Madame Tana's Past
Evening at the Feast. It was a brief, precious window of freedom granted to the women after their grueling shifts of entertaining clients. To wash away the musty smell of dust and the repulsive stench of men, they gathered in the bathhouse tucked away in a corner of the Feast—a space Madame Tana had provided out of either consideration or sheer indifference. Inside the bath, thick plumes of steam rose, blending with the scent of cheap body oils and inexpensive incense candles to create a strangely languid, decadent atmosphere. It was the only moment of the day when their exhaustion and tension could melt away.
"Ugh, my back. That pig of a man today was so heavy, I thought I was going to be crushed to death," Bruka grumbled, pounding her stiff lower back. Beads of sweat formed over her sun-bronzed skin.
"At least you've got the strength for it, Bruka. Today, I got some perverted old geezer who barely wiggled a finger. It tickled so much I wanted to die!" Miren splashed the water. Her sultry gaze swept over the women in the bath.
"Hey, as long as they pay well, who cares? I made a killing yesterday thanks to that young noble boy. He was so incredibly shy, I had a hell of a time leading him. Heh, it was basically me ravishing him," Lahara laughed boisterously, her voluptuous breasts swaying. A few of the women cast looks of mixed envy and jealousy at her.
Luciel soaked quietly in a corner of the bath, listening to their chatter. She had absolutely no intention of joining in on such trivial, lewd gossip, but she couldn't help but keep her ears open. It was the kind of utterly mundane, vulgar women's talk she could never have imagined back when she was the Emperor. Hmph. What's so great about that stuff that they're babbling so happily? she grumbled inwardly, yet a part of her envied this small sense of liberation.
Just then, Sia, her towel rolled up like sheep ears on her head, asked with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. Unlike her usual timid self, she often threw out eccentric questions in private settings like this. "Hey, girls! What if... just what if! Back then, the ruler who held the entire world beneath his feet... the Emperor... how do you think he was in bed? Like, was he terrifying, powerful, and... you know? Have you ever imagined it? I think about it sometimes!"
A brief silence fell over the bath. Bruka raised an eyebrow and retorted bluntly, "Huh? What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden? Are you still drunk? We don't even know if the Emperor was a man or a woman, so why are you talking about bed dynamics?"
"No, no! I'm just... imagining! If it were a male Emperor... wouldn't he have had so much stamina that even holding all the beauties in the world wouldn't satisfy him? And if it were a female Emperor... wouldn't it be so much fun to make all the heroes of the world kneel at her feet and pick a different one to devour every night?!" Sia raised her voice, getting excited by her own thoughts. A few of the women giggled at her imagination, unsure whether it was innocent or bold.
Lahara splashed the water nonchalantly. "Who knows. They say nothing was ever properly revealed about whether the Emperor was a man or a woman. There are only rumors. Maybe they were a pervert who enjoyed both, or maybe they were a eunuch who had absolutely no interest in that sort of thing. No one knows."
Miren chimed in with a laugh. Sweeping her wet hair back, she looked at Sia with a seductive gaze. "Oh, come on! If it were a female Emperor, would she really have whimpered and moaned beneath a man? I can't even picture it! A woman with such colossal power, yielding to a man's strength... that's strangely stimulating, isn't it? Maybe it would be an incredible gap moe. Hoho."
Luciel flinched inwardly at Sia's words. Ugh... that brat Sia, it's like she's saying this right to my face...! Damn it, I'm already completely used to being pinned beneath men now! And by all kinds of bastards, at that! Her face flushed hot as memories of her past self—the Emperor—being toyed with by a goblin, an elven brat, and even an info-dumping orc rushed back. She felt like biting her tongue.
The women burst into laughter at Sia's cheeky question. "Puhahaha! A female Emperor, just the thought of it is hilarious!" "If I were a female Emperor, let me tell you, I would've captured every handsome bastard in the world and tasted them one by one every night! I would've summoned a different guy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Just thinking about it is thrilling. And I'd have them completely stripped naked, too! Ehehe!" Bruka chimed in with a wicked grin. The women's playful, lewd jokes quickly filled the bathhouse with boisterous laughter. Perhaps this was how they relieved their suppressed desires and stress.
Just then, Areli, who had been quietly washing herself in a corner, crossed her arms and spoke in a low voice. "The Emperor's night life... an interesting topic. What form would the desires of someone at the absolute pinnacle of power take? Is it simple carnal lust, or another manifestation of the desire to dominate? It is certainly worth researching." She was quiet as usual, but her words carried a strange insight.
Sia's cheeks flushed red at Areli's words, her expression turning ecstatic. "That... is so exciting...! The secret nights of the ruler of the entire world... just how... how...! In front of such a person, any being would have instinctively knelt and spread their legs!"
Listening to their conversation, Luciel quietly closed her eyes. The past she wanted to forget, yet could never forget, washed over her like a tidal wave. Back then, when she was the Emperor who feared nothing in the world. The memory of roaming blood-soaked battlefields clad in golden armor and a golden skull helmet. The absolute ruler who, with a single sword and a hammer, turned everything that dared oppose her to ashes, making even gods and demons flee in terror. The groveling, pathetic sights of kings begging for their lives at her feet, and the cheers and screams of the citizens echoing from conquered cities. All of it had been subject to her will.
