An Unwilling Hot Spring Outing

The following day dawned bright and clear, yet Bai Qiao felt an overwhelming weakness course through her body. She attributed it solely to the anger that had consumed her the previous night, her thoughts never straying to any other cause.

She lay frozen in bed for a long while before finally rousing herself. Glancing at the vibrant scenery outside, a wistful thought crossed her mind: ‘Today truly is perfect for an outing.’ Yet, the realization quickly followed: ‘But I would be alone. With whom could I possibly go?’ A bitter laugh escaped her lips as she considered her current predicament. ‘How utterly pathetic.’

“Miss! Miss!”

Bai Qiao couldn’t help but furrow her brow. ‘Where was the promised decorum of an ancient lady?’ she mused. [The penguin mutters: This isn’t ancient times, merely another world…]

“What is it?”

Snatching a bedsheet, Bai Qiao draped it over herself, still smarting from the maid’s penetrating gaze.

“His Majesty has summoned everyone for an outing…”

“I’m not going!” Bai Qiao declared, her refusal firm and immediate.

“Miss, considering it’s His Majesty’s grand wedding celebration, it wouldn’t be appropriate to absent yourself…”

“I said I’m not going!” Bai Qiao’s face instantly burned crimson.

“Miss, if you don’t attend, people are bound to talk…”

“……”

‘Indeed, my absence would only invite more ridicule,’ she conceded inwardly. ‘What a jest! I, Bai Qiao, am not one to flee from such things. No, not fleeing at all; it’s utterly unrelated. I’m merely going out of respect for him.’

Huayu appeared genuinely surprised by Bai Qiao’s presence, prompting a cold sneer to form in Bai Qiao’s mind. ‘They must have been certain I wouldn’t show,’ she thought. ‘Were they already concocting their gossip?’ From the moment she arrived until their eventual departure, Bai Qiao steadfastly avoided even a fleeting glance in Bai Chen’s direction.

“Eh?! What?!”

This place… Bai Qiao stared in utter astonishment at the rising steam before her. The swirling mist created an ethereal, mysterious atmosphere, yet Bai Qiao’s mind quickly grasped the truth: ‘This is hot water. A hot spring? Could it be… we’re going to bathe in a hot spring?!’

Bai Chen’s subsequent words swiftly confirmed her suspicion: it truly was a hot spring. ‘Ugh, I hope it’s a mixed-gender one,’ she mused. However, the moment Bai Qiao stepped inside, she froze, utterly bewildered. ‘What kind of cursed hot spring is this?!’ Her gaze fell upon the prominent ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ signs, leaving her utterly dumbfounded.

Though she had once, with a group of male companions, entertained audacious discussions about peeking into women’s bathhouses and similar escapades, facing the reality of such a situation now, she found herself suddenly overcome with trepidation.

Observing Bai Qiao standing dazed between the men’s and women’s entrances, Huayu, perhaps wishing to appear benevolent and gracious before the others, offered a brilliant smile. She reached out, looping her arm through Bai Qiao’s wrist.

“Come on, don’t just stand there gawking~”

“Ah… uh…”

With her mind a jumbled mess, Bai Qiao found herself pulled by Huayu into a small changing room beside the hot spring. The room was thick with steam, and Bai Qiao stood rigid by the doorway, observing the women inside. They were deftly, and with cheerful chatter, shedding their clothes piece by piece. Though the steam obscured much, she could vaguely discern glimpses, her eyes fixated on pale shoulders. While the mist prevented a clear view of their forms, it somehow intensified a peculiar, unsettling sensation within her.

“Huh?”

Her arm suddenly registered a sensation of both heat and softness. ‘This feeling… D? No, no, this is not the time for such thoughts,’ she chastised herself. Bai Qiao instinctively glanced down, only to see Huayu’s chest pressing directly against her arm.

“Eh?”

Huayu stared in astonishment at the sudden blush spreading across the fair skin of her chest, then, with a puzzled expression, she looked up.

“Ah! You’re bleeding from your nose…”

Huayu clamped a hand over her mouth, then began pushing Bai Qiao deeper into the room, explaining that there were medical facilities within. Thus, Bai Qiao, who had moments ago been rooted to the doorway, found herself propelled into the midst of these nearly nude beauties. ‘An endless vista of charm?’ she mused. This was a scene Bai Qiao had fantasized about for ages, yet now, confronted with the reality…

Naked female figures constantly flitted past her, their pale skin glowing. The entire room was saturated with the delicate fragrance of women. While she could avert her eyes, she certainly couldn’t stop breathing.

Bai Qiao felt a relentless torrent of warmth streaming down her face. Her entire being began to feel disoriented, and combined with her pre-existing fatigue, her vision blurred into a kaleidoscope of flashing, pale, flesh-toned forms.

Her mind was consumed by the sensation of countless naked women continuously drawing closer, enveloped by their pervasive scent. No matter how she tried to escape, there was no reprieve.

Until… her vision abruptly dissolved into darkness.

****