17 The Emperor goes for a walk

Raven had taken the Emperor out into the streets of the Capital. For perhaps the first ten minutes, the stroll was pleasant. The Capital's outer exterior was nice and the child Emperor was pleasantly surprised. After that, though, things started going downhill, fast. The alleys even in the more well off areas had the occasional strange peddler. Raven was sure to keep away from the areas prostitutes frequented. Although they were 'high class' prostitues, she didn't want to corrupt the boy, just show him how bad it can be.

Quite a few peddlers were selling narcotics and various other illegal substances. One even offered him 'candy' which looked suspiciously similar to what Kurome was always eating. Though Raven could tell it was an inferior product in comparison. Kurome's was an addictive steroid and these were just addictive hallucinogens. This was enough to seriously unnerve the Emperor. They were walking through the 'good' area close to the Palace still.

~How dreadful.. This is so close yet I never knew. We're so very close to the area where Nobility lives. Why wasn't I informed!?~ He began to seriously consider that something was horribly wrong.

"Oh what a cutie! Is your Mom taking you out to pop your cherry?" The Emperor turned and saw a teenage girl no older than fourteen come over to them, wearing rather decent but revealing clothing.

His eyes slowly widened at the implications and he blushed, but felt Raven's hand gently hold his back. Raven made eye contact with him, gesturing him to really look at the girl. He did. He realized then what she was trying to show him and his heart sank.

The girl had a lot of makeup on and expensive clothing, yes. But on closer inspection one could see marks along her arms. Her bones were taut against her skin in multiple areas, likely from starvation. Her hair was tied up but it was so lifeless and thin. The girl was obviously suffering from addiction and so very close to where he lived. The Emperor stumbled back, mouth agape as tears threatened to come out of his eyes.

"Ar.. Are you o..o.." He stammered and barely held himself back from crying right there when Raven put her hand on his shoulder.

"No. He's not here for that. I'm simply taking him out for a walk in the city to show him what the Capital is truly like" Raven responded, the girl smiling sadly.

"That's good.. I see young Nobles here all the time. Thankfully the youngest ones don't really have the capability to hurt us too bad. Haha" She seemed to cheer up once she found out the Emperor wasn't looking to buy her services.

"Hurt you..? Why would.." The Emperor began to ask but the girl simply giggled at his innocence.

"The Nobles are all corrupt here, little one. The ones who buy our services pay us a lot but.. They get us hooked on expensive drugs and smack us around. Some beat us so bad we.. we get killed. Dumped in an alley in the worse parts of the Capital" She admitted, despondently looking off to the side.

"Ho-How many Nobles..!? This is inhuman..! It's evil!" He was outraged, fists shaking.

"Almost all of them. Power can corrupt. This, believe it or not is actually considered 'light' compared to the more twisted Nobles. It's not just them either. The very soldiers who serve the Empire, the higher ups? They too wantonly abuse power" Raven put her other hand on his shoulder and told him quietly.

"Yeah, that's right. From the lowest grunt to way up high, corruption is everywhere. It's a good idea to teach this when they're young" The young girl nodded then spotted a potential customer.

"Oh gotta go back to work! Good luck!" She ran off, plastering a happy smile on her face.

"I want to see the Noble District.." He said through clenched teeth.

"*Sigh* I was planning to take you to the middle class area but that may be too much debauchery for you.. Just be careful and stay close to me, please" Raven took his hand as he nodded and walked their way over to the richest area in the Capital besides the Palace.

~This may actually be too much for him. He has to know, yes but I don't want to scar him for life..~ Raven seemed to wrestle with her motherly and logical sides.

Though that was the perfect opening to be bumped into by a rich but robust young man. Bumping into the Emperor, he sneered in disdain but took a close look at Raven and smirked. Seeing their clothes were those worn by a lower class, his arrogance eclipsed whatever logical thought process he normally had.

"You, Trash! Lower class waste, dare bump into me!?" He was about to kick the Emperor but Raven managed to stand in front of him protectively.

~Why do his words feel weirdly familiar?~ Raven raised her brow as the young man smirked at this.

"What? You think this disrespect won't be punished!? You're lucky you're so attractive. In fact.." He then looked Raven up and down with an almost inhumanly lecherous gaze.

"Yes, you will do nicely. You will be my Concubine, be honored. Naturally, your spawn will be spared. Leave the rat on the streets and come with me, now" He spoke authoritavely.

~It's on the tip of my tongue..~ Raven was paying attention, but was dedicating most of her thoughts to why his words and attitude were so familiar.

"HEY, LISTEN!" He shouted at Raven when she didn't respond to his demands.

