The days in the cell remain calm before the storm.

Ai Le and Zi Ling became comfortable with each other while the both of them remain vigilant of their surroundings. Zi Ling has been observing the guards' duty and attempt to see if there is any other information to let her know where they are at.

Ai Le remain in her ugly and messy state so to avoid the eyes of the leader. Every day, there will be a man accompanied by 2 followers, drop by each cell and pick out several ladies that they favour. Those ladies being picked never return and the number of women in the cell decrease as days go by.

Unaware of where and what will happen to these ladies, Zi Ling and Ai Le continue to mask themselves with dirt on the floor and hide at the corners of the cell. How they wish they can avoid their eyes as long as they can.

It has been 5 days since Ai Le woke up, currently the cell are left with 10 women including Zi Ling and herself. As usual, now is the patrolling time for the leader to drop by the cell and pick the ladies. But, this time it seems different. Without looking at them, he ordered the guards to open the cell and ensure all the remaining women line up in 2 lines.

Following their lead, the remaining women finally step out of the underground dungeon that they were kept at. The blinding sunlight from the sun made them blink to adjust to the light that they deprived of.

"Walk faster you wrench, I ain't got the time to deal with you guys."

Fastening their pace of walking, the remaining women finally arrived at an exquisite bathing room, the room is so big that it can hold up to 50 people. Being commoners, all of them awed at the expensive looking ceiling, flooring, tubs and scented foams except Ai Le.

"I shall give every one of you 2 hours to clean yourself up. There will be clothes given to you once you are done."

With a single clap, a row of maids appeared before their eyes and the 3 guys left the room. Given the instruction, one by one, they head into the dressing room to undress their dirty and smelly clothes that they have been wearing since the day they were captured.

As though it is the nature of a woman, such luxury treatment given to them was like blessing from the gods. Momentarily, they have forgotten about the tragic experience they had when they were captured. All of them sink into the blissful moments of soaking their body with warm water and scented oil that enhance the womanly body scent.

Ai Le and Zi Ling bathed themselves accordingly and dressed in the outfit given by the maids.

As they have separated their ways when they enter the individual bathing cubicles, when they reunite, Zi Ling was mesmerized by Ai Le's natural beauty of nobility hidden beneathe the blood stains. A flash of envy run through her eyes as she looked at Ai Le but it disappeared immediately.

"Wow, Xiao Ai Sister, you look so beautiful!"

"Thank you Sister Zi Ling, you are also not that bad looking yourself!"

Both of them exchange surface compliments before following the maids assigned to them. Sitting on the stool with a bronze mirror in front of them, the maid proceed to do the hair styling for the ladies in front of them. Beautifying their face with powder of high-quality material, each of them slowly transforming into eye-catching beauty.

As Zi Ling is a commoner who has never received such treatments before, she felt bad and shy towards the maid, who is of the same status as her, treating her like a noble. However, when she glance towards Ai Le, the natural acceptance of such treatment does not make Ai Le look out of place.

As if Ai Le has been receiving such treatment for all her life, right now, she look like a noble master ordering her maid to doll herself up. Unconsciously, Zi Ling bite onto her tongue with a light force and turn away. Unaware of these, Ai Le thought she was doing a great job in concealing her identity, but she didn't know that mannerism and habits aren't easily faked.

Unlike the heavy based makeup, Ai Le requested for a light makeup as she doesn't like that power coating feeling on her face. With just some light rosy cheek powder and red staining lip paper, it is enough to capture people's attention.

It will look better if Ai Le smiles warmly cause now she look like an icy princess.

"Wow, Miss you look so beautiful!" The maid compliment Ai Le.

"Thanks."

Zi Ling, who sat beside Ai Le, look at her finished makeup and can't help but to envy the natural youthful beauty that she possessed. With little effort, she is able to capture anyone's attention. But, both of them are of the same status, both of them are commoners, so why is she so different from her?

Once done with the makeup and hairstyling, the remaining women are now guided to a hall of seats that allow them to enjoy the well-prepared meal. Unlike the disgusting meals given in the cell, it is a scrumptious meal with expensive fish and meat.

Quietly following the orders, soon they finished their dinner and follow the maid to the next location. However, this time round, they are blindfolded and their hands are bounded by ropes, tied in a complex manner.

