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She's a wonderfully sharp-witted lady, this older sister of his younger sister. Joka of the Tree Princesses of the Verdigris House can hold her own and more in a conversation with Lahan, and it's such a pleasure. Having found out about Maomao's existence had been, in a sense, one of the best things that ever happened to him. Not just because it meant he wouldn't have to deal with the harsh training from his grandfather who, despite being a brilliant soldier, had the opposite of a gift in teaching, but because it introduced him to this beautiful courtesan.
Perhaps she's not as skilled a conversationalist as Meimei and Pairin, but that's far less important than her quick mind and, yes, her sharp tongue. With the many scrolls and books that her customers, nearly all intellectuals or would-be intellectuals, she is well-read, far more learned than one would expect of a mere prostitute. There's nothing "mere" about Joka, though. Lahan doesn't know the ranking between the Three Princesses, but in his mind, she's high above the other two. Yes,they certainly are beautiful, with numbers to match that beauty. But they couldn't hold a candle to Joka, not to him.
If he had had the funds, he would have considered buying her out. They would, he was sure, make brilliant babies together. Children with their shared wit and her beauty. Now that would be a force to be reckoned with.
But he doesn't have funds, only debts. In fact, it's because of the Verdigris House that the La clan is so in the red. Well, his father's fault for having Lahan go to several of his contacts to borrow money, to buy a courtesan from the Verdigris House. She hadn't even been an investment, seeing as she died not long after, predictably. And with the way his honourable father had broken after her death, enough to let himself be abducted by grandfather, could it even be counted as that thing he still was so mystified about, that so-called "emotional" investment? He would never know, he was sure.
Well, not that it mattered. With the beauty in front of him, making sharp jabs and countering his arguments in the discussion they're caught in, he has more important things to think about than his father's late wife; the stimulating conversation is far too enriching to divert his attention to more trivial matters.