Chapter 7- Sertsul Family

When it comes to emotions that overwhelm the senses, anger and love stand out as the most intense.

Both have the power to numb the mind and cloud judgment, making one lose control over their actions.

Anger can drive a person to self-destruction, inflicting physical pain in a fit of rage without any awareness of the moment.

Love, on the other hand, can become so consuming that one might go to great lengths, even irrational extremes, to ensure their beloved's happiness.

The effects of these emotions are profoundly tied to their intensity.

But in both cases, there is a delay in the mental state of the one experiencing these emotions, making it impossible for everyone to feel them in the same way.

Not everyone can reach the extremes of anger in their daily life, nor does everyone fall into such deep love that they would do anything for their loved one.

So, what emotion truly reigns supreme and can overwhelm the human senses?

It's lust.

Many ancient stories and legends recount how lust has been the catalyst for history's most devastating wars and battles, altering the course of the future.

What is the embodiment of lust?

For anger, it's the human mind.

For love, it's the human heart.

And for lust?

It's human outer body.

Not treated merely as an object here, but as a universal truth: a hundred men could fight to the death for a single woman if left on an island.

What is often called love begins as lust.

Love at first sight is nothing more than lust at first sight.

You are drawn to someone's physical features, which ignite your internal desires, and only over time do you come to appreciate their personality—making it transition from lust to love.

Take, for example, a woman.

Women are not mere objects of lust, but they possess the power to ignite it within themselves and others with just a glance.

Though both possessed the same amount of lust within themselves, there is a saying: A fine bottle of wine doesn't get drunk due to its own alcohol, but the moment it pours into the glass, they stumble and clank together on the pretext of cheers.

Just as that simple wine makes the glasses stumble, a single spark of lust can intoxicate even the strongest and purest of souls, leading them to lose themselves in the ecstasy and heavenly feeling it brings.

Slightly offensive but undeniably true, this phenomenon is etched in history and evident even in the modern society of the Arinphiam Empire, which exists with a feudal system and government.

The Arinphiam Empire is known for the presence of noblemen who are viewed as the purest of blood among their respective positions, seeing others as inferior.

Even they break like shattered mirrors the moment lust drowns them in its clutches.

Thaloris, a kingdom made exclusively for noblemen to live and control their own territories with few laws made by the Royal family similar to a feudal system, keeps an eye on their businesses and all suspicious movements.

But the Royal family doesn't bind or enforce complete surveillance over the nobility (*though they do use spies informally), allowing noblemen to do whatever they want within the limits of Thaloris except for illegal infiltration into others' territories or attacks.

Time passed, and the sources of entertainment, pleasure, and interest evolved for the noblemen as well.

But what remained was the single emotion pushing them to the extent of tarnishing their own reputation and still indulging in carnal desires.

Taking this as a business opportunity, the Sertsul family, already fallen to the bottom after the division of assets and receiving an infertile land through a deep conspiracy by the Royal family, was on the brink of losing everything until the lady of the house came forward with a proposal.

A proposal to become the patroness of courtesans.

The entire nobility was shocked to see a noble family indulge in the business of hiring women for selling their bodies and prostitution.

But the words that now mark the present Sertsul family were uttered by the lady of that time:

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

The facade of this noble aura will not feed me or my children.

My citizens are dying without empathy from anyone, with nothing but their bodies to rely on.

For me, this body wearing a beautiful cloth called skin above an ugly structure of bones and flesh is not the evidence of my nobility but simply a mark of my physical presence.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

~If someone wants to purchase our physical presence, then they should have to pay.~

These are the words that every helpless woman, cast out from society, thrown to die on the streets, or discarded by a man who lost interest in her, remembers and learns the moment she joins one of the courtesans present all over Thaloris and even in the free cities' red light districts.

The Sertsul family provides these women with the opportunity to learn, grow, and pursue anything they want after earning enough for themselves.

After all, this noble family isn't wealthy enough to provide each woman with whatever she desires.

So, the Sertsul family offers them a chance.

Noblemen who appear elegant and uphold nobility during the day, calling the Sertsul family a stain on nobility, are nothing but creatures of their own lust. In the end, they are often found lying with the very filth they once considered a taint to their noble aura in the night.

"Huh?" Aecilia's pupils blinked as she looked towards the man whose blue eyes teasingly gazed at her. Only she knew the racing heartbeat and turmoil in her mind, while being aware of his poisoned state, were killing her from the inside.

