Yao Yuxuan gave the attendants an appreciative nod and spoke softly. "Thank you for bringing the bath."
The girls both flushed and bowed fervently. One of them handed him a small basket with several different bar soaps and a small satchel full of soothing bath salts. The older of the two spoke quietly, "It's our pleasure! When the honored guests are finished and need the bath removed, ring the bell."
"Of course," Yao Yuxuan said, waving them off with a smile. "We will let you know when we're finished."
They blushed at his usage of 'we' and quickly left the room. He looked longingly at the steaming wooden basin when the door closed behind them. How long had it been since he was last able to bathe in water that wasn't a river or lake? As much as he wanted to jump in, he wasn't in a good enough state to get into the tub by himself.
He glanced over to the light-haired man sitting by the window. After cursing him a few minutes ago, the demon hadn't even looked in his direction once.
"Liu Haoyu," Yao Yuxuan called. "Would you like to bathe first?"
Silence.
"If you're not going to bathe, could you…" Yao Yuxuan's breath caught in his throat. His pride ached, but he swallowed it. "Could you help me undress and get into the tub?"
Liu Haoyu finally turned around. Distress was written all over his face. He raised an incredulous brow, and his lips curled on a sadistic grin as if encouraging Yao Yuxuan to ask him again to see what would happen. "You still have the nerve to make fun of me right now?"
"It's not like that! I just can't move by myself, you pervert!" Yao Yuxuan cried. "…please. I swear I'll return the favor when I'm in better health. I still reek of blood, and I haven't had a warm bath in years. I'm afraid if I try to get in by myself, I'll drown…"
Liu Haoyu frowned and looked at him. "Only if you stop purposely embarrassing me."
"Fine, fine!" Yao Yuxuan said. "I'll stop embarrassing you on purpose."
"I'm not… I'm not a homosexual."
"Right, you aren't, you aren't," he agreed.
Liu Haoyu approached him cautiously, his lavender eyes narrowing as he looked down at the seated Yao Yuxuan. He extended his hand in offer. "Give me your hand."
He placed his slender fingers into Liu Haoyu's, expecting him to pull him up – but instead, he felt a burning sensation in his palm. At the same time, a floral marking on Liu Haoyu's forehead appeared and started to give off a purple glow. Yao Yuxuan pulled his hand away with a gasp, inspecting his palm with concern. When he looked closely, he saw the same faded marking.
"What did you do?!" Yao Yuxuan demanded with a frown.
"It's a minor promise-keeping curse. Completely harmless," Liu Haoyu explained with a shrug, as if cursing people was the most normal thing in the world. "If you try to embarrass me on purpose, it'll seal your lips, and the marking will burn a little. Other than that, it doesn't do anything."
'You've got to be joking; how spoiled is this guy! He must really be royalty after all,' the maestro thought to himself incredulously.
"You'd go through the trouble of cursing me just so you don't have to be embarrassed?" Yao Yuxuan asked quietly, his confidence from earlier wholly dissipated.
Liu Haoyu stepped closer and glared down the bridge of his long, thin nose at the man sitting. His eyes were dangerous and cold. "You're just lucky that you're useful to me. Otherwise, I'd have killed you already."
Unsure of what to say, Yao Yuxuan figured it would be best to remain quiet. He had been overconfident in pressing the assassin's buttons. He wasn't even sure what had possessed him to mess around with the other man so much when he had no power to protect himself. It definitely wasn't a wise choice.
Just as he was getting lost in his thoughts, he felt himself be lifted to his feet by an invisible force. The marking between Liu Haoyu's eyebrows started to glow again, indicating his usage of magic. He reached forward and began carefully undressing Yao Yuxuan. When he got to untying the thin man's inner robes, Yao Yuxuan shivered against his will.
"Y-you can leave the last robe on-"
"Nonsense, it's fucking filthy. Look at all of the blood you've gotten on it! I'm going to have the attendants launder all your clothes. I already ordered my spirit servants to go and purchase a new robe for you," Liu Haoyu replied nonchalantly, continuing his patient assault on the complicated knot that Yao Yuxuan had tied his underwear with.
He was at a loss for words and had no real reason to argue. He turned his head away in embarrassment and accepted this defeat, mentally preparing for the demon lord to see him naked. "I… okay…"
The last of his clothing fell to the floor with a whoosh. The chill night air met his skin and made him shudder, but even worse than that was the scrutinizing pair of eyes staring directly at his chest. Right at his skin's one impurity, the scar that this very demon had left all those years ago. Liu Haoyu looked at it with an indiscernible expression for several agonizing seconds before leaning down and scooping Yao Yuxuan into his arms.
It was gentler than he expected; he was placed into the warm basin within a moment. He let out a quiet sigh as the heat from the water seeped into his exhausted muscles. Liu Haoyu grabbed the basket of soaps and the bag of salts and placed them on a stool beside the tub so Yao Yuxuan could reach them.
Liu Haoyu seemed ready to return to his place on the windowsill when his face turned conflicted. He seemed to battle with himself internally for a few minutes before finally asking in an unsure voice. "Do you… need help washing?"
Yao Yuxuan did, in fact, need help. Whether or not he was willing to ask for it was another story.
If Liu Haoyu hadn't taken the initiative, he likely would have sat in the tub unmoving until the water turned cold and pretended it was fine.
"I… I can't really move," he said, his cheeks turning pink. "You can always ask the attendants or one of your ghost servants to help wash me instead. You shouldn't have to trouble yourself."
Liu Haoyu simply shook his head. He sat on the stool he had pulled over and looked apprehensively at the frail man in the basin. Yao Yuxuan's hair was rich and inky black, reaching the top of his buttocks when loose. Now, in the water, it pooled on the surface in intricate swirling tendrils. His skin was so soft, unblemished, and fair it could almost be considered otherworldly.
Liu Haoyu was staring again. When he realized this, he nearly slapped himself in dismay. He bit his lip to bring himself back to reality. "…What scent would you like? There's vanilla scented, tea scented, cherry blossom scented, or begonia scented soaps."
"…Begonia," Yao Yuxuan said in a small voice after patiently listening to each choice. "It's my favorite scent. It reminds me of where I grew up."
"Oh," Liu Haoyu muttered, taking the red soap bar into his hand. "That makes sense. I don't have a favorite smell."
He poured the salts into the tub, purposely using the whole bag so that the water would turn foggy and he wouldn't have to see Yao Yuxuan's lower half. After the salts dissipated and the liquid turned milky, the two fell into a comfortable silence as Liu Haoyu carefully and efficiently scrubbed Yao Yuxuan's skin and hair with the soap bar. His hands were large, and despite his fingernails being the demon signature of long and pointed, he was very gentle in his motions.
As he used the sponge to wipe Yao Yuxuan's chest and upper abdomen, Yao Yuxuan spoke up again. "Thank you for doing this… I'm sorry you have to keep taking care of me."
"You'll be useful to me, so it's not a big deal," Liu Haoyu stated matter-of-factly. His eyelashes fluttered softly when Yao Yuxuan flinched slightly when he pressed the sponge to the old scar on his chest. "Does it hurt?"
"No… it's pretty old," Yao Yuxuan said, raising a shaky hand to the old wound. "It's just… no one has seen or touched this scar before. I guess the skin is extra sensitive."
Liu Haoyu nodded in understanding and quickly wrapped up what he was doing. His ghost servants appeared at the window with the new robe for Yao Yuxuan, which was very similar to what he usually wore. All black, made of very light fabric allowed for a wide range of movement. He helped the other man dress and called the attendants to remove the tub. When they arrived and saw Liu Haoyu's rolled up, dampened sleeves, they giggled a little before leaving with the basin of cooled water.
Yao Yuxuan was placed on the bed after being dressed by Liu Haoyu and even had the quilt pulled over him. The demon with two-toned hair pulled out an extra mat kept in the room and laid down on it, not bothering to change his clothes.
After having bathed in warm water and being pampered for the evening, fatigue washed over Yao Yuxuan's entire body. Although he was kidnapped and in the custody of an assassin who held an ill reputation worldwide, he was still somehow being treated better than he had before in his whole life. When his head hit the pillow, and sleep beckoned, he didn't even realize that a few tears had escaped his closed eyes.