TWENTY THREE | POISON

The weather outside turned from perfectly beautiful to stormy and disgusting in a matter of minutes. It was just like my miserable day.

Lydia, on the other hand, was in high spirits. Why wouldn't she? It was her last day as an actively serving courtesan. She was twenty-two and considered old by their standards to carry on. Much to my mother and aunt's surprise, she didn't try to hide her delight.

"Oh, by the way, did you know that one of the field officers is secretly seeing one of us?" 

The bottle of lotion slipped out of Lydia's hand and fell on the floor.

"Who? I mean... w-what?"

Wow! That reaction was quite unexpected.

"I can't tell you his name. He said he was willing to wait until she turned useless here."

"Did he say useless?"

"Hmm... No, he didn't. Princess Ivy wants to sleep with him though."

"Oh, that b--" She laughed nervously, "I meant to say, surprising, that's surprising. Isn't it?"

"He misses t