A few hours since the last chapter…

Tristain, Royal Capital, Grayfield estate

 

“I am so sorry I passed out during our play, but you were incredible!” The princess cooed from the bed she was laying on.

 

Her legs were bent at awkward angles and a bruise had formed on her stomach from the heavy impacts on her organs. She was wearing a brassiere and underwear that was white and more formal with a purple dress discarded on the floor. Currently, her legs were too weak to support her and she was unable to stand long enough to work all of the delicate hooks and latches involved to cinch it up.

 

“Fufufu! You don’t need to worry about me, I have a priest in my retinue.” The princess told him proudly when he looked her over on the bed.

 

Dudley… this woman is too much for you to handle… This thought passed through Ashton’s head before he turned his attention to a large chest sitting on a table. It bore the crest of the royal family and was identical to the two others he had once had in his possession. One was given to a priest and the other he had used to pay the teaching staff for his school.

 

“I am so proud of you! I first started making money this way in middle school, but you made so much more than I did the first time!~” His foster mother told him with a happy smile. 

 

Suddenly Ashton was beginning to realize why he had always put work first and relationships second, he had seen what endless lust had made his foster mother into. 

 

“Just shut up!” Ashton said aloud.

 

Instead of causing the princess any anger or outrage, it caused her to pull her legs together as she began to fidget. She turned red and her hands seemed to hesitate on whether or not they wanted to go between her legs.

 

“That is not fair Lord Grayfield! We don’t have time for another romp!” She said in frustration.

 

The door to the bedroom was opened up and several women wearing female guard uniforms began to make their way into the room. They began to move around as they picked up her discarded clothes and the outfit she had worn the night before. Even the wooden plug that was attached to the cat’s tail was collected and moved into an ornate chest carried by a set of guards. One of the guards wearing an ornate robe and small plates covering her vitals moved forward and began softly chanting as a light-filled the room and surrounded the princess.

 

A loving and caring presence radiated through the room that also seemed enigmatic, as it lingered just outside of touch like it didn’t want to be seen. It cast a lonely light inside of the large bedroom that was styled in the same dark colors as the rest of the mansion. The faces of the female guards were all hidden behind the metal helmets that made up their armor. It didn’t take long for the bruising on her body to recede enough for her to get to her feet and with the help of a pair of guards, they began putting her dress on.

 

“I was… setting the mood for… next time.” He told her after some quick thinking. “You can… be ready for it.”

 

“Oh? You have got me dripping with anticipation.” She told him with her sultry smile as they finished preparing her hair. 

 

He could tell that her guards must have done this many times as they had established a routine for it. Every movement was carefully crafted to scrub away any signs of her infidelity. This caused his eyes to turn towards the royal decree that was sitting on his bedside table where he had placed it after he had put the princess on the bed. All it had on it was a date to receive a private audience with the king and was scheduled for three days from now. 

 

“Do you have the financial reports prepared for me?” The princess asked her guards.

 

One of the women in armor opened up a satchel bag she was carrying and pulled out a leather-bound folder and presented it to the woman who was having her tiara put back in her hair. She took it and opened it briskly with a snap before she made a scowl after looking over several pages.

 

“They failed to mix the powder correctly again! That is an entire batch ruined! That is going to absorb a lot of the profits we were making from the new rifle line… Why are the armor orders so short this month?” The princess asked. “We missed six of them?!”

 

“Reporting, your highness!” An armored guard called with the same voice as the princess. “Master blacksmith Bori has died. We found large quantities of fairy dust in a small chest under the bed he died on. He was covered in vomit and had the same black eyes(AN: dilated pupils) as the rest of the victims.”

 

“Karri, I don’t like when you talk using my form.” The princess reminded the guard with a smile.

 

“Apologies, your highness!” The guard said as she removed her helmet and revealed a duplicate image to the princess, the only difference being her cold expression.

 

Suddenly her skin lifted off in strips, revealing a multitude of eyes in different colors followed by countless teeth of various shapes and sizes. The inner flesh resembled an octopus and seemed to be both shiny and rough at the same time as the strips of skin folded back over her face in a different way. Her hair that had been moving around changed to a fleshy color before it became a normal brown as her skin took on a peach color. In the end, the face he saw was so nondescript that he would lose the woman in any crowd she walked into.

 

“Thank you for your service, I will feed you some prisoners tonight.” The princess said with a smile as she patted the brown-haired woman’s head. “I bet it was so hard to have that piece of meat inside of you and not eat it.” 

 

“Your highness! He is not very appetizing, he is much too weak.” The guard responded with a formal bow. “I have followed your advice to keep a smile on my face the entire time and offer him encouragement!”

