I have many wives. Out of them all, Roxolane I perceive to be the most fragile, as of yet. Unlike the other three, she did endure quite a number of days in captivity, and that is bound to affect her, no matter how much of a brave face she's putting on for me. So for her, my plan revolves around making sure she feels secure. I already put in a lot of effort in making sure she feels appreciated and protected within the family. In fact, she might be a little irritated with me, if I perceive things right, for being overprotective. So for the outing, I go for the other part of it. I take her to the castle. Not to see the king, but to publicly available part of the palace to showcase the political power I wield. Then, a visit to the palace library (Abraham was mighty bemused when I asked about it and had issued me blanket permission to peruse the library and bring people I deem worthy with me.). And to round it off, a stay in the diplomatic corps. It is actually a funny tidbit - the palace has a part of it set aside as an inn catering exclusively to people who have been permitted to attend the court. It's normally used by visiting dignitaries and assorted nobles lacking the domicile in the capital that have some business to bring before the king.

"...We are going to the palace?" - Roxy inquires curiously, as we pass through the gates, the guards giving us polite nods. They probably recognize me on sight by now, given how many times I ended up visiting the palace for one reason or another. Roxolane seems to be taking this in good stride so far, although I can see her being a little surprised by the choice of the palace as the dating location.

"Yes, I thought you might be interested to see it." - I explain - "We're going to attend the luncheon for courtiers, then I have permission to show you around the royal library and gardens. There will be a late dinner reception, and after that, I'm going to show you around the diplomatic corps. Don't worry too much about it, the king is not going to be in attendance today, so it's just assorted courtiers milling around."

She frowns. "I'm... not so good with nobles." - she admits slowly - "Are you sure I won't be an embarrassment?"

"Roxy, relax. Primo, no one would dare to offend me. Secundo, your manners are actually better than a good deal of courtiers ever managed. So do not worry." - I tell her blithely - "Besides, there is a purpose to our visit. You are the most mysterious member of my harem, people are going to be curious. By introducing you to high society at our terms and on our time, we can circumvent some of the more annoying rumors and wild mass guessing about you before it crops up. Dealing with the crowd is annoying, admittedly, which is why I finagled library and garden visitations to give you something nice to look forward to after that. Dinner reception is going to be a quiet affair, most of the nobles without a reason to be here leave the palace in the afternoon."

She clearly still has reservations, but seems to be willing to trust my judgment. Good, I'll do my best to ensure this goes smoothly for her.

___

Well... I tried. And mostly succeeded, actually. A number of nobles are simply curious, and their introductions and questions bear that much out. But then again, there always is that one asshole who just has to try being an asshole. Case in point.

"My, my. I have heard the rumors, but I couldn't believe it until I saw it with my very own eyes." - says the problem. He is one of Ambercrombe Junior's pals. Ambercrombe Jr. himself had obviously remembered the oath I forced out of him and keeps his distance, but he did take some time to find pals and speak to them as soon as he spied me. Thankfully, most of them had turned his suggestions to interfere down cold. Good job guys, showing that survival instincts are not dead in the society. Unfortunately, this one decided to go for it.

"Goodness, I never realized lord Ambercrombe's word is valued so low." - I riposte - "Then again, he did show an appalling lack of self-preservation and bore the brunt of it. Wonder what he promised you to wear the bullseye in his stead."

Guy's heckles rise obviously, as he tries to wave it off - "You'll find I'm not quite as easily cowed as he is, lady Gillespie." Heh. I guess Ambercrombe Jr. is pretty pathetic even to his own chums, come to think of it.

"Sure, sure." - I continue - "Say, I have procured a number of interesting promissory notes from Konistan trading house. All of them writ by viscountcy of Dragele. Would be a shame if all of them got called in immediately, wouldn't it?"

Guy pales as I make that threat. Not so easily cowed, huh? Guess that bluff just got called. To be fair, he is far from the only member of this particular house making debts, and he knows it. He also knows that having a good chunk of their debt called in at once just might end with viscountcy gaining a new lord in short order.

