Chapter 149

Chapter 149

149: An Unfading Rose “….” As always, Emily Artion woke up bathed in the midday sun. Feeling the sunlight filtering through the window cover her bed and caress her skin, Emily blankly rose. With drowsy eyes, Emily habitually turned her head, capturing the scene of the room in her brown eyes. What she saw was her room. Not spacious, but not cramped either, a lamp designed to emit only a strange red light, an elegantly shaped wooden table with wine on it, and a disheveled bed. Perhaps because the scene resembled what Lyla had once told her, Emily, who had been looking around the room for a while, recalled past memories and let out a soft laugh. “Pfft.” Even if it was a past memory, it was only a year ago. And if she were to recall even closer memories, it would be only three months ago. Could it be that her life was so passionate that it felt so distant? After reminiscing about the past for a while, Emily soon shook off her thoughts and picked up the metal mirror on the table. Emily Artion in the mirror was now completely mature, and her youthful appearance had disappeared. Only a year and a half had passed, but she had grown quite a bit during that time. Emily raised her hand and tidied her tousled red hair. It wasn’t just her hair that was a mess. The glossy, light blue silk dress had completely slipped off her shoulders, revealing her fair skin and the swell of her breasts. After checking it, Emily tidied her hair and then adjusted her clothes. However, even if she adjusted her clothes, the deeply cut neckline and the shape of the dress that exposed her entire back remained very seductive. Along with the short skirt that revealed below her thighs, the dress, which was made to be easily removed, would reveal her nakedness in an instant if she only undid the buttons on her shoulders. Of course, depending on the customer’s request, she sometimes wore various types of corsets inside. Anyway, she had suffered quite a bit from shame and embarrassment when she first wore this dress, but now it was all in the past. Emily Artion had gone through a lot to reach the point where she could wear a light blue silk dress at ‘Fairy of the Night’. She had spent the night with many men, experienced various things, and her martial arts had deepened as much. The stage of feeling shame and embarrassment from the secret touches and gazes of men had long passed. Swish. Emily got up, put on the coat hanging on the hanger, and wrapped a red scarf around it. The vivid red scarf was a symbol proving that she was a prostitute in the metropolis of Trithia. Occasionally, prostitutes from free backgrounds who had not yet adapted to the life of a prostitute did not wear scarves because they were ashamed, but since they could be fined for walking around without a scarf, Emily usually chose to wear one. Of course, Emily was also human, so there were a few times when she forgot to wear a scarf. However, in most cases, the guards of Trithia chose to receive a blissful night as a bribe rather than imposing a fine on Emily, who was a ‘Fairy of the Night’, and Emily did not refuse their offer either. The guards who came in two or three at a time were quite rough, but they were a good way to gather essence. And another reason was to try to prevent the ‘Fairy of the Night’ brothel from being listed as a target for crackdowns. “Hmm…” After finishing her preparations, Emily looked around the bed one last time before leaving the room. The disheveled sheets still showed traces of the intense lovemaking she had experienced last night. After thinking about it for a while, Emily made up her mind. ‘….I’ll clean it up later.’ Her gaze finally turned to the closet in the corner of the room. “I’ll be back soon.” Even she wasn’t sure if Kali understood human speech, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t say anything at all. Just like Arum, Kali might be able to understand words someday. Arum is a bit different because she’s a familiar. Creak. After saying a simple goodbye, Emily closed the door and headed out of ‘Fairy of the Night’ and into the street. // Trithia is the capital of the County of Tyvon, and a city of trade and commerce where all the wealth of the county is concentrated. Of course, Trithia is not the only major city in the northeast. The northeastern region of the kingdom was a region where noble families who used pickaxes and wheels as their family crests had formed an alliance called the ‘Iron Brotherhood’, and as a region that had accumulated considerable wealth throughout the kingdom, there were many cities comparable to Trithia. However, it cannot be said that the status of Trithia and the Count of Tyvon is low in the northeastern region. Trithia was clearly a large city, and as such, its size and resident population were on a different level from other small and medium-sized cities. And, such a developed metropolis had shadows as deep as it was developed. Step, step. Emily, who came out of ‘Fairy of the Night’, walked the streets of the red-light district. This street, named the red-light district because red lights were hung at night, is also called the Street of Twilight. It means that the sunset that was burning the western sky settled on the red lights of the street, but it is ironic that the residents of the street accept it as ‘the end of life’. Emily, wearing a coat and a red scarf, ran into someone before she could even leave the red-light district. It was a man with a sharp impression and a deep scar on his left cheek. He opened his mouth in surprise as he looked at Emily. “Rose, long time no see. What brings you here at this hour?” “….That’s none of your business, Hark.” Rose is a pseudonym as a ‘Fairy of the Night’. However, since it is rare to use real names in brothels, the name was virtually the name that referred to her in Trithia. “Come on, that’s disappointing. Isn’t your reaction too cold?” “I’m surprised you can say that. Do you want your arm broken again?” “Hmm, I’ll pass on that. Still, I wish you wouldn’t be so cold, since we were once lovers.” Emily sighed softly at