Chapter 80 - After All, You Need Three Trees (木) To Make A Wood (森) (1/2)

”Ah, actually, I'm going to need forms DCC-034X and DWC-234 revised in triplicate.”

Bridget sat hunched over the table with her tongue sticking out in deep concentration. Her delicate brows were scrunched together cutely as she filled in the small but densely-packed-with-text papers in front of her.

She felt a cold sweat come on at the other woman's words.

All she wanted was a date! What's with all this...all this bureaucratic bullshit? And the questions! Three sizes? Fetishes? preferred position?

….What did she even mean, preferred position? There were others?!

Stairway to heaven….lotus...butter churner….standing wheelbarrow, swiss snowball blitz, David Copperfield…!

Oh gods above….

She really didn't know so many existed! Her cheeks burned just reading about them.

”The Young Master is a genius, after all,” Vera commented.

Bridget felt that her former husband must be a rather bland lover and that Damien must be quite a prodigious one. Such imagination!

She gulped.

What sort of wondrous things had she been missing out on all these years?

”I can't believe you're actually filling that out.” Damien scoffed.

Bridget almost agreed with him. Any other time she may have thought it beneath her. And maybe it was. But he's....well, he's Damien Claybrook. The young man was part of the most influential and wealthy family in their kingdom. Him having a mistress or two wouldn't be especially odd.

Besides, she'd spent most of her teenage and a.d.u.l.t life with a man she couldn't stand. After such a long time in an unhappy marriage that she'd been forced into she didn't want to let a chance like this go just because of some notion that it somehow cheapened her.

She wasn't a young woman anymore. Instead of going out and go through all the effort of meeting someone and hope they were a good man she'd rather choose to be with someone who had already proven himself nice, caring and supportive.

Why bother searching aimlessly when such a good man was already right in front of her? Like she thought before, maybe meeting him again really was fate.

”Don't listen to him. You even get benefits. Dental, life and health insurance, baked goods on demand, three meals a day, 100 gold a month.” Vera was selling the deal hard, a true saleswoman.

”Everything about this is just stupid.” Damien stood. ”Do what you want, but I don't have to follow it.” He couldn't believe these two were actually pulling this kind of thing right in front of him.

This kid had some nerve doing this without even consulting him. Luckily he didn't have to go along with this idiot idea. As if he's the type to just meekly stay seated while his women discussed who gets him on what days.

Normally this is the point in an anime where he'd be hoping for the main character to say, ”Yup, I'm done.” And move to a new town and meet new girls who WOULDN'T be trying to decide things for him like he didn't exist.

But goddammit if he wasn't soft on his little tree nymph. So instead of leaving her, he was simply going to let her go through the motions and not contribute his end of her bargain.

He felt a bit sorry for Garter-belt Milf, but hey, he can't just accept what's happening. He's said it once and he'll say it again, harems are too much trouble!

So without further delay, he promptly left the three women to their own devices.

In complete and total opposition of his current decision, however, his last thoughts on the matter were: ”I'm going to have to make a triple-XL-sized onesie this time, aren't I?...Ugandan Knuckles, maybe. Could be cute? Maybe I should start her on a diet. Heh. I shall show her Da Wae.” Before he scolded himself and purged said thoughts from his mind.

Vera watched him leave with a profound look in her eyes. ”Don't worry, he'll come around.” She wasn't sure how she knew, but she could feel it.

”Is it alright if I finish this later?” Bridget knew he was upset and didn't want to end things on a sour note.

”I suppose. But I'll need you initials here, here, and here along with your signed written consent at being treated as an object for the Young Master's s.e.x.u.a.l gratification during nightly activities--don't worry, though the words are crude giving yourself entirely over to the Young Master's trained hand will ensure a much deeper, thorough and pleasurable experience. As I'm sure you understand due to past involvements as a client of his. However, in signing you will also be waiving away your rights at a chance for the position of Head Wife should you marry in. This, of course, is my title alone.” She shan't budge on this small but important detail. ”Furthermore according to Article IX subsection 3 paragraph 5....”

Watching the Young Master taught her to be incredibly meticulous when it came to legal doc.u.ments.

