Note
Rating: mature 😆
Aurelia felt strained. The urgent matter in the outskirts of the Capital was growing bigger and bigger. Lady Helios sent her brief messages via their connected miniature communication mirrors to keep her updated.
But she had to stand by and guard King Augustus—the very person she suspected was behind the discovered underground tower.
When she got the chance, she sent messages back to Lady Helios, ordering her to keep control, to not let the captured escape, and to not let anyone tamper or remove any evidence.
In the late afternoon, King Augustus went to his quarters and had Aurelia stand guard outside.
No one else went into the quarters through the door that Aurelia guarded. It was also unnaturally quiet.
She knew that King Augustus was speaking to his secret agents. She had a strong suspicion it was about the underground tower.
Aurelia’s eyes darkened. This made handling the matter all the more important.
She had to admit it: if this happened before, she wouldn’t have cared that much. But now that she wanted to take over, revealing King Augustus’s corrupt secrets was in her best interests.
Lady Helios and Viscountess Venenum and their teams were all very competent people who did their best to keep everything contained. However, given all the commotion and all the people involved, they couldn’t stop the news about a huge underground tower discovered so close to the Capital.
What they didn’t realise was that another piece of information was quietly spreading: whispered rumours of necromancy in that tower.
Regardless, those ‘lucky’ enough to attend dinner at the castle didn’t mention anything. They weren’t stupid enough to speak while King Augustus was seated at the front of the dining hall.
Back in Sedaveria, Rian gaily hooked his arm around Ren Xiyang’s waist the moment he closed the door to his quarters.
Dinner was done, and this was the last night Rian would have with Ren Xiyang for a while (i.e. two weeks).
“You’re great friends with Florence, hm?” Rian said meaningfully.
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “You still remember that.”
“I remember everything you say.”
“I remember you didn’t tell Florence that we only recently got together.”
Rian pouted. “Neither did you!”
“I suspect that it was mostly your fault,” Ren Xiyang said.
“She also mentioned some of your actions, like sending me roses!”
“I also sent her roses,” Ren Xiyang rolled his eyes.
“But the important part is that you sent me roses,” Rian said. He smiled roguishly. “Does that mean you secretly liked me for years as well?”
“I also sent Florence and Adrienne roses,” Ren Xiyang said, tapping Rian on the head.
“I wondered if you secretly liked them…”
Ren Xiyang placed a hand on Rian’s chest and pushed. “Don’t stand so close while we’re talking.”
Rian stubbornly didn’t budge. “What’s wrong with standing a little close to my lover?” He lowered his voice and put on a seductive tone. But aside from a faint redness in Ren Xiyang’s ears, he couldn’t provoke a stronger reaction.
“I wonder what Alexius is doing—”
“How can you think about other men at a time like this?” Rian said, getting disgruntled.
Ren Xiyang looked at him. “Alexius is a kid. You’re not seriously threatened by him, are you?” A little smirk grew on Ren Xiyang’s lips.
Rian narrowed his eyes. The hand on his chest suddenly grew hot—
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.
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Finally, it was Ren Xiyang who took the initiative to stop first. He blocked Rian’s ice blades and didn’t dodge when Rian tackled him. He didn’t topple either, letting Rian hug his waist. He patted him on the head. “Feel better?”
Rian mumbled into his stomach.
“—Hey!” Ren Xiyang grabbed Rian’s shoulders as he was suddenly lifted by the waist.
One thing led to another, and almost an hour later, the two of them could be found in Rian’s bed. Ren Xiyang had just been ‘forced’ to do more Important Research.
Ren Xiyang decided not to tell Rian that there was a limit to how much enforced-change his body could handle without physical pain (a lesson learnt when he was impatient with his physical transition). So he simply went along with the doctor and research-subject role play.
Now, they were both still lying in bed, facing each other.
“If only we could grow up faster,” Rian said.
“Time will pass quicker than you expect,” Ren Xiyang said wryly. “This does remind me—”
Rian perked up.
