Cloak
Hongdou couldn’t stop Zhou Huaiyan from doing what he was determined to do, so she summoned an imperial guard instead.
“Go and find the Grand Duke quickly. Tell him that His Highness has brought back a foreign cat.”
Cat?
The imperial guard obviously didn’t understand, but he still nodded respectfully. After seeing the others leave, Hongdou came in with a food box.
“Your Highness, it’s time to drink the medicated food.”
When Zhou Huaiyan heard the words medicated food, his whole face fell.
“Drinking again……”
He muttered to himself, still taking it obediently.
“Eh, why isn’t it bitter today?”
Hongdou felt the pit of her stomach tightening.
“Your Highness, the Grand Duke has hired a new physician for you. He said that Your Highness has taken too many medicines since he was a child. The best method now is to take food supplements.”
Half a month has passed, and the Grand Duke has indeed uncovered many spies, but what exactly the poison is in His Highness’s body has not yet been found out. In order to avoid the medicinal materials clashing, he had to stop taking the medicated food.
No one told Zhou Huaiyan about the poison. He only thought that he, a sick man, had a high fever because he couldn’t stand the cold wind.
“Really?”
The young man’s beautiful peach blossom eyes were extremely brilliant,
“He’s a good and capable physician then. Those from before were all quack doctors! Quack doctors!”
But it’s only because he’s afraid of the bitterness; truly childish.
Hongdou saw through everything, but she did not expose him.
After a long while, the young man looked at his eldest palace maid again, somewhat impatient.
“That person, why is he taking so long to bathe?”
Hongdou had no choice but to appease him gently,
“Your Highness, please be a little more patient. You are a valued prince and have a body of ten thousand gold. That foreigner must be carefully cleaned and checked to make sure that there are no diseases before he can be kept by your side.”
However, Zhou Huaiyan had been unconscious for more than half a month, and his whole body was getting moldy. He finally found a new interest this time, so naturally, he couldn’t sit still.
“I’m going to take a look.”
“Your Highness, Your Highness!”
Hongdou didn’t call him to stop him, instead, she was forced to quickly pick up his cloak and catch up with him.
“It’s cold outside, please put on a cloak before going!”
Foreigners were not allowed to enter their masters’ bathrooms, so they naturally washed in public bathhouses. As it was a matter of His Highness’s safety, Hongdou specially ordered that he should be washed clean and examined. Three to four young male servants were specially called for such task.
Zhou Huaiyan had never been to a place like this before. Before he even got close, he heard clamoring noises inside.
“Catch! Catch him!”
Ping ping, pang pang. The sounds of splashing water rang out. Things fell on the floor, as if there were small animals running around inside. Before the young man could come in through the door, he bumped against a scurrying black shadow that just came out.
Hongdou was about to pull the person away but was blocked by the young man. Zhou Huaiyan lowered his head and saw a damp little head in his field of vision.
Hey, isn’t this the one he took?
The little one didn’t expect to bump into him. His beautiful eyes widened slightly, filled with shock and panic.
He seemed to have just climbed out of the water. He was dripping wet from head to foot as he firmly clutched the tattered trousers on his lower body. This pose looked exactly like that of a respectable family’s young girl who was taken advantage of by a robber, refusing to submit even to death.
Zhou Huaiyan couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s just taking a bath, what are you running around for?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ciatbeut tf rjlv la ilxf atja, atfgf kjr cb tlca bo yijwf lc atf sbecu wjc’r abcf.
Sure enough, just like Cuicui, he’s also afraid of water.
Itbe Lejlsjc xcfk atja atf qfgrbc lc ogbca bo tlw kjr cba Jelmel, yea rfflcu atfrf nfgs rlwlijg fsfr, tf ralii ofia j ragbcu vfrlgf ab qgbafma tlw. Lf gfjmtfv bea ab klqf atf kjafg ogbw atf ilaaif bcf’r fsfygbkr.
The little wild cat had just washed his face, so his pitch-dark eyelashes were still wet, looking both delicate and pitiful.
Zhou Huaiyan took the cloak from Hongdou’s hands and casually covered his body. Only then did he realize that the other person’s exposed skin was flushed and burning hot, with countless fine red marks crisscrossing it, as if it had been brushed with brute force. Blood even oozed in some places.
Zhou Huaiyan’s eyes turned cold.
At this time, the young male servant, who had chased after him while grumbling and swearing, came out with many scratch marks on his body and face.
“You lowly slave, how dare you scratch me……”
But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Zhou Huaiyan standing at the door.
The young man had raven hair, a jade crown, a beautiful face, and brocade clothes with cloud patterns. As brilliant as the son of god.
Several young male servants stared in awe for a few seconds before they hurriedly kneeled down to apologize.
“Pay… Paying respects to His Highness. I beg Your Highness to forgive me. It’s all because of this lowly slave’s disobedience!”
“Lowly slave?”
Zhou Huaiyan’s eyes fell on the young male servant’s wooden brush that had not yet been put down.
——That thing was used for brushing horses.
It was even for low-grade horses!
The little prince suppressed his smile, his eyes turning cold.