"So that's it?" - he demands - "You are going to hide behind the gold?"

"I'm not hiding behind anything, little man." - I object - "I am reminding you that I have the means to exert pressure, if needs be. Want to make something out of it? I'm sure you can ask Ambercrombe how his duel went. Now run along. I have promised Roxolane to show her the best and brightest of Champagne. If you'll insist on ruining that impression, I'm not above ruining you right back in every way that counts."

"I do believe you'll find me much more capable opponent on a piste than lord Ambercrombe." - he objects - "Besides, I'm not doing anything objectionable. You, on the other hand? Aren't you betrothed to princess Lily-Anne? I wonder what she would think about you courting someone else so blatantly."

"Princess Lily-Anne is well aware of me, good sir." - Roxolane interjects finally - "So I daresay she would look at you and ask why did you think it would be news to her to begin with."

He jerks up to object, pauses as he realizes there is no purchase in this topic, and sneers - "I see. Very well, I will leave you to your courtship then."

I smile at him. "Much obliged." - I agree - "And a word of advice? Try not to stick your neck out for Ambercrombe again. His wits are quite, ah... suspect."

He huffs and finally leaves. Well, that was not so bad. I was half-expecting him to do something monumentally stupid and end up getting locked into dueling me or losing all of his honor in one fell swoop.

"Aaand that's the bad side of the court." - I quip softly - "Not so threatening when you have them by the bollocks, innit?"

Roxy bites back a surprised laugh, shaking her head. "No, that was... oddly amusing." - she agrees - "Though I'm glad he had the wits to back off. If he didn't, well... I fear you might have done something spectacular to put him in his place and we'd be scrutinized for the whole day after."

I nod to her. "Which is why money threat came out first and dueling threat second. If I made the dueling threat first, he might have been foolish enough to take me up on it. But knowing that I will ruin his life regardless of duel outcome? That gave him enough of a pause to step back and think it might be not worth it. Especially so, given he has nothing to gain out of this but approval of Ambercrombe Junior, whom he doesn't respect all that much to begin with."

She nods. "Say, can we swap things around? I think a stroll in the gardens would be just the thing right now." - she offers, hooking her arm with mine. I'm more than happy to oblige.

___

We... missed dinner entirely. Between a surprisingly long and enjoyable stroll in the gardens and an afternoon in the library (Yes, sharing a book is romantic. Low-key romance is a science all of its own, and I fucking dabbled in it. I'd say mastered, but that would be so arrogant gods just might smite me for that level of hubris. If I didn't explode like a balloon from the sheer size of it first.), we have completely lost track of time and regained some semblance of it only when one of the librarians had approached us with numerous apologies to remind us that it is the high time for us to clear out because that section of the palace is going on night curfew in a few minutes.

Well, that might actually be even better, in retrospect. I did ensure the suite reserved for us has some snacks just in case, and not having to deal with more nobles being nosy is probably better for Roxy anyway. She's been shown to society already, after all, if anyone has questions after this, Gossip Trio can cover it. They've been surprisingly helpful in managing PR, to be honest. Admittedly, I do treat them very well in return, but hey, reciprocity. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours and all that good jazz. And, since no one else had yet stumbled on a brilliant idea to run their own newspaper, they have a monopoly on disseminated news. And, to be honest, their Newspaper club is working out beyond well. So much beyond well that sir Malachi had approached them (with my permission, amusingly enough) and worked out a little deal with them under the table. Well, that's not quite right, actually. It's not as much under the table as simply not public. The gist of it is that they collate the factoids passed on by their growing network and give the digest on it to sir Malachi. Who, in turn, trawls the data for insights for his line of work. Klaus, eat your fucking heart out, you ain't got shit on the infonetwork sprawling the whole of Champagne kingdom now. And you never will. Because you're dead. Well, maybe your replacement is getting curious about it, but what exactly can they do? Grab random housewives for interrogation? Idiotic, to put it mildly. None of them actually know anything beyond being in Newspaper Club and passing up interesting local gossip in exchange for a subscription. And trio themselves are by now VERY well guarded. Both by sir Malachi's subordinates and by my eyespiders. Anything at all tries to happen to them, and... yeah, well.

