A mature-looking boy on the cusp of adulthood tossed and turned in bed, until he was finally woken up by the hand of an older man.
“Rein. Wake up. The Everlasting Pavilion will be arriving soon.”
Rein kicked away his blankets and his gaze found a tub of water and a towel ready for his use. His whole body was pouring sweat and he needed to get prepared for this day.
Rein was considered mature for his age, primarily since he was taller, slightly bulkier and had a deeper voice when compared to the other boys of the same age in town. His black eyes were bright and sharp, his black hair was sleek and naturally swept to the left side of his portrait.
“Same old nightmare?” The middle-aged man queried.
Rein nodded to affirm his father’s question, which only caused the middle-aged man to sigh.
“Perhaps my words are repetitive but, you need to let go of that period of time when we were exiled. We’re doing quite well for ourselves these days after all.”
“Yes, I understand, father. It’s just… I can’t control my nightmares. Plus, we were unfairly and unjustly exiled. Even as a five year old back then, I knew so.” Rein proceeded to rinse the towel in the tub of water and began wiping his body down. He didn’t necessarily know the exact details of what had happened back then. But he believed in his younger self’s deep impression.
The middle-aged man looked into Rein’s eyes, trying to discern his thoughts. However, he found himself no longer able to see through his son; at the very least, not in the same manner as when his son was still a child.
“Children are pure-- you were pure. We adults are bound by these rules, made to maintain a constant structure that our ancestors believed necessary for our… family’s blossoming.”
“I know.” Rein finished cleansing his body, and then dressed himself in a neat, richly colored red and yellow tunic, a staple of any merchant groups in the nation. Merchant families more often than not wore vibrant colors. The most popular colors were yellow and red. The more extravagant groups would replace the yellow with gold, and even more outlandish merchant organizations would further embellish their outfits with various patterns.
The two walked out of Rein’s quarters into a wondrous courtyard. The sun illuminated Rein’s father-- he looked to be a man in his forties, with a well-kempt face framed by short and sleek black hair that his son had clearly inherited. He walked through the garden courtyard with his back straight as an arrow, and Rein followed him towards a central building.
“Mother has already begun welcoming the Everlasting Pavilion’s representative within. They arrived much earlier than expected.” He then bent down and whispered in Rein’s ears, “Be careful.”
His father entered the central building and Rein was left to his own devices. He could only turn his gaze upon the other person left outside the central building-- An incredibly pretty woman that arrived here as part of Everlasting Pavilion’s group. Perhaps a more naive man would have rejoiced at this situation-- but not Rein.
He could only hide his heart as he had long been taught, obscure his wariness, and grudgingly offer a hand to lead the beauty around the small mansion and engage in expected conversation while appreciating the man-made garden that occupied the central courtyard.
As he led the beauty and paced down the wooden walkway under an open overhanging roof, he only felt increasingly frustrated due to the actions of the woman.
This young woman was showing incredible amounts of skin in a revealing outfit-- a flimsy red diamond-shaped material that only covered her bountiful breasts, and panties, expertly crafted with intricate flowery and phoenix patterns. She repeatedly attempted to press her body into his arm, as well as speaking in a soft voice. In order to even engage with the woman, he had to lean closer to her pressing body to even hear her words!
This was the precise reason for Rein’s disinterest-- it was quite clearly a form of a honeypot scheme, a rather common method that some merchants used to get an advantage in a deal. Rein had long been taught, and made to observe such situations, not to mention, tested by his willful mother.
Naturally, Rein only learned such knowledge after his father had managed to build something of his own post-exile-- they were now a small merchant family business.
This woman was clearly something to soften him up. In turn, he himself might then give way in some future negotiations
Although Rein knew this and he was frustrated with the situation, he is a man. Thus, every once in a while, he would fail to control his eyes and rake the woman’s body with a gaze, examining every finger of her creamy and smooth skin. On the whole, he managed to more often than not, focus his observations on the greenery and small pond located in the courtyard garden.
The young woman eventually got impatient and glided in front of Rein before turning around to look at the mature boy who could, frankly, pass for a young man. She then blinked her eyes flirtatiously.
“Sir Hehr,” she whispered softly. “Should we take this elsewhere? Clearly, you appreciate the view.”
Rein sure did appreciate the view, but he certainly was not about to lose his own judgment. He even suspected that perhaps, this young woman wasn’t part of Everlasting Pavilion and was just another silly test sprung on him by none other than his own mother.
His mother had often hired young beauties to seduce Rein starting a few years ago. Training, she told him.
Rein politely looked into the woman’s eyes, before placing his hands together and bowing his head.
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“Miss, you are no doubt a beauty. However, you came here as an escort with Sir Caere, a representative of the largest and most famous merchant alliance Everlasting Pavilion. Let us patiently and orderly wait for the business negotiations to finish.”
The skimpily dressed young woman glared at Rein. She clearly felt somewhat embarrassed to be rebuffed by a boy that was on the cusp of adulthood, regardless of how mature this boy may be in appearance. At the same time, she remained quiet. It would not do well for her if she was seen behaving in an embarrassing manner towards Rein.
Truth be told, she was not your typical merchant escort. Sir Caere took great care of her for the past few years, and she had been one of Sir Caere’s most useful negotiating strategies.
More often than not, Sir Caere would request her to play the role of a flirtatious escort to create better business deals. Softening up the young future leaders of merchant families was a method to improve long term business arrangements. She was paid well for doing this task among many, and her family was well treated for it.
