Chapter 229: Private Hot Spring Bath
The inn's private bath was in a separate courtyard behind the main building, an open-air hot spring pool enclosed by bamboo walls.
Hardy ivy climbed the bamboo walls, with several paper lanterns hanging among its leaves. Their warm yellow glow spilled over the water, tinting the rising steam with a thin veil of gold.
The pool was small, just large enough for two people to recline side by side. Smoothly polished pebbles lined its bottom, and the water shimmered a gentle turquoise in the night.
The distant bustle of the night market drifted faintly past the bamboo walls, but filtered through the rustling bamboo leaves and the sound of water, it became little more than indistinct background noise.
Samui entered the water first.
She took off her yukata and left it on the stone bench beside the pool, then slowly sank into the steaming water. Her short blond hair floated gently on the surface, everything below her shoulders submerged in the turquoise hot spring.
"Whew." Letting out a stale breath, Samui slowly leaned against the edge of the pool and tipped her head back to gaze at the patch of night sky framed by the bamboo walls.
Moonlight spilled through gaps in the bamboo leaves, scattering flecks of light where her collarbones met the water.
Sōji took off his Divine Robe and shirt, then entered the water opposite her.
The temperature was just right. The mineral scent of sulfur mingled with the fresh fragrance of bamboo leaves, drawing out the muscle fatigue
he had accumulated over days of travel, little by little.
He leaned against the pool wall, his long silver-white hair floating on the water with a faint pearly sheen beneath the moonlight.
An arm's length apart, the two soaked quietly for a