The Emperor’s Treatment

Zhou succeeded in her offensive only once, as promised. After that, it was my time. I tied her up while clothed and teased her, then undressed her while tied, put a collar made of tape on her, made her crawl on the floor, and then threw her onto the bed.

My absurd leap in logic – that since she had lived as the state’s dog, there was nothing to be ashamed of in becoming another woman’s dog in bed – seemed to fit Zhou perfectly. She alternated between barking, moaning in pleasure, and collapsing from exhaustion as she rubbed her body against mine and spread her legs.

After repeatedly bringing her down and making the bed sheets unusable without throwing them away, we lay side by side and whispered quietly to each other.

“I treated you with the courtesy of an emperor,” I said.

Zhou turned to me in disbelief and asked, “What?”

“Before coming here, Churchill told me an interesting story. The former Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who lost the Great War, asked prostitutes to tie him up and beat him in bed.”

“So he was a one-armed, incompetent emperor with perverted sexual tastes.”

“An emperor doesn’t need to be interfered with in what he does in bed, but it’s a problem if he’s incompetent at his desk. You’re not that kind of person, are you? So I gave you the treatment of an emperor. I didn’t want to leave marks on your body so I didn’t use a whip, but tying a collar and pulling it was my own way of showing imperial treatment, please think of it that way.”

“Ha… haha…”

Zhou Lizhi seemed at a loss for words. Perhaps she had no energy left to speak after consuming so much physical strength. After a moment of silence, she spoke in a calm voice:

“It’s late.”

“Yes, I should be heading back now.”

“Let’s see each other this morning. It was good. It was fun. It was as I expected. I’ll be looking forward to the day I call you again.”

“I can’t promise how often it will be possible.”

“Is it because of Churchill?”

She turned to face me. I nodded while lying down.

“…Yes. She’s a sensitive woman. Like an artist.”

“Women like that become more enjoyable the more you trample them. Seeing them crumble and groan in pain gives a strange pleasure.”

“You’re nasty. I knew that already, though.”

“But I don’t want her to break. Yes. Briar Churchill is a delicate woman. She needs to be tempered appropriately to become stronger. But if you make a mistake, she’ll shatter. That won’t do.”

“Are you at least concerned about her as one of your students?”

“All women are jewels. A woman as beautiful as her is an especially beautiful jewel.”

I sat up in bed. Zhou Lizhi looked at me and smirked.

“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?”

“Are you planning to have her too? Will you take Briar someday?”

“Probably not. Bringing a woman from a duke’s family into my bedroom. That wouldn’t be appropriate. Would I want to make my already precarious position even more dangerous?”

“Then why are you concerned about her?”

“There’s a very large museum in Nanjing. The Generalissimo, cherishing China’s traditions and culture, has had many artifacts that left important marks in China’s thousands of years of history restored and excavated. There are… many things. There are many treasures that no one would dare claim as their own. It’s not about me, Zhou Lizhi, but even Chiang Kai-shek couldn’t claim ownership of these treasures containing long years of history. Even if you can’t possess them, isn’t it natural to hope that such treasures don’t break?”

“What if I say I’ll have her?”

“Take her,” Zhou said in a slightly hoarse voice.

“If you’re in a position where it’s okay, then take her. The more you can eat, the better. People like me are afraid to touch because it might cause future troubles… but if you have the confidence to eat without getting indigestion, you should fulfill your desires as much as you can…”

Her words sounded strange. It sounded as if she was implying that her embracing women was not just a call of desire, but something she did while considering political factors. If she only had the path of a soldier in mind, not the path of politics, would she need to be burdened about bringing high-ranking personnel from other countries into her bedroom?

She’s trying not to create scandals. She’s only bringing women into her bedroom who won’t cause scandals, or if they do, it would be trivial enough not to grow big. Rebecca’s speculation might not just be speculation.

Zhou seemed to notice the concerns I was having.

“Do you think I’m really going to grasp Jiangnan and move from south to north?”

“This doesn’t seem like a conversation to have in bed.”