“—that the fief needs some formalised sex education.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Sex education.”
“I heard you the first time.”
Ren Xiyang kicked Rian’s leg. Rian countered by tangling his legs with Ren Xiyang’s.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Do you know how two women have sex?”
Rian opened his mouth and then closed it. “…I have to admit that I have not thought about this.”
“Do you know how two men have sex?”
Rian smirked. “Aside from what we’ve done already? Of course I know. One man’s penis enters another man’s anus.”
“Leaving aside protection for the moment, do you know why someone would want a penis up their anus?”
“Because it feels good for them,” Rian said confidently.
Ren Xiyang suppressed a mischievous smile. “And do you know how it feels good?” he said with a serious face.
“There, there must be something…” Rian faltered.
“Penetration can be pleasurable for men because of the prostate. It’s a gland in men’s bodies that can be pressed from the outside, but best manipulated from inside the anus. In the right circumstances, simulating the prostate alone can be enough to trigger orgasm.”
Rian’s eyes grew bright with interest. “Is that so?”
“As it turns out, the prostate is also one of the glands that contribute to the production of ejaculate fluid,” Ren Xiyang said. “I didn’t focus on it before, so it’s one of the things my body needs to grow.”
Rian’s brain went through the implications of this.
Did it mean that Ren Xiyang would have to massage his prostate to study its pleasure-inducing functions?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would it not be pleasureful for Ren Xiyang?
If he wanted to have penetrative sex in the near future, would he have to be the one being penetrated?
Could prostate simulation feel that good?
“But coming back to the topic,” Ren Xiyang said. “Aside from signalling to the people in my fief gay sex is fine, and aside from making sure consent is understood, the important part of sex education is protection. Prevention is the best medicine, as you know. I’m not familiar as you, what kind of protection is available?” Ren Xiyang brightened, sitting up. “In fact, this could be a business opportunity. Although, our apparent ages may be a restrictive factor…”
“I can find a way, you don’t need to worry about that.” Rian also sat up.
Ren Xiyang looked at Rian.
Rian looked back, slowly getting suspicious.
Ren Xiyang suddenly ‘smiled’.
Uh-oh, Rian thought.
“I’m still waiting on those chests of gold.”
Rian was rendered speechless for a moment. “Xiyang! What would you do if I lost my money and power? Do you love enough to support me?”
Ren Xiyang made a thoughtful hum.
Rian tackled Ren Xiyang down onto the bed again. “Your answer should have been an immediate yes!”
At that, Ren Xiyang burst out laughing.
Rian huffed, but he liked seeing Ren Xiyang laugh so he let it slide and even joined in chuckling until he realised—“Wait, you never answered!”
Ren Xiyang suppressed his laughter. “I’ll support you, unless you’re too expensive.”
Rian wasn’t satisfied though until he extracted a few kisses first. He had to sigh inwardly—something about Ren Xiyang just brought out all of his inner child. Normally, he was much more refined than this!
After messing around, the two of them neatened themselves up and headed to Rian’s study. They sat down next to each other at Rian’s desk.
Rian took out his secret journal with its secret compartment with letters from his agents. “Earlier today, an underground tower was discovered in Angio.”
“The laboratory?”
“Yes.” Rian handed the newest report to Ren Xiyang. “Two of the three main researchers of the plague-curse have been captured.” Rian smiled innocently. “We’ve been quite lucky that they’ve been apprehended before the plague-curse development even started.”
Ren Xiyang skimmed the report before handing it back. “Such efficiency. And yet no efficiency on the matter of my chests of gold.”
Rian swiped at Ren Xiyang, causing Ren Xiyang to dodge and laugh.
Rian huffed, straightening his coat. “Be mature, Xiyang. I’ve prepared an agenda for tonight.”
“Oh? Let me see.” Ren Xiyang leaned against Rian’s shoulder. “Following up on the actions from our last meeting…”
Aurelia had a proverbial headache. She ended her guard work at the usual time and hurried away once Marcus arrived.
She had been planning to speak with Prince Pollux tonight. But that would have to wait.