The Emperor was panicking. Not because he feared what this Noble what do to Raven, he knew her to be too capable to listen to him. He was actually somewhat pitying the man. He was awful, yes. But he knew Raven and Esdeath were incredibly capable warriors. He silently prayed for the man's redemption in his head when he grabbed Raven, who still hadn't responded to him, by the arm.

"I'll fucking drag you then!" He tried to pull Raven, who still didn't move and fell flat on his face, injuring his nose and further aggravating him.

"YOU DARE!?" He screamed in rage and looked behind him, getting the attention of the guards.

"Oh!" Raven smiled and hit her palm with her fist.

"You're a 'Young Master' aren't you!?" Raven smiled, having figured it out.

~Would have been so much easier if he had some subhuman bootlickers or said 'COURTING DEATH!!' or something~ Raven chuckled to herself.

"Now you realize.. are you slow or something!? Fuck! Hurry up and come if you understand" He tried to grab Raven once again.

That ended poorly. He was grabbed by his face and lifted in one hand by a now, not amused Raven. Hearing his muffled curses, Raven laughs as the guards arrive.

"Hey! Let that.. 'Noble' go!" One of the guards bit down his scoff as he halfheartedly demanded.

"Mm..? Tatsumi?" Raven muttered, seeing Tatsumi in a soldier uniform with Sayo and Ieyasu.

"Uh.. Ma'am? Please let him go, now!" He tried his best to sound commandeering.

"FUCKING BITCH! RELEASE ME AT ONCE OR I'LL-" He was interrupted by a punch to the gut, courtesy of Raven.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying? I couldn't quite make it out" Raven responded with an innocent tone.

"Y-You.. fucking bit-" Another hit, this time to both his ribs.

"Pardon? Can you say it clearer?" She asked as the Emperor tried his best to not laugh.

"M..Ma'am..?" Tatsumi raised his hand and looked at his friends for backup, who were also trying not to laugh.

As soon as he turned back, he noticed the man's face in the pavement. Raven was casually stepping on his head while talking to the Emperor. They had drawn a crowd of Nobles who were screaming at the guards to do something. Sighing, Tatsumi readied his weapon and approached with his friends.

"Ma'am, we have to take you in. What were you thinking attacking a Noble..? Also I have to ask you to take your foot off his head.." Tatsumi said while a bead of sweat dropped off his cheek.

"I think you misunderstood something" Raven retorted, earning a reaction filled with visible confusion.

"Even if he did start it I can't-" Tatsumi was interrupted when her hand went up.

"No no.. I mean. I'm not stepping on him. I'm helping his face get acquainted with the ground. He enjoys this play, you see? He plays at being an arrogant young master that likes being humiliated" That's when Sayo and Ieyasu's expressions cracked and they started to cough.

The surrounding Nobles seemed to buy this though and looked at the young noble on the ground like he was an insect. Somehow, the image actually made a lot of sense. Many of the powerful nobles there who were used to never submitting to anyone had secret 'M' tendencies themselves.

"I.. How are we supposed to believe that..?" Tatsumi just didn't understand though.

"Easy. Follow me and I'll show you the many 'toys' he has me use. His safe word hasn't even been used yet. It's, of course 'You're courting death!' and as you can see.. he hasn't said anything" Raven said while maintaining her expression while looking at the clearly unconscious Noble.

"Yeah I believe it.. Come on, Tatsumi. It's none of our business anyway. Don't kink shame" Ieyasu patted Tatsumi on the shoulder and pulled him away with Sayo.

~That was close.. When I was grabbed by him I felt a wave of suppressed killing intent. If it was Esdeath who saw that there'd be a hill of corpses. Kurome'd just decapitate him. Yup, Akame's watching~ Raven sighed and raised her hand, giving a thumbs up to the sky.

Suddenly, the killing intent vanished and was replaced by a strange aura of happiness and relief that made Raven chuckle.

"Seen enough of the Noble Quarter?" She asked the child Emperor beside her.

"Yes... it's dreadful. I need to see more areas, please?" He asked Raven nervously.

"*Sigh* Very well.. but only one more and we should return" Raven took his hand again and both left the unconscious Noble with a face imprint in the ground there.

Strangely, his body disappeared soon after without anyone noticing the angry red eyes of a girl holding a human sized sack over her shoulder and disappearing in an alley.

"How dare you try to solicit Mother.. I'm taking you to Bulat" Akame coldly uttered while dragging him away.

[AUTHOR NOTE!

Sorry I'm still working on HSC but man it's hard! I went through like 6 drafts by now and I'm researching a lot. That and work is why I'm not updating as much. Thanks for reading!]