However, she seemed to have met a block of wood today in this Sir Hehr. This would not necessarily mean she would fall out of favor with Sir Caere. Sir Caere understood that there were those that would not fall for this trick.
As for why the young woman did not play an active role in the currently ongoing negotiations, that was simple. Sir Caere was currently in the room next door negotiating with Rein’s parents. Having a skimpily dressed young woman flirt with a man in front of his wife would cause an absolute disaster in the negotiations.
Soon enough, the door opened and out walked a middle aged man with gray tousled hair and a goatee. This was none other than Sirr Caere. He looked at the young woman and quickly realized that the strategy to use younger Sir Hehr to tilt the scales would be ineffective.
Sir Caere turned back and looked at the couple that had politely shown him out the door.
“Sir and Missus Hehr, are the two of you certain that you do not wish to join and become a subsidiary of our Everlasting Pavilion? You are one of the rare merchant companies in this Golden Desert Town that has successfully formed proper ties to the desert tribes farther up north. That is why we offered you such a good deal.”
The current true Sir Hehr, the fifteen year old boy’s father replied,“We are happy to conduct business dealings regarding the valuable minerals through our ties with the desert tribes. We also thoroughly understand the benefits that becoming part of your esteemed Everlasting Pavilion would bring.”
At this point, Sir Hehr looked at this wife for confirmation and his wife nodded for him to continue.
“Unfortunately, both me and my wife do not desire to become a subsidiary of your esteemed merchant alliance, and the reason in truth is a simple personal matter. Being part of a large merchant alliance may very well bring us more glory, but it will also bring us more bureaucratic troubles. Our merchant company operates solely in Golden Desert Town, on the edge of the Minhr Nation, far removed from the center of civilization. We would not be able to function well in such a condition.”
“Very well. I came here on orders from the higher ups, so I’ll bring back word to my superiors.”
Sir Caere no longer wasted words. It was quite clear to him, with the additional time spent in the negotiations behind previously closed doors, that the task given to him by his superiors would not be completed.
He politely bowed, and with the young woman in tow, left the Hehr Mansion.
“Rein, how was that young lady?”
Rein found himself feeling annoyed again upon the questioning from his mother.
“Mother, ever since I started maturing a few years ago, you’ve been getting all these flirtatious women to play jokes on me… isn’t this another one of them?” Rein knew it wasn’t-- after all, the beauty left with Sir Caere. Still, his mother had tested him one too many times for him to not occasionally vent his annoyance when given the opportunity. Rein’s words only made his mother chuckle though.
Rein’s mother was an attractive mature woman who had a graceful air to her. Her round face, porcelain skin, red lips, and large eyes had supposedly attracted no small amount of suitors back when she was younger, so Rein was told by their housekeeper, who had accompanied them in their exile.
“My dear son, that young woman was definitely trying to soften you up for Sir Caere, and it was not a joke played by me. However, I am definitely happy I got other young women to test your resolve starting a few years back… otherwise, who knows how you would behave once you take over the family business in the future!”
At this point, Rein’s mother wrapped her arms around Sir Hehr’s neck and pushed her ample chest into her husband, making Rein feel rather embarrassed and awkward inside. He did manage to maintain a calm expression on his face though, trained as he was in the art of merchant negotiations.
Plus, he had long interacted with the merchant class of the Minhr Nation.
Many merchants were incredibly public with their displays of affection, including often perverted actions that both those merchants and their accompanying escorts would partake in. Rein only felt somewhat embarrassed because it was his own parents demonstrating such behavior in front of him.
He would have no reaction otherwise. Rein had long developed a level of desensitization towards many of these lower level perverted acts-- at least that’s what Rein would refer to these actions as in his mind.
Although Rein felt somewhat annoyed by these repetitive tests, he could only begrudgingly acknowledge that his mother had taught him something valuable. After all, history told many tales of idiotic rulers falling for honeypot schemes.
His mother’s voice drew his attention again. “Did you know, my dear Rein, how I met your father?”
At this stage, Rein could only groan. He knew his mother was about to repeat something he had heard her say many times before.
“I was once a daughter of a small merchant family, and I decided to flirt with your father to get a bit of an advantage in negotiations… and your father was an absolute easy target. I had your dear father in the palm of my hand from the very start. I had stolen your father’s heart, but luckily, he had the charm to make me fall in love with him, and eventually we got married and...” His mother frowned at this point but quickly smiled again. “Well, and here we are, all the better for it!”
His father, who was on the side, looked rather embarrassed, and could only smile sheepishly at Rein.
After hearing this again, Rein could only inwardly groan. In fact, he had long considered speaking an alternative truth to his repetitive mother. That actually, she was the one who fell into his father’s charm trap! She did marry him! However, Rein held his tongue-- after all, his parents were a loving couple and how things went down back in the past was just a matter of perspective.
His father now had his mother lovingly in his arms.
“My son, the negotiations went longer than I expected. So instead, we will discuss business negotiations in the afternoon instead of the originally planned late morning”
“Yes, husband, that’s perfect.”
After hearing the conversation between his parents, Rein instinctively knew what his parents were going to do with the rest of the morning. He maintained a calm expression and quickly left the front of the main building of the quadrangled mansion, arriving at a wooden bridge that spanned a small pond in the center of the courtyard.