«I still stand by my opinion», Grey concluded confidently, «Changes are necessary. Development requires new approaches and bold experiments. The same applies here. You can't turn a blind eye to new ideas just because the old ones work well. This approach will only lead to stagnation and destruction.»
«Listen, little one, I already gave you all the reasons and even explained the consequences in detail. Don't you understand what is best for you?»
Madam Veronika began to get angry. This boy was so headstrong and stubborn that he refused to listen even after she had explained everything. He might have been a good sapling, but with such a stubborn personality, he was unlikely to achieve much. She couldn't help but wonder if she should expect anything more from him.
Her attitude toward Grey changed once again.
It was one thing when an enthusiast followed his heart, trying to make the world a better place. It was something entirely different when he refused to look reality straight in the eyes. Such a person wasn't worth investing in.
«Listen», Grey insisted, realizing Veronika's attitude from her expressionless face.
He was so agitated that he decided to raise his voice and change the way he addressed her. For the first time in a long while, he looked her directly in the eyes and spoke without his former respect.
«I listened very carefully to your explanations.. Every single word. You think I'm being stubborn and keep insisting because of my pride. But that's not the case. I am absolutely certain that my project serves the goddess's interests. Moreover, this new format is far better suited to these concepts than an outdated brothel.»
Grey caught his breath and continued to press his point, casting aside his nervousness and caution:
«Listen, as a priestess of the goddess of love, you should understand better than anyone what love means… infatuation. How sincere can they be if you have to pay for them? In my opinion, that's not love at all, but baanal consumption. Could it be that the goddess of love understands her own concept so poorly?»
Veronika wanted to slap this little brat. He was behaving completely without restraint and had stopped filtering his words. She was absolutely certain that if another priestess had been in her place, the boy's body would already be lying lifeless on the marble floor.
How dare he say such heretical words in front of her? Did he really think he understood love better than Aphrodite? Who did he think he was? He was far too self-satisfied… or perhaps he simply didn't know his place.
«Well then, enlighten me», she said sarcastically, gripping the armrest of the couch tightly.
Grey sensed her impatience, so he hurried to explain himself. He didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.
«Love is a feeling, an emotion. When two people are genuinely attracted to each other, when they burn with the desire to deepen their relationship, pleasure and sex become nothing more than a natural continuation. Sex under such circumstances is far more intense and brings much stronger emotions. You can't argue with me about that.»
Veronika thought for a moment but didn't answer right away. She decided to show patience, a rare courtesy she usually didn't extend to others.
«Indeed.. sex with someone you love brings far more pleasure. The person you love always seems the most beautiful. However, we can't put such… things on an assembly line. Love arises by chance, and we can't expect it to happen in our temple. So we settle for what we can achieve.»
«Exactly!» Grey jumped in. «I'm proposing a format where feelings of love will burn far brighter than they do now.»
«What makes you so confident?» Madam Veronika asked the same question again, this time with noticeably more pressure.
However, Grey reacted differently this time.
He didn't explain anything. He simply curled his lips into a confident, smug smile. He realized that trying to convince Madam Veronika with words was like explaining advanced physics to a first-grader, completely pointless. So he decided to act.
«Just give me ten minutes to prepare.. Go down to the guest hall, and I'll show you magic that even a cripple can perform. If I screw up and can't convince you, I'll throw this idea away forever and do whatever you say..»
Veronika's eyes flashed dangerously.
It had been a very long time since anyone had dared to speak to her so directly. The boy was blatantly insolent and showed her none of the respect she deserved. He spoke very loudly and promised even more, like a gambler who didn't know when to stop.
Yet there was something so unique and intriguing about his manner that it stirred the deepest threads of the Bored Empress's soul.
Could Madam Veronika say no when he had put the question that way? She still considered herself a very reasonable superior, not a tyrant.
And that confidence.. That infectious confidence with which he spoke. Yes, she wanted to see what he would show her.
