Songs of Failure

The troupe danced until dusk. By the time they were finished, the sky started to darken into hues of reds, oranges and purples. Though Jin was the main dancer and one of the main dancers requirements was to have good stamina, he was utterly exhausted. The rest of the group seemed to be quite spent as well save for a couple few.

They packed up on the boat and landed ashore. It was getting late and there were less people on the coast, though it was still pretty crowded.

Suddenly, there was movement from one of the dancers; Dormund, another male in the group, moved in front of Leyya in a protective manner. All members stopped what they were doing and stared at where he was looking.

There seemed to be a man further up ahead leaning half into the shade, staring explicitly at them. Realizing that he was noticed, he straightened up and walked towards the group. The group straightened their postures in alert as he moved closer.

The man was quite young and had a pair of spectacles hanging along his nose bridge. His hair was dark and was tied up loosely to the side, resting on his right shoulder. The clothes he wore did not look simple and looked as if he was a noble. It was Ilmond.

Reyna glanced at the group and communicated with them through her eyes, then walked towards the man. The man stopped and the group saw their leader talking with the young and scholarly-looking fellow.

Their discussion looked quite serious. Rheb, who was walking beside Jin, whispered, ”What do you think they
e talking about? ”

Fei, who was also walking alongside Rheb and Jin, overheard what Rheb whispered and asked her own questions; ”More than that, who do you think that man is? Do you think the leader knows him? He looks like an aristocrat. ”

Jin stood silent. Rheb answered Feis question, ”Nah, weve been with our leader this whole time—we traveled alongside her so theres no one we shouldn know that she knows. Ive never seen this man in our past travels. ”

Just then, the man looked up and glanced at Jin.

The little girl nudged Jin, ”Hey, hey, hey! Did you see that! He glanced at you! ”

Jin took away his gradually bruising arm and secretly rubbed it, ”Yeah, I saw. ”

”Do you think he took a fancy to you? ” Rheb stared at the man questioningly.

”Iyah, thats Jin for you. Leave it to big ol brother Jin to catch that kind of man. I bet he was smitten with you when he saw you dance. ” There was a playful tone laced in Feis words, and the last few words were uttered in a singsong manner.

Jin rolled his eyes at the two peoples antics. ”I wouldn disagree with what the two of you said. ” He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and gave the two a flippant smile, ”I can be pretty charming. ”

The two started to hit Jin in annoyance.

”But! Wait, I wasn finished yet. Hes not my type. ” Jin chuckled, ”He looks too stringent and uptight. I feel like Ill suffocate if I go any closer to him. ”

Rheb rubbed his chin, ”You
e right. ”

As Fei was about to open her mouth, they saw Reyna turn around and walk back towards them. There seemed to be a glint of pleasure and surprise reflected in her eyes.

”Change of plans. ” Reyna looked at the group. ”We
e heading to the royal castle. ”

”Huh!? ”

”What?! ”

”Are you kidding!? ”

Gasps of shock and disbelief echoed within the troupe. Although some of them already visited different royal castles before in their travels, the opportunity to do so was rare to none. There were also some new faces in the team, therefore this might be their first time visiting a royal castle.

Reyna took a glance at the man behind and looked back at the group, ”The man told me that he was a representative of the Phacan kingdom. He was just passing by until he saw us perform. Hes inviting us to do a performance in the royal castle. ”

A voice rang out from the group, ”But how do we know if hes real or fake? He might be fooling us. ”

”Yeah! Whats an aristocrat doing outside on the streets anyway? ”

Reyna glanced at the person who last spoke, ”We
e in an area filled with nobles and aristocrats. Wouldn it be strange if there were none that roamed around this area? ”

”Besides, I trust in my judgment. His clothes were authentic, and his demeanor seemed genuine. I don think you can fake his kind of upbringing. ” Reyna spoke confidently.

Everyone in the group looked at each other. No one had any objections.

Just then, the man spoke behind Reyna. It was unknown when he had gotten this close. He was smiling, but his smile looked like it belonged to a fox, ”If all of you have decided, we already have prepared carriages for you. I presumed you would have to gather all your belongings before moving to the castle so well stop by wherever you left them en route. ”

”If you have any problems, please don hesitate to look for me. Just say my name to one of the guards and they should bring you to me. ” After talking, Ilmond took a deep breath and then pushed up his glasses. He flashed a smile at the group.

Leyya, one of the prettier girls, weakly voiced out a question, ”Moving to the castle? Well be staying at the castle? ”

Ilmond looked at the girl who spoke. He stared pointedly at her, and she shrunk back behind the muscular-ish Dormund. The corner of his mouth was slightly raised, ”Why yes, you will be staying at the royal castle itself. Will there be any problems with that? ”

Leyya, hidden behind Dormund, shook her head. The rest looked on with awe. They will be staying at the royal castle. This probably has only happened twice in their life so far.

