Stigma Chapter 1 part1

“Powder and rouge are given to you by credit. Their costs will be taken from your commission, so keep that in mind.”

The madame of the brothel curtly spoke to a kneeling EunSeo as she handed her some powder and rouge.

This woman had been the madame of the brothel for 30 years. She was a little over sixty years old.

Still, her back was straight and her eyes were sharp.

It took a special kind of personality to successfully manage a business, especially one that only dealt with men like this brothel.

The madame had gone through many hardships and had just about seen everything throughout her life. However, she still felt pity when she saw the daughter of a prestigious family like EunSeo fall to the status of a mere whore. Still, she wasn't planning on giving her special treatment.

When you have this kind of job, you'll meet all kinds of people with pitiful circumstances.

An older sister who had been sold to feed her younger siblings, a daughter sold to pay for a parent's medicine, a wife sold to pay for her husband's gambling debt. And the daughters of fallen nobility.

In Yoo EunSeo's case, she was the last survivor of a noble family that had been wiped out with the enthronement of a new king.

She had barely survived, but having lost her whole family and all of her possessions, she was handed over to the brothel.

The king had ordered, ‘In this lifetime, you will live as a whore.'

This mandate wasn't exclusively for Yoo EunSeo.

The new king ordered the same for all women and daughters of fallen noble households after his coronation.

The men were beheaded and killed. The women were ordered to live in humiliation and disgrace as whores.

It was a cruel punishment.

Half of the women and daughters who received this mandate committed suicide to escape.

They'd rather die than suffer the disgrace of becoming a common whore.

Therefore, everyone had believed that the proud Yoo EunSeo would do the same.

The madame of the brothel had no idea what Yoo EunSeo had been thinking, but either way, she wouldn't be bad for business.

A daughter of a noble family with outstanding beauty. Such a maiden fell from grace and became a prostitute.

Quite a few men would definitely want to have her.

There was no doubt that there would be many men who would pay any price to become Yoo EunSeo's first man.

What a catch.

Even if they couldn't be her first man, once the news of her unfortunate fall from grace spread through town, there would be a line of men waiting to have a taste of her every single day. They would tremble as they imagined untying her top, spreading her legs, and finally satisfying their lust with her body. As the madame of this brothel, she'd be making a huge profit out of her.

She received quite a big boon for bribing the government office so often.

Of course, she didn't bring Yoo EunSeo here for nothing.

She spent a lot of money to get her here from the authorities.

All the money she had used to pay for EunSeo would be taken out of her commission. Including the costs for her clothes, her powder and rouge, and her food.

Even though a lot of money would leave her commission, Yoo EunSeo would be making quite a big profit within the year.

That was how beautiful she was.

However, what did it matter if she made a lot of money?

With the stigma branded onto her back and the imperial mandate declaring her a prostitute, all that money wouldn't be able to buy back her freedom.

No amount of money would be able to free her.

She would grow old as a whore and die as a whore.

‘It would have been better if she just killed herself… But one never knows. It's possible that she'll kill herself from humiliation after having received her first customer…'

If that happened, then only the madame would incur the loss and damages.

‘I need to keep a close eye on her and make sure she doesn't kill herself.'

“You will be receiving customers starting tonight.”

The madame saw Yoo EunSeo's shoulder flinch.

She understood that EunSeo would be feeling scared.

She had never known the touch of a man before.

However, the first customer had already been decided.

While the stigma was being branded onto EunSeo's skin, the madame had been searching for EunSeo's first customer and asked for a high price.

More than thirty men thrust out their money pouches as they asked to be Yoo EunSeo's first man. However, the winner turned out to be quite an unexpected man.

In order to become Yoo EunSeo's first customer, that man had offered up one bar of gold.

One bar of gold.

The cost of one night with a whore amounted up to about seven pieces of silver, no matter how popular the whore was.

Even a proud whore would tear off their clothes and fulfill all desires if she was offered ten pieces of silver.

But having been offered one bar of gold, the madame struck it rich.

“I have one condition. Starting from the first night, she will only have me as her sole customer. No other man is to touch her.”

EunSeo would only be receiving this customer for three days in exchange for a gold bar.

Well, it didn't matter.

Three days for a gold bar.

“Whether I kill her or I let her live… for three days, she belongs solely to me..”

How rough was he going to be with her?

There have been times where the whores have died after having received a rough customer.

Even though Yoo EunSeo was a hot commodity in this brothel, he wouldn't actually go as far as to kill her, would he?

“Tonight's customer is very important, so make sure to clean yourself well down there. If the customer asks for anything, you will only agree. You must never misbehave with the customer. Understand? If the customer asks you to crawl around like a dog, you will crawl like a dog. If he asks you to suck his dick, you will suck it. If you still have any pride left as a daughter of a noble house, you need to throw it away now.”

“I… understand…”

Yoo EunSeo answered softly.

Her voice was trembling.

“Compared to the whores that have to satisfy three to four men, you've got it good. Don't you only have to satisfy one man per night?”

The madame chuckled.

“Well, once the customers asking for you dwindle, you'll have to satisfy the occasional three or four men in exchange for a small sum.”

Declaring that this was the fate of all whores, the madame laughed.

Sniff, sniff.

EunSeo gently gazed at the crying handmaiden next to her.

This handmaiden had taken care of EunSeo from the moment she was born.

Because of her weak constitution, EunSeo's mother was unable to properly raise EunSeo, so she handed over her daughter to the handmaiden instead.

Having taken care of her since she was a newborn, the handmaiden thought of EunSeo as her own daughter. Even as the household fell from grace, the handmaiden never left her side.