“Are you suggesting that Dianxia‘s things are…… lowly?”
He didn’t know if it was because he heard the words “Dianxia’s things” or the word “lowly”,
But the little slave froze in an instant, firmly biting his lip. He couldn’t control himself from trembling. The young man’s tone was light, with no hint of fondness or anger. However, several young male servants quickly cried,
“No, no, no, this little, this little one is not suggesting that!”
They trembled and shivered, seemingly desperate to think of excuses to extricate themselves. Zhou Huaiyan no longer wanted to waste time,
“Thirty strikes of big boards each, send them out.”
“Yes.”
Hongdou waved her hand, and soon, someone quickly came over to drag several young male servants down.
“No, don’t!!!”
“Your Highness, forgive me, Your Highness, forgive me!!!”
Seeing the young man frowning, Hongdou immediately darkened her face and scolded sternly,
“What are you standing in such a daze for? Why don’t you quickly gag these dirty things?!”
The next second, several male servants were quickly gagged with rags and dragged down. After dealing with the disobedient male servants, the eldest palace maid turned back.
She looked at the foreign slave huddled in the cloak, feeling deeply bothered. Back then, Hongdou had seen with her own eyes how much His Little Highness loved the cat. He doted on it so much that he even shoveled the cat’s poop himself.
The eldest palace maid narrowed her eyes.
——She must never let this foreigner bewitch and mislead the Lord.
“Your Highness, please order some maids with gentle hands and feet to…… bathe him.”
Hongdou tried to pull the person away, but was blocked by Zhou Huaiyan.
“No need, you go prepare hot water and clothes. I’ll take him in my room to bathe.”
Hearing the three words “in my room”, the little slave abruptly raised his head. He unknowingly expected that something would happen, his originally pale little face instantly burning red. He opened his mouth to say something, but ended up biting his lip and slowly swallowing back instead.
Hongdou, standing next to him, cried out.
“What…… going to your room to bathe?! How could this be?!”
This was the first time she felt so uneasy. Zhou Huaiyan glanced over, causing Hongdou to fall silent.
She didn’t know why, His Little Highness had been pampered since birth, but sometimes she felt that the other person had an indescribable aura.
Hongdou gave up, calculating the time and estimating when the Grand Duke should be back soon. Instead of angering His Highness at this time, it would be better to wait for the Grand Duke to come back. Zhou Huaiyan didn’t think there was any problem at all. He directly took the person back to his courtyard.
Hongdou took a deep breath, quickly catching up with him.
Everyone in the Grand Duke’s Mansion knew that the Ninth Prince was frail and afraid of the cold. Silver carbon and hot water would naturally always be present in the room every winter.
In the bathroom, hot water was poured in, causing the steaming mist to rise. While Hongdou was serving His Little Highness to change out of his brocade coat outside, she tried to persuade him again.
“If His Highness couldn’t feel at ease, how about this servant personally give him…… a bath?”
Zhou Huaiyan remained unmoved.
The little slave was huddled in the corner, still wrapped in a cloak. He sniffed the scent on the cloak—it was an indescribable fragrance.
Zhou Huaiyan drank medicine day after day, and he hated the smell of medicine the most. Therefore, all the clothes in his room were applied with special-quality perfumes. But as time passed, a little bit of a medicinal smell was inevitably mixed in. The smell was very light, like the pure and shallow breaths of wood, and a bit like cold plums, which was very particular.
The little slave breathed in with an open mouth, filling his chest to the brim, a look of infatuation etched in his pale green eyes.
Good, smells so good……
He couldn’t help but bury his face and breathe it in, like a kitten firmly embracing a catnip. Zhou Huaiyan had finished tidying up. When he turned around, he saw the little one firmly covering his face with his cloak.
“Hmm? Why are you still holding that cloak?”
Hearing the young man’s voice, the little slave instantly stiffened.
Got…… Got discovered……
He actually did such a thing to the nobleman’s cloak…
So dirty, he’s so dirty…
He has stained the nobleman’s cloak.
The little slave was about to cry. He shrank a little further into the corner, wishing he could dig a hole and bury himself. Zhou Huaiyan thought it was funny. He waved at him,
“Come here.”
After quite a while, the little slave’s head emerged from the cloak, his wet hair sticking on his forehead and face. Conflict and confusion were clearly written in his beautiful cat eyes. Seeing the foreigner being so disobedient, Hongdou wanted to scold him. But after thinking about it, she decided to just put up with it.
She stared at the foreigner gloomily, hoping and waiting for the Duke to come back and make the decision. She must not let this kind of little thing bewitch His Highness.
Zhou Huaiyan waited for a moment. He saw that the little one was still struggling in the same place,
“Can’t understand?”
He assumed the posture of withdrawing his hand, and, to his surprise, the little slave’s eyes widened slightly. Rustle. He stood up straight and hurriedly ran to him. The little one’s chest was rising and falling violently, his pale green cat eyes staring at him anxiously, as if he were extremely nervous.
Zhou Huaiyan: “……”
——It turns out he can understand what he said.
He casually rubbed the little one’s head and glanced at the bathtub next to him,
“Take it off.”
