CH 24

"The defendant, Desmond Damwead, step forward."

"Yes."

I followed the call and took the stand.

Courtroom.

"If you have something to say, you can say it first."

A beautiful woman with wavy platinum blonde hair stood on a particularly high platform.  Her large emerald eyes looked down at me, and although her face was youthful and pretty, as if she were still in her twenties or so, in this quiet and solemn place, I was smitten by her noble and dignified appearance, as if she were a legitimate princess.

However, when she was dressed as a judge, it looked a little like we were at a playground, and I couldn't help but smile.

But, solemnly.

"The appearance of the people in this region is usually flaxen hair and auburn eyes, and then this girl with golden hair and blue eyes--"

She looked over the information Maia had given her.

The girl's name is Emily. She is six years old, and from what I can tell, she has some magical power. How long ago did the defendant, Desmond Damwead, begin to rule this estate?

"Eight years ago."

*Kah!*

And then the sound of hard heels hit the ground.

The one who gave a voice was a cool-looking woman with reddish hair pulled up in an updos. She wore intelligent glasses, had a firm posture, and her fearlessly tailored business suit looked like armor. Unlike the presiding judge, she wasn't overly seductive, but her hip line, accentuated by the suit, was distracting. I would love to hire her not as a prosecutor, but as a skilled secretary and sexually harass her. She gave me a penetrating look like a blade, as if she had noticed my evil feelings.

"As I have previously reported to your Honor, according to my investigations, the accused, Desmond Damwead, has been found to have accepted the now-defunct practice of impregnating women on their wedding night."

"What's wrong with that? That's the privilege of the commoner, and I was merely fulfilling my duties as a nobleman."

"Well, yes. Desmond Damwead was merely doing his duty as a nobleman."

The man in charge of my defense was an old gentleman with gray hair. He wore a slender, elegant suit, with full eyebrows and mustache, and his cunning, old-fashioned eloquence was sure to put even the most sophisticated secretary to shame, as if he didn't care about the little girl.

"Even if he have a child, it will be a child of the commoner, not of a noble family. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Objection."

The prosecutor's office woman was solemn.

"Wouldn't it be inhumane, to allow another woman to bear your child before your lawful wedded mate has conceived?"

"Objection," the gray-hair defense attorney said solemnly.

"This is a courtroom where the law judges. Wouldn't it be detrimental to a fair and impartial verdict to bring up such an uncertain and ill-defined subject as humanitarianism?　There is no injustice in Desmond Damwead's actions under the law.

In the first place, the right to a wedding night is the right of a commoner to receive the child of a nobleman who has magical powers and who cannot originally conceive, as a wedding gift. Most noblemen refuse this request, but Desmond Damwead's act is rather admirable, not to be blamed in this way. He is fulfilling his duty as a nobleman. His wife, on the other hand, has not done her duty as a wife, and has fled by drowning herself with a fantasy story without paying attention to her husband."

The audience buzzed with his provocative attitude. Among them were father, Viscount Damwead, and father-in-law, Earl of Terrace and the little platinum blonde was baring her teeth at Grandpa in an overtly belligerent manner--

*Knock, knock!*

"Quiet, please, quiet."

The cute voice of the judge hitting the wooden hammer made the courtroom quiet as if it had been hit by cold water.

Her large emerald eyes reflected the shameful image of her unfaithful husband like the surface of a lake.

"The defendant, Desmond Damwead."

"Yes."

"Do you acknowledge that this Emily girl is your daughter?

"Yes."

There's no point in making an apology here. Just let the facts be what they are. And Emily's mother, a thin woman, was puffing out her chest in relief.

The judge gave a slight nod.

"Then I hereby pronounce judgment."

My spine stiffens. The audience, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney  looking as jolted as ever - gulp hard at the judge's decision.

(By the way, this is the courtroom in Desmond Damwead's brain. and even though it is modeled after real people and  real institutions, it contains a great deal of Desmond Damwead's subjectivity and prejudice. Please do not confuse the two.)

And the verdict is...

◇

"You're doing Noble's duty. That's very admirable, Desmond-sama."

Her large emerald eyes widened, and Charlotte, the judge, stared at me with a gleam of respect. "I admire your generosity and concern for the Commoners, Desmond. You are truly the model of nobility."

She said. And

"You said your name was Emily. Come here and let me take a good look at you. Wow, she looks a lot like Desmond with her beautiful blond hair and blue eyes. I'm sure you'll be even more beautiful when you grow up."

"Even if the other party is a commoner, if they receive Desmond's seed, the child will become so exquisite and exude nobility. I admire you, Desmond-sama."

With those eyes, Charlotte stared at Emily.

I couldn't help but feel a storm of emotions raging through my mind.

"Desmond-sama, who is this beautiful lady?" Emily, my own daughter said.

"............ this is my wife, Charlotte."

"Eh!"

Emily's pretty blue eyes widened.

"That's....."

I don't know why, but this six-year-old girl (my own daughter) was devastated. She then continued to stare at Charlotte with a sullen, complicated expression on her face.

My wife, I, and the daughter of my mistress .....no not even my mistress, are looking at each other.

It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a lunchtime drama, and my little heart and stomach are losing their endurance .......