Guarding King Augustus didn’t require much thought. So instead, she had been thinking about what needed to be done regarding the underground tower.
Her proverbial headache was from the realisation that not everyone who worked there would have been there at the time of the raid.
This meant there were four main tasks:
- Interrogating those captured.
- Managing those imprisoned.
- Investigating the purpose of the underground tower.
- And somehow uncovering anyone else involved.
And all of these tasks required more people. Aurelia would have to carefully pick those she trusted.
As the day had passed, Aurelia became increasingly sure that King Augustus was behind this. King Augustus had a large amount of ‘invisible’ expenditure; the financial books of Angio were vague at best and fabricated at worse. Aurelia had thought that most of that expenditure was used on King Augustus’s secret army, his bandits. But there must have been even more hidden expenditure.
It was impossible for anyone else to set up something so large and audacious right outside the Capital without King Augustus’s knowledge.
If it had been without King Augustus’s knowledge, he should have had a very angry public reaction today.
“Lady Helios, thank you for your work today,” Aurelia said when she saw Lady Helios downstairs.
“Viscountess Venenum is currently managing the site,” Lady Helios said. “I have cleared your schedule.”
“Good, we’ll go over there now.”
Aurelia was flanked by her ladies-in-waiting and a small group of guards. When she arrived at the site, she didn’t see anything aside from a few mages standing around. A subtle probing spell found nothing.
Lady Helios leaned in. “The Viscountess has arranged a shield.”
Aurelia nodded in approval.
One of the mages standing around, Lord Valerio Silex, walked over to them. “Your Highness, do you vouch for the eighth members of your contingent?”
“Yes.”
“Then please, follow me.”
Lord Silex ushered them through the subtle shield. Upon passing through, the site was revealed.
Bright lights lit the area, revealing a very large hole in the ground. There were several metal cages with people inside, slumped and appearing unconscious. There were also a handful of temporary earth constructions.
Viscountess Venenum strode over. “Good evening, Your Highness.”
“What should I see first?” Aurelia asked directly.
Viscountess Venenum pursed her lips. “Follow me down.”
They had left the people imprisoned in the outer wall of the tower within their cells—they needed to identify them first before releasing them. All they did regarding those prisoners was cast some healing spells and send in some food and water through the bars. They also used spells to test which ones were alive, dead, or undead.
Right now, Viscountess Venenum showed Princess Aurelia the undead.
Upon their approach, the undead stood up and slammed against the door grates, saliva dripping from their rotting mouths.
Aurelia was taken aback. “What kind of disease or curse…”
“They’re undead,” Viscountess Venenum said.
Historically, necromancy was either a misguided method to revive dead loved ones, or an aberrant method to create obedient slaves. Regardless, the raised dead tended to be mindless and do nothing without explicit magical puppeteering.
These undead persons weren’t blank morbid puppets. They were rabid.
“We need to sit down and discuss how we will manage this,” Aurelia said.
“Yes.”
The group went back up to the surface. Viscountess Venenum invited Aurelia and her group into one of the temporary earthen buildings.
They talked long into the night, discussing what was known so far and what needed to be known; and deciding what was whose responsibility, and the personnel required to complete what needed to be done.
Aurelia didn’t find it as stressful as she had feared. Viscountess Venenum was as direct as her, which saved them a lot of time.
She realised that would very much like Viscountess Venenum in her faction. But that was an issue for another day.
Did you know that Dao of the Salted Fish had 126 chapters in total? And yet, this novel is still going? Not to mention, the chapters in this novel are longer????
By the way, the BL Palace will be having a (free, online) workshop on Saturday 12th August 2023. I’m not speaking, but I will be attending and hosting the first half ^_^
Thank you for the very eventful chapter! I’m sure the next ones won’t be boring either, especially considering what’s about to happen in Angio. And did I mention it is almost such a big pleasure for me as a reader to follow Ren & Rian’s interactions as it is for them to interact? 😋🤭
SO MANY THINGS to happen! It’s a juggling act hahah. Hehe I’m glad you liked watching Ren Xiyang and Rian, we’re all a bit voyeuristic here 🤣
Thank you for the chapter!!💚💚
Thank you for reading!
hehe some interesting facts we got there 🤭
😏😏 now, what will they do with those facts~
Salted Fish was to tired to go on any more. He needed his nap.
