Chapter 399: Tears Under the Mask! She Really Is Just a Courtesan.

Inside the luxurious private room, a faint scent of sandalwood incense curled up into the air, wisps of smoke lingering in the dim light and shadows.

The crisp yet poignant sound of the shamisen drifted back and forth in the spacious room, like a cuckoo weeping blood.

Kozuki Hiyori was draped in a light, soft pink silk kimono, her delicate shoulders half-exposed. With her eyes cast down, her slender, translucent white fingers deftly plucked the strings.

She seemed completely immersed in her own music, perfectly capturing that delicate, noble, yet somewhat plaintive posture.

However, facing this number one beauty of Wano Country who was playing to her heart’s content,

Tatsuya showed no signs of infatuation whatsoever.

His gaze, hidden beneath the shadow of his wide straw hat, was as calm as water.

Tatsuya picked up the white porcelain sake cup in front of him, took a gentle sip of sake, then set the cup down, a careless smile playing on the corner of his lips.

“So, after going to all this trouble to invite me deep into this Pleasure District, what exactly is your purpose?

“Princess of Wano Country… Princess Kozuki Hiyori.”

“Clang—!”

As Tatsuya’s voice fell, a harsh, discordant note suddenly rang out in the private room.

Kozuki Hiyori’s slender fingers, which had been dancing lightly over the strings, suddenly pressed down on them as if shocked by electricity.

Hearing Tatsuya casually call out her true identity, which she had hidden in this pleasure district for a full twenty years,

Kozuki Hiyori felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

She suddenly looked up, her devastatingly beautiful face now filled with immense shock and horror.

How could this be?!

She had kept this secret tightly guarded for twenty years. Aside from Denjiro, even Orochi and Kaido believed that the Kozuki Clan bloodline had been completely wiped out.

How did this pirate from the outer seas, who had only landed in Wano Country a few days ago, find out?!

But after only a brief moment of panic and mental blankness, Hiyori bit her lower lip hard, forcing her wildly beating heart to calm down.

She pondered secretly in her heart that the man before her was, after all, “Crimson Lotus,” whose bounty exceeded three billion Berries and who was famous throughout the New World.

As the absolute right-hand man of the newly risen Fifth Emperor who had defeated Charlotte Linlin, this man must possess an omnipotent intelligence network and incredible, miraculous methods.

For such a monster reigning over the seas to trace the clues and uncover her true background seemed…

quite reasonable, and even expected.

Since her greatest trump card and identity had already been seen through at a glance,

continuing to maintain her lofty courtesan disguise would only make her look like a ridiculous clown.

With her mind racing, Hiyori changed her strategy.

Within a single second, her eyes, which had been filled with shock, quickly turned red.

A watery mist welled up, and crystal-clear tears welled up and rolled on her long Eyelashes, on the verge of falling.

She put down the priceless shamisen in her hand, leaned forward slightly, lowered her noble head, and began to weep and complain to Tatsuya in a low voice.

“Lord Tatsuya… since you already know my identity, Hiyori will no longer hide it.”

“Do you know what kind of life I have lived over these past twenty years?”

As she sobbed, she began to tell the story of how she, as a helpless “orphan girl,” had struggled to survive like floating duckweed in this war-torn, oppressive, and treacherous Wano Country.

She spoke of how she spent every day in fear, and how she starved and froze in the wind and snow.

Then, choking with tears, she went on to describe how she had unfortunately caught the eye of the brutal and arrogant Orochi.

To survive, and to wait for the chance for revenge,

how she had endured humiliation in the depths of this filth-ridden Pleasure District, wearing a false mask every day and forcing a smile to live until today.

This half-true story was told so miserably and movingly by her superb acting skills.

Every tremble in her voice, every perfectly timed tear shed with downcast eyes, and every seemingly accidental display of vulnerability was filled with endless grief and helplessness.

Even someone with a heart of stone would probably be moved upon hearing it.

She was trying to arouse the protective desire and sympathy in the heart of this powerful pirate, thereby borrowing this force, which was strong enough to overthrow Wano Country, for her own use.

The candlelight in the private room flickered slightly in the breeze, casting long shadows of the two.

As Hiyori whispered and wept about her tragic fate, her body leaned submissively and naturally toward where Tatsuya sat, like a delicate willow swaying in the wind.

The scent of her special powder, mixed with her feminine fragrance, continuously drifted into Tatsuya’s nose.

Unknowingly, through her weeping and approaching, the distance between them kept shrinking.

Soon, they were extremely close.

Hiyori stopped weeping at just the right moment.

She slightly tilted up her face, which was stained with crystal tear tracks.

Her watery eyes were filled with pitiful anticipation and a deep, vine-like dependence.

As if Tatsuya were her only salvation in this world.

“So… Lord Tatsuya, you possess the power of a god.”

Hiyori’s voice was so soft it seemed as if it could drip water, carrying a heartbreaking plea.

“Could you show mercy… and help me?”

However, in the face of this gorgeous posture that was enough to make countless high-ranking officials and samurai of Wano Country bankrupt themselves,

Tatsuya sat upright in his place, his eyes still like an ancient well, without a single ripple.

Looking at those cold eyes, a surge of frustrated anger couldn’t help but rise in Hiyori’s heart.

From childhood to adulthood, ever since she amazed Wano Country as the courtesan Komurasaki, no man had ever looked at her like this.

No one had ever dared, nor could anyone ignore her stunning charm as the number one beauty of Wano Country.

Those men, even Orochi, which one of them wasn’t infatuated and completely obedient in the face of her tears and smiles?

This immense sense of frustration from being completely ignored, as if the charm she was so proud of was just a joke, deeply stung her pride.

To prove that she still had the capital to control men,

Hiyori bit her luscious red lips.

She plucked up her courage and slowly stretched out her flawless arm.

Her warm fingertips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to gently caress Tatsuya’s cheek, which was hidden in the shadows.

This was an extremely bold move filled with ambiguous hints.

At the exact moment her fingertips were about to touch the skin on the side of Tatsuya’s face,

A soft sound of contact rang out.

A soft sound of contact rang out.

Tatsuya firmly grabbed her slender, delicate wrist in mid-air.

Feeling the warm body temperature of a man coming from her wrist, along with that undeniable, powerful strength,

Instead of panicking, Hiyori’s suspended heart suddenly felt a burst of secret joy.

“As expected, all men in the world are the same.”

“Even if he is a great pirate with a bounty of three billion who kills without blinking, no matter how aloof he pretends to be on the surface, he cannot escape the fatal charm I exude at all.”

Thinking of this, Hiyori immediately took the opportunity to put on a bashful, half-welcoming, half-resisting appearance.

Two blushes flew onto her cheeks, her breathing became somewhat rapid, and she let out a soft, breathless murmur like orchids:

“Lord Tatsuya… you’re hurting me… you can’t do this…”

She closed her eyes slightly, leaning forward once more, as if she were already prepared to be pulled into the embrace of this powerful man in front of her and cherished at his whim.

However, Tatsuya did not do as she expected.

Hiyori opened her eyes in some astonishment, only to meet a pair of eyes filled with endless mockery.

Tatsuya held her wrist, and not only was there not a shred of the desire she hoped to see in his eyes, but even the most basic appreciation was gone.

The corner of his mouth slowly curled into an undisguised, sarcastic arc.

“The princess of the Kozuki Clan? Heh…”

Tatsuya casually tossed her wrist aside, his tone dripping with thick mockery:

“You really are just a… courtesan.”

Chapter 400: Words that Pierce the Heart! Shattered Pride and Tatsuya’s Advice