Bridget frowned. S.e.x doll...that term really did seem rather degrading. However, somehow, it also didn't seem bad? She briefly tried to imagine what giving herself over to him would entail in regards to these ”nightly activities.” Was she the type to enjoy this...what was it? Humiliation play? The definition given from the fetish list a few pages ago popped into her head.

She blushed in spite of herself as a picture of chains, wh.i.p.s and dog collars came to life in her head. How vulgar...she should be ash--

”By the way, neither I nor the Young Master kink shame,” Vera assured in a timely fashion. It seemed many of the girls who liked the Young Master were masochistic on some level or another. Accepting this as simply part of what turns them on was something she learned from her Mother's wisdom. It's much better than thinking it was somehow inherently s.e.xist or demeaning.

Actually the Young Master is normally the one being taken advantage of in this sense, now that she thought about it. The recent event with his clone being kidnapped and all but s.e.x.u.a.lly assaulted by various groups of young girls being the best example.

”I wasn't thinking anything worth being shamed for anyway.” Bridget cleared her throat and straightened herself, summoning all the remaining shreds of dignity she could muster after having just agreed to being a mistress and signing the rights to her body over to a 15-year-old under the allure of an incredibly wild and satisfying s.e.x life.

”Of course not.” Vera smoothly replied

The woman looked down at the doc.u.ments one last time. ”But why do I feel this damn thing is even more detailed and legally binding than my last marriage registration?”

Vera waved off her concern.”No, again don't worry. This is mainly an application, a formality. Rather, think of it as a trial run. If things between you and the Young Master don't work out over the course of the next few months you won't be bound by the terms listed in the contract--the last paper you just signed regarding the use of your body during s.e.x.u.a.l intercourse with the Young Master. You wouldn't qualify for the position of mistress and/or concubine in that case, why would we keep you? Only after you are fully accepted by the Young Master, in a s.e.x.u.a.l context, would your application be processed. Anyway, though I say this only now I didn't mind welcoming you to the team earlier because I had little doubt you would make the cut. You are, after all, well within the Young Master's strike zone. ”

Bridget's head was swimming. She could barely keep up with what this woman was saying.

”This really is weird.” She didn't even want to consider what her little Avery would think after finding out her mother was planning to date a man half her age, someone who went to the same school as herself no less!

In response, Vera just collected the doc.u.ments, placed them in a leather bag and gracefully rose from her seat. She once more extended an arm towards Bridget.

”Although it's again a tad bit early, welcome aboard... partner.” She added after a moment. ”Let's work hard together.” The words themselves were kind, but her tone was cool and professional, the woman's demeanor far from being a warm reception.

Even so, Bridget found herself reaching out all the same. ”Yes. Lets.” She offered a small, though somewhat strained, smile.

Meanwhile, a certain lamp post was struggling with an inner turmoil. Her interest in those doc.u.ments was obviously not because they could somehow benefit her personally, she reasoned.

Of course not.

***

Mary roamed the streets in solitary, as was her habit in recent days.

Her and Muriel had barely spoken to each other the past few weeks and Mary couldn't for the life of her understand why the woman was being so passive-aggressive all of a sudden. Still, she knew better than to stick around and provoke an upset Muriel so she'd taken to go out on walks more and more lately. The less time she spent in the house the better. The woman would eventually calm down, Mary knew, it would just take a while.

Though somehow every time she went and came back, her Lady would give her an even colder glare and gnash her teeth in anger and say, ”Enjoy yourself, did you?” with bone-chilling resentment. Why she did so Mary hadn't the faintest clue and at this point she was too scared to ask. Better to ignore the problem and let it die down on its own.

Trying to ask what was wrong and calmly hash it out with her simply wasn't an option. No matter what, such logic wouldn't work on someone like Muriel. The woman was just that unreasonable. Even if you were innocent, as long as she was angry you were still guilty in her eyes.

Which is why her walks kept becoming longer and longer.

This left her with a lot of time to get lost in thought. Some people thought this calming, a chance to be alone and relax a bit. For Mary, this just meant recalling a certain event she'd rather not contemplate if she could help it.