However, as stated in the courtroom of my brain, and as Charlotte acknowledged, this was due to the first night's rights - the commoner's side's request.

It was a chance to get a child from a nobleman with the magic power.

This world and culture are too convenient for the aristocratic man.

--But it's true. If it is not a sudden miracle mutation, it is unlikely that a mere commoner will be born with magical powers. The ones who have magic power are usually from noble families. If you have magic power and can use magic, even if it is only a little, it will make your family life much easier.

So, if the nobleman would accept her, in this world where there is no sexual desire or eroticism, unless he is very possessive or a fastidious husband, he would bring her to him.

Her husband would offer to give me her first night as a new wife, asking me to impregnate her. It was a scene that could have aroused a vicious rage, but in this world of no sexual desire, it was like a process of lube, insertion, and ejaculation.

Ah,  hit it or missed it... (A child with magical powers can tell on the spot whether it has been fertilized or not.) Then, the next person...

That's how it was! (In fact, there could have been a waiting list.)

I couldn't help but think how wasteful it was, and I also couldn't help but think of the scene where a couple with swollen bellies from begging for fertility said happily, We will take good care of the child given to us by Lord Desmond.

What can I do? The milk you spill will not return. And a child that is born will not return.

It really helped that Charlotte was a venerable (old) noblewoman. Her feeling was that a child conceived on her wedding night and born to a commoner did not count as a child of the nobility, not to mention that it did not seem to be an object of jealousy.

In the present day, the closest thing to a feeling of jealousy would be to buy the sperm of a highly capable man from a sperm bank with a tentative sum of money called "first night rights" - regardless of whether it is natural fertilization with penetration rather than artificial insemination. With the medical science of this world, artificial insemination is not possible. This is a loophole that can only be found in a world where sexual desire and love are separated.

But Charlotte is beginning to develop a sexual desire, and I'm very, very worried that her relationship with the commoners will change her feelings about it.

And then my eyes met the maid's.

".................."

Her face was almost expressionless, and I couldn't read what she was thinking at all. But it was like a mirror, and it made me feel guilty .......

Aaahhh, if my wife tells you to kill me, it would help if you killed me gently .......

By the way, the reason why the right to a first night has fallen into obscurity and is not accepted by most of the nobility is because of the world's favoritism and respect for magic.

This is the world's idea of selection and respect for magic. What does it mean to spread magic to the commoners? . In the first place, the number of offspring is limited, and one must strengthen the power of one's own family by impregnating one's own wife and a side wife of venerable lineage. So why should they bother to give their precious offspring to lowly commoners? At best, it's nice to bless the offspring, to sow your seed into a vagina that hasn't yet accepted another man's genitals. but even if it's okay for a lowly commoner to call out to a nobleman, to touch his body, or even to request him to do so, it's still ridiculous. It's a shameful act.

Usually there was no such thing as a nobleman accepting the right to a first wedding night.

But I accepted it. Because...

"What's wrong?"

Charlotte tilted her head in a cute way.

This was not because she was worried about my exhaustion, but because of Emily, who kept staring at me. Even ignoring the favoritism of my wife, the cuteness of a twenty-nine-year-old is enough to rival that of a six-year-old, and I am here to say it out loud.

It seemed to make the six-year-old think so as well.

"cute....."

What is it about this twenty-nine-year-old that even makes this six-year-old think she's cute?   Emily, the six-year-old who was frightened by the cuteness of the twenty-nine-year-old, looked at her with soaring eyes.

"I won't lose!"

"Huh?"

"Ugh, pretty ......"

Gununununu,

What a sight to see a six-year-old trembling her shoulders like that. ......

--Unh, you sure are cute, though, aren't you?

It's enough to make a six-year-old pout. But why is Emily so hostile towards Charlotte?

"Emily, what's wrong with you?　She is someone I care about. I hope you can get along with her."

This very situation, where I'm introducing my real wife to the daughter of my mistress (not exactly), even though I feel guilty about it. As long as my wife is accepting it, I have no choice but to follow the way of the world for the time being. But

"Uuuuu........."

This time, the six-year-old started to wince.

It was a minefield that I should never have stepped on.

She looked a little like she was about to cry, but then she stared at me with a piercing glare (which seemed to contain more emotion than the look she gave Charlotte) and said,

"Desmond-sama idiot! I was planning to become Desmond's wife if you didn't take a fancy to her!　Even though we're related by blood. I'm a commoner, so you can't be considered a father. Randolph's grandfather said that if I became stronger and gained military merit, I could become a minor noble and even marry a nobleman. I thought that if Desmond-sama was left alone if I approached him while comforting him, I could marry him!

So, I won't lose, I won't give up even to Charlotte-sama!""

"------------!"

How many times do I feel like my heart is going to stop beating today?

The dignity of a noble and the dignity of a lord was no longer there, and I was left with blank eyes.

'I'm going to marry my father when I grow up.'

That's probably one of the most important things a father wants to hear from his daughter, no matter when or where in the world. If you were to ask me where I ranked it, I would have to say in the top three.

--until now. But if I had been targeted by such a well-planned and reasoned scheme - and if that serious challenge had been directed at my beloved wife, who had finally turned her back on me, I would have been...

"I won't lose."

The blue eyes that she had inherited from me were staring straight into the emerald eyes of my real wife.