Afterwards

You pull back slightly from Kaede, resting your weight on your forearms as you look down at her flushed, content face.

"You don't mind getting pregnant?" you ask, a hint of curiosity in your voice. "A lot of places like this treat children as a liability."

Kaede catches her breath, her fingers gently tracing the lines of your shoulders as a bittersweet smile touches her lips.

"Previously, getting pregnant in this house was dangerous and heavily discouraged because it reduced a courtesan's popularity and earning potential. Most of the women didn't have regular patrons wealthy enough or loyal enough to pay off their bonds if they were carrying a child."

She pauses, her dark eyes looking up at you with absolute sincerity. "Times have changed, Uzumaki-sama. While it may sound a bit callous to outsiders, those of us who are willing to consider getting pregnant by you as an ultimate offering of our bodies—an honor similar to the act of sex itself. We want a piece of you to stay behind."

"Fair enough," you say, nodding slowly as the distinction clicks into place. As you already predicted, the ones who were hesitant or intimidated to sleep with you weren't worried about the workload; they were the senior courtesans who used to have wealthy regular patrons or secret lovers on the side, meaning they still had attachments outside the house.

Suddenly, a sharp wave of kinetic information snaps into your mind. A memory rushes through your consciousness as one of your perimeter shadow clones abruptly disperses, transferring its sensory data straight back to your main body.

You sigh, shaking your head at the sheer audacity.

"What is it?" Kaede asks, noticing the sudden shift in your expression.

"Just dealt with a little trespasser," you mutter, rolling off the futon and reaching for your clothes. "One of my clones just caught a young man trying to sneak through a second-story window left wide open by one of the girls. I had to rough him up a bit—though at least I was nice enough not to hit him in the face."

Kaede lets out an amused huff, sitting up and pulling a sheet over her bare chest. "Which girl?"

"Miki," you say, slipping your sandals back on. "Find her and dock her one month's salary, and add another month's payment directly toward chipping away at her bond. She thought she was being clever leaving that window cracked for her outside boyfriend."

You walk toward the door, throwing a final instruction over your shoulder. "If they want to meet, they can do it outside on their own time. I'm not running a charity hotel to support their illicit rendezvous."