HAHAHAHAH
I also need my nap….
Haha, right😁👌
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for reading!
thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for reading!
So cute💖
🥰🥰🥰 thank you!
So many things happening at the same time.
Love the way Ren and Rian interact.
And my personal first time seeing sex education in a medieval fantasy novel.
Thank you for your hard work 💯😊
We now have two plots running alongside each other 😆 and I like to keep things in-time with each other…
hehehe well Ren Xiyang himself is a modern day person~ Thank you for reading!
Oh my my we have gone a long way~ You really worked hard for this, that’s so admirable 💯🏆
Thank you 🤗🤗🤗
Hmm I feel like I see a ship
What ship is this? 👀
Aurelia and Venenum👀
You’re the second person who feels this! 😂
Do I sense a ship for Aurelia? 😉
Also, yeah, those chests of gold! Where are they, Rian?
🤣
Thank you for the chapter.
What ship do you sense??? 👀👀👀
Ren Xiyang is never going to let up 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well I’m looking at Viscountess Venenum. 😉
But I also tend to insta-ship people who looked at each other a second too long, so maybe don’t mind me. 🤣
ooohhhhhhh I see! Interesting, very interesting….😄
Thank you for the chapter , they dont feel longer. Mmmmm😉
Thank you for reading! 🥺🥺🥺
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Thank you for reading!
Rabid zombies should be put down immediately…that should be number one on anybody’s list. Everyone thinks, hey, I’ve got this under control but no, no you don’t. Thanks for the sex education! Oh, and the salted fish didn’t have zombies to deal with. He basically gained strength from basking in the sun and snuggling with cats. Hahaha! And he didn’t have to transition…gosh, no wonder you accomplished that story in 126 chapters hahahahaha! Can’t wait for the next chapter 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Well, with bureaucracy and all, you need to make sure 2 times before putting down zombies 🤣🤣
Wen Zhihao sure was really lucky 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
but it makes sense actually! Considering Xiyangs male biology was built from his female biology, I don’t think the female body has an equivalent to a prostate, so if we were going a more logical route: while it’s possible to change what he has, it would be extremely hard to completely make an entirely new organ.
I imagine if he pulled it off, it might not be as stimulating as prostate someone was born with, kinda like how he can’t stimulate himself too frequently or it’ll hurt. Am I thinking about this too deeply? Maybe.
😏😏😏😏 the idea is funny to me hahaha. Ren Xiyang could still bottom, of course, even without a prostate. But Rian also wants Ren Xiyang to enjoy matters so we’ll see what they end up doing 🤣🤣🤣 Also, I’m sure Rian would offer himself how-ever much it takes for Ren Xiyang to make a very good prostate 🤣
but it makes sense actually! Considering Xiyangs male biology was built from his female biology, I don’t think the female body has an equivalent to a prostate, so if we were going a more logical route: while it’s possible to change what he has, it would be extremely hard to completely make an entirely new organ.
I imagine if he pulled it off, it might not be as stimulating as prostate someone was born with, kinda like how he can’t stimulate himself too frequently or it’ll hurt. Am I thinking about this too deeply? Maybe.
I didn’t mean to comment this a second time, but oh well
pat pat
I CAN FEEL IT!! THE WIND OF REVOLUTIONNNN ✴==≡눈٩(
皿´҂)ง. I support Aurelia!! Though, will Aurelia make a diplomatic relationship with Sedaveria? I feel like she would. Also, Ren Ren and Rian is lovely as always (´ ω♡).Slowly, slowly~ I think Aurelia will make a diplomatic relationship!
