when one of the girls caught up and suddenly kissed Ryuuki. ''How dare that woman! Shuuei pull that woman away from him,'' Kouyuu demanded.

''Why me?'' Shuuei simply said. ''Do it yourself if you want to.''

''Insolence! How shameless that girl is to kiss the emperor! This is exactly why I hate women. They are too pushy!'' Kouyuu remarked angrily.

''Now, now just shut up or we will be chased again too. Let's see how His Majesty will this with this kind of situation,'' Shuuei calmly said. Then he was silenced when Kouyuu did shut up but stiffened when he spotted a certain someone. He followed Kouyuu's gaze and saw Shuurei who was frozen in her tracks and staring at Ryuuki and the woman.

''Sh-Shuurei. Lady Shuurei,'' Kouyuu pointed as if Shuuei had not spotted her. Why is she here? She shouldn't be in Kiyou yet. They both saw the pained and astounded expression on her face. ''She looks hurt.''

''How did things turn out like this?'' Shuuei said already feeling guilty. They all loved Shuurei's cheerfulness and strength that seeing her with that kind of expression saddened them too. ''Catastrophe,'' Shuuei whispered as he saw the pained and stunned expression on Shuurei's face. ''His Majesty seems to be unlucky today.'' They instantly knew that Shuurei had misunderstood the situation.

''This is a disaster. She did not see that it was the woman who kissed him. Shuuei, this is all your fault.''

''Hey, don't blame this on me. I'm sure Lady Shuurei will understand.''

''But she is hurt,'' Kouyuu said and Shuuei cannot talk back to that. They watched and listened at what happened next.

The two watched closely and they were amazed at how Ryuuki declared that Shuurei is his wife and that he would show no mercy if any of them hurts her.

''He had perfected imposing his authority on others without directly revealing who he is,'' Kouyuu complimented.

''Indeed,'' Shuuei agreed. They continued to trail the two.

They were taken aback when Ryuuki suddenly dive deep in the lake. When the women chasing them had already passed by and Ryuuki still did not surface, they started to get nervous. Shuuei would have revealed himself and ran to the rescue but Ryuuki surfaced seconds after.

They saw how worried Shuurei was but she pretended to be annoyed instead. They trailed the two and saw the precious moment in Shuurei's house.

''Am I seeing what I am seeing?'' Kouyuu said as he blinked several times.

''Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me too. We must be exhausted,'' Shuuei said in a low voice as he too blinked repeatedly. But they really saw it. Shuurei kissed back Ryuuki and the expression on her face when they broke for air showed that she liked it.

When they saw the two kiss again and Shuurei wrapped both her arms tighter around Ryuuki and fervently kissed back, they are convinced that they are not imagining things. They decided to leave the two and let them enjoy themselves since this is a rare moment since they are often far away from each other. They thought that perhaps they have done that before but Ryuuki just kept silent about it. That's why he was silent about Shuurei the past four years.

They liked Shuurei as an official but they also knew how lonely Ryuuki is without her. Although they do not fully understand how deep his loneliness is, they knew that it is hard to be the emperor and live solely for the country. Ryuuki need such things too to remain as the man named Shi Ryuuki and to remain human as well. During the past four years though, Ryuuki changed. They thought he had gotten over her. But following what they saw, Ryuuki must have silently missed Shuurei but did not complain anymore.

''That's all that happened.'' Shuuei explained the next day as Ryuuki sat on his table giving them sharp looks.

''Hmp. Fine. Keep it a secret,'' Ryuuki said as he continued working. He worked ten times faster than usual since he is in high spirits after what happened the day before. The usual pace of how he works now is quite fast that as he worked ten times faster, it almost looked impossible that Kouyuu and Shuuei thought he is just glancing at the papers and piling it on top of the other.

But when Kouyuu checked it, all of it are splendidly done that he insisted that Ryuuki must have used some kind of magic. Then remembered that there was a time too when he saw Reishin work like that.

Shuuei smiled. If it was him who had been able to kiss Shusui the way Ryuuki kissed Shuurei the day before, he would be as motivated as Ryuuki too. He looked at Ryuuki with envy.

Next Chapter: Hot Spring