246 Awkward 2

Jun Wu Xie hurried back to the Lin Palace, where Jun Xian and Jun Qing had been waiting anxiously. They sighed in relief when Jun Wu Xie stepped in and Jun Qing had wanted to go up to her and ask about the situation at the Imperial Palace when Jun Xian held him back by the wrist, and said to Jun Wu Xie instead: "It's getting late, go wash up and get some rest. Everything else can wait till tomorrow."

Jun Wu Xie hesitated before she nodded silently. She hated looking like such a mess and all she wanted now was to go soak herself in a comforting warm bath and rid herself thoroughly of the blood and it's awful stench.

"Father….." Jun Qing looked at Jun Xian in puzzlement.

Jun Xian shook his head slightly and said: "Didn't you see how exhausted she looked?"

Jun Qing thought back and realised that Jun Wu Xie had looked to be fine, but her face had been rather pale.

"Poor child, she must have strained herself. Since she returned safely, things at the Imperial Palace should be fine now. Let her rest up first. We can ask her tomorrow." Jun Xian sighed heavily. A young girl of fourteen, should be the age when she could enjoy her youth without a care in the world, but Jun Wu Xie did not have the chance to do that.

He had been comforted by his granddaughter's maturity and strength, but Jun XIan's heart ached when he saw how Jun Wu Xie laboured.

"I have been too anxious, I get the servants to prepare some warm food and send them to Wu Xie." Jun Qing realised he had been insensitive and left to get the servants.

When Jun Wu Xie got back to her room, the bath was already drawn and ready. She slipped out of her clothes and soaked blissfully into the comforting warm water, and her tensed muscles all over her body finally relaxed.

She had just broken through her ring spirit to the orange level, before she waded through two consecutive battles, and worked tirelessly on a severely injured….. The day's events had really tired her out good…..

The black beast morphed back into it's little black cat form and deftly pulled out a robe from the wardrobe with its tiny mouth and slung it over the screen. Drunk Lotus had wanted to go in but was thwarted by the little cat. He had finished the Jade Moon and the intoxicating effects of the alcohol was fading and he turned back into Little Lotus. At the sight of little black cat's drawn sharp claws, he tottered sobbing over to the lotus pond to soak himself in misery by his own lonesome self.

The little black cat then turned around to talk to Jun Wu Xie, but to its dismay, it eyes were confronted by the towering form of Jun Wu Yao standing at the doorway to the bath and it froze in midstep.

Jun Wu Yao walked soundlessly over to the wooden tub and looked at Jun Wu Xie who laid within, her eyes closed. The corners of his mouth raised as he stood behind the tub and his long slender fingers closed over the soft shoulders of Jun Wu Xie, and kneaded gently on the knots within the tense muscles on her shoulders.

It could have been because of the trials throughout the day, or the release of tension from Jun Wu Yao's comforting massage, but Jun Wu Xie slipped defenceless into a deep slumber within the warm water that covered her in the tub, her head slumped on one side, resting on the hand of Jun Wu Yao.

The fragrance of the bath water and the misty air formed from the warmth in the room wafted around the nose of Jun Wu Yao as he breathed deeply and his hands kneaded the soft skin of Jun Wu Xie's shoulders, and it spread a warmth that enveloped his heart that made it beat a little faster.

The little black cat stared in trepidation upon the back of Jun Wu Yao, unable to decide whether to move or remain still. 

Helplessly, it made up its mind, determined and with unwavering conviction. If Jun Wu Yao was to make any of his obnoxious moves, to defend the innocence of its mistress, it will….. will….. definitely wake its mistress up!!

But to its relief, the little cat's obnoxious scenes that went through its mind did not come into being. Jun Wu Yao had noticed that the temperature of the bath water had dropped and tugged at the robe slung upon the screen. He had lifted Jun Wu Xie with a single hand out of the tub and carefully wrapped the robe around her, before carrying her over and setting her down gently onto her soft bed.

And there had been no further advances made after that.

The little black cat's tensed nerves relaxed and hid under the table in shame when it realised its own imagined thoughts had been only its own.

The little black cat brushed them all away and thought seriously. Had the devil himself changed? A devil that became such a gentleman?