Ai Le closed her eyes and observe her surroundings, she realized that they are in a place filled with people. It is a place with the presence of both men and women, alcohol scent filled her nose and laughter can be heard. It seems like the people here are having fun.

Walking on the sandy floor, Ai Le suspects that they are now outside, away from the inner halls of the unknown place. Being guided by the maids that pull the ropes on their wrist, they stopped at a particular place and was line up in a straight horizontal line.

"Gong Zi, these are the fresh batch of girls that I got. Do pick anyone that you favour."

With the blindfold removed, Ai Le saw a young looking man sitting on the stool in an extended pavilion. The chiffon curtains surrounding the pavilion blocked her view, and she couldn't see his true face.

"Hm. Not bad. Reward."

The young man seems satisfied with this batch of girls and the leader of the 3 man bowed respectfully as he takes the gold tales with greedy smile plastered on his face. As the young man remain silent in the pavilion, Ai Le noticed a group of men surrounding them like a vulture waiting for their meat.

Now, there are 30 women in line, with each finger pointed by the young man, the woman will be dragged away from the first man that grab holds of them. It seems like a first-come-first basis for the vulture like men who are surrounding them.

Ai Le bite on her lips to prevent herself from showing her anger. How dare he treat women like a toy or a product?

It is actually quite a scary scene to see ladies being dragged away by random men with filthy minds and psychotic perverted thoughts. No matter how loud or desperate their scream was, eventually it shimmered down to silence of cries.

As of now, there are 7 of them left in line.

Conversations between the men filled their ears, and Ai Le is grateful for the information given by them. So the young man in the pavilion is the son of a well-known noble, however they are unaware which family he belongs to, but he is one who has power of both the dark and light side of the society. Rich in wealth and strong in power of authority. Yet, no one knows where he comes from, which kingdom he belongs to.

All of them call him Lord Quan.

It is common for him to drop by here to check the goods of women and then, they will be sold off to established and well-known rich nobles in different kingdom as their underground lover or sex-slaves. It is also known that the last batch of ladies are of fine-quality, and they will be picked personally by Lord Quan.

Those whom Lord Quan pointed at will be disqualified and whoever wants them, they can take them. Sometimes, if Lord Quan come across a lady that fits his flavour, he will take them home and play for few days before killing them.

It is rumoured that he played and killed at least 40 over women.

So, that's why everyone hopes to be either picked by other men or sold off as goods to other nobles and not be hand-picked by him personally.

'Sick minded bastard. This means that I am in a dangerous position.' Ai Le thought.

Finally, they are left with 5 in line.

Standing in line with outfits that exposed their shoulders and collar bones, crop tops that stop above their belly button, a puffy looking pant with slits at the sides to show some skin from their thigh, it seems like a dancing outfit. Ai Le is unsure why they are dressed up like a performer, but probably it's just a sick preference from this Lord Quan.

As she drown in thoughts of the outfit she is wearing, she did not realize the finger of Lord Quan is pointed towards her. However, the direction he pointed is unclear. With Zi Ling on her right, it seems as though he is pointing towards Zi Ling but yet also pointing towards her.

For a moment, the crowd felt confused with Lord Quan's choice. Left or right?

Unlike the usual pointing, he points and did a finger motion to order the person to come to him. As the direction he pointed to is more skewed towards Zi Ling, Zi Ling's face paled instantly as though she was asked to walk to death.

Ai Le close her eyes and heaved a silent sigh, however Zi Ling caught the sigh and felt angry. It felt as though she is unhappy to be chosen to die instead of Ai Le. At this desperate moments, Zi Ling become selfish, upset and sensitive.

Why? Out of everyone, she was chosen to be sacrificed to Lord Quan? She did all her best to survive and even help to save Ai Le, these are goodwill deeds and yet the gods still punish her with such an ending. How unfair can the world be? Both she and Ai Le are commoners, yet she is born with beauty that is not commonly seen, luck seems to be on her side, and she is doom to have a bad ending.

The twisted anger on her face is apparent and the unfair justice she felt made her run her mouth freely as she kneels on the floor.

"Lord Quan, please pardon your choice of me, I am not qualified to serve someone so noble as I am just a low-class commoner. I am afraid that I will dirty your dignified class. But, I do know someone worthy as I suspect that she is from the noble class."

"Oh. Who?"

For the very first time, Lord Quan speaks and the crowd start to whisper into each other ears as this has never happened before.

"The lady beside me, I have observed her mannerism and the quality of clothes that she wore when she first entered, it definitely belongs to the noble class. Please reconsider your choice as she is definitely of the better choice." Zi Ling pointed towards Ai Le.

Ai Le stare down at this woman, the first woman she met in this hell hole and took care of her. The initial bond that they had and the promises made to escape from this place together. The once genuine feelings now it looks like an ugly tactic for her to survive.

Luckily Ai Le isn't that innocent and so she did not trust Zi Ling that much, therefore the betrayal that she is doing now, it doesn't hurt her much. However, a small part of her heart hoped that her prejudice towards Zi Ling is untrue.

Human are ugly. A creature filled with dirt that does whatever it takes to survive.

Scoffing while staring at the head of Zi Ling, she turn and look at the shadow of Lord Quan. There is no sign of weakness or fear in her eyes, rather they look challenging, as though they are questioning Lord Quan's decision.

"You, come in here." Lord Quan ordered.

Walking in small steps with a steady pace, Ai Le held her head high and straighten her back, despite the ropes bounding her hand, she carried an aura of noblility that no one can question. Stopping at the entrance of the pavilion, Lord Quan ordered the men to cut the ropes free.

Using her left hand to push past the curtains, she enter the pavilion and come face-to-face with Lord Quan. For her first impression, to be honest he is not bad looking, rather he look like those dangerous playboy filled with experience of handling woman, able to captivate your attention.

For the very first time, Lord Quan face someone who held no fear in their eyes, staring right back at him as though she is challenging his pride of a man. He smiled as this is a very interesting experience. Most of the time, the ladies that he picked either faint in fear or cry non-stop until he decide their death.

Only her, looking at him like a human being, facing him hard on and telling him through her eyes that she is not afraid of him. The desire of dominating her and make her submit to him is burning, making him feeling a little hot and excited.

"Honey, come here." Lord Quan said while spreading his arms wide open.

Ai Le stare at this young attractive man with cautious eyes. Who does he think he is to order me, the highly dignified princess, to touch his disgusting skin of a pervert? Naturally, her face reflects what she thought and Lord Quan felt amused by it. Ignoring Ai Le's attitude, he stood up and swiftly hug her into his arms, made her straddle on him while he sits back onto the stool.

"You better let go of me."

Ai Le tried to warn him in her most threatening look, but it looks too cute to Lord Quan. As he use his hands to touch the skin of her face, suddenly his face freezed. Ai Le saw the change in his expression and wondered why. However he did not freeze for too long, and when he recovered, Ai Le feel that this guy is blooming with happiness. As though he found a treasure that he wanted for so long and now he possess them.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, as if he is testing something, slowly he play with her hair with a wide smile on his face. Using her freed hands to push against his shoulder to distance themselves, Ai Le frown with a displeased face.

"You said that you are not qualified to serve someone like me because you are of the low-class commoner, am I right?"

Lord Quan questioned Zi Ling without looking at her as he is busy playing with Ai Le's hair. Zi Ling, who remained in her kneeling position, shakily replied.

"Y-yes ... "

"You are right, after all, you aren't the one I chose. Though I have seen the ugly nature of human too many times, but this time, I am angry because you did this towards my precious honey."

"Anyone is able to play her with no limits, don't hesitate to break her."

With the final order, the crowd surrounding the ladies became chaotic and men run towards Zi Ling, grab and drag her roughly to an unknown place, soon to be known as hell. The remaining ladies are chosen to be sold off to other nobles and forced to kneel on the floor by the sides.

"Let go of me right now! You this piece of shit! How dare you!"

"Calm down my honey, let me shower you with love."

Lord Quan calmly pacify Ai Le and rested his forehead on the shoulder of hers while he takes in her womanly scent. As though the distance is still too far for him, he pressed hardly on her lower back, causing her to fall onto him and cause her to be in a vulnerable position.

"I warned you already. Let go of me you this filthy bastard!"

Her powerless threats sounds like music to his ears as he chuckle as this aggressive kitty, trying to escape his embrace, but he know that she will never be able to escape.