The palace was like the aftermath of a hysterical argument. Damp, crumpled clothes were thrown on the carpet; if picked up, one could see the fine fabric torn apart by rough handling, and the threads were splitting. Bottles and jars were shattered, ointments splattered.
The maids responsible for cleaning silently tidied up the mess, and the soaked carpet and silk bedding were all replaced. They did not dare listen to the sounds coming from the bathing area within the inner chamber.
In fact, the situation was far from the crazy, charming scene an outsider might imagine.
They had done nothing.
Xin Hexue leaned lazily against the marble wall of the bathing pool. Hot water, prepared by servants, gushed into the pool through connected jade pipes.
Shamule looked furious, but after getting hit in the head, something clicked in his mind.
“You’re injured. This King will not touch you.”
Shamule said viciously, as if he wanted to grind his teeth to dust.
He usually didn’t refer to himself this way, so Xin Hexue guessed he was throwing some kind of tantrum.
In any case, Shamule wrapped Xin Hexue in a silk blanket, picked him up horizontally, and carried him into the palace’s inner bathing pool. Then, he placed Xin Hexue into the warm pool water like stuffing into a dumpling.
Xin Hexue watched him from the bath, the waves rising and falling. Who would have thought the unrestrained and reckless Red King had principles?
“Don’t run around this time. If you get sick, you’ll suffer for it.” Shamule threw down these words and disappeared without a trace.
Not long after, footsteps rang out on the tiled floor behind.
Xin Hexue rested with his eyes closed, pretending not to have heard.
Splash!
The newcomer seemed resentful, and deliberately tried to get his attention by making a grand entrance into the pool.
He rapidly closed in on Xin Hexue, and the waves churned violently.
By the time Xin Hexue tried to escape, the powerful arms were already braced against the pool wall, firmly forming a cage that trapped him inside.
Noticing Shamule’s unusually cool skin temperature, which carried a slight chill that was quickly dispelled by the bath’s warmth, Xin Hexue realized…
‘Had he gone to take a cold shower?’
Xin Hexue raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, viewing the Red King in a new light.
He thought this target was someone who thought with his genitals.
The pool water was warm, and his palms, with their delicate skin, pressed against Shamule’s chest.
Xin Hexue said slowly, “You’re too close.”
Shamule did not hide his gaze as it wandered over Xin Hexue’s body.
It was like displaying one’s strength before courtship. An overwhelming masculine hormone seemed to squeeze out the air, steal perception, and confine the sensory world to this small corner of the pool.
The more Shamule thought about the jar of ointment, the more the fire of jealousy burned in his heart, which was why he had turned back.
“My Ankh, how could you have prepared that kind of thing on your own initiative?”
Could it be that Rahotep always lacked restraint when making love to the Divine Envoy?
Jealousy burned in his heart like a raging fire.
Shamule, like a beast that had broken free of reason, squeezed out each word through gritted teeth, “How many times a day does that man fuck you?”
Slap!
A sound even sharper than before.
Xin Hexue’s eyes were cold, his posture stern and inviolable.
“Kill me or chop me up, do as you please. But even though you are a king, you should not insult me with such words.”
Shamule’s cheek tingled, but he didn’t feel the pain.
The purple in his eyes intensified, like the apocalyptic scene of a raging storm. The eyes nearly lost their human characteristics, instead becoming animalistic.
“Insult?”
Xin Hexue had a bad feeling, but by the time he tried to break free and leave, he had already missed the best opportunity.
Shamule plunged underwater. His hands, like unbreakable iron clamps, hooked Xin Hexue’s legs over his shoulders and lifted him up. His coarse hair pricked the inner thighs.
“Ahh..$
Xin Hexue threw his head back violently, his wet silver hair splashing in an arc.
Compared to the people of the Nile, his body was fair and delicate, but his long legs were not skinny; the flesh of his thighs had a plump curve.
They were squeezed against both sides of Shamule’s head, spread open and unable to close.
Ultimately, this body, even now, still couldn’t withstand such stimulation.
Like a silver fish out of water deprived of oxygen, Xin Hexue’s chest heaved violently.
Shamule only devoured, sucked, and bit, his throat constricting.
“W-Wait…stop!!”
Xin Hexue pulled tightly on the man’s golden hair, but the force only excited the lion more.
