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“You should’ve told me before I agreed though…”
“I only found out just now. It’s not my fault…”

While Mira occupied herself by embodying an escort, the two women continued talking. After listening for a while, she began to get an idea of what happened.

The crying woman had been enticed by a job that offered five times the pay, and jumped on the occasion. But once she found out who she would be serving, she had second thoughts. The client was someone rather problematic, who had a thing for messing with escorts who were new to the job.

That was the reason why the job paid five times more, and why she no longer wanted to go through with it.

“…But didn’t you also lie about Sera? You told me she was just taking a break, but that’s not true. I just spoke to her as she left Dr. Kurada’s place…”

The woman continued crying. Kurada was a doctor who was at the exclusive service of the escorts of the red-light district.

A colleague of the crying woman, Sera, had recently been treated by Dr. Kurada. Sera had also been with that client the day before, and was left so deeply scarred, both physically and emotionally, that she needed intensive care by the doctor.

“Sera told me! It was the King who did that to her! No one told me I would have to go through that too!”

The crying woman had heard everything Sera had been subjected to, and refused to fulfill her agreement.

“Hm?! The King?”

One word immediately caught Mira’s attention. The King. She had heard other escorts talk about him, and there was a high likelihood that he was August. That also aligned with what Mira had heard in the restaurant, about how the King had done horrible things to a new escort, likely Sera.

The crying woman had also jumped at the opportunity of getting five times the pay for a job, but after hearing Sera’s story, she vehemently refused to go.

Sadly, she had already signed off on it, so she could not back down anymore. Miracle Heaven had already sent a response confirming that they would send a new escort, and all the other new ones were already engaged in other jobs, so no one could take her place.

And that was the gist of the situation.

The realization finally dawned on Mira. The crying woman’s current job was to go see the King.

(Hmm… Interesting. This might actually be my chance.)

Suddenly a new way of reaching August had presented itself. Already concocting a new plan, Mira took out a second Lemon Ginger au Lait, wanting to see how the conversation would conclude.

***

Heavily trodding along, a lone figure slowly moved through the red-light district’s alleys. It was the crying woman who did not want to see the King. No matter how much she refused, she had already signed on the job and could not back out from it, so now she was on her way to see the King.

What really sealed her fate was the fact that she was dealing with the King. He was a regular patron of the red-light district’s establishments, and a very influential figure in the city. Cancelling on him was certain to have terrible repercussions on the establishment.

Faced with that reality, she had no option but to go.

At least she had managed to negotiate twice the agreed payment, bringing it up to ten times the usual rate. Whether that was a high price or not enough, was entirely up to her, but it did push her to start moving.

“Ughh…I wanna go homeee… Why…why did I have to agree to this… Unghhh…why won’t the castle just explode randomly…won’t someone just arrest him on excessive indecency charges…”

Every step she took came accompanied by a sigh, and some grumbling. Only the fear of what would happen to her workplace or coworkers pushed her forward.

A young girl tailed that woman. Mira, who observed the woman and their surroundings, trying to find the perfect moment to raise her voice.

“Hahh… It’s not fair to blame me if Miracle Heaven closes down…ah…won’t someone go instead of me…”

She continued going through the alleyways, taking quite a long detour to delay her arrival at the castle as much as possible, currently entering a narrow passage with few people nearby.

“I could go in your stead.” Mira finally spoke to the woman monologuing to no end.

“Huh?!” Those words likely felt like finding an angel in the middle of hell for the woman. But as they were in a scantly populated alleyway, the woman turned around with a dubious and watchful look.

“Ummm who are you? And…what did you mean, going instead of me?”

When she saw Mira, her eyes filled with just a little bit of hope, as she had truly been pushed to her wit’s end. In response, Mira told her, “I mean this issue you’re currently confronting.”

“Huh? So…”

Her eyes lit up more for a second, before turning down, feeling like she was about to be deceived again. Those doubts were completely justified. Everything felt way too convenient to be true.

But Mira meant every word she said.

“Trust me, I’m not trying to trick you or anything. Our interests just happened to align.” Noticing the woman’s doubtful gaze, Mira stressed that she meant no harm, and tried elaborating a bit more.

“I didn’t mean to snoop, but I happened to be passing by when I heard your argument with that other woman earlier, so I happen to have a good grasp on what happened. Here’s my proposal, could you let me do your job? I promise I won’t cause you any trouble, I just need to pass as someone from your place.”

The woman was ready to run from her appointment with the King, and would have done it if not for the situation that would put Miracle Heaven in. Mira was willing to take it off her hands, but her motives were still not clear.

Regardless of that, the woman was clearly interested in that proposition.

“Maybe if you tell me why you want to do it…”

The woman quickly followed that up with, “Ah, but I guess it’s fine if it’s something you can’t talk about…” revealing her desire to accept the offer no matter what, as long as she would be free from going to see the King.

“You’re more than justified in asking that, and I shall let you know my reasons. But it’s not something I can talk about here in the open. If only there was somewhere with a bit more privacy…”

Mira scoured the surroundings as she mumbled, and the woman suggested, “Then let’s go to an inn nearby,” showing just how eager she was to switch places with Mira.

“That’s a good idea. Let’s get going then.”

Mira agreed with that suggestion, and let the woman pick which inn to go to.

Keeping in line with the nature of that location, all the rooms of inns were sound-proof, making them the perfect place to have secret conversations.

“I know a place, follow me.”

The woman took one final look at Mira, seeing her standing proud while hugging a dog plushie (Wooftson), which eased some of her suspicions as she led the way, her gait much lighter than before.

***

“Soo, to start off, I’m Sally.”
“I’m Mira.”

In a room of an inn in the red-light district, the two sat on the large bed and began by introducing themselves.

“Okie, so Mira… *Ahem*, Mira, would you mind telling me the reason now?”

Sally was quite eager to get the conversation going, wanting to get rid of that job. But she still knew to show enough restraint, not wanting some crime to be committed using her name, so she pleaded to know Mira’s motivations.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything.”

The reason why Mira wanted to take over Sally’s job was something Mira had been mulling over on the way there, searching for something convincing, and that would resonate with someone who detested the King and his habits.

“I’m supposed to keep this secret, but I’m actually part of the Secret Morality Police…”

That was the story Mira had come up with, taking advantage of the fact that Sally was still new to the job.