Roxolane is a little bit overwhelmed by the opulence of the room. I have intentionally picked one that is decorated in the most northern fashion I could find, because the last thing I want is for her to think back to her time in Sultanate, and that means fur rags everywhere, silver goblets and absolutely fuck-off huge fireplace and equally huge canopied bed. Thankfully, she is promptly distracted from it all when her stomach growls.

"Yeah, let's get some food in us." - I agree, cheerfully overlooking her embarrassment - "Let me check... oh, wonderful, the lamb roast is still hot. I knew it was a good idea to request it placed next to the fireplace."

She opens her mouth to say something, pauses, and then giggles. "Yes, I could use some food right now." - she agrees, her embarrassment forgotten. A few moments later, we're sitting on the bearskin in front of the fireplace and doing our best to empty the clay pots with wooden spoons. Rustic and opulent, that's how north rolls. Our hunting lodge is in this style. Good memories.

...There is something I notice. Well... Sort of. As we progress through the meal and drinks, Roxy moves closer. By the time the meal remains are put away, we are very literally cuddling. Which is fine and nice and... I think Roxy is ramping up for more. And I'm STILL not sure if she's doing this because she wants to, or because she thinks I might kick her to the curb if she doesn't start ramping up the affection levels. So... annoying. This was my trouble in the last life too. I picked up strays all too often, and some times, the feelings ended up being bruised because I would miscalculate just how ready they were. A few times, moving too fast. More than a few times, moving too slow. Some of those ended up being mended by having a frank talk. Some... ended up in pretty ugly breakage. Not often, thankfully, but I'm still very much NOT IN FAVOR of this happening. No. Not at all.

"You know... I want to ask something of you." - she muses suddenly - "Why are you so... duplicitous? On one hand, you take me out to the palace. You show off the palace to me, and you show me off to the palace, you send all the flags that I'm yours to all and sundry... And yet, you shy away."

...Fuck it. Blatant honesty is the best policy. I've been burned enough trying to softpedal this kind of stuff before. "Same answer, Roxy. I do NOT want to try taking what you're not ready to give." - I tell her simply.

"Is that so." - she hums - "Very well then. Could you please explain to me just how in the name of gods I'm supposed to tell you I'm more than ready to give, because I already tried all that I could think of and you still don't grasp the hint!" Oh. Ow. What begins as a gentle question ends up as enraged hiss as she rolls over on me and pushes me over, hovering over me... angrily. Oh. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Overdid softpedaling. Darn.

"...I'm sorry." - I tell her, putting my hands on her waist - "Sometimes, I'm just not grasping hints. Blunt declarations tend to work in this case." She huffs, still angry, then leans closer and starts kissing me hungrily, her tongue invading my mouth without much ado and any hesitation. OOokay, message received loud and clear, I think and I slip my hands under her shirt, slowly tugging it upwards as I stroke her sides. She moans into the kiss, rubbing against me as she starts to return the favor, pulling on my clothes with an intensity I honestly didn't expect out of her.

As the kiss breaks at last, I smile at her and roll us over, slipping her shirt off in one smooth pull (a bit of tentacle assist here to make sure she gets no rag burns, I'm a gentle monster), then I divest myself of my own shirt to give her better access. Skirts follow a little later, as hands begin to roam over each other. Roxy is not entirely sure what she's doing, but she shows a lot of enthusiasm taking clues from me. So I take her through the paces, playing with her body as she plays with mine. The "study session" lasts well past midnight, and Roxy is a very attentive and diligent student. I'm proud of her... AND fucking horny.

Cytotoxin

So... I tried something, and I`m NOT going to try this again. The four chapters were written in parallel, rather than consecutively. It sucked, and I`m not happy with the chapters, but they at least are passable. The less said about headache and time spent on this, the better.