Chapter 2. Temptation (1)
Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart
Hosea 4:11
***
A man stood in front of a building on a fairly bustling street. The door had a lion-shaped knocker attached to it. After adjusting the luggage he carried on his shoulder, he knocked, and the door opened with someone poking their head out.
“Uncle!”
She appeared to be around twelve years old. She was still a young girl. As he entered through the door, the gatekeeper who would normally have greeted him first gave a light bow. The girl in fairly fancy clothing followed behind, chattering away.
“Uncle, are you here to paint again today? Can’t you paint me today? I’m confident I can stay still. Marilla says I won’t be able to play with dolls starting next year. She says I can’t. There isn’t much of this year left, you know? I’ll have to send it away soon, which is so sad. Memories are always willful, so I’m not confident I can remember clearly. So please paint me, uncle. Okay? I’ll hold it like this, so if you paint this scene, I’ll be able to see my doll forever. Okay?”
The girl grabbed and hung onto the man’s hem, making him inevitably wear a troubled expression. In her arms was a doll she would soon have to part with. It was a cloth doll with brown hair and yellow eyes, just like the girl.
“Uncle… Marilla said your paintings are amazingly realistic. I’m asking you like this. Please?”
As she clasped her hands together as if praying, the man became even more perplexed. Fortunately, there was a voice to help him.
“Nelly. You’ll be paying for it yourself, right?”
The owner of the fairly clear voice was Madame Cornelia, and the building that had looked like an ordinary house was actually a high-class brothel. As if to prove this, thick fragrances, strange warmth, and other things mixed together and floated through the room.
Madame Cornelia seemed to be preparing to go out, putting on an outer garment. A velvet cape was draped over a dress covered in lace. A hat of the same color settled on top of her elaborately styled hair. Due to the large hair ornaments, it was barely more than lightly placed.
Nelly pouted her lips.
“Where would I get money?”
“Really? Then stop bothering the busy person. You can see he’s troubled.”
Nelly’s target changed. She ran to the lady who was standing in front of a mirror fiddling with her hat and grabbed the cape that hung so long it almost touched the floor. The lady’s body swayed backward.
“What do you think you’re doing…”
“Mom has lots of money. Mom can ask for me. Can’t you do even that for me?”
“This child…”
“If you don’t want to, don’t throw away my doll! I still can’t sleep alone! Customers will definitely like my doll too! It’s so cute and pretty!”
“Nelly, your voice is too loud…”
“Oh, right! There was a customer who liked dolls, wasn’t there? I saw him before! There was a customer who asked Marilla to play dolls and made her unable to move!”
“Nelly!”
Finally, anger crept into the lady’s voice. When Nelly, startled by the scolding, closed her mouth, the lady put her index finger to her red-painted lips and made a shushing sound.
“Are you planning to disturb the customers? If we chase them all away, will you earn that money for us?”
Following the lady’s gaze to look at the ceiling, Nelly bit her lips tightly. Only after the surroundings became quiet could the faint laughter of men and women be heard.
The lady took out a key from her bosom and opened a box placed on the table. Inside was another key. Nelly, who had been standing with a sulky face until then, hastily opened her mouth.
“Then take me with you.”
“You stay here and finish reading what you were reading.”
“I don’t want to. I’m bored. I want to come along too.”
“I said no.”
“Then I’ll have to ask the sisters to play with me. I’ll ask Marilla to play dolls!”
Madame Cornelia shook her head with a tired face.
“Whose business are you trying to ruin with that tantrum? Who on earth do you take after…”
Nelly, who finally got permission, brightened up and quickly put on her coat. Meanwhile, the lady approached the stairs and looked up, raising her voice.
“Marilla!”
“Yes, Madame Cornelia?”
When Marilla poked her face out from upstairs, Nelly waved happily at her. Marilla also smiled warmly and waved back.
“I’ll be out for a bit, so manage the girls for me.”
“Yes, I will. Is Nelly going with you too?”
“Yes!”
“It’s been a while since you went out, hasn’t it? Have a good trip!”
Marilla waved again, and Nelly also smiled brightly and waved back. The three people went outside and caught a carriage. Even then, Madame Cornelia grumbled that they should have rented a bigger carriage since she had followed them, but Nelly didn’t even pretend to listen. Only the man caught in the middle just laughed good-naturedly as if he was used to it.
The carriage didn’t travel for long. The three people, who got off at a distance that was too far to walk but too close to take a carriage, navigated through narrow alleys. The dark alleys where sunlight barely penetrated were full of rat droppings, and Nelly carefully followed, lifting her skirt almost to her calves to keep it from dragging.
