C17 Everine

15th June, Kingdom of Everine.

The massive port of Desmond city, the capital of the Everine kingdom, was busy as usual. About more than fifty vessels were docked, and many more were waiting for their chance, floating a hundred meters away from the port. Sea was silent, and the winds were helping the ships leave the port.

The workers and sailors were busy with loading and unloading of ships. Desmond was one of the few ports which facilitated other landlocked kingdoms with port facilities at no extra charge. Thus, despite the small size, Everine was one of the richest kingdoms in the continent.

The people of desmond were mostly traders, merchants, or sailors, and very welcoming of people of other kingdoms as they bring more business for them.

Today sailors instead of going to rest after the long journey had gathered a few hundred meters away from the private berth meant for special occasions. The ship docked there was made of elkwood, whose price could be compared to silver and strength to iron. 

The ship had intricately designed patterns on its body and its deck was lavishly decorated with sea pearls and the long bronze mast had a golden flag on which a bear was painted with silver. The sailors were awed by the dazzling ship, the ship of their dreams. They instinctively moved forward to touch it but to their dismay, the guards in golden uniforms with exactly the same bear drawn on their breastplates blocked their path to salvation. 

Sailors grumbled in dissatisfaction and changed their course because of threatening gazes from the guards. 

The fifteen meters wide cobblestone road connected the port to the rest of the city. Numerous horses and carts were moving along the road. 

A few hundred meters away from the harbor was an alley beside the meat shops and the entrants were being scanned by the workers at the meat shop.

 The number of people entering the alley never decreased, it increased steadily till the day was over. Some men stayed there overnight. This was the best house of pleasure in the whole kingdom and only catered to people of status and opulent merchants and traders.  

There was a carriage, the carriage parked near the meat shop could be said to be entirely covered in gold and the chauffeur of the carriage was sleeping with a hat on his face on his seat. Every passerby took a glance or two at the carriage, impressed by its golden presence. 

The alley was the only entrance to the building, above the entrance 'Madame Rue' was written on a bronze plate. On the third floor of the building, the occupants had just furnished what started a few hours back.

A young man in his twenties, tall and muscular and with a broad forehead, exited the room with just a cloth piece wrapped around his torso. His face was red from exhaustion. He took a long breath and looked back at the doors of the room with a satisfied smile.

An old man who was sitting at the farther end of the corridor near the stairs came running to the man. He shook his head when he heard the painful cries and agonized groans of the girl inside the room. He had turned apathetic to these things now. He just ignored the cries of the girl and turned to the prince. 

"Your highness, now that you are satisfied. Should we depart for the palace, the king would be anticipating us." The old man advised as he led the prince to another room, where he had arranged an extra set of clothes for the prince. He had been aware of what was going to be here.

"Huh, let the king wait or arrange some other date. Is he more important than my enjoyment? Today, I want to play with these new playthings, bring them to the ship, whatever be the cost and be quick, I don't like to wait, you know." Prince said haughtily. 

"Your highness, Emperor, has sent you to form a pact with this kingdom. And it would be disrespectful to the king if we do not honor this pre-arranged meeting. He might refuse to agree to our terms. And if we fail to secure this deal, then your siblings would create a huge roar back in the empire of your incompetence. This might delay your crowning process." Old tried to persuade the prince.

The old man was just thinking for the betterment of the kingdom and the crowning part was an excuse.

"This tiny little kingdom would reject my deal, the deal offered by the crown prince of the Belur Empire. He might be a fool, huh, just my personal army is enough to raze this kingdom to the ground, I wouldn't even need the help of the Empire's forces." Zereth said as he put on the clothes present on the bed of the room. They heard someone carrying the wailing girl.

They exited the room. The Old man from his past experiences could tell that the prince would not change his decision and it wasn't fruitful to continue persuading. It might irritate the prince which wouldn't be good for him.

They left the room and saw the blood drops on the corridor. The old man behaved as if he saw nothing. They climbed down the stairs and saw Madame Ru, a middle-aged woman with silvery streaks of hair, pacing up and down the room.

The prince said to the old man, "Jeeves, deal the things here and I would be waiting for you in the carriage. And be quick." The prince walked across the hall to the exit without glancing at anyone.

The old man approached the madame. Rue turned to face him. Her forehead was wrinkled and eyebrows arched. She furiously gazed at the old man, "You... you bastards, don't you know what this place is. You know what your young master has done."  She grabbed the hand of the old man and took him to a room beside the counter. Although he knew she was leading his to see the ruined girl, he followed.

It was a small infirmary, minor accidents always happened here. The Jeeves glanced at the bed madame Rue was pointing, a young girl barely twenty was laid on it on her stomach, without clothes, and blood was rushing out from several recently made wounds and scratch marks. The girl had been given some sedative, she was sleeping, but her face still had a painful expression and she was groaning even in sleep.

"Does your young master have any sense, or he ain't a human. Even a beast wouldn't do such things. He had completely ruined the future of this poor child." yelled madame Ru with simmering eyes and her hands gently stroking the head of the sleeping girl.

Jeeves turned away from the girl and asked, "Don't waste my time and state your price to keep quiet. I want this girl to be sent to our ship on the dock."

"I took you for a sensible person, with respect for your age. But instead of repentance, you are asking me to sell her to you, animals." Rue had never been so angry even when her husband left her for someone else, but today she was really furious over these scums and their thinking.

"Does showing repenting change anything, would it feed you or keep your business booming." the old man paused as he heard some shouts outside, "state your price before its too late. You may get many beautiful ladies if your business is safe."

"What are you bullshitting, are you from Everine royalty, even they had to follow rules. Who are you trying to scare-"

A man shouting for the Rue entered the infirmary, he was scared and only a few words came out his mouth and his hand kept pointing towards the exits, "Mistress, outside,... outside"...