The Empress (MxM)

Chapter 9

3rd person pov

After setting the bath and un-dressing the boy, he sat beside him resting his head on his hands on the rim of the large barrel

Satomi sank into the warm water letting it cover his mouth

The man just watched him wearily as the boy absent mindedly playing with the water

"Is it to your liking?"

He nodded

"Are you gonna speak?" He asked lowly 

He recieved no answer which made him sigh in frustration

"Come on, you can't ignore me forever "

Satomi raised a brow as if challenging Takeshi who chuckled

He moved and started scrubbing the boy's arm gently 

"I was adopted" he stated

Satomi looked at him with wide beautiful eyes

"Yeah, queen mother decided to adopt me when I was being sold as a slave"

The boy was fascinated by the new found information

"So why are you always angry?" Sounding so adorable that Takeshi's heart almost stopped

"I don't know, I've always been like this, even as a child. I even went as far as to burn down the yard of one of father's most favored concubine"

"Did they find out it was you who did it?"

He smiled widely at Satomi, a look of mischief flashed in his eyes

"Of course,  Concubine Chan went to father and told him I was a demon spawn, I cried the day pretending as if it was an accident. I told them that it caught on fire when I tried to help cook food for her"

Satomi giggled at his fiance's sly nature, leaving a light almost unnoticeable blush on the man's face

"What did queen mother say?"

"Mother was beyond furious screaming who ever dared hurt her little Chi would pay dearly and father could do nothing but watch. That day concubine Chan got a straw mat beating out in the yard"

The boy turned to look at Takeshi who was now combing his hair

"How cruel,  queen mother must have loved you dearly"

He nodded

"I had many brothers and sisters. Mother loved us all as if we were her own. I had four brothers and five sisters. Only two older than me and even though we had different mothers and I was a low born, they still loved me"

Satomi looked at his lover with alittle admiration, he visibly softened when talking about his family and it amused they boy

After his warm bath, he was dried and clothed in thick garments to keep him warm and comfortable before being picked up once more and carried to bed

"Does it still hurt?" Takeshi asked looking regretfully at his swollen cheek

The boy nodded, and he was right, it stung harshly but not as much as before

He gently kissed the spot repeatedly while enjoying the view of Satomi's cheeks that blossomed bright red

He took the ointment that was left in his room and applied it to Satomi's face before putting a bandage on it

Takeshi then took his loved one to bed and stayed there the rest of the day, trying to make up for what he had done.