Finally standing up from her bedding on the flat floor, she went to her wardrobe and pulled out a dark navy blue silk kimono robe. Along the bottom of the sleeves were peonies and orchids while on the back, there was a single crescent moon with night clouds scattered across her back. The kimono robe was long and dragged across the ground, creating a train. As soon as she threw the kimono robe on, someone knocked on her tatami doors.

“Madam? Are you awake?” It was the voice of a young woman.

Sen immediately knew who it was. It was her personal hand maid and the next person in charge after her, Reina.

“Yes, I just woke up. You may come in,” Sen said languidly as she moved her starlight white hair over to one shoulder. 

Reina opened the door and entered bringing in a tray of hot tea. She placed the tea on the tea table that was sitting next to the window that had an overview into the courtyard. The courtyard was enclosed by the large building on all sides, however, the courtyard was huge. It had a large pond with an island where a large pink cherry blossom tree bloomed. Swimming lively within the pond were koi fishes of all shapes and sizes, as well as a variety of colors. Along the sides of the stone paths and on the building walls were lanterns that illuminated the entire courtyard, giving the atmosphere a delicate soft and hazy look. Looking out into the courtyard, Sen could see the flickering lights of fireflies. Hanging off and within the branches of the cherry blossom tree were tiny lanterns that added a radiant glow to the tree, making it look heavenly.

“How’s business tonight?” Sen asked.

“Everything is going smoothly,” Reina answered. 

“... Where’s Hana?”

“She went to the street market to buy some vegetables for a dish she’s been testing out. She should be back momentarily.”

“Mhm,” Sen acknowledged as she took a sip of her tea.

After Sen was done with her drink, she reached to open the sliding tatami doors. She was going to greet her guests tonight. Although she was the owner and Madam of the brothel, she rarely made appearances, leaving the check-ins and other matters to her trusted employees. The OG Sen wanted to enjoy time to herself even though she was in charge of this establishment, but that's what happens when you're the big boss. When she did make an appearance though, many were always eager to see her face, even if it was just a glance. Although Sen’s brothel was filled with many youthful women, because of her unchanging appearance, she became renowned as the Everlasting Beauty of the Moonlit Garden Manor - which was the current name of her brothel.

The Moonlit Garden Manor was the largest, most extravagant and richest brothel in the red-district of Alfeya. They also had the best reputation for the best service, music and entertainment. It was also the only brothel that the great Celestial Yuri has ever been to, considering that he loved women so much, thus many were always so eager to visit the Moonlit Garden. And because Yuri was also a sponsor for the manor, they always received the best and freshest produce, wine, liquor and performers. 

Sen’s room was located in a private corridor on the fifth floor that was separate from the employees. The entire fifth floor belonged to her while the other four floors had rooms that were for her employees. The layout of the main banquet hall could be seen from any of the five levels looking down. Down on the first level, there was a stage centered in the room with a small stream of water circling around it. Many performers would perform their songs and music on the stage for all to see and hear. 

Surrounding the stage on the first floors were booths; however, these booths were quite different. The guests would be seated on the ground around any sized table they needed with cushioned pillows underneath them. This allowed for the flexibility to move around without the hassle of chairs, and by using pillow cushions, if the guests wanted to lie down, they could. This also allowed the employees to move around comfortably, letting them cuddle with the guests and so on. It was the 2nd, 3rd and 4th level that had chairs and tables for the guests, but the comfort level was still exceptional. There were also private party rooms that were available if the guests wanted to entertain themselves or just celebrate in private.

“It’s the Everlasting Beauty of the Moonlit Garden Manor!” someone called out.

“It’s the Madam!”

“It’s Madam Ki!”

“The beauty has finally arrived!”

Sen received all these praises just as she made her appearance on the fourth floor. However, this caused an uproar as many were always eager to see her. But lucky for her, these guests were rather respectful towards her. After all, this was her manor - if they were to cause any trouble, they’d be escorted out immediately. This was something many guests have seen before. 

As she was greeted, she gave them slight smiles, waving her hand, telling them to continue enjoying themselves. Although she was dressed up quite plainly, she still attracted the attention of everyone. Because of how impartial she was to her employees, she was well-liked by them. She was not biased but she was not ignorant either. 

As she made her appearance on the first floor, Sen could see the brightened and lively expressions upon the faces of her guests. Some were seeing her for the first time and gawked at her, dumbstruck. Her starlight white hair glowed underneath the light, veiling her body with a divine glow making her look like a goddess. 