The dance troupe set out in their respective carriages to grab their things from the inn they were staying in. They ended up being split into four carriages containing three people each and their luggages. The ride lasted for two hours until they got to the castle.

The castle was surrounded by a natural barrier of trees and lush greenery. By the time they entered the castle walls, it took another thirty minutes to get to the main building.

The main building was even grander than the castle walls.

Golden light hit the domes of the castle peaks as the sun continued to fall over the horizon–they loomed over the group and seemed to tower up like mountain ranges. Intricate archaic carvings jutted out of the sandstones used to build the castle. There were also exotic tropical potted plants that stood on the outside of the palace.

Lined up in the middle of the entrance was a red carpet decorated in a persian pattern; it stretched all the way until the palaces main doors of which stood two huge double doors. The door was inlaid with complex designs and was about as tall as six grown men standing on top of each others shoulders.

The group gasped in awe at the scale of the building in front of them. Jin and the others were being led by a butler while bypassing royal guards dressed in armor as well as potted palm trees filled with ripe coconut.

Jin looked at an exotic potted plant and felt that one plant alone would cost way more than his average pay. He sighed. Ah, what a life. A mere decoration exceeding his average cut from his commissions…

The inside was as grand as the outside. The inside of the palace held high arched walls and ceilings that were decorated with colorful and differently sized tiles; they looked like a kaleidoscope that formed patterns and tessellations. Coupled with the hanging torches on the walls, they twinkled in the dimming day.

The floors were made out of polished travertine tiles which had long carpets that guided the incoming guests where to go.

Ilmond walked with the butler in showing the guests to their rooms. After a while, he stopped and turned towards the guests. He pointed towards the butler, ”This butler is Renson. He will be continuing to escort you to your rooms. I will be taking sir…Jin…somewhere else, as I will be needing him. ”

Who, him? Jin raised his eyebrows. His group members looked at him. Reyna glanced at him knowingly.

”As you already know, if there will be any trouble during your stay, please do call for me or the head butler. Renson will introduce you to the head butler later on as I have something else to do. Now if you would excuse me, I hope you do enjoy your stay. ” Ilmond gave a courtesy bow and took Jin to a different direction.

Jin followed Ilmond with question marks in his head. Where was he taking him? This guy couldn really have fallen for his charms right? Why was he needed alone? Just as Jin was thinking of which of the two of them had their brains not working, the man suddenly spoke up.

”My name is Ilmond. ”

Jin woke up from his daydreaming while blankly staring at the passing scenery of the hallways. ”Ah, I uh, see. Nice to meet you. Im Jin. ”

Ilmond blinked once. ”I know. ”

”Oh. ”

There was an awkward silence that hung between the two. Ilmond didn really want to talk to the adrodynous-looking man nor did he feel the need to entertain him. But, he was slightly curious as to what kind of guy managed to attract his boss.

Jin felt like he needed to speak up and resolve the silence but he doesn know how to talk to a stone-faced man.

Thus, the two reveled in silence for a little longer.

Finally, Jin found something else to say, ”Where are you taking me? ”

Ilmond finally glanced at Jin, ”Im taking you to your room. ”

More question marks popped up from Jins face. ”Why is my room not with my group? ”

Ilmond pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and muttered. ”A little someone was interested in a pretty lotus. ”

Jin didn quite catch what Ilmond said. ”What? ”

”The king. He wants to see you and ordered for you to personally entertain him tonight. ” Ilmond finally stated clearly.

Jin was stunned. The king? How the hell did he hear about him? He was just a small dancer.

”He saw you dancing on the boat. He told me to bring you to him at that time. ” Ilmond continued to explain.

That explains it. Jin thought back on who he might have seen this afternoon. There was something that was prodding him at the back of his mind, but he couldn quite catch on. Who was he? How did he look like?

Ilmond halted in front of a room with double doors. ”This will be your chamber when you are not with his highness. Extra clothes as to what you will be wearing tonight are placed on your bed. I will pick you up again in a couple of minutes, so please be ready by then. ”

Just like that, Ilmond dropped Jin off to his new room and strode away. He still looked quite strict and stoic.

Jin entered his room and was greeted with quite a lavish sight. There was a double-sized bed in the center of the room with lots of pillows and a fur blanket. The floor was also carpeted and there was a complete dresser and mirror that looked exquisitely sculpted. There was even a corner table accompanied by a corner chair for him to sit and read books on.

So the king wants me to perform for him, hmm? Jin smugly thought. Just who was this mysterious king anyway? And they wanted him to entertain him for the night?

