Diana Of Alcotta (Yrsoreth Chronicles 1)

25 ♔ The Prince and the Whore

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Four Years Ago
8th Hour Under The Twin Full Moons
17th Day of the 11th Month
26th Year of the Augustinian Calendar

Diana was down on the carpeted floor, bowing to her first and only employer. She begged the brothel owner to give her the job that paid for 10 thousand gold. Half of it will go to the owner's commission, while half will be her cut. With this amount, Diana could pay Michael's debt and had enough money to spare for the island. But now that she recognized who was the client was, Diana wanted to back out.

"Do you understand what you're going to do, Whore?"

She replied with a haughty, "Yes."

She would sleep with the man she betrayed in her visions, Alexander, and get pregnant with him. There would be no worry since she will be taken care of until the child is born, with bigger pay. And then she would claim that it was the second prince's, who, despite being a bastard, is a man of manners, just to ruin his reputation.

In reality, an experienced prostitute would have been better, but the crown prince Niccolus insisted on a virgin. Prostitutes drink cheap and subpar contraceptive herbs that damage the womb. To have proof the second prince was still a man of the slums. They needed a young and healthy evidence of his visit to a whore.

Thus, the newbie Diana was chosen. She thought it was luck when she was looking for a tutoring job in the capital and overheard the brothel employee's conversation on the street. But, turns out, fate was playing a cruel joke.

After a stern talk by the brothel owner, discussions of how to pleasure a man, Bathed, perfumed, and dressed that well reflected her new profession, Diana was taken into a room to talk to the client with no name, yet she knew well-Niccolus.

"Are you sure you're really going to give me the money after this?" she asked, hiding her accent and emphasizing streetsmart and suspicious attitude. "Like, it's just so easy. I sleep with him, and that's it, then I get the money?"

Niccolus laughed. There was a shuffle on his seat, and footsteps approached Diana. "Raise your head."

She did and met eyes with the young crown prince of twenty-one. She shouldn't be surprised because she had seen him in her visions, but looking up close at the scheming evil in real life, the view choked her.

It is indeed real and happening-her visions. And now, she was at the center of the storm.

"Pretty bold for you, huh?"

She gulped. There is no way she could back out; she'd be dead in his hands. But if she goes through it, Xander would kill her too, to avoid pregnancy.

"I needed assurance." Her act must be convincing enough, so her hands crawled to Niccolus leg like how she slithered persuasion. "I mean... I'm selling my virginity after working privately for a year, and the old hag would take 50 percent of my profit, after the job. Don't I get an advance?"

The prince stepped back in disgust. She assumed he couldn't kick her. After all, she was yet to provide her services. He then called his servant, bowing behind him. "Laques, give him a pouch."

"But, Your-Sir. Twenty Grand Gold is too much!"

"Did I give you the right to speak?"

Niccolus' servant clamped his mouth and threw the pouch near the still bowed Diana. Carrying that amount of money around is not practical. Though payment could be done with the Royal Family's seal and charged through a bank, this would divulge information. Diana didn't want that as well.