 

“It will increase the amount he spends on prostitution, but I have already accounted for that…” The princess muttered. “Did the madam come by and beg you to moan for him again?” 

 

“She did, she made the same suggestions as last time, your highness.” The guard replied.

 

“Like hell, I am going to accept this marriage because the House of Lords decreed it!” The princess said with a stomp of her foot before she turned a gentle gaze to Ashton, and more specifically his crotch. ”I could never forget about you! Not after how thoroughly you have carved your shape into me! Wait for me, next time I will shower you in my love pro-per-ly!”

 

A smile crossed her face and he could see drool coming out of her mouth that she had to suck down her throat. This was a result of the potions she had used to better transform her body to be a better receptacle for-

 

This is bullshit! Why do I have to deal with his psycho girlfriend!?! Ashton cut off his thoughts as one of the guards walked forward with a small bag.

 

“Princess, you are going to start dripping again. If we stay too long you might not have enough underwear again.” The guard reminded her politely.

 

“You are right, Sophie.” The princess said to the guard before she turned her attention to Ashton again. “Lord Grayfield, next time I will ensure that we have more time… Please wait for me, my love!” 

 

The princess said this as she turned to leave his bedroom, the guards formed ranks around her and quickly moved to protect her as they moved through the mansion. All of their movements were neat and uniform which showed how much they all marched together, but something was nagging at him. How did the king not know of this scandal if the guards that followed her were employed by the crown? It was also clear that this had been going on for a long time as she knew where everything was in his mansion.

 

This whole situation is strange… I feel like I won’t understand what is happening until I see the king… So far when compared to her two brothers, the princess was the most competent of the royals he had seen so far. With a sharp mind that was able to quickly handle any situation and a focus on planning, she was quite an impressive lady. She also doesn’t have much political power since the royal family is established on patriarchy…

 

“I don’t have enough information…” Ashton muttered.

 

“You could have scraped out every single bit of it from the princess! You missed such a good opportunity!” His foster mother told him seriously. “But she will be back! You should focus on that!”

 

“Beretta, what is going on with me? Why am I hallucinating?” He asked her.

“You could try going to a priest, but you would be better off asking Deltarose.~” Beretta told him. “As a being that can be considered nature itself, she might be able to help you.~”

 

“I need to talk to Natalay, she will understand her best…” Ashton muttered.

 

Ashton turned and walked out of the bedroom, he began to walk down the long hallways towards the kitchen, it was still early in the morning. It didn’t take long for him to reach the dining room where he saw several maids working to clean the tables and chairs that had been added around the large table. Since he had so rarely eaten down here his chair was respectfully still tucked in, one thing he noticed was a lack of food on the table. Then a sound similar to a small marching army could be heard coming towards the dining room in formation.

 

“Oh!~ It’s Mochee!~” Beretta told him happily.

 

Suddenly two large doors were pushed open and Ashton could see what looked like a metal centipede made from many dome-shaped segments that had two arms coming out of the sides near the bottom. The smaller segment at the front with the large eyes turned towards Ashton and the small circle changed shape into a heart on the large pale crystal. This action caused him some surprise before he watched the creature begin to circle the table as many loud cracks were heard coming from its back. These opened into segments that showed a dome that held large plates in their center with the various foods he had gotten used to.

 

The legs had hands at the bottom and these appendages would turn in their sockets and lift the food out of the compartment on its back before moving it to the table then returning to the ground to propel it forward. It was incredibly efficient as it unloaded itself like a train and never stopped moving as it did a lap around the large table and filled it with food. Every time one of the plated segments on its back would crack open, it would release a strong and aromatic smell of various foods. Until the large metal creature that was several car lengths long passed and the tables were heaping with silver platters, Ashton just watched it all in shock.

 

“Mochee is showing off! Look at all of the bread is made for you!~” Beretta told him happily.

 

“Bread?” Ashton commented as he walked over and began to sniff at a small loaf that came from a silver bowl.

 

“The moment he bit into it, he realized that it had been tightly rolled like a cinnamon bun, but inside of it was a mixture of carrot and cream cheese. 

A small dash of honey had been used for flavoring but it had been topped with nuts and nutmeg. He knew that these were all expensive spices but the bread had been made crispy and thin like a croissant. Finishing one, he grabbed another and bit into it, but this one was green inside of it and had a strong nutty flavor that filled his mouth. It was creamy and moist inside and completely different from the first bread he had eaten.

 

This is incredible! Sweet potatoes, pumpkins, nuts, all kinds of fare were used to create these morning types of bread and various spreads were on the table. Some of them were made from butter, cheeses, and nut spreads like peanut butter. Ashton found himself ignoring the meat dishes and the salads as he kept eating the small palms-sized pieces of bread from the large bowl. He even found himself ignoring things he traditionally found himself eating like bacon and eggs.