Sen walked around and greeted her guests. She saw how some were very eager to shake her hand, but the OG Sen had stopped taking in clients for the longest time now. 

“To think I’d receive such an honor to finally see the Everlasting Beauty! I can die a happy man!” a tipsy man said to his companions cheerfully.

Sen just gave the man a pleasant smile and headed off into the kitchen.

Just as the liveliness was at its peak, it was interrupted.

Busting through the front doors were uninvited guests. Orcs of the Orc region from the West have made their way to the human kingdom. Although the intermingling of the races was not rare, it was not common either. The races preferred to stay with their own kind for various reasons. But there would be times when trouble was aroused because of these differences.

The music stopped immediately upon their arrival; all the chatter and laughter ceased as all of their eyes went straight to the entrance doors. Three, tall, burly and grotesque orcs stood at the doors. They were shirtless with animal skins on their shoulders, but they wore trousers and walked barefoot. With protruding canines, they looked around the room, eyeing the beautiful women in the room.

The orc in front took one deep whiff and let out a joyous chuckle. “Hmm~, now that’s the smell of ripened fruits.”

All of the women present shrunk back in fear. One of the orcs then pulled a woman out from behind him.

“Does this little runt belong here?”

Struggling to get out of the orc's grip was Hana, the beloved female lead.

“Hana?” one woman whispered under her breath, but the orcs still managed to pick it up.

“So she does come from this place,” one orc sneered. “I was out and about, minding my own business, but then comes this little runt, disturbing my business,” he threw Hana towards the crowd.

“Although very beautiful, too meddlesome. Does not know to mind her own business,” one of the orcs complained. 

Hana furrowed her brows in anger. “You were raping that poor girl! She clearly did not want to have sex you guys! You sick animals!”

“Heh, it’s because we’re animals. We follow our instincts. And at that very moment, we were craving sex,” an orc trotted merrily to one of the booths, shooing away the guests that sat there.

The other two joined him and they began drinking the wine that was on the table.

“Ah! Such fine wine!”

Seeing the abrupt intrusion, the surrounding crowd dared not to act recklessly, just moving cautiously around the trio. After all, orcs were known to have a burning passion to stir up trouble. There were certainly people within the manor that knew martial arts and had magic abilities, however, these orcs weren’t necessarily causing trouble; other than kicking these guests from their seats, they were just delivering Hana and were enjoying their wine and food without being troublesome.

Reina came over and redirected the guests who got kicked away to a new location.

“Quite arrogant of you three to intrude on my territory and kick my guests from out of their seats,” a stern, yet elegant voice floated through the room. Standing at one end of the room stood the owner, the Madam of this establishment, Sen Kion.

Exuding a languid yet tempting aura, she crossed her arms and walked over to the three orcs. With her lashes lowered and her starlight white hair tousled over to one side, her lazy demeanor emitted a certain charm that made everyone swoon. 

All three orcs’ eyes twinkled as soon as they saw her. Despite being petite and slim, there was grace in the way she moved and talked. The way she looked at them was almost as if she was looking down on them. Piercing and cold.

“Oh~, and who is this fine beauty?” one orc hollered.

“Madam,” Reina walked forward, but Sen put out her hand, signaling Reina to take it easy.

“I’m the owner of this Manor,” she then glanced over to Hana, who looked terribly pitiful. But despite the cut-sorry of a figure, she was still undeniably beautiful. “It looks like one of my girls caused you trouble.”

“More than just trouble. She spoiled our fun!”

“Yeah! Since she was so eager to save that girl, she might as well replace her and serve us in bed, ahahaha!!” one of them remarked.

Chugging down the wine and horking down the food on the table in a terrible manner, it began splattering across the seat cushions and onto the tatami floor. 

Because she absorbed the abilities and memories of the OG Sen, she knew what these three truly were.

Sen let out a scoff. She lifted her right hand and stroked the air, creating a wisp of smoke out of thin air that transformed into a beautifully crafted wooden kiseru that had a black dragon engraved on one end. Holding it in one hand, she lifted it up to her lips, took a sip and puffed the smoke out from her lips. As soon as the smoke escaped from her red lips, it turned into a large blanket of smoke, which coiled around the three orcs, eloping them in its grasp.

