"We're here."

Zora looked out her window, and saw the brothel that they are meant to enter anytime soon. It suddenly felt harder to breathe again, and the anxiety was much worst than when she entered her first battlefield back when she was young but old enough to swing a sword and chop off an enemy's head.

And the whole trip, while in the carriage, Jacob described the place to give Zora a little bit of insight on what kind of place Oleander is.

The brothel was mainly for entertainment of the rich and the powerful but behind closed doors it is also where most negotiations of wealthy businessmen go down.

And by 'businessmen', Jacob meant the wealthy men and women in power who are mostly in charge of the biddings of the underworld of Rysanthe.

It is where they discuss illegal trades of drugs, slaves and the like. 

But even if Oleander was a place where most of these rotten people gather, the soldiers of the empire of Asphodel cannot touch them for the hierarchy of the kingdom of Rysanthe themselves are involved in such trades. 

It was their desperate struggle to keep their power over the people of Rysanthe and also, their way to keep the small kingdom of Rysanthe alive in the middle of the wars that the empire of Asphodel wages with Echina.

Rysanthe is a mess to be painfully honest but seeing how lively the people are, it almost felt like the war doesn't exist.

"Jacob.", Zora calls.

"Yes, m'lady?"

Zora grunts but she dismissed how uncomfortable the way Jacob calls her , focusing on the question she wanted to ask him.

"Is the person we are looking for one of those businessmen you were talking about?"

Jacob scoffed and Zora heard him chuckle which made her furrow her eyebrows at the man in front of her.

"You really can't wait can you? How about we go in and you see him for yourself?"

He said as if challenging Zora who is now gazing at him, her eyes filled with curiousity.

Zora knows this might be just one of his way of messing with her but seeing how confident the grin plastered on his face was, makes Zora want to bite into his obvious trap he laid for her.

"Alright. You lead, and I'll follow."

Jacob's grin grew even wider, and he immediately opened the carriage's door for Zora like a true gentleman, if Zora didn't know any better.

After the two of them got out of the carriage Zora notices that wherever her eyes roam the brothel only has men in these robes with beautiful patterns of a bird, a sky or a flower.

She thought that like any other brothel, the entertainers would be mostly women just like in Asphodel.

But here, it was only men who have beautiful long hair, tied in different styles that suits them, and the way they carry themselves are so elegant, Zora was at a loss for words at the moment.

She thought men could only be these creatures that are either a brute or a traitor. 

But looking at the way how these men present themselves was like looking at a very delicate piece of art but the difference was that they are actual people who breathes and move. 

"I couldn't grasp what it is that is so appealing when nobles would say to act with dignity and grace. I never did understood elegance but looking at how these men carry themselves. All I can say at the moment is... they are very beautiful."

Jacob takes notice of Zora's bewildered expression, and it was amusing for him to witness because Zora never did smile, or let her defenses down even with him.

He knows that she trusts him, given that they had a past with each other protecting their backs against their common enemy in the battlefield but sometimes Jacob can't help but be curious.

And sometimes he would wonder... what could Zora look like showing different expressions, what would it be like witnessing different sides of this intimidating yet gentle woman?

He too often wonders what could this feelings be that he secretly holds for her? Is it admiration? Or is it... entirely something else?

But he does not dwell on these thoughts too much because he knows that once he acknowledges these growing feelings, that is when he would want to be more selfish and truth is, he doesn't really stand a chance against her childhood sweetheart, the emperor himself.

"Beauty is their weapon, Zora.", Jacob said in a low voice. "And they refined it so that they wouldn't be thrown out the streets, scraping for food, begging for alms on the sidewalks."

Zora looks up at Jacob, and he smiled at her bitterly.

"They are slaves who were taken from their homes or were sold off by their own parents who couldn't afford to keep them alive in these hard times. From a young age they were taught to please both men and women be it with their dancing, singing, their talent to play an instrument or... with their bodies. Although, I agree with you that they are beautiful, I also want you to see these bright young men who could've had another option than to be in this brothel if it were not for the war the empire has been dragging on for who knows how much longer."

Jacob knows what he just said totally killed the mood Zora was in seconds ago but he also wanted to take this opportunity to show her that these people who radiated refinement and elegance, were forced to smile, to be courteous towards these sickening individuals who seeks their service, who might've even had a hand on trading slaves like them and solding them off to brothels or to places much worst.

He wanted to show Zora a small percentage of the war she fought because of the empire's officials greed has resulted into, hoping that she would understand the suffering of the common people.

And that she would be able to break free from the Clyborne family's chain tightly hanging around her neck; that she, like any other, think for herself what is just and righteous.

Jacob hopes that she will take a stand against the empire that men who loves to gamble the lives of others for their own benefits created and like him, choose to fight for its people instead.

Because he would not want to point his sword towards the woman he holds deep admiration for in the near future that is fast approaching.

It may just be his own selfish desire to spare his hands of the blood of someone who meant a lot to him.

But he would also like to see for himself whether Zora would truly be a hindrance like Davien said, or maybe just maybe, Zora can actually be the missing piece to complete their plan to free Asphodel from curroption and greed.