Emerald Hearts

Chapter Five

Yuta

"Hey there, are you looking to have some fun?" Slender fingers ran down my arm. A scantly clad woman sat next to me and poured me a drink. The slit of her plum robe showed her smooth, pale thigh.

I knew her kind. She was a seductress, using her tricks to make men lust after her.

"That does sound tempting," I said swirling the cup around. "Are you who they call Lady Emerald?"

She brushed her long black bang out of her face. Her face was flushed and her eyes fluttered. "Yes, that's me. Are you interested in my services?" she said, her words slurred.

I felt sorry for her. With her line of work, she had no choice but to drink.

"How much do you go for?" I asked.

She looked me up and down. "Hmm for you, twenty mon up front and uh twenty after."

"Deal." I said handing her the money.

She smiled and took me by the hand to a room in the back. The room was dimly lit with silk sheets and pillows on the floor. Clearly a place meant for one thing and one thing only. She closed the screen behind us and caressed my face. Her robe was loose, exposing her shoulder and collarbone. She pulled me in brought her lips close to mine. The smell of alcohol hitting me in the face.

I broke away. "No thank you."

"Oh, playing hard to get are we? Come now, get comfortable." She tried to take my gloves off.

I stopped her before she could, grabbing her wrist tightly. "Cut it out."

"Ow, come on, you know it's what you want."

"And I know it's not what you want." I locked eyes with her.

We stayed like that until she backed down. I released my hold on her and walked over to the window. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Loose petals flew by, illuminated by the full moon.

"What do you want then?" she asked.

"I want to know about you, Lady Emerald."

"There's nothing to know. I'm just here to pleasure you and anyone else who pays for it," she dismissed.

I caught a bundle of petals as they passed by. "You and I know that's not true. Why do they call you Lady Emerald?"

She began fixing her hair, using pins to secure the loose strands. "Ugh, it's just a stage name. Thought it was pretty."

"Strange, word has it you have this beautiful emerald necklace," I pried.

She paused with her hands in her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"They never do." I began to corner her.

She started to breathe heavily. "W-what are you-" The warmth was practically radiating off her.

I traced the brown string around her neck with my finger. She shuttered at my touch. I followed the string down to her cleavage and found the rich green gem. "And what is this?"

"O-okay, it's true. It was my mother's. She always wore it." She broke away and held the gem in her hand. "When she died, I took it thinking it would bring me some luck. Hmph, some luck." She threw it to the ground.

I picked it up and analyzed it. It sparkled when I held it up to the candlelight. Something about it was mesmerizing. There was this explainable pull to it. "Where did your mother get this?

"I don't know, probably from some crook. That wench spent all our savings on the damned thing. We went hungry for weeks," she spat.

A gem so captivating a woman spent her life savings to get it. Taking a look at it some more, I noticed the cut of it was unusual, as if it was a piece of something bigger. This called for a deeper analysis.

"Mind if I take it off your hands?" I asked.

"Go right ahead. Hope it'll do you any good. If it's any help, my hometown is a carriage ride south of here," She tied her hair into a loose bun and fixed her clothes so that she showed some more skin. "It's back to the grind for me."

"Wait," I stopped her and placed the bundle of petals in her hair. Her nose, ears and cheeks turned even more rosy. She kept her gaze on the floor. I then took out Tisun's bracelet from my pocket and curled her fingers around it. "Here, take it to the city. Tell sellers it is from the Ishiyama family. Take no less than ten thousand mon."

She looked at me with wide eyes. "I can't accep-"

Before she could finish her sentence I was gone, heading south to find the merchant behind this strange emerald.