Chapter 29

Akiko lay spread out on her bed a hot, sweaty mess. Her ample chest heaved up and down as she lay there, still reeling from the after-effects of so many orgasms. Even now, her body was shuddering from the pleasure.

"Oh my Gods." She rasped breathlessly. "Oh my Gods."

Aiden took a puff from a cigar he'd found inside an ornate box atop the nearby bedstand. "I know." Was all he said.

"That was amazing." Akiko went on.

"Yeah."

"I mean that thing you did with your tongue--just wow. " She continued.

Aiden grunted. "It was nice."

"Nice?" The woman shook her head. "You don't understand. I thought I was going to die. I legitimately thought you were going to kill me via orgasm."

Aiden suppressed a laugh and ended up snorting. "I take it you enjoyed yourself, then."

Akiko twisted her thoroughly-pleasured body and watched him with a slow, teasing smile. "I saw heaven. The angels mentioned you."

"Oh?" Aiden cocked a brow. "And what did they say?"

"They said, 'Please tell him to stop. You're not supposed to be here.' And sent me back. You've a reputation for sending women there prematurely, it seems."

And that did elicit a chuckle. "I didn't think you'd have such a humorous side to you." He took another puff. "Or that you had such fine taste in cigars."

"They were my husband's," The woman explained. Her tone betrayed a hint of sadness.

"Sorry."

She smiled, though it was a touch bitter. "It's alright. I don't have a use for them. Go ahead."

Aiden nodded, not bothering to be polite.

Akiko yawned with a stretch. "Anyway, you certainly lived up to your confidence and then some." She paused. "Wait, you didn't do anything like this with Kanon, did you?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't usually fuck children," He replied drily. If he was sure they were children, at least. He can't exactly be blamed for liars. Rumi being an exception, and only because he didn't think he had any other option but to fuck her.

Lesson learned. He dies either way.

"Don't worry, I never touched her."

Akiko released a breath. "Alright. Good. So, what was this thing you wanted? After that, you can ask for anything."

And so it began. Aiden had waited for this. "I need your protection."

"Interesting. From who?"

"My guardian. Hasegawa Naoko."

Akiko seemed to recognize the name. "Is this the same Hasegawa Naoko with a daughter named Rumi?"

"The very same," He blew a stream of smoke. "I'm her brother, Rumi's."

Akiko let out an exclamation of surprise. "What? I wasn't aware Naoko had another child."

Aiden waved her off. "She doesn't. I'm adopted, but Rumi doesn't know that. And honestly, she never even knew her mother was my guardian until recently either. Before, I was just some caretaker."

"A caretaker?" She asked. "Then what changed?"

"I had an accident. Got taken to the hospital and diagnosed with amnesia, so Naoko had to sign me out. She took me to her home to take care of me. Rumi didn't know why, so she suspected I was her mother's bastard."

"Well, I suppose you do have the same color of hair, at least." Akiko looked him over and said.  "It's not too unbelievable since she just suddenly showed up with you." She frowned. "Adopted or not, I just had coitus with the son of a friend. It's a strange feeling."

Well, fuck.

"You're her friend?" Aiden felt the animosity in his tone and couldn't be bothered to hide it.

"She's also a wealthy widow and our daughters are close. Of course we are." Akiko replied patiently. "But that's beside the point. I'm a woman of my word. I'll hide you from her if that's what you want, but why? It's hardly normal to come to a person you've never met and offer sex for protection."

Aiden was silent for a while. He schooled his face to a stoic mask. And when he spoke, it was with a careless abandon. "Say, who did you think I learned this all from?"

The silence turned deafening. The quiet filled the room with a heavy air, enough to choke on.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"My amnesia." He ground his teeth. "It only lasted a few days. Then I remembered." Aiden went on. "My name, my past. All of it. Naoko thinks I don't remember, but I do. It was her."

"What?"

"Naoko," He repeated with a growl. "Everything I did for you, I learned from her."

Akiko felt her heart turn cold.

"I came from a pretty well-known family in the past. Then because of some in-fighting, it fell apart. Naoko was the one who took me in. Found me wandering the streets. I thought she was a nice woman. Gave me food, shelter. Everything." He took a long drag. "Then she came to my room one night and I realized there's no such thing as charity. I wasn't even fourteen."

There was a darkness that came over him just then.  A pain. She saw him clench his jaw, his eyes overcome with shame.

Even so, Akiko couldn't believe it. "That's... ridiculous." Her words sounded hollow, not wanting to believe he could've wen through such tragedy. Or that a close friend has done it. " Naoko isn't the kind of person who...at least, she didn't seem..." She trailed off. "If that's true, then why didn't you say anything? Tell me this first? I would've--"

"I told you. Charity doesn't exist."Aiden cut her off stiffly. "What else was I going to offer? But if I'm to be a whore, I at least refuse to be their's."

"Their's...?" The word was barely above a whisper.

"Like mother, like daughter, " He spat out bitterly, uttering  a small, sardonic laugh.

Akiko said nothing. After a moment she rose from the bed and started dressing.

"...I'm going to take a bath. You can stay here however long you want."

Aiden didn't respond right away. "Thank you," He said after a mmoment.

Akiko closed the door quietly and made her way forward. For the first few steps,  she was fine. But as soon as she rounded a corner, a sickening bile rose up her throat and she collapsed to the floor.

"My lady!" Several maids surrounded her in an instant. But she hardly noticed them. Instead, she was too busy loathing herself.

Dear Gods, what did I do?