I want to go back, I want to go back, the prostitution quarter she repeatedly mentioned wasn't that far away.
The size was one of the Inner Palace, no different to one town, but the Royal Capital completely surrounded it.
The prostitution quarter was opposite to the Imperial Court. If you cross over the high wall and deep moat, it was within walking distance.
(Even though it's a luxury to go by horse carriage)
Rihaku, the big man sitting beside her, was humming as he held the horse's reins.
He had understood her words as true and passed over the wooden slips.
So he could meet the prostitutes he yearned for. Was it that sort of thing?
Those you call prostitutes should not be all counted as the same.
If there were those who sold their bodies, there were those who sold their art.
Only those called favourites get a lot of customers. Their value increases because of that.
Just drinking a cup of tea with them will cost silvers. The price is even more unreasonable for sleeping and the like.
This type of revered existences become a type of idol and are admired by the townspeople.
There are even those among the town girls who admire that and knock on the gates of the red-light district. Even though those that become that are few in between.
The Rokushoukan is well-established even within the royal capital's prostitution quarter. It holds a selection of middle to the highest-class prostitutes.
The ones who Maomao call Older Sisters were among the highest-class.
She could see the nostalgic scenery from the noisily rocking horse carriage.
The fragrant aroma from the shop of the kushiyakishe wanted to eat spread across the street. Willow trees swaying along the waterway. The rising voices of firewood vendors.
When they passed through the magnificent gate, a world covered in rich colours spread out.
It was still daytime. There were few people walking about, but prostitutes with free time waved their hands over the handrails on the second floor.
The horse carriage stopped in front of a roukakuwith a conspicuous large gate.
Maomao rushed over to the old woman standing by the entrance the moment she lightly descended from the horse carriage.
"It's been a while, granny."
She said that to the skinny woman who was biting on a pipe. A long time ago, she had been a prostitute said to have tears of pearl. Nowadays, she became wizened like a dead tree; her tears had dried up completely. She also refused her redeeming, and continued to work even after her term of service ended. Now, she became a madam who everyone was afraid of. Time was cruel.
"What is this? It has been a while. You foolish girl."
A shock ran through the pit of her stomach.
It was mysterious that she thought that even the taste of her mouth souring from the regurgitation of gastric juices was nostalgic.
How many times in the past did she vomit back out excessive poison like this?
Rihaku, who was a good person at heart, stroked Maomao's back while not understanding what was going on.
His face said, "The hell is this hag?"
She covered the polluted ground with dirt using her toes.
Rihaku, who was next to her, looked at Maomao in concern.
"Hmm, is this the honoured guest?"
She appraised Rihaku with her eyes.
The horse carriage was entrusted to the shop's manservant.
"Good physique. Looks are also handsome. Doesn't he look like the promotion stock that people are talking about?"
"Grandma, what are you trying by saying that in front of the person?"
The madam feigned ignorance and called for a kamurowho was sweeping before the gate.
"Call for Pairin. Today, we grind tea."
"Pairin…."
Rihaku swallowed audibly.
That was the prostitute whose name was known as a talented dancer.
For the sake of Rihaku's honour, it should be said that this isn't a simple lust for a simple prostitute, but rather thoughts of longing.
It was an honour for him, even if it's just sitting together for tea, to meet the idol from above the clouds with his own eyes.
(Pairin huh, it might possibly be possible.)
"Rihaku-sama."
Maomao nudged the large man who was engrossed in his thoughts.
"Do you have confidence in your biceps?"
"I train my body but I'm not too sure?"
"Is that so. Please do it well."
The large man, his head tilted, left following the little girl.
Maomao was grateful that he brought her along up to this point. Of course, she meant to give back something suitable in return.
That dream of one night would become the memory of a lifetime.
"Maomao."
The owner of the hoarse voice made a terrifying smile.
"You disappeared without contact for ten months."
"It can't be helped. I was working at the Inner Palace."
The general explanation was written on the wooden slip.
"Although I'll reject at a glance, I'll look after him just this time."
"I know already."
She took out a bag from her bosom.
It was half the wages she earned from the Inner Palace up until now.
"This much, wouldn't be enough."
"Of course not, I didn't think you would call out Pairin-neechan."
She had brought enough money expecting a night of blissful dream with a high-class prostitute.
Even Rihaku would be satisfied with just a glance of the Three Princesses.
"Wouldn't that just barely be insufficient for a seat for tea?"
"Fool. With that physical strength, there's no way Pairin would do nothing."
(I knew it.)
Though it can be said that the highest-class prostitutes don't sell their body, it doesn't mean that they won't fall in love.
"That would be what they call an act of god…."
"Don't be silly. I'll put it properly on your tab."
"I said I can't pay for it."
(Even if I add in the rest it won't be enough. No matter how I think.)
Maomao was deep in thought.
No matter she looked at it, it was a commitment.
"What are you saying? At worse you can just use your body to pay for it. You'll just be transferred from the emperor to a brothel – it won't be any different. There are dilettantes who are fond of even defective goods like you."
For these couple of years, the hag has been excessively recommending Maomao to become a prostitute. She, who had devoted her entire life to the prostitution quarter, had never thought that prostitution was a career of misfortune.
"I still have one year left to my term of service though."
"In that case, steadily send forth the honoured guests. Not old geezers, but those we can moderately exploit for a long time like the one just then."
(Umm. As I thought, he's being exploited.)
The greedy hag only thinks about money.
The idea of selling her body was already passed, so she must moderately send in sacrifices hereafter.
(Could even a eunuch be a customer?)
Though Jinshi's face rose to her head, that was no good.
The prostitutes would become serious and might break the store, so that idea was rejected.
Nonetheless, it feels bad if it were Gaoshun or the quack doctor. It would be hard to get the madam to exploit them.
It was truly inconvenient to not have a rendezvous point.
"Maomao, the geezer should be home right now, so hurry up and go."
"Ahh, I will."
Even if she thought deeply, she had no solution at present.
Maomao escaped through the side road of the Rokushoukan.
The prostitution quarter suddenly became desolate the moment she came out from one street.
Rows of shacks, beggars collecting coins with chipped bowls, there were also streetwalkers with syphilis scars.
One of the dilapidated shacks was Maomao's home.
In the narrow house which only had two rooms of dirt floor, there was a person hunched over using the mortar.
Carved with deep wrinkles, soft features, a man who like an old woman.
"I'm back. Dad."
"Hey, you're late."
He greeted her normally and stumbled off to prepare tea as if nothing happened.
She accepted the tea that was prepared in a worn teacup.
She told him bit by bit of everything that happened until now, and her dad only replied with sounds of listening.
After she had porridge, which had an enormously increased portion of medicinal herbs and tubers, as dinner, she decided to sleep. She will take a bath from the hot water she received from the Rokushoukan tomorrow.
She curled up in a simple bed that was just a straw mat laid out on the dirt floor.
Her dad piled clothes on her from above, and ground the mortar tirelessly like a stove fire.
"The Inner Palace huh. It must be fate."
The words her father muttered faded away amid her sleepiness.