Only after exiting the alley could they encounter a building standing alone. Madame Cornelia opened the door with the key she had brought. Inside the building, which had been as quiet as if no one was there, two burly men who could easily lift a grown adult stood waiting to greet them.
“Please go upstairs, Madame.”
When they climbed the stairs, this time a boy who appeared to be around Nelly’s age guided them.
“Please go up one more floor.”
“Are you staying on the upper floor today?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The boy’s gaze suddenly touched Nelly. Nelly made a bizarre expression. The boy barely held back his laughter and turned around.
“The Madame and young lady will stay here, and only Canui-nim should follow me.”
“I want to go too…”
“Enough, Nelly. Not if you don’t want to be kicked out.”
At Madame Cornelia’s cutting words, Nelly became dejected. The boy who cast a brief glance at her took only Canui and guided the way.
Various decorations hung along the walls. Large statues between the windows greeted guests as reverently as knights.
The boy who stood in front of the last room at the end opened the door with a key from his pocket. The inside of the room was so splendid it was nauseating, as if everything they had seen so far was nothing. An unknowing observer might mistake it for an imperial palace. Since it was actually decorated in gold said to be used only in imperial palaces, it might indeed be a room where the emperor came and went to enjoy secret pleasures.
There, a beautiful man who evoked a sacred feeling in the beholder was lying on the bed.
Despite his divine appearance that seemed infinitely pure, as if one prayer could wash away all sins, he was a high-class prostitute who served members of “Fiat Lux,” an organization that only high-ranking nobles could join, commonly called a defiled angel or the angel of Duran’s back alleys.
It was Ronen.
“Ronen-nim. A customer has arrived.”
“…Fortunately it’s Canui-nim. If it had been another customer, I was just worrying about how to receive them with this body.”
His words weren’t a joke, as his movement to sit up was stiff and somehow uncomfortable. Especially every time he moved his legs, pained moans leaked between his lips. Osian hurriedly ran over to support him.
“Since you won’t be able to sit for long today, let’s work leisurely, Canui-nim.”
Ronen, who barely managed to sit on the edge of the bed, threw off the thin white cloth garment he was wearing. The supple form of his body, which was already showing through the clothes due to the sunlight, was revealed completely.
His skin, which had absorbed the sunlight, was as fair and beautiful as a woman’s. His seemingly slender body also appeared to have delicate lines, but because there wasn’t an ounce of excess flesh, only his fairly substantial frame and muscles stood out, giving no impression of frailty or femininity.
He was simply beautiful. His entire body showed that a man’s body could be this beautiful.
Ronen sat on the edge of the bed and moved his body this way and that.
“Was it like this? Or like this? This was the previous pose, wasn’t it? There are so many I’m getting confused.”
It wasn’t strange that Ronen was confused. Canui had been coming and going to this place for quite a long time, capturing Ronen on canvas, and there were countless paintings completed this way. The Grand Duke constantly demanded portraits of Ronen.
Osian, who had been moving about busily alone, took out a canvas that had been wrapped in thick cloth. Even though it was still unfinished, it displayed outstanding presence. He compared it with the painting inside and helped correct Ronen’s posture.
“Hmm, no. Ronen-nim, please place your left arm lightly on your thigh, and your right arm on the table… Yes, like that. And tilt your head slightly, ah, the clothes…”
“You were going to tell me to put on clothes and dishevel them like this, right? I just remembered too.”
After putting back on the clothes he had taken off, Ronen loosened the front. With only one shoulder, upper body, and part of his stomach exposed while covering the rest with clothes, Osian helped Ronen take the proper posture while handing him a paper he had taken from the table drawer.
Meanwhile, Canui unpacked the bundle he had brought. The large wooden box, about the size of a torso, contained all kinds of painting supplies.
“I think it’s done. How is it?”
When Osian asked Canui, he gazed quietly and then nodded. No one noticed the deep rapture rippling in his eyes.
Every time the brush touched, the pure white paper was quickly filled with beautiful colors.
Light vanilla-colored hair that seemed to melt sweetly like the fluffy cream decorating the last of a cake revealed its presence, and when painting the fresh light green eyes, it seemed as if tiny sprouts would bloom at any moment.
Canui’s eyes busily moved between Ronen, who was posing, and the canvas. A being who could make hearts flutter for both women and men alike. He was captivated by the desire to perfectly capture that being.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