Little slave: “……!!!”
His whole body was stiff, his pupils were dilated, and it seemed like he couldn’t even breathe at this moment. As if the steaming tub was hell.
The little slave looked at him, then at Hongdou, who was not far away, and finally lowered his head with an embarrassed expression.
“?”
Zhou Huaiyan finally sensed the other party’s embarrassment,
“Are you shy?”
He turned back to look at the old palace maid, who had served him since childhood, and said very cold-bloodedly,
“Men and women should not be intimate with each other. Don’t watch; it’s inappropriate. You go out first.”
Hongdou: “……???”
How could this insignificant thing even get her attention?!!
Hongdou took a deep breath.
The Grand Duke will come back.
The Grand Duke will come back to fix this soon!
Just you wait and see. This foreign slave has no room to seduce His Highness once the Grand Duke comes back!
“Yes, this servant will wait outside.”
“Mhm.”
Seeing that the person was gone, the young man turned back with a gentle smile on his face,
“She’s gone, you can take it off now.”
“……”
The little slave didn’t speak. He just held the cloak between his fingers so hard that the bones of his fingers turned white.
From the moment he began to remember things, he already knew that his body was different from that of ordinary people. It was neither yin nor yang. Everyone was disgusted with him, saying that he’s lower than an animal.
Later on, the little slave killed those “devils” and deliberately sneaked into the slaves captured by the Zhou people, hoping to bury all the past. He thought that it would be good for him to just be a humble slave.
But……
The little slave closed his eyes and let go of his cloak, trembling. He carefully took it off, folded it, and set it aside.
After the cloak was taken off, the little one’s upper body was exposed. He was pale, thin, and covered with scars, both old and new, interlaced. Zhou Huaiyan couldn’t help but frown.
The little one’s height could only reach his chest. It seemed like he was only thirteen or fourteen years old.
——Too young.
Seeing Zhou Huaiyan frown, the little slave subconsciously clenched his fingers. He hugged his chest in embarrassment, trying to cover his body.
Sure enough… The nobleman was disgusted by him.
His ugly and lowly body has stained the nobleman’s eyes.
Zhou Huaiyan found his entangled little appearance very amusing. He sat aside, propped up his chin with one hand, and stared at the little slave with his beautiful peach-blossom eyes, not letting him go.
“There are no women here anymore, why are you still so shy?”
The little slave was about to cry again, feeling both panic and fear. Just his upper body is already displeasing to the noble man. If… If the noble man discovers his lower body…
His trembling hands gripped the loose belt, as if he were doing an extremely complicated psychological act. But after being entangled for a moment, he suddenly tried hard to tear at his injured throat, wanting to make a final struggle.
“Dirt, dirty…”
His voice was very hoarse, but not unpleasant to hear. It was like a kitten that had a hoarse voice and could only make out a weak whimper.
“Dirty?”
So you can actually speak the Zhou language?
The young man’s slender white fingers stirred the hot water. Suddenly, he scooped up some and sprinkled it on his body,
“You’re aware that you’re dirty, so why aren’t you still taking off your clothes to bathe quickly?”
He deliberately threatened,
“If you dilly-dally any longer, Dianxia will strip you off naked and throw you in.”
“Wu…….”
The little slave’s face turned pale. His beautiful, pale green eyes were filled with tears all at once. He had no choice but to untie his belt, trembling…….
The author has something to say:
Wuwuwu, please leave a comment~
Me: Takes wine glass, twirls it bit and takes a drink of it . Then takes a puff from a cigarette trying to portray the aura of a wise old man.
Hongdou: ……… Ehhh
Me: Let me give you a piece of advice, if you snitch on your master you’re gonna fall out of favour.
Hongdou: Casually plants flag🚩 No need I’ve raised his highness since he was young he will understand that I am doing the best for him, I can’t let him be seduced by that foreigner.
Me: ……..…..👀 Are you sure his highness is the one getting seduced and not the other way around ←_←
Hongdou: Casually plants another flag🚩 Impossible ಠ,_｣ಠ the one getting seduced is his highness and it’s definitely that foreign vixen doing everything in his power to seduce his highness but his highness shall never fall for his tricks.
Me: ……….. Ehhh okay we’ll just …. uhhh have to waite and see i guess ┐( ∵ )┌
Thanks for the chapter.
Just saw the notification on discord about this new novel, please jiayou translator San. Hope the updates will be regular lol,all the good novels I read are updated once a month at most ( ≧Д≦)
I update regularly~ It’s just that the schedule for now is once a week. So that’s, 4 chapters a month (unless we have ko-fi extra chapters) XD Don’t worry, I’ve never missed any schedules so far🤞🏻
I see! Will there be a set day during the week or is it randomized? :0
Thank you for the translation, I’m very excited to continue reading this story~
I update every Friday (GMT+8)!
Once a week is really plenty, thank you so much (つ≧▽≦)つ . I honestly wouldn’t mind even if it’s once a month tbh, despite being free, the translation is so good.
Eeepp, thank you so much >///<
Adsjfajafa ♥️♥️♥️