[ DISCONTINUED ] Reborn: Runaway Bride

Chapter 16: Boys and Girls in the Red Light District

Recap:

Just as Ai reached the gate, Kiya rushed towards her and passed a letter to her. It had Shizuka insignia with emergency written on top. Blood immediately drained from her face... don't tell me...

___

Filled with immerse worries, Ai immediately ripped open the letter.

Baby sis!!

The neighbouring prince went missing and Papa is panicking! We are currently at the border searching for the prince. But we don't have enough manpower to search into Shinto so please help to look for him! In case you didn't know how the prince looked, I drew a portrait for you! 

P.S. Big brother will owe you his life if you help him out this time! I promised not to get married and will protect baby sis with my whole life! 

Your dearest big brother,
Saitoooo <3

The moment Ai finished reading the letter, she felt like throwing it away and ripping it into pieces. This is definitely a false alarm! Her brother almost shocked her into a cardiac arrest because of the "emergency" and she cursed internally. Saito and his melodramatic antics are going to be the death of her.

Letting out a big puff of breath to calm her mind, Ai looked at the letter one more time. Right now things might not seem like a big deal but she knew better. If something happened to this missing prince, there would be tensions with the neighbouring country and the safety of her family would be implicated. Knowing the nature of "snakes" in the council of five, she better act now than be sorry later.

After analysing the content of the letter, Ai felt relieved at the thoughtfulness of her brother for drawing the portrait until her eyes reached the said portrait. Nevermind, she takes back her words, she wants to kill Saito now. The portrait that her brother drew was... to put it mildly, abstract. The person in the portrait did not even resemble a human and she would say a street kid would draw better than her brother.

With no plausible lead to take her next action, Ai dreaded her next action. She would be heading in blindly but she needed to do something urgently. Based on the letter, there seemed to be no signs of a struggle and the prince seemed to have snuck out on his own.

Considering the prince to be a healthy young man with needs, Ai thought of a place he would visit. Brothel.

(All the young men in Shinto: Did Ai thought so lowly of our gender that the first place we would visit in a new location is a brothel??! We are not savage beasts! *Shed tears of feeling wronged*)

With that thought in mind, Ai dragged Kiya and both of them changed into noblemen outfits. Sorry big brother Saito, we will be borrowing your clothes for a while. 

In a matter of minutes, the duo arrived at the streets of the red light district. As expected, the streets were bustling with…drunken men and colourfully dressed prostitutes...

A few of the bolder prostitutes made a pass at the two impeccably dressed young *men* while the shy ones fluttered their eyelashes flirtatiously. After all, this was indeed a rare sight considering how beautiful the two young men were. One slightly cold with immortal-like lofty beauty while the other, a mousier one, was dressed in extremely expensive robes. Both of them literally screamed money and prestige and even getting their hands on the mousy one would have made their night.

Oblivious to the longing stares of the prostitutes, Ai and Kiya made their way towards the most famous brothel, Madam Ru's pavilion. 

Rumour has it that Madam Ru only houses the best courtesans that are skilful in all the womanly arts and its reputation had exceeded far beyond Shinto. The prince would have heard of its reputation and if he was in Shinto, it would be the first place he would head to.