 

“I must get this creature on my side!” Ashton said as he wiped a thick brown spread from his lips made from a thick spread that tasted like one he had liked on Earth.

 

“You should finish wiping the crumbs from your face when you say that.” A female voice told him from the back.

 

Ashton had often eaten at restaurants because he didn’t have the time to invest in cooking every single meal. This had taught him a valuable lesson when it came to enjoying good food.

 

“It is just a sign of how good the food is, I can’t bear to part with even the crumbs,” Ashton responded.

 

“You are good with your words, Lord Grayfield would have been impressed.” She responded.

 

“Too bad he isn’t around anymore,” Ashton responded.

 

She scowled at him but he decided to continue, that was because he had to in this situation.

 

“After all, I have to make changes to everything he left me, the brothels, the gambling dens, and even the taverns will need to be changed,” Ashton said as he held up his fingers one at a time. “There are also farms, mines, and orchards that will all need to be looked at. I can only change them one at a time though.”

 

“You are still making the slaves sleep with men that they don’t want to!” She accused him.

 

“That’s true, do you have any idea how expensive the upkeep is for the staff here?” Ashton asked her. “Just the potions for you alone cost tens of gold coins and these fluctuate based on the availability of the ingredients and this is only you. If I release you, the only thing you can do is find somewhere far outside of human settlements and await your inevitable fate of becoming a beast. Most of you would be killed for the magical parts they could rip from your corpses and sell to one of the many stores who dabble in them.”

 

He had noticed that she was no longer looking at him and was instead staring at the floor, he also could not see her eyes behind her cream-colored hair.

 

“Kind of like how I have been forced to accept my position of being someone evil, the women at the brothel are now working on their backs happily as they take as much money as they can from their customers. If they want to fleece them for every copper they can, while no more beatings are allowed to be administered to them.” Ashton explained. “Also they are now paying towards their freedom which is recorded clearly in a log in writing that they can take to the magistrate if we fail to uphold our end of the bargain. Now most of them are exchanging pointers on how to best please men while buying clothes and make-up, while I am no saint I am at least fair.”

 

Turning around once again, he noticed she was still in her locked up state with her head held to the ground. From the moment he had seen the second chest, he had known that the second prince had probably made her some promises, he wasn’t an idiot when it came to people like him. Throughout his childhood, he had met all kinds of different children and even gone to group homes filled with gang members right out of juvenile facilities. Many of these children would, unfortunately, go on to become criminals throughout their entire lives because their core personalities never changed. 

 

“I go to see the king three days from now, during that time I will be going to the slave trader that the royal family uses. He is named Lazav, and I am told that if your brother is still alive he will be able to find him.” Ashton explained. “I would like you to go with me and help me play a prank on the second prince.”

 

“You figured out…” She muttered quietly.

 

“I am not a fool, I know he at least made you an offer, whether or not you accepted it is something I am unsure of but if I were him then that’s what I would have done,” Ashton concluded. “I am pretty sure that the royal family has a tool that can open the collars that are supposed to be unopenable, they are the ones who control the manufacture of them after all. It is illegal to research the creation of them and they have lots of failsafes in them is what the prostitutes told me.” 

 

Reaching down, he picked up a small roll that was shaped like a pretzel and took a bite from it. He immediately regretted it as the salt, cheese, and meat mash that filled it was all incredible. Cheese sauce began to drip from his chin as he found himself quickly grabbing a second one of the rolls from the table and eating it as well. 

 

“I would have traded blackmail material in exchange for freeing you, that way he could control me from the shadows and you can go on your way.” Ashton had to pause here as he started laughing at the thought. “Let me ask you something, do you know what makes something valuable?”

 

“How good it is?” She offered after a moment.

 

“Wrong, completely and utterly,” Ashton said as he held up the empty bowl that was once filled with bread. “The scarcity. The crumbs in this bowl would be priceless during a time of famine, while gold would be useless if there wasn’t any food to buy. Nice jewelry is useless if it is on a corpse.”

 

Ashton set the empty bowl on the table then grabbed three small buns that he had no idea what they were but smelled delicious. He set two on the table and held the third one in his hand.  

 

“Let’s say that these two buns were the only ones in existence, but the chef who made them is still alive and suddenly makes a third. Now they have lost their value and if he keeps making them the price will continue to fall.” Ashton said. “How do you keep the price of the buns from falling?”

 

“You eat the buns…” She muttered.