But after taking him a few more times, the body sitting on Shamule’s shoulders began to twitch, tremble, and shiver irregularly. The pink eyes rolled upwards, and even his lips parted slightly as if suffocating, looking both strained and erotic.
In that instant, Xin Hexue could not make a sound.
Shamule’s scalp went numb, and the hand gripping him suddenly loosened.
He lowered Xin Hexue down again. The Divine Envoy’s face was a mess, covered in water.
Shamule swallowed the remnants from his lips and teeth, then used his palm to wipe away the hair stuck to Xin Hexue’s face.
His voice was low and hoarse, “My Ankh, this is an insult.”
Even his nerve endings were trembling in pleasure. Xin Hexue couldn’t lift a single finger, and he could only follow the pull of Shamule’s hand and lean against the Red King’s shoulder and neck.
Shamule had destroyed the alabaster god-statue, leaving the young man within it clinging to him like a drenched fledgling bird.
Water droplets fell to the ground like a curtain of rain as Shamule carried him out of the bathing pool.
His Ankh was as white as clam meat, and his weary expression gave off the feeling of a holy one in distress, with his arms hanging down limply.
Shamule dried his body and carried him through the palace, whose servants had already been dismissed.
Having experienced both falling into water and the events just now all in one day, Xin Hexue was already sleepy.
He lay on his back on the bed, and the wool blanket emitted a comforting smell of sunshine.
In a daze, his legs were pulled apart. He asked vigilantly, “What are you doing?”
Shamule let out a cold snort. “Applying medicine!”
He said it with a loud and decisive tone, as if afraid someone might think he was about to rape him.
Cool ointment was reapplied to the wound.
After everything was done, Shamule finally climbed onto the bed. His long arm reached out, insisting on encircling Xin Hexue and making him rest in the crook of his arm.
He let out a breath of frustration.
“…..It was only once.” A soft voice suddenly rang out.
If one wasn’t careful, it would have slipped away.
Fortunately, Shamule caught it.
Heh, of course he knew. The Divine Envoy had only been with Rahotep once.
Shamule turned his face to look at Xin Hexue’s closed eyes.
He said triumphantly, “I guessed it a long time ago.”
Xin Hexue was almost falling into dreamland. Hearing the reply vaguely, he frowned.
He guessed it already? Then why did he ask?
Shamule moved closer to his ear. “Did Rahotep ever lick you? He didn’t, right? Someone as boring, conceited, and arrogant as him….”
Seeing that Xin Hexue ignored him, he pushed his luck even further, “Did I lick you well? Was it comfortable for you?”
If Xin Hexue’s cat ears were to manifest now, the tips of his pink furry ears would certainly have closed down into airplane ears.
He was extremely tired, so he directly pushed Shamule’s head away with his palm.
At the last moment, Xin Hexue heard.
“Ankh Ir, stay by my side.”
Shamule said in a deep voice.
……..
Xin Hexue slept very deeply this time.
But in the haze of sleep, he still kept a sliver of awareness to monitor the movements outside.
Someone was requesting instructions outside the hall, reporting to Shamule that the person who shot the arrow had been captured.
Assyrians…..
Xin Hexue only caught these few words.
But it was already enough.
He finally fell into an even deeper slumber.
After that, there was a swaying and bumping movement, as if in a carriage.
When he woke up, the carriage had already been set down.
Xin Hexue did not act rashly. He opened his eyes slightly and, through the fine gauze curtain, saw two figures outside.
“Is Assyria sending spies because they are preparing to dispatch troops?”
This was Shamule’s voice.
“No, based on my understanding of them, their current ruler is cautious and suspicious. He wouldn’t move so quickly. This is probably just a test.”
The female voice that answered sounded somewhat familiar.
Shamule did not continue speaking.
The female voice spoke, “You seem unstable. Haven’t you continued to burn the Forget-Worry Incense? Your mother died that way. It seems you haven’t learned your lesson.”
Shamule said coldly, “You were just a slave my mother bought who fled to Egypt. You have no right to speak to me in that elder’s tone. Know your place, Taibesha.”
Over ten years had passed. The previous Pharaoh of Lower Egypt had died, her son had inherited the throne, but Taibesha’s appearance remained the same.
Having her old wound dug up and then being mocked, Taibesha retorted, “I think you are bewitched. Do you want to quit the Forget-Worry Incense? To sleep on the same bed with him until dawn? Let me tell you, you will soon fall into madness.”