the man’s words. She knew that it wasn’t sincere. It was probably a word to provoke her. Hark was the man who had raped Emily when she first came to this ‘Street of Twilight’. “Dream on. I can let others get away with it, but not you.” The red-light district, where pubs, brothels, gambling dens, and arenas coexist, is an area where public order cannot be said to be good even as a euphemism. It was a natural result, as the city’s troublesome shadows were concentrated in one area. Moreover, since the shops that are actually responsible for the entertainment of the wealthy are cleverly avoiding the law and are built in areas other than the red-light district, the gangs, who have nothing to fear, are rampaging even more to seize each other’s interests. In times when conflicts between organizations intensify, many people often fall victim to the conflicts. In particular, the powerless prostitutes of the brothels were even worse. Emily, who did not know about the physiology of the ‘Street of Twilight’ when she was still unaware of the background, did not resist their actions violently, and because she was not well-known compared to her beauty and her status was still low, she was often a good target for gangs. Of course, that is impossible now. ‘Fairy of the Night’ was also a brothel with a backer, and as such, it had the capacity to tolerate minor retaliation. Now, after half a year, Emily, who had learned martial arts, had become a reliable older sister figure to the prostitutes of ‘Fairy of the Night’. “Aren’t you being too picky? We’re all family now. What if I come as a guest?” At his words, Emily shook her head as if it were impossible. Emily, who rarely restricted her love affairs with men in order to learn the Yin Demon Art, also had people she didn’t want to hold in her arms. “No way.” // Hark is vicious, but not a persistent person. After talking with Emily for a while, he soon left, and she moved again to escape the ‘Street of Twilight’. She walked the streets, looking at the scenery that had become her daily life. As befits a street with poor security, the Street of Twilight has a rather poor appearance. The roads and avenues that were once paved with smooth stones have countless places where they have been broken, and there are various stains everywhere. The streets stained with alcohol and blood cannot be guaranteed to be safe even in broad daylight. Rather, it is safer after the sun sets and the red lights illuminate the streets than during the day. Some of the gangs she passed stopped for a moment and glanced at her with the red scarf, but they didn’t cause any trouble. They must have passed by looking at the coat with the ‘Fairy of the Night’ emblem rather than Emily’s face. “….” Emily stared at them for a moment, then smiled bitterly. After living in the ‘Street of Twilight’ for about a year, you can’t help but get a sense of the physiology of the underworld, no matter how much you hate it. She glanced at the alley where shadows were cast despite the sun shining, and continued to walk. If you head west from the ‘Street of Twilight’, also known as the red-light district or the underworld, you will find the black market. Emily walked along the road and looked around the black market. Thanks to the fact that it was noon, the scenery of the black market was lively. The merchants who frequented the black market created makeshift shops made of cloth and sold everything from daily necessities such as bowls and fabrics to accessories such as bracelets and necklaces. Unlike the Street of Twilight, which is a red-light district, this area has a vitality that makes it seem like people are living. Emily, who was walking along the road, stopped for a moment at a shop selling handicrafts and looked at the goods. ‘Should I buy one?’ The moment she thought that, the merchant sitting in the chair opened his mouth with a nonchalant expression. “Choose as you please.” There wasn’t much passion for sales in his voice, but Emily didn’t care and looked at the goods. Emily, who originally didn’t have much interest in accessories or cosmetics, had no choice but to learn the importance of dressing up while spending about a year at ‘Fairy of the Night’. “I’m just looking around.” That’s what she said, but Emily’s eyes were already fixed on a silver bracelet on the stall. The silver bracelet, woven with thin chains, had an opal embedded in the center, and neither the shining luster nor the quality of the opal were something that could be sold at such a street stall. “How much is this?” When Emily asked, the merchant stared at her face. He seemed to think for a moment, then called out the price. “…230 Lads.” “That’s very expensive.” “I’m giving you a discount because of your face. Leave if you don’t like it.” “Let’s just make it 120 Lads.” “Ha, 120 Lads? Are you blind?” Because she had drastically undercut the price, the merchant pretended to be angry in a rather harsh tone, but Emily didn’t even raise an eyebrow. “Isn’t it stolen goods anyway? Please give me a discount.” “Who said it’s stolen goods? This is definitely a product from the Latros Craft Guild. It’s not something that whores like you can just use!” Despite the merchant’s abusive language, Emily didn’t feel particularly bad. Whatever the reason, it was true that she was selling her body. Rather, Emily asked the merchant with a subtle smile. “Hmm, then I’ll buy it for 230 Lads, so can I go to the Craft Guild and check it out?” “…Huh?” At her words, the merchant looked dumbfounded, as if he was momentarily embarrassed. Judging from how easily he was flustered, it seemed that the merchant was a newcomer who had not been in the black market for long. If he were a fence, he wouldn’t have asked for such a high price in the first place. “Is that okay?”

“Damn it, that fucking whore…” Even as the merchant spat out the abuse, he nodded with a sour look. Of course, Emilia, already immune to such words, suffered not even a shred of mental damage. She smiled, examined the silver bracelet she had obtained as a result of the bargaining, and then put it in her pocket.