Chapter 141: The Scales of Love and Status
“Hey, hey, is it true that the legal wife is having a child?”
Shio just naturally popped up.
She was lying on the sofa in my living room.
Well, I did give her a spare key, so it’s not exactly strange. She really doesn’t hold back…
“It’s true.”
“Oh, really! Is it a boy?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“If it’s a boy, then I can live at Dru’s house too, right?”
Hmm?
“…What are you talking about?”
“Eh? Margot told me?”
I glanced sideways.
Lying on the sofa was the white-haired High Elf. Margot.
“Mmm… In human society, the legal wife’s male child is the heir.”
Ah…?
Ah, I see.
That’s right, yeah, that makes sense.
“So you were holding back until Rosalinde gave birth to a boy?”
“Mmm… If I bore a male child before the legal wife, it would cause trouble…”
Ah, a family feud…
On Earth too, stories about succession disputes were a classic trope where a stupid amount of blood was spilled. Is it the same in this world?
I mean, I’ve been using magic to, uh, do that thing to prevent pregnancies… but were these girls also thinking about various things?
“Besides, Rosalinde-sama is frail. We didn’t know if even she could give birth safely. So, we couldn’t afford to be careless either.”
Ah…
So this was also why everyone vaguely refused when I suggested living together, huh?
Especially my commoner lovers, they couldn’t exactly say, “It’s impossible because Rosalinde is in the way,” could they?
Just saying something like that, even if only I heard it, would probably be terrifying. After all, lèse-majesté exists in this world. You can seriously get executed.
Of course, Count Missgancia has also carried out executions for lèse-majesté several times.
Count Missgancia himself is the type to ignore criticism from the worthless rabble, but if he’s publicly insulted, he has to kill them. That’s a noble’s duty, you see.
Nobles in this kind of world, in this kind of era, are basically like yakuza, so if they lose face, they have to physically crush the offender back, or they’ll be looked down upon and have everything taken from them…
“So, if the legal wife has a boy, we can have children too, and live in Dru’s house!”
Huh?
I see, I see…
So they were having these kinds of private discussions while I wasn’t around.
It’s true I don’t like those kinds of topics. I’ve even publicly stated I don’t like them.
But in this era, in this world, things like “bloodlines” and “succession,” topics like from medieval times on Earth, are unavoidable.
So, my lovers decided on this amongst themselves while I wasn’t involved?
That’s extremely helpful…
There were probably various conflicts of interest, negotiations, and arguments among my lovers.
But I don’t want to see the people I care about quarreling.
Knowing that, they handled it behind the scenes for me…
I’m truly a lucky guy to have such capable lovers.
Incidentally, regarding my inheritance and whatnot, I’ve already told them, “You can do whatever you want with it.”
If, by some chance, I die, they can take the mansion, the money, everything.
Also…
For Tris, who has nowhere else to go, I’m thinking of giving her my greatest asset, the “Garden” itself.
But Tris says she’ll kill herself if I die, so it might be pointless.
No, I don’t plan on dying in the first place, and it doesn’t seem likely…
I’ve even made arrangements so I might be able to resurrect even if I die, so unless someone comes up with a pretty elaborate strategy, I don’t think they can kill me, you know? I’m basically a gimmick boss.
Well, anyway, whether Rosalinde gives birth to a boy or a girl, either way, it feels like the relationship dynamics around me will settle down for a bit.
If Rosalinde properly produces an heir, my other lovers can apparently live in my mansion without reservation and have children too.
Even if it’s a girl, well, living together with my lovers will probably be greenlit. There might be squabbles over succession rights, but apparently, if a woman keeps giving birth only to girls, her “womb” is considered worthless.
“Value” in a “womb,” huh? That’s a mindset I feel like I’ve only ever heard in certain types of ero-manga…
That whole area is really awful. Seriously, it’s worse than the Showa era, let alone Reiwa.
If a woman becomes unable to bear children, even slightly, she’s treated as “worthless” just for that, called “barren,” and treated horribly.
Eh? Enter a convent?
No, well… as you can see, this world doesn’t have a single dominant religion like Christianity.
Convents, sure, they exist. There are some in this town of Midford and within the territory.
But they aren’t anything amazing.
It seems they make and sell mead (honey wine), but what they’re doing is basically poor farming, a self-sufficient life.
The convents inside the town feel like places of exile for noblewomen.
Eh? Commoner women? It’s more like, “Don’t know ’em, why don’t they just die?” Same old story.
“Dru, here.”
As I sat on the sofa, having come to a rather unpleasant understanding, Shio patted her thigh.
Oh, are you gonna give me a lap pillow?
Yay!
…Yep, they’re firm with muscle!