Back then, the world knelt at a single glance, a single gesture of mine. Only the thrill of conquest ruled me. I never could have imagined such trivial carnal desires. In fact, I despised such emotions, viewing them as proof of weakness. Luciel couldn't bring herself to laugh. Comparing it to her current plight only made her feel more miserable. She shook her head, trying to erase the glory of the past.
It was then. The wooden door of the bathhouse swung open with a violent bang. With a heavy thud, the eyes of all the women turned to the door in unison. Madame Tana stood there, wrapped in an aura far colder and more overbearing than usual. Quietly, yet in a voice low and menacing enough to silence every sound in the room, she spoke.
"Do not speak of the Emperor."
The laughter in the bath froze instantly. The warm air felt as though it had chilled into a sharp blade. Tana's gaze was colder than ever before, and though her tone was quiet, a deep, unbearable rage, sorrow, and resentment seethed within it like boiling lava. Her golden eyes blazed as if ready to burn everything to ashes. The women flinched, instinctively averting their eyes. It was the first time they had ever seen Tana display such raw, overt anger.
"That entity no longer exists in this world. So do not mention them again." Leaving only those words, she turned and left the bathhouse without a backward glance. The sound of the door closing echoed exceptionally loud. A few of the girls gasped, and Sia, looking terrified, muttered cautiously. Her voice was so quiet it was barely audible. "...Did... did I say something wrong? Why is she so angry...?"
Just then, Goluk, the orc manager who had been standing like a shadow at the entrance of the bathhouse, cleared his throat quietly and stepped inside. He was Tana's trusted subordinate, the one who handled all the dirty work at the Feast. "Tsk, tsk. The Madame's temper has flared. She always gets sensitive whenever the Emperor is mentioned."
Luciel signaled the other panicked women to be quiet with a look. Goluk spoke as if he was well-accustomed to this. His voice was low and gruff, but there was a hint of pity mixed within it. "Well, it makes sense that you girls wouldn't know. The Madame was originally a dragon."
A perfect silence fell over the bath, to the point where not even the sound of dripping water could be heard. A dragon. Was that not a god-like entity that only appeared in legends? Why would such a being be acting as the madame of a brothel like this? Goluk let out a deep sigh and continued. A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Before the Human Empire ruled the entire world, the Madame was the benevolent guardian dragon of a small kingdom. She was a grand being with golden scales, stronger and more beautiful than anyone else." His voice carried a tone of reverence.
"But that kingdom was eventually destroyed by the Emperor of the Human Empire. And the Madame lost everything due to a single, whimsical remark from the Emperor: 'I hear dragon meat is the ultimate delicacy, so I wonder what its heart tastes like?' Just because of those words." Goluk's voice sank solemnly.
"They say the Emperor ripped out the Madame's Dragon Heart and threw it to his pet dog. A dragon who has lost its heart can never return to being a dragon. She was left with no choice but to live in human form, unable to die, stripped of most of her power."
"After that, the Madame was sold as a slave and dragged from place to place, eventually drifting all the way to the Feast. All while waiting for the day she can exact revenge on the Emperor who took everything from her."
Luciel gasped. Goluk's story struck her head like a hammer. A horrific sensation washed over her, as if all the blood in her body was turning ice-cold. I... when did I ever do such a thing...? From the distant, hazy depths of her memory, dusty fragments of the past began to resurface. It was around the time she had just ascended the throne, in the midst of her conquest campaigns. She vaguely recalled ordering her subordinates to "bring me every delicacy in the world" out of a childish curiosity to taste all kinds of rare things.
While scanning a scroll report filled with exotic delicacies, she remembered chuckling at an entry for "Dragon Heart Dish." Does anyone actually eat this? A dragon's heart... I wonder if it even tastes good? Along with a cruel curiosity about its flavor, she had also held the arrogant belief that, as the Emperor, she was surely entitled to taste such a thing. To think that what she had dismissed as a passing whim, a trivial greed, had completely destroyed a being's life—and a noble dragon's life, at that.
Luciel bit her lip hard. Cold sweat poured down her spine. For the first time since arriving here, she felt true terror. ...Never. I must never be found out. If Tana ever learns that I am the very Emperor who dragged her down into this abyss... She won't let me live. She would tear me limb from limb, and even grinding my soul to dust and drinking it wouldn't satisfy her.
Even in the warm water, Luciel felt her entire body trembling like an aspen leaf. The absolute authority she had enjoyed as the Emperor, the god-like power—none of it belonged to her now. She was merely a courtesan, a fragile existence whose life could be snuffed out at any moment. Tana's furious, blazing golden eyes rose vividly before her. It was an intent to destroy everything, transcending simple hatred. Luciel swallowed hard. Another heavy, fatal secret to survive in this hell weighed down on her shoulders. It seemed sleep would be hard to find tonight.