«Alright», Veronika nodded.
Her slender index finger, tipped with sharp pink nails, touched Grey's chest and moved upward, lifting his chin while lightly scratching his skin.
«I'll give you a chance. And I hope you'll keep your word...»
Grey couldn't help but swallow nervously, yet his eyes revealed a burning confidence.
==========
Ten minutes later, Madam Veronika found herself in the empty atrium that had recently been renovated. The spacious room had seemed deserted before her arrival, but everything changed when her light footsteps echoed dully off the walls.
She hadn't come alone.
Behind her followed all the workers of the Embraces of Venus, including Monica, Lydia, Shakira, and all the other courtesans who had just been summoned.
It wasn't as if Madam Veronika was afraid to be alone with Grey. She was absolutely certain that she was right. Still, because of his stubbornness, she had called in other judges so that the upset boy couldn't accuse her of bias and avoid taking responsibility.
The group of young women had already been standing there for five minutes, waiting for the person responsible for their gathering. Their faces showed slight displeasure, since they had been deprived of their free time and pulled away from their own affairs for the sake of some argument with a boy.
«What do you think, will Grey get into serious trouble this time?» Monica whispered into Lydia's ear.
«I think so. Madam Veronika takes his antics far too seriously, and he crossed the line. I've never seen our mistress so determined to put someone in their place. She even called us here as witnesses.»
«Maybe we should ask her to show mercy? He is still a child, after all, and doesn't understand how serious the problems he's trying to get himself into are.»
«Do you think that will help?» Lydia asked and glanced uncertainly at Madam Veronika, who happened to give her a flirtatious look and smiled with her trademark sly grin, sending an involuntary shiver down Lydia's spine.
Lydia knew better than anyone just how stubborn their Mistress could be. If she had decided to punish Grey in her own way, no matter how much the others begged her, their pleas would fall on deaf ears.
Suddenly, the entire atrium was plunged into darkness, interrupting their conversation. The darkness was so deep that not a single ray of light could enter the room. No one could even see their own fingers.
It happened so unexpectedly that the girls were frightened. Especially those who weren't very strong. They wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, or at least light a couple of torches.
That was simply how psychology worked. In this world, sudden changes rarely heralded anything good. The sudden darkness was especially frightening. It made everyone nervous.
But their confusion didn't last long.
The next moment, a bright beam of light cut through the darkness, revealing the figure of a black-haired boy whom everyone recognized.
It was Grey.
He simply stood frozen in the spotlight, holding a strange instrument that looked like an enlarged lute. His breathing was steady as he made one final check of the tuning on the homemade guitar he had ordered from the "lecherous carpenter."
In such an atmosphere, he immediately captured the women's attention as if he had used mental magic.
How could it be otherwise?
They had no way to distract themselves. In the complete darkness, only his figure was clearly visible.
Grey's dark hair was messily tousled, while his blue eyes shone with nervousness and an inexplicable melancholy that immediately struck a chord in the tender hearts of the ladies.
Even before he began his performance, everyone held their breath. Madam Veronika included. He seemed so charming at that moment.
One moment later, his fingers began plucking the strings in an unfamiliar rhythm that had never been heard in this world.
«Ooooh» His voice resembled a high trill that echoed off the walls and spread throughout the room, «Oh woah, Oh woah...»
The sounds seemed strange and meaningless, yet somehow, every girl instantly understood the emotion contained in this simple melody.
Suddenly, a disco ball began to spin, bathing the entire hall in colorful, shimmering lights. The girls felt as if they had suddenly found themselves beneath the night sky, alone with a man whose voice alone was enough to touch their hearts.
And Grey continued singing, caring about nothing in the world:
«You know you love me, I know you care,
you shout whenever and I'll be there.
You are my love, you are my heart
and we will never ever ever be apart.
Are we an item? girl quit playing,
we're just friends, what are you saying.
