I Own A Brothel In Another World (Ch. 1-196)

Chapter 81 - A Two-Faced Prince in a White Tiger Mask

"Flag?" Vanessa looks at me even more confused.

"Just a saying. Don't pay too much attention to it." I wave my hand dismissively. "I have quite a few people who I hold dear and whose well-being and safety are my utmost priorities. I've gone through plenty of tales about people choosing to ignore the problem in hopes of it going away and I'm not the one to take such stupid risks. Especially if it can bite me in the ass with tenfold strength in the future, pardon my language."

"I'm afraid that I still don't follow..."

"Right. I apologize if I come out as insensitive, but would you mind telling me more about your brother?"

Her eyes widen in realization after a few seconds. "You know something."

I nod at her. "I won't lie to you, yes I do. But, before I share it with you, I need to understand you better. You might have gotten close with my friends, but it's pretty much the first time the two of us have met and I don't know a whole lot about you. If you would please answer some of my questions, I promise you to, in turn, answer all of yours and tell you everything."

Vanessa observes me carefully for a moment, most likely gathering her thoughts and nods.

"Alright. I'll play along for now. Would you mind recalling these restraints?" The straps wrapped around her arms retract back into the ground, leaving the rest intact. "I guess you really don't trust me," she comments, putting the glass on the table and moving her hands to her lap.

"I apologize, but the only thing that I can personally judge your character by is your family. And they certainly didn't leave a favourable impression on me."

She furrows her brows at me and then sighs softly. "What did that idiot do while he was here... So, what do you want to know?"

"What kind of person was he?"

"He wasn't perfect, but he was a good man. A proper prince in the public, you could say. Always paying attention to etiquette and handling himself as royalty should. Since he was going to succeed to the throne, Father was teaching him everything he should know, and that included interacting with people and managing the kingdom."

Vanessa glances outside the window and shakes her head with a faint smile.

"But, those who knew him better, would instantly tell you that he was a huge womanizer. The only reason he even considered going out to the common people was the chance that he could meet a nice girl to flirt with. And since you have to admit that he was quite handsome and charming—combined with his status as a prince—he almost always found some pretty woman to accompany him for the day. Or night. When our parents weren't watching, he even tried hitting on me from time to time. Seriously..."

"I see. Did he have any hobbies besides chasing girls?" I ask.

She chuckles lightly. "Oh, yes, he did. One that would be considered so unmasculine that it made him extremely tense and embarrassed whenever someone asked about it, even indirectly. Perhaps due to his obsession with women, he somehow got into tailoring. And by tailoring, I mean creating quite obscene lingerie and underwear for girls. Most likely for all those ladies he courted all the time. I can definitely see him begging them to wear it."

"That's... certainly something he might have wanted to keep to himself, considering his image," I comment, not exactly fully convinced about that part.

"I know, right? He was so secretive about it that literally no one was allowed to even take a peek into his personal workshop in the castle's dungeons. It was to the point of obsession. He hired powerful magicians to put seals and arrays all over the place. No one could even think about entering it without his approval. I once approached it alone and was sent flying by some invisible force, having to use my own magic to defend myself."