Chapter 319 – Isha (19) Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan Though the divided Kurkan tribes were united under their new King after their long civil war finally ended, there was no perfect peace. Ishakan decided they needed an external enemy to unify them, and Estia was the obvious target. For the warlike Kurkans, there was no better subject, and his people willingly turned their attention to conquest of that country. His first order was to collect information. He did not intend any unnecessary bloodshed. To protect the common people of Estia, he meant to destroy the country from the ground up. He would ally with certain Estian nobles, and alter the system of rule by the royal family. After sending a small team of Kurkans ahead of him, Ishakan went to Estia personally. It was as he expected. The royal family of Estia had not even realized how deeply his people were infiltrating the country. Estia was a sinking ship. Even if the Kurkans did nothing, the royal family was likely to collapse on its own. And all he wanted was to get the Princess out of there. But as he began to slip into the palace to observe her himself, it was impossible not to notice that the Princess had changed a great deal from the girl he remembered. Had she always been so...subdued? He remembered an expressive girl, filled with passion, her purple eyes alive with fire. All of that was gone. When she spoke, there was no vivacity in her voice, no expression in her face, and never more than the suggestion of a smile. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮 Her eyes had lost their sparkle. It had only been a few years, and the girl he remembered was...gone. Ishakan disliked seeing how much someone so splendid had faded. One day, Haban came to offer still more disturbing information. “The princess is looking for a pr0stitute...” He told Ishakan hesitantly. Ishakan couldn’t believe his ears. “A male pr0stitute?” He asked ferociously. “Yes...I think it is for herself...” Ishakan was filled with disgust. Shoving his pipe into his mouth, he drew, feeling a wave of anger that made it hard to be rational. Even smoking barely cooled his head. He shouldn’t care. It was no business of his who the Princess slept with. He didn’t understand why he was being so childish. Ishakan blew out a thick stream of smoke before he spoke. “Haban.” “Yes?” “Shouldn’t I reward the person who saved my life?” “Yes...” “I should make sure she has a pr0stitute that will please her well.” “...what?” Haban looked at the smiling Ishakan in some confusion. Ishakan had planned to meet her again as the King of Kurkan, under the guise of negotiating peace with Estia, but everything was undermining that plan. Ishakan decided to move up his meeting with the Princess. Soon, the day came when she was to meet her pr0stitute. Ishakan got to him first and threw him out, so he could take his place. The agreed-upon meeting spot was a ramshackle inn, secretly known for illicit participation in the s3x trade. The inn was noisy, filled with loud, drunken people, some of them inebriated to the point of raucous singing. Ishakan walked in and sat down at the appointed table, in a dark corner where not even the lights from the oil lamps reached. Waiting, the anxiety that had been plaguing him escalated rapidly, and he finally shook out a cigar to calm himself. He knew he shouldn’t smoke if he wanted to hide his identity; any passing slaver would know the unique aroma of the leaves Kurkans smoked. Pulling out a match, he lit it. He could not calm down. He had not been this tense on the day he had fought and killed the Kurkan King. He drew in a puff, and as the smoke filled his lungs, he gradually began to calm down. He thought of the Princess. Was she used to hiring pr0stitutes? She had seemed so demure when he met her. It was hard to believe that she had changed this much, that she would even be paying common men for s3x.