Said there's another, look right in my eyes,
my first love broke my heart for the first time.
And I was like…»
Grey spent a long time thinking about which song to perform so that he could truly touch the hearts of his listeners.
In his home world, people used music to express their deepest feelings. There were countless love songs that could have worked far better and gone much deeper. There were so many of them that choosing a worthy one seemed almost limitless.
However, Grey wasn't confident in his singing or performing skills. So he chose the simplest option. The one that was close to his heart because it awakened his warmest memories of his own youth, inexperience, and youthful passion.
When Grey started singing, he forgot about everything.
He put down the guitar, leaving the musical accompaniment to Aileen and Irene, who handled the backing vocals, while he continued to sing and dance.
He moved as if there were no one around him. He didn't care at all about his appearance, his faltering rhythm, or his unskilled singing. He simply gave himself to the impulse and kept dancing.
The moonwalk, street dance, and body waves...
He moved as his heart commanded, as if he had returned to his home world and was simply an audience member at someone else's concert.
«Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you'd always be mine, mine.»
The eyes of all the girls shone so brightly that it was as if they were trying to contain the night sky. Their breathing stopped completely, and their hearts pounded like drums.
They had heard bard songs many times, and some had even attended performances by opera singers alongside noble clients, yet they had never seen anything like this. It seemed as if the boy were singing specifically for them, while the entire world had been forced to become his stage.
The words were very simple and even a little vulgar, yet they struck every weak point in their feminine hearts with pinpoint accuracy.
One could imagine just how deeply Grey's performance had shaken them.
Madam Veronika's seductive lips, which every man dreamed of, formed an "O" and remained frozen in that position. Saying that she was shocked would have been a massive understatement of the emotions she was experiencing.
She had never felt anything even remotely similar.
And it wasn't only because of Grey's performance.
No one except her could notice anything unusual. However, she was a priestess of the goddess of love and an extremely powerful expert, so she could perceive the subtle changes in the surrounding aura that grew stronger with every passing moment as Grey continued to sing.
It seemed as if the concentration of the concept of love had increased tenfold. No. The aura had completely filled the room, coloring it neon pink... It was so dense that Veronika felt as if, with just a little more, she would be able to physically touch the concept.
The effect of the song was simply unimaginable.
Each girl involuntarily became a source of the pink aura, which was amplified by the temple itself and returned to them, creating a closed loop.
Madam Veronika didn't even notice when she fell under the spell of the melody..
And Grey continued dancing as if he had completely lost touch with reality.
«Luda, When I was 13 I had my first love,
there was nobody that compared to my baby
and nobody came between us,
No-one could ever come above
She had me going crazy,
Oh I was star-struck,
She woke me up daily,
Don't need no Starbucks.
She made my heart pound,
I skip a beat when I see her in the street and
At school on the playground
But I really wanna see her on the weekend.
She knows she got me dazing
Coz she was so amazing
and now my heart is breaking
But I just keep on saying….»
At that moment, he stopped, and the music faded away, but the spotlight was still fixed on him.
Grey smiled playfully and looked at the ladies around him.
«Now together. Dance with me. Give in to your instincts. Forget your shame and worries and just move and sing with me.»
Veronika didn't even realize when the lyrics escaped her lips.
«Baby, baby, baby oooooh,
like baby, baby, baby noooooooo,
like baby, baby, baby, ooooh.
Thought you'd always be mine, mine.»
The entire world around them simply ceased to exist.
It was as if she had returned to her teenage years, found herself alone with a boy she liked, and simply did whatever she wanted. She didn't notice the tips of her black hair rapidly turning pink.
The song continued to play. Multicolored lights fell across the walls, creating a magical scene, while the girls' bodies involuntarily began to move.
At that moment, the experienced courtesans capable of driving men crazy completely disappeared. In their place were teenage girls who wanted only one thing: for this handsome boy to look only at them and keep singing.