He heard that the king of Phacan was a looker and was quite young. Jin was slowly looking forward to what was in store for him tonight.

He walked towards the bed and picked up the uniform harem pants that the palace allocated to him. It was also sheer, but slightly more see-through, dyed in the color red. You can see the shadows of his calves behind the cloth.

The jewelry and gold they gave him to wear were quite excellent too. Red rubies dangled from real gold as they dripped from Jins body.

Different thoughts circulated in Jins mind. One of the main things was: Ilmond, probably one of the kings trusted aides, brought him to see the king. They wanted him to satisfy the king tonight, and satisfy he will.

Ah, its been a while since hes gotten a job like this. Normally, dancers are allowed to hook up with their clients if they want to. They
e not obliged to do so, but they are permitted. Some dancers may also sell their body if they wished. Despite all this, they have the power to decline the offers given to them. Being forced upon is not allowed, and once done so, the entire group will leave the country under the case of violating citizens that are not part of its nation. This usually earns the disdain of other neighboring countries as they will try to avoid diplomatic relationships with a country that can take care of other citizens.

Of course, Jin is not one to sell his body for money, despite how much he loves the sound of metallic coins clinking against one another. He simply does it for fun, and to mutually satiate desires. If he doesn like the other party, he usually turns them down and they can force him. If something bad happens, hes still a man and knows how to fight back.

He licked his lips. Ah, I wonder whats going to happen tonight. He was quite hungry after not having meat for months.

As Ilmond promised, he knocked on Jins door a couple minutes after Jin got ready. Jin walked out the door and a guard that was following them couldn help but steal glances at him.

Ilmond looked up and down at Jin and gave a nod. The three walked down a hallway until they met another set of double doors; this time slightly larger than Jins. Ilmond knocked at the door and the door slowly opened.

In the middle of the room was a large bed–way larger than Jins–and it had layers of sheer curtains that slightly blocked the face of the person who was sitting lazily on the bed. The bed was atop three steps of stairs and was the main focus of the room.

The room was huge and covered a large space. On the floor in front of the bed was a similarly large persian rug, with some throw pillows discarded on the side. A table near the bed was filled with different kinds of fruits; grapes, apples, longgans, lychees…

Jin didn look at the other different decorations that were probably worth more than his entire life. His gaze was drawn to the man hidden behind the bed curtains.

From the bed, two golden eyes pierced through sheer and stared directly at Jin. He had golden-brown hair and a wheat skin tone. His muscles were perfectly defined, as if it were beautifully sculpted by the gods themselves.

Hmm, quite tasteful, this tiger looks. Jin inwardly gulped.

On the bed, Carsus observed the little fellow that stood waiting for his command. He looked more beautiful than when he saw him earlier from afar; white, succulent, with jadite skin. His eyebrows were arched in a natural curve–quite seductive, others would agree–with his eyelashes covering cat-like eyes. When he looked up from under them to sneak a peek at him, he felt like his heart was scratched by tiny kitten paws.

His lips were curved into an alluring smile that rendered Carsus throat dry, though he didn know why.

The man finally spoke up with a low velvety voice that was akin to wine. ”Greetings to your majesty. I am Jin, and I was tasked to serve you for tonight. ”

Serve me for tonight? Carsus raised a brow. He remembered asking Ilmond to prepare for him a personal performance from the little man. He supposed that serving him meant that he was going to give him the performance?

Jin looked back at the man on the bed respectfully, ”May I start, your majesty? ”

With that, Carsus gave a nod and waved his hand, ”Start the performance. ”

Hearing the kings voice, music started to play just outside the kings door. Jin smiled.

A fair foot peeked from underneath red harem pants that traced the silhouette of the persons lower body. The red sheer cloth flew with the persons movements, while the little raindrops of gold and ruby jingled in the same direction as where its owner went.

His hands flew gracefully like a paintbrush tracing the wind. Each step he took came knocking on the heart of the man watching.

Each hip thrust accentuated the dancers thin waistline and every twirl brought a graceful hurricane of silk hair that followed delicately in the air.

Carsus stared at the mans lower navel that dipped as the music led it to dance in waves of emotion. Jin took a suggestive look at the king under his eyelashes and saw the king look at him with rapt attention. He held a chuckle from escaping, making his smile more obvious and bewitching under the kings heated stare.

In an opportune moment, Jin followed the song with sentiment and arched his back at the climax of the melody. Bright red cherries were presented to Carsus to watch as Jin bared his chest to him, and Carsus was evoked with a desire to play with them under his fingers.

Then, under the songs next part, Carsus watched with much fervor as Jin placed his hands on the garter of his harem pants. Leisurely, and quite agonizingly slow, Jin lowered the garter under the musics influence. His gaze never left Carsus.

He wanted him.