Shamule was not one to tolerate ridicule with good temper, but he indeed fell silent.
Taibesha’s words had struck a chord.
Taibesha: “Is this season’s Forget-Worry herb still sufficient? Will we continue trading with Assyria?”
Shamule: “That is no longer your concern. Don’t forget you are now just someone guarding the tomb of the previous Pharaoh.”
Taibesha: “Then why did you come today?”
The wind blew indoors, rustling softly with sand.
Xin Hexue closed his eyes again.
Only when Shamule opened the gauze curtain of the carriage and picked him up did he pretend to slowly wake up.
Stepping out of the carriage, he realized this place was particularly dim. It was like a whole new world hidden within, and its structure was similar to a man-made sinkhole.
Huge door pillars rose from the ground, adorned with reliefs of various mythological figures. Each pillar was coiled with massive snakes; a closer look would reveal they were also carvings, remarkably lifelike.
The snake heads twisted downward, extending towards the direction of outsiders, baring sharp fangs.
The central area was an enclosed pool.
The water in the pool came from the dome high above, where a waterfall cascaded down, splashing spray everywhere.
Night had already fallen. Looking up at the height from which the waterfall originated, one could only see a sky full of stars.
Within the waterfall stood a large statue of the goddess Isis. Cold air coiled around the pool, like rain or mist, feeling desolate and grim in the night.
Red candles emitted a faint, soft light.
This did not look like a traditional shrine; it looked more like a pagan altar.
Taibesha was the female slave who claimed to be from Assyria. Xin Hexue had seen her in Upper Egypt.
When he looked over, Taibesha even curved her red lips into a smile and blinked at him.
Shamule said coldly, “If you dare look at him one more time, I will reduce the sacrificial offerings here.”
He pulled Xin Hexue tighter into his embrace, making his possessiveness clear.
Taibesha: “You really are a good son.”
Shamule led Xin Hexue closer to the pool, along a long passageway and towards the center.
They stood almost directly in front of the waterfall.
There was a stone altar there, with strange patterns carved upon it.
Xin Hexue looked up and observed this statue of Isis within the waterfall. He then realized it was different from the common images he had seen before; its face and attire were somewhat altered.
The Pharaohs of Egypt proclaimed themselves incarnations of gods to make their rule more legitimate and stable.
Combined with the content of the conversation he had overheard, it wasn’t hard to guess that this was carved based on the appearance of the previous Pharaoh of Lower Egypt, combined with the image of the goddess Isis.
“Aren’t you going to ask me why I brought you here?”
Shamule raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile.
Xin Hexue gave him an indifferent glance. “Your Majesty would not kill me.”
Seeing his indifference, Shamule wasn’t angered. He seemed to want to say something unpleasant, but, perhaps because other people were present, his throat moved and he swallowed the words.
Shamule did not enjoy having others watch him get slapped.
He picked up a reed pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote his birth name on the stone altar. Then he handed the reed pen to Xin Hexue, staring at him with piercing eyes. “I want your name, next to Shamule’s.”
Xin Hexue roughly guessed what Shamule intended to do.
He took the pen, lowered his eyelashes, and leaned forward slightly to write. ‘Was it some kind of oath?’
Shamule pulled his right hand towards him, and a prickling itch suddenly spread through it. The tip of his finger, which had been pricked with a needle hole, squeezed out two drops of blood, which then fell onto the stone altar.
Then, Shamule silently put away the needle. A cold glint flashed as he slit his own wrist.
It was a cut, not particularly deep, but the blood that flowed out was enough to follow the patterns and spread across the entire stone altar, coiling and forming a complex array of hieroglyphs and pictures.
The blood extended all the way to the very top front, then the ground shook momentarily, and the pool water churned.
Fine sand fell softly from the four corner pillars.
Shamule roughly bandaged the wound on his wrist.
He lowered his head and kissed Xin Hexue’s fingertip. His embrace was as solid as bedrock, his oath echoing through the vast and empty temple….
“Only the Nile never runs dry, the sun is eternal, these can be compared to my love for you.”
“Until the end of time, even in the afterlife, you will not be able to escape me.”
“For all eternity, life after life.”
Shamule held Xin Hexue intimately, the distance between them so close not even a sheet of papyrus could fit between them.
Xin Hexue tilted his head slightly, his gaze looking over Shamule’s shoulder towards the altar.
But…
What if the name he had written was “Naffer Iah”?