Did the apocalypse zombies follow Ren into this world??
hahahah we hope not 🤣
Bottom Rian?? Lol jk but I definitely am all for people experimenting sexually and trying out different things so they can get to know their body and themselves better. Also feel like some people tend to forget about us switches lol. We exist too! 😞💕
Lemme clarify! I’m not saying the author forgot about switches or anything like that. I just added that extra part to my comment because I thought it was funny. (Some) People put such an huge emphasis on a character being a bottom OR top that they fight over it, especially in ships lol I’ve seen it happen before . Times like that makes me wonder if people know switches/verses exist. But there are tops that are strictly tops (same with bottoms) and that’s okay, there’s nothing wrong about that.
Maybe you missed the question/multi choice answers on a few chapters previous, but I’m more than aware of switches 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭 Now, Rian might not be aware of the concept of switching, but I’m sure Ren Xiyang will be super helpful and enlighten him 😏😏😏😏
Yeah I definitely missed it 😭 very excited to see that pan out. If they start talking about sex positions I’m gonna bust out laughing (idk something about that convo is hilarious to me). I wonder how others will react to him implementing sex education tho, will they be open minded or will they think he’s a weird pervert? I can definitely imagine people being against it but maybe the characters in this story will surprise me.
I haven’t thought about how Ren Xiyang would actually implement sex education yet 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 though Rian could help him by getting adults/agents to suggest it 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Awww they’re settling into their relationship 🥰 ignoring the undead a few miles away
those undead aren’t going to bother them, they’re someone else’s problem 🤣
For me, seeing GL couples in bL ones are rarer than straight ones (cuz don’t know any recommended good ones like these) On a serious note, I was quite angry knowing that dmn AuGutSus did all those rubbish things behind his very own country’s back. How Aurelia and others had to bear tyranny of a whimsical ruler just because he played politics and used force to harm others.
Glad the sister siblings of Aurelia left that shthole, hopefully Pollux can also manage to find a way to heal both physically and mentally so that he doesn’t leave behind any regrets for being helpless. The innovations, research and development is paced in a good manner, I also love how different genres are mixed together, like a 🌈.
For some reason, I want their romance to be a bit more slow paced so that they can ‘cultivate’ their feelings more, that Rian’s parents can handle it better when they both emerge out of the ‘closet’ *ahem and can plan their future for themselves. Not to mention consent, also the minor parts where Rian acts childish and at times possessive, he still never fails to maintain appropriate boundaries as a prince shouldering the country. I also didn’t notice how Ren doesn’t seem to have nightmares of the past in his previous world anymore, for which I am thankful to Rian for☺️ (even if the wariness hasn’t worn off) Also, the changes they are bringing as a whole is quite interesting as in what new would be discovered or new characters, etc. Once again thank you for this amazing plot!🤩
I think there were many GL (and BL) couples in Dao of the Salted Fish (another one of my stories). So much so that some readers asked whether there were any straight couples in the story 🤣🤣🤣
And yeppp, King Augustus is not a good person. Gotta make him a huge villain to topple!
YES Rian acts childish and possessive, but he also knows that Ren Xiyang doesn’t mind that!
Thank youuu!!!
*cough, cough * I feel like I have learnt a little too much information today, welp! That’s enough PDH for today 😳 🤭
😄😄😄😄 pat pat pat
Omg I wonder how long this novel is gonna go for (peak probably being at 500 chaps and minimum I feel would be at 300 chaps)
😅😅😅😅 we’ll see haha, I don’t want to drag the story out unnecessarily
yes, yes after all every stories god their endings… bafflinghaze-sama I was so buried in other novels that I haven’t got time to read your novel… I’m sorry…. (also because I wanted to move away from the politics for a while)… well at least there’s more novels for me to read now OvO
novel –> chapters
btw bafflinghaze-sama I’m still following along with other novels and I’m in the middle of reading a already translated novel so I don’t think I’ll be able to read this soon (I have set up a rule for myself that i’m only allowed to follow 6 untranslated novel and 2 fully translated novels)
Thank you for your support! That sounds like a very good rule 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