When the handmaiden realized that EunSeo had decided to become a prostitute instead of committing suicide, the handmaiden entered this brothel as a servant. She helped the prostitutes get dressed and took care of miscellaneous chores. On top of that, she didn't receive any money for her services. She needed to accept those conditions in order to enter the brothel.

“Why do you keep crying?”

EunSeo asked the sobbing handmaiden.

“I'll be fine, so don't cry.”

“But, milady…”

How could she watch as her the girl she had preciously raised as her own took in a strange man as her customer?

She'd rather bite her tongue and die. The handmaiden continued to cry.

“You may leave now. If you stay here, you'll be scolded.”

EunSeo gestured to the handmaiden to leave.

She had already finished preparing herself.

The bedding had already been set behind her.

EunSeo gazed at the perfectly-placed bedding. She would be taking a stranger on top of those sheets.

It wasn't that EunSeo wasn't feeling humiliated.

There was a reason why she hadn't ended her life yet.

She couldn't die like this.

Her older brother had died.

Her brother's wife, Eunseo's sister-in-law, had died.

The unborn baby inside her sister-in-law's belly, her brother's child, had also died.

They had all died.

And now EunSeo was left all alone.

She couldn't die without avenging them.

No matter what happened to her, she needed to survive and avenge them.

She currently didn't have any power, so she couldn't have her revenge just yet. But she needed to continue living. EunSeo trusted that the time would come when she could finally have her revenge.

Until then, she was determined to bear the disgrace and humiliation.

The handmaiden sniffed as she left the room. EunSeo gazed at the flickering candle.

It was loud outside.

As soon as the sun had set, the customers began to arrive at the brothel.

As the whores greeted the customers outside, she heard their flirty laughter. Soon, the brothel was filled with the sound of lewd moans.

The sound of drunk men laughing, the sound of people crying out, the moans of the prostitutes.

This place was no different from a cave of beasts.

“……”

EunSeo raised her head.

She could hear the sound of footsteps coming closer.

The footsteps stopped right outside of EunSeo's room.

“Over here, my lord.”

It was the madame's voice.

“Please enjoy your stay.”

With a polite greeting, the sound of footsteps went further away.

However, the shadow behind the door remained.

The shadow stood there for a long time.

Suddenly, the door opened with a creak.

EunSeo lowered her head as soon as the door began to open.

She didn't want to see the man.

If she could have her way, she would have extinguished the lights as well.

She didn't want to see the man who would rape her. She didn't want to see herself, who would soon be raped. She wanted to extinguish the candles, but that wasn't her choice to make.

Creak, tap.

The man entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Then he began to slowly walk towards her.

With her head down, she could only see his sock-covered feet.

He had big feet.

Since his feet were so big, he must have been a tall man.

The man sat down.

The hem of his purple robe fell over the man's thighs.

“……”

The man didn't speak, and neither did EunSeo.

EunSeo could barely breathe.

She was waiting for the man to say something, but the man didn't move nor speak.

However, she could feel his gaze on her.

He continued to watch her.

“My lord.”

Unable to bear the silence any longer, EunSeo spoke first.

“Should I take my clothes off and lie down?”

Was she supposed to take it all off and lie down on the bedding?

Or did he want her to do something else?

The liquor had already been placed inside.

“Or would you like to have a cup of liquor before…”

As she spoke, EunSeo lifted her head. She froze.

The man's face as he gazed at her had completely frozen over as well.

EunSeo's eyes filled with misery.

Red with rouge, her lips began to tremble.

“……”

EunSeo's hand tightened on her skirt.

“I…”

The man opened his mouth.

He spoke in a heavy voice.

“I didn't know it would become like this.”

EunSeo bit her lip when she heard the man's voice.

“I truly didn't know it would turn out like this. If I knew…”

“What do you mean you didn't know?”

EunSeo's voice sounded cold and surprised.

EunSeo never expected to sound so cold as she spoke to this man.

“Weren't you planning to do this from the very beginning? Weren't you planning on killing my brother from the start?”

“That's not true. I never…”

“So you never planned to kill my brother, but you had no choice… Is that it?”

“EunSeo.”

“Don't speak my name with that dirty mouth. Even if everyone in the world speaks my name, you have no right to do so. Don't you agree? How can you even dare to speak my name as you wish when your hand has been drenched in my brother's blood?”

EunSeo's lips began to tremble.

“Get out of my sight this instant. I cannot stand seeing someone like you with my own eyes.”

“EunSeo.”

“I told you never to speak my name with that dirty mouth!”

EunSeo didn't realize that she had begun to scream.

Sorrow filled her voice.

Her eyes began to tremble.

She fiercely glared at the man named SeoYoon as she tried to hold back her tears.

He was a man that she used to love more than her life.

She had considered him to be more precious than her older brother.

She would have even defied her older brother to live the rest of her life with this man.

She had even shared an intimate conversation with him underneath the moonlight as they planned for their future…

As he had grabbed her hand, her cheeks had flushed. EunSeo had dreamed of her future with this man. Now, the dreams had all shattered.

No, now the feelings she once held for this man had become her sin.

If even one shred of love for this man remained in her heart, she would pierce her heart with a blade. That was how much she hated him now.

The man responsible for her decision to live, the man who was to receive the brunt of her revenge… That was this man.

The object of her revenge had appeared and was sitting right in front of her. Spite began to bubble up within EunSeo.

“I…”

In the face of EunSeo's intense rage, SeoYoon momentarily lost his words. He opened his mouth and spoke in a low, grave voice.

"I bought you."

SeoYoon stretched out his hand to her.

TN: Okaaaay, so off to a depressing start!

Chapter end