Within an instant the smoke dissipated, revealing the three orcs true forms - demons! Black in color with a scaly skin texture. They looked like giant praying mantises with another set of arms that took the form of human hands. Instead of having a mouth like a praying mantis, their mouths looked like that of a spider with their fangs and teeth. They opened their mouths and let out a crying shriek. These demons stood to be about almost 7 feet in height, towering over Sen.

The hall was thrown into chaos upon the reveal of their true forms. However, Sen remained in her spot. Many of the guests who were martial artists or had magic abilities, stood up to confront these demons that have come from the demon realm. But before they could even move, they were immediately stopped by the employees.

“Our Madam will take care of it. Think of this as her saving you the hassle of making a mess and then being charged for it,” they were told by the employees before being escorted away from the scene.

The evacuation was swift and orderly. The OG Sen had a group of servants who were part of special group that were trained for such situations. They were all personally trained by the OG Sen; they were the Moonlit Garden Manor’s special protective forces. 

“Hm, the fake skins you guys had were not bad. But there were a few flaws,” Sen puffed out another smoke.

“There’s no way. Our fake skins are impeccable!” one demon’s garbled voice sounded. “Not even the demon king himself could have seen through these fake skins!”

“Well, there’s a first for everything.”

With a slight motion with the kiseru in her hand, a wave of white smoke swirled around them forming a large dome, keeping them enclosed within that space. The demons tried escaping but the swirling smoke would not allow them to leave, acting as a barrier. Each time they came into contact with the smoke, it would blast them away. 

“Let’s finish this,” said Sen as she walked over to them with her amethyst jeweled colored eyes narrowing on them like prey. 

If there were still people present, all they would hear coming from the dome of smoke was the horrid shrieking of the demons, the slashing sounds of a blade and the sound of thudding severed limbs. 

***

Sen blew out a breath of air and the smoke immediately flattened and vanished. As clear as day to anyone who laid eyes on it, was what looked as if a slaughtering fest had just finished. Black blood painted the floors, tables and cushions with limbs all scattered around. And Sen was clean - untainted by the blood and did not look like she even broke a sweat at all. 

Reina arrived at the scene, “Madam?”

“Clean this mess up before bringing the guests back in.”

“Yes, Madam.”

As several maids were cleaning up the mess, Reina walked up to Sen and smiled.

“It was a good thing you were the one who defeated them. If it was just Hana, she would have been devoured.”

“That silly girl. Even after all this time, her sense of justice still remains the same,” Sen slightly furrowed her brows. "Causing so much trouble for me wherever she goes.

Reina let out a soft chuckle. “But she has someone amazing who looks after her. And besides, her sense of justice reminds me of someone I know as well.”

Based on the OG’s memories, Reina and many of the ones who were part of the special forces were picked up by her off the streets. Perhaps it was out of pity, but it did not erase the fact that she still took them in and gave them shelter and food to live. However, thinking of this, Sen was reminded of her previous life and occupation. Being an escort, she often did this too. She’d find and pick out her clients off the street, especially the most pitiful looking ones or the ones in which she had just witnessed the most horrible thing happen to them. Guess that part of her was aligned with this person. With a slight blush appearing on the tip of her ears, she lowered her fluttering thick lashes.

Just then, a miraculous thing happened - Sen smiled. And it wasn’t just any smile, it was a genuine smile from the heart. One that was warm and contagious to anyone who saw her. Her eyes turned into two beautiful crescent moons with a tinge of blush appearing at the corner of her eyes, vivid and alluring. Although she was blushing, she was also reminiscing about her past, about the satisfaction she got when she managed to help her clients. It was a satisfaction that rose within her chest that was hard to settle - almost as if those feelings all wanted to pour out of her, making her want to yell out about how ecstatic and accomplished she was. 

“Silly girl.”

However, unknown to Sen’s knowledge, there was someone who remained seated, hidden in the shadows of the first floor in the corner. His deep violent outer robe had fallen down his shoulders, exposing the black one underneath. Even his black robe was slightly parted, revealing his powerful pecs and abs. He hid his presence even before he arrived at the Manor so that Sen would not detect him. However, hiding his presence was not the only thing he did - he was in disguise, taking on an appearance that was not his original. 

Surely the girl, Hana, who brought in the three demons was a beauty beyond compare, however, the smile the man had just witnessed Sen gave made his heart skip a beat upon this new profound discovery; it made his breath falter as he stopped his wine cup halfway from reaching his lips - speechless. It was an image that was now forever engraved in his mind and heart. His lips then curled into a mischievous smile. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday.