A few months before Clara's Social Debut.
Marianne was currently in a room, reading a book about the social and political norms of the Valkyria Kingdom. The room she was in, was a bedroom that belonged to a brothel, that was located in a rich commoner district within the Royal Capital, Valhale. She was here because she and her mother lived here. Her mother's profession as a prostitute in this brothel allowed them to live here.
Naturally, as a bastard daughter of a prostitute, Marianne wouldn't usually have the education to be able to read a book. So her reading skills were self-taught.
Rich commoners were the aim of this brothel. With them as her mother's regular customers, Marianne and her mother received many gifts from those who wanted to dote on them. Fortunately, there were many books among those presents, so Marianne had enough literature to teach herself how to read and write. For a clever girl like Marianne, this was child's play.
“Marianne!” Her reading session was interrupted by her mother, who had just burst into the room. “Finally, you're twelve!”
This statement shocked Marianne to the core. After all, her mother had never congratulated her on her birthday in the past. So why now? Confused, suspicious, and even a little cautiously happy that her mother had remembered her birthday, Marianne put down her book. “You remembered my birthday?”
“Of course! From today, you're an adult.”
“What do you mean?” Marianne's little happiness disappeared as her wariness grew.
“You can finally serve customers legally!”
“Wha-!?”
“I've also prepared a customer for you.” Her mother stepped aside and a man entered. “He paid a lot of money to be your first customer. Don't worry, I'll teach you how to serve him.”
While Marianne was still shocked by the absurdity of her mother's words, the man came in, undressed until he was naked, and lay on the bed with his thing sticking up in the air.
“Now come!” Marianne's mother, who had closed the door and also taken her clothes off in the meantime, shouted, waking Marianne up from her daze.
“M-Mother! Please don't! It's impossible!”
“Don't be selfish. I need you to earn money, too. Who do you think you have to be grateful to for your life?” Unnerved by her daughter's refusal, the prostitute grabbed Marianne's hand and pulled her onto the bed, so that they were both sitting on either side of the naked man.
“First, do it with your mouth! You should have seen me do it often enough!”
“I-I can't! M-Mum!” At this point, Marianne's tears were already flowing as she imagined what was in store for her. She had seen her mother sleep with men more than enough times. From those encounters, Marianne instinctively knew that doing the same with a man was physically and mentally impossible.
Her mother, however, ignored the fact that Marianne was crying in fear and deliberately misunderstood her plea. “You... Is this what I get for bringing you up this far...? Fine, I'll show you first how it is done.” With that, the prostitute demonstrated, what she demanded of her daughter, and crouched down. A minute later, she stopped and looked up. “Do you understand now?”
“No! I can't! I don't want filthy men! It's impossible.”
“F*CK! DON'T BE SELFISH!” Having had enough, the naked woman grabbed Marianne's head with both hands and guided it to the man's article.
When Marianne was close enough to smell the man's stench, she felt the small meal, she had in the morning, climb up her oesophagus. It didn't take long for Marianne to vomit her entire breakfast onto the customer's lower body and the bed beneath him.
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“Ueeeerghhh...”
“WHAT THE F*CK!?!?!” The man shouted out loud, obviously not amused at being puked on by someone who was supposed to give him the pleasure he had paid good money for. “Dammit, little b*tch!” He then took a swing and slapped Marianne as hard as he could, sending her flying backwards off the bed.
Afterwards, he got up and ran out of the room, but not without announcing that there would be consequences for both mother and daughter.
Fortunately, the mother was so shocked by this that she immediately followed the man without chastising Marianne.
Left alone in the room once again, Marianne stood up, grabbed her book, and continued reading, with a subtle, devilish smile on her face. 'All according to plan.'
Although her meals were halved after the incident, Marianne was never forced to serve another customer again. Or rather, the man, who was supposed to be her first, spread the word to all the other regulars, so no one dared to book her again. All in all, it was a total victory for her.
After all, it didn't take a genius to predict that her greedy mother would force her into prostitution when she came of age, so Marianne had prepared this plan in advance.
Now all she had to do was wait patiently for an opportunity to get out of this hellhole.
***
Fortunately, or unfortunately (?) an opportunity presented itself a few months after that incident when a carriage belonging to Duke Lumiére arrived at the brothel. The Duke and his group were looking for a girl between ten and twelve years old to hire. Because it wasn't uncommon for high-ranking nobles to appear out of nowhere to buy new playthings, the brothel staff, including the owner, managed to remain calm.
Meanwhile, Marianne contemplated whether or not she should take this opportunity to get out. After all, even though she wasn't allowed to leave the building, she had heard that the Ducal Lumiére family was not known for their philanthropy.
Soon enough all the girls living in the brothel of the required age range, including Marianne, were being presented to the Duke and some of his men standing beside him in a guest room of the brothel.
After the men had inspected each girl, the Duke turned to one of his men. “Arland, who do you think she will like most?”
“Hmm...” The asked man looked at each girl again. But when he stopped his gaze and was about to point at a mature-looking, blonde girl, a voice interrupted him.
“Please wait!” The voice belonged to Marianne, who looked at the Duke, unafraid of his oppressive aura. “Please take me! I'll do anything!”
Marianne had decided to take the biggest gamble of her life and use this ducal family to escape this place. But she hadn't made this decision without proper thought.
Because of her life so far, she was confident in her ability to read other people's intentions. Especially if they were men. And her instincts told her that the men in front of her didn't want to buy someone who was supposed to be used as a sex slave.
She thought this for two reasons.
Firstly, all the girls here still had their clothes on. In the past, when nobles wanted to buy someone, they had always demanded to see the quality of the products. Basically, they had wanted to see the women's naked bodies first before deciding whether or not to buy. The Duke and his entourage, on the other hand, didn't follow this usual procedure.
Secondly, Marianne could tell, if the eyes on her were of a perverted nature or not. The group before them didn't have those eyes. Of course, there was the possibility that they were only buying a present for someone in the Duke's household, but Marianne thought it might be worth taking that risk by volunteering herself. After all, it would be worse to be locked up in the brothel and forced to serve a customer somewhere down the line.
The Duke was at first surprised and slightly irritated when he was addressed by the young girl. However, his irritation soon turned to recognition as the girl showed no signs of fear.
“Alright.” The Duke turned his eyes from Marianne to the brothel owner and threw a sack of money on the floor. “I'll take this girl with me.”
“Thank you for the prucha-” The owner bowed and was about to take the money, but was interrupted by a female voice. It belonged to a woman who had suddenly burst into the room without knocking
“Wait! You can't just take her!”
This time, however, the Duke was not amused by the interference and glared at the owner. “Who is this?”
“My Grace, I'm sorry for her rudeness. She is one of my workers here and the mother of this girl.” The owner pointed at Marianne.
“I see.” The Duke then turned angrily towards the woman. He didn't have to think long to find out why she was here. Usually, interrupting a noble in the middle of a deal would have been considered lèse-majesté, and the woman could have been executed as a result. But since he still needed Marianne's help with his plans, he overlooked it and threw another sack of money at the prostitute. “Take this and leave. Never show yourself in front of me again, or your head will fall off.”
Without hesitation, Marianne's mother picked up the money and left without a word, not even looking into her daughter's eyes one last time.
Afterwards, the Duke and his guards left the brothel. Marianne followed them, without looking back. She was about to leave everything behind and start anew.
Outside, the guards mounted their horses and the Duke and the girl entered the carriage. When both were seated facing each other, he spoke up, “So, you promised you'd do anything.”
“Yes. But I will not become a man's plaything.” Marianne tried to look at him with resolute eyes and prepared for him to get angry. After all, she didn't know how the Duke would react to her suddenly adding a second condition.
Fortunately, the Duke smiled slightly, indicating that he didn't mind her words. “Alright, you won't become a man's plaything.”
Although he had only repeated her words, Marianne felt that he was not being completely honest. But since she wasn't able to put her finger on why she felt uncomfortable with his answer, she just nodded and waited for the future to show the Duke's true intentions.