“It’s a conversation that shouldn’t be had anywhere but in bed. Putting on clothes means putting on formality. Having this conversation in a formal state would be plotting rebellion. Rebecca Katerfeld was an annoying woman. She made many unfounded assumptions and had severe delusions. Because she made logical delusions, she was even more annoying. Tell me, Eun-young. If I did that, do you think I could win?”

“…Who in China could beat you?”

“…Forget what I said. You should go back now.”

After the intense lovemaking with Zhou Lizhi, I was only able to return to my dormitory around 4 AM. I thought about skipping sleep altogether at this point, but even two hours of sleep can make a big difference in the day’s condition, so I hurried into bed.

Churchill was sleep-talking again today.

The next day, my body, accustomed to enduring with little sleep as an agent, somehow managed to withstand the morning exercise and morning classes. I exchanged light small talk with Churchill, but there was a slightly distant feeling. Whether it was because of the smell or because of other emotions.

It seemed okay to take some time to think about it. Right now, it was time to focus more on the ‘investigation’ that Katerfeld was supposedly conducting.

During lunch time, I called Rebecca Katerfeld to the cafe for another private meeting. There were a few Chinese students around, but we were far enough away to whisper in voices that wouldn’t be heard by each other.

“Ms. Katerfeld. Are you aware of the abilities of the Chinese people present here?”

“…They’re all familiar faces. I investigated separately. Doesn’t even a CIA member investigate this much?”

“It would be rather unnatural for my position to know the identities of senior students, so I deliberately didn’t investigate for the sake of realism.”

“…Hmm, that still seems like too lax an attitude. Don’t worry. There’s no one with abilities like super hearing who can eavesdrop on our conversation. And my ability is basically psychic, so I can instinctively perceive if someone tries to steal secret conversations. When you’re with me, you can relax if I’m not cautious about eavesdropping.”

I clicked my tongue and nodded. The catch is that I’m still suspicious of Katerfeld herself.

“Then let’s get to the main point. Ms. Rebecca Katerfeld. Did you probe Zhou about the theory of her uprising in Guangzhou to her face?”

“…What?”

“That’s a dangerous thing to do. I have an organization to back me up and a mission, but still. Moreover, although I already had a personal connection with Zhou Lizhi that gave me a basis to probe her, it was still a delicate matter that required me to use my position as a lieutenant to probe Zhou. For you, a civilian, to probe an instructor about such a thing so early on.”

“I didn’t probe. I couldn’t have.”

“She asked me if you had planted suspicions in me.”

“What?”

“I probed Zhou about whether she had thoughts of making this school her private property. Then she mentioned your name. Did you say something rash to Zhou? Or did you also have a secret personal meeting with Zhou…”

“I just slightly, very slightly peeked into her mind. I saw a very vague, very vague image of her becoming a warlord in Jiangnan in her mind. I just made a slight guess based on that…”

Rebecca’s voice trembled as she cut off her words. I lightly struck the table and asked her:

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Was it shown on purpose?”

“Pardon?”

“I was tested. Zhou realized my mind-reading ability and deliberately created such a vision to show me in order to test me. To see how much I could read. She’s a woman born to handle and suppress ability users. She might have deliberately shown ambition disguised as… or disguised as her most intimate thoughts, to see how I would think and move.”

“Are you saying she has such powerful mental strength that she can even deceive your psychic abilities?”

“Rather, she might be trying to show that she can play with me to discourage me from challenging her… The moment you probed Zhou, Zhou Lizhi seems to have anticipated that you would relay this message to me. She’s a clever woman. It’s enough to make me feel scared to even dig into Zhou Lizhi’s background anymore.”

“Is she really dreaming of ruling the world?”

“It’s impossible to know. If you probed Zhou, you must have asked about the Tikhonov issue too? What did Zhou Lizhi say about that issue?”

“She said she doesn’t know about it,” I answered.

“She says it’s Chiang Kai-shek’s order. Honestly, I’m unsure, but Major Zhou’s claim does have some logic to it…”