 

“ You kill the chef,” Ashton said ominously. “When we are talking about blackmail, and the product being information that can be passed from person to person, how do you keep the secret from escaping?” 

 

“I already knew he was planning to kill me if I betrayed you…” Natalay told him with her shoulders shaking and her nails dug into her palms. “People who try to offer you flowery promises can never be trusted… they will always try to betray you…”

 

“Then don’t listen to them,” Ashton said after he finished eating the second of the three buns, they were filled with a bean paste that wasn’t sweet and carried a rich flavor. “Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear. That is a quote by someone named Edgar Allen Poe. It will get you far if you follow it, although you will be quite lonely.”

 

“It is hard to take you seriously when there is bean paste and cheese on your face…” Natalay told him softly.

 

“Where do you think shame comes in?” Ashton said before his eyes seemed to track to an empty spot in the room where a woman only he could see was trying to get his attention.  “It usually only comes after it is no longer fun anymore. A whore usually doesn’t experience shame at any point during their acts until they are about to face consequences for it.”

 

“That is funny considering you are covered in the princess’ scent,” Natalay told him as she sighed out in defeat.

 

“She is like a sprinkler, I thought she was peeing on me at first…” Ashton shook his head and held up a hand to signal he didn’t want to speak of it any further. “I still feel raw and I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

“If you knew I could betray you, why did you wait till now to confront me?” She asked.

 

“So you could see the changes I made with your own eyes. After spending some time in this world, I realized my initial showing was quite pathetic. The moment that you were sold to humans your fate was bound to mine, after all, there is no freedom for you anymore in our current society.” Ashton concluded. “That’s why you weren’t eager to be let go by the second prince even though the chance was dangled in front of your eyes, only an idiot would think of something like that.”

 

The image of a woman with blood-red hair and long white tails appeared in his mind as she used them like furry fists to beat a group of misbehaving customers. Then the image of her drinking beer right from a keg as she used a pair of her tails to balance the large barrel over her head. Then the image of her asleep on the ground wrapped in her tails like a large furry cocoon as the sound of loud snoring erupted followed by a lim occasionally poking out of the tails before getting cold. He shook his head to clear his mind of the images as he decided to finish his point.

 

“The conclusion I reached after I put myself in your position was that me being weak and ineffective is the worst thing that can happen for you and if I wanted your help then I would need to have some results,” Ashton concluded. “So I waited till now since I realized you probably didn’t give the second prince anything, or you would have behaved differently.”

 

“Then what do you want? You have never been clear on that.” She demanded.

 

“I just want to survive,” Ashton said with a sigh as he looked back at the woman that only he could see.

 

The more he ignored her the more desperately she tried to get his attention, she had been screaming for his attention the entire time he had been trying to have this conversation. This was an important moment for him since he had already messed up his first showing of himself. 

 

“Alright, I will help you,” Natalay told him. “But you need to find my brother and take care of us.”

 

This caused him to breathe out a sigh of relief that he couldn’t show on the surface but he felt better knowing she was actually on his side and not just an employee.

 

“That shouldn’t be a problem, I already have money for it upstairs.” Ashton sighed as he didn’t want to use the money he got from prostitution but it put him in his worker's position to a degree. 

 

“She… paid you…” Natalay muttered before she started laughing too hard to finish. 

 

A slight smile crossed his face as he could find the humor in his situation, after all, he would never have been able to make it as an assistant store manager if he didn’t have a strong mental constitution. He had plenty of experience preventing his employees from getting poached by other businesses and he had seen countless tactics employed. Natalay finally finished with her laughing and wiped the tears from her eyes, the idea of her Lord acting like the various prostitutes he owned was amusing to her.

 

“You have only changed one brothel though, what about the rest of them?” Natalay asked him.

 

“Easy enough, I will just use the same model on the rest of them. I can just change the decor, give them their themes, and let them compete against each other.” Ashton concluded as he rubbed his bloated stomach and nodded contentedly, in front of him were three large and empty bread bowls. “I don’t plan to expand in that business direction though, instead I want to expand in other directions.” 

 

“What did you want to do to the second prince? He gave me a pendant that he said would allow me to contact him...” Natalay asked.

 

“He is going to have a way to remove the collar and I want you to take note of the tool and its characteristics. I imagine he can interfere with the collar without releasing it and he will use this to get the information he wants.” Ashton responded. “We are going to give him fool’s gold.”

 

“Fool’s gold?” She asked. “What’s that?”

 

“I’ll explain it in detail over the next couple of days, but first I need some information from you.” He said as he stared at his foster mother who was standing at arm’s length waving in his direction. “I need to know more about Deltarose.”

 

Next Chapter: The Simple-Minded Maid