Yet she remained still, not wanting to taint his image in front of these people who kept their distance during the day, but were found with courtesans from the Sertsul family by night.

The business was started by her great-grandmother, who defied the nobility to establish something that didn't make Aecilia feel embarrassed or ashamed. She knew the true colors of these noblemen.

She kept her distance from noblemen who wanted nothing but her body, and noblewomen kept their distance from her, finding her repulsive due to her family's reputation.

But Aecilia knew that these women were mostly jealous of her.

Having seen the truth of the world, she understood their jealousy when they saw men approaching her.

She remained at this party, keeping her stance towards the weakest princess only because of the man in front of her.

"Marquess, you should go to the doctor," Aecilia stated averting her eyes, awkwardly ruffling the back of her head due to the intense, disgusted gazes of the noblewomen.

If she were alone, she wouldn't give a damn about any of these bitches. But the issue was that he was here.

"Lady Aecilia, you have to forgive me first," Avendial said, noting the noblewomen's faces covered by their fans, their squinted eyes revealing their dissatisfaction and disgust towards Aecilia because of her family. He slowly stood from his place, his mind much clearer now.

In past life, for Sertsuls, Unlike others who were hesitant to invest, he saw an opportunity and invested in the construction of pavilions prepared as pleasure rooms, aiming for business profit.

Yet, throughout all this, he always harbored prejudice about the Sertsuls.

Despite being a nobleman and harboring some prejudice against the Sustrel family in his past life due to their numerous pleasure houses, he had moved past his initial thoughts the moment entered the tower and saw real faces of these noblemen who acted inhumane towards the inferior citizens.

Though he had saved many such citizens and civilians in his way upto the tower but as a simple human and being alone, he was not strong enough to save everyone.

"I don't understand," Aecilia said, already panicked, knowing what he had ingested. Her knuckles tightened with the urge to punch this man who was prioritizing an apology over his own life.

It wasn't that she was angry about his love for Princess Katheria but because he had chosen to marry the weakest of all the princesses, one without any significant background after the death of her mother.

When Aecilia had fallen in love with this man, only she knew how much it hurt, believing he was cheating on her behind her back (*though technically it was one-sided love from her).

"How about I provide you with compensation as an apology?" Avendial directly addressed the second thing he wanted to secure after already dealing with Patrick's execution.

Indeed, it was not that he did all this just to have an apology accepted by a woman he could convince through other methods, but this was the best time for him to secure the second thing he needed—resources.

"C-compensation?" Aecilia couldn't understand his meaning, looking blankly while trying to fathom what form of compensation he was talking about.

'...' Princess Katheria, seated on her chair, was already observing the whole scene. Her eyes had already gestured to the servants not to let Patric Vrandin escape, and now her yellow pupils were set on the man who was more of a foundation for her.

To be exact, when this noble gathering was held the previous year, there was no one except Lady Margaret showing presence, with all the noblemen siding with other heirs instead of her.

But seeing the balance of power shifting, the present Emperor had announced her engagement to Marquess Avendial Croceaus.

And now, this year, at least 19 noble families had participated.

Even though they didn't have a clear alignment towards her, they did so to get into the good graces of Avendial Croceaus.

"Margaret, call the doctors....," Princess Katheria glanced towards the woman holding a mature aura. Margaret looked at both people in conversation with intrigue before nodding and leaving after hearing the princess's call.

After seeing how Avendial was poisoned in this gathering, it was clear that one of the heirs attempted to get rid of the support bestowed upon her by the emperor.

After all, she was well aware that Marquess Avendial's ideology aligned more with profit, and marrying her would only bring him losses when other princesses could always ready to choose him.

She also had doubts about why he easily accepted this marriage with her.

Avendial stood at the center wearing a slightly unique outfit—a white bathrobe and wet black pants beneath. He couldn't remove his pants as they kept his erect shaft inside, or else the loose fabric of the bathrobe would reveal everything.

'...Will you look at them?' He didn't missed noticing that the eyes of all these noblemen, which held disgust a moment ago, were transitioning to jealousy and greed as soon as he mentioned compensation.

Normally, when a man of such wealth utters the word 'compensation,' it usually means money is involved.

And this was exactly what Avendial wanted from these people, prompting him to turn towards Aecilia, a smile forming as he declared, "I, Marquess Avendial Croceaus, will invest 13.5 billion Imperial Crowns in Sertsuls' business."

"?!!!"

GASP

"Huh?"

"Ohh mah gawd?!"