CH 6

6. Ingrid and the Chastity Belt

A place of residence in the royal capital of Anhalt Kingdom.

Whenever I left my territory, I mobilized 20 people as soldiers, and I always take them with me.

It was to cut some funds.

My territory wasn’t so rich.

There were no specialty products either.

2 years ago, when I went to give a greeting to the Queen in place of my mother.

I didn’t want to think too much about the three months I must spend waiting in line for an audience with Queen Rezenlotte.

I was burdened with lodging expenses for 21 people, including myself, and I had a hard time managing the living expenses.

But not now.

As the counselor of the Second Princess, the royal family had prepared a splendid mansion that could easily accommodate 20 people.

It was one of the perks of being a counselor.

So since then, I’d been using this mansion as my residence in the royal capital.

“…I guess, it’s about time.”

Today, I was in the mansion, waiting for a guest.

Ingrid Company. The official purveyor of my Polydoro territory.

Well, the reason I said official purveyor, was because there were no merchants who came to my frontier territory with less than 300 people, except for Ingrid Company.

Ingrid Company. had been doing business with my territory since my predecessor――my mother’s generation.

All mediation was entrusted to the Chamber of Commerce.

Things that had been passed down from generation to generation.

Sharpening a magic-imbued greatsword, somewhat unsuitable for frontier territory nobles.

A new and renewed thing for my generation.

Repairing the chainmail that enveloped my 2m tall body.

And personally, but most importantly.

That was――

“Faust-sama, Ingrid Company has come.”

The Squire I recruited from my people knocked on the door and said so.

“Let her in”

“Excuse me. Sir Polydro, Counselor of the Second Princess.”

As if teasing, Ingrid, the owner of the Ingrid Company, greeted me.

Ever since I became Counselor of the Second Princess, she had preferred to use this way of calling me.

“Ingrid, Stop it. Even if you say I’m the Second Princess’ Counselor, there’s no faction, it’s just a small role.”

“Living in such a splendid mansion, how can you say that?”

Ingrid was in a good mood and looked around the room.

Certainly, the mansion was splendid.

The mansion in my Polydro territory was pale in comparison――in fact, this mansion was indeed splendid.

“We would like to take this opportunity, to expand the scale of our company.”

“…neither the Second Princess, nor I, have such influence, give up.”

Ingrid was a merchant after all.

Always on the lookout for profit opportunities.

However, in the end, the Second Princess Valliere, who was a spare for the First Princess Anastasia, had not much expenditure.

The fact that I couldn’t afford to buy anything extra from Ingrid.

Even more so, where there were merchants who were purveyors of the royal family.

There was no gap to insert her company.

And Ingrid, should have known about that as well.

“What, I expect you to be involved in a larger part of this country, Lord Polidoro.”

“……”

Ingrid’s eyes were sparkling with greed.

What did she see in me to have such eyes?

I didn’t know.

The Ingrid Company wasn’t a small company.

As expected, it wasn’t as good as the royal purveyor’s merchants, but still, it had a lot of connections to many craftsmen and blacksmiths. A company with a large sales channel within the Anhalt Kingdom.

What would be the reason why she was so attached to a frontier lord knight like me?

Well, whatever the reasons.

For sure, it wouldn’t hurt me.

Instead, it would be Ingrid, who would be making a loss.

More than that. Above all.

Personally, I’d been wanting to talk to her about the most important matter.

“Ingrid, I have something to tell you. Come a little closer.”

“Yes”

Ingrid walked over and I spoke in a low voice so that even the squire waiting outside the door couldn’t hear me.

“It’s about the chastity belt. Can you do something about it? You see, it hurts when I’ve an erection.”

“Again…? it’s about that again?”

Ingrid blushed slightly and spoke in a voice that matched my volume.

“I’ve told you before, right? Sir Polydro’s one―― was a custom-made piece to fit your size. I can’t help it.”

“It was when I was at age of 15. I must sneak my way to safely visit a rare male blacksmith. It was mentally painful.”

Chastity belt.

Needless to say, adult goods.

It didn’t change whether it was the Earth in my previous life or this stupid world.

It was sold mainly to control the chastity of men here.

However, my purpose was different.

I wore it to prevent an erection, or more precisely, to disguise an erection.

In my frontier territory, I managed to hide it by wearing baggy pants.

After leaving the territory, I couldn’t do that with formal clothes to go to the royal palace, or battlefield clothes.

“Anyway, it hurts when I’ve an erection. It hurts a lot.”

“In the first place, why do you get erections so often?”

“……”

…What to say…

I answered in the best way I could come up with.

“When I get emotional, or in a similar situation, I can’t help but get an erection. Don’t tell this anyone.”

In this world, this was also a kind of something a male should be shameful of. Here, a man would be regarded as an abnormal person if he easily got an erection just by looking at a woman’s naked body.

Still, it was way better than being regarded as a nasty male.

“… Well, should I say that it’s a way of being a knight of wrath?”

Ingrid blushed while murmuring so.

I guess, she didn’t know what best to say either…

Anyway, this chastity belt, really hurts――

“Ingrid, please don’t tell anyone that I bought myself a chastity belt. I know well, that I’m so far away from the preferred male type here. Still, I’m wearing a chastity belt. I don’t want to be falsely accused by aristocrats that I bought myself a chastity belt because I was afraid of being attacked.”

“I’m too scared to divulge customer information, much less leaking the purchases of nobles. So, please rest assured. Also, didn’t I still keep the secret of you making the chastity belt tightly?”

Well, that’s true.

Yeah, let’s trust Ingrid here.

“Anyway, it hurts when I’ve an erection.”

“……the chastity belt, would you like to change its size to a larger one instead of a fitted one?”

“That’s not good. If I’m wearing such a chastity belt in formal clothes, they’ll find out.”

If I had been married to someone, then that would be fine.

Controlling the husband’s chastity wasn’t so abnormal in this world.

However, it would be unwise to let the public know that while I was single, I was wearing a chastity belt.

I didn’t what to be falsely accused by an aristocrat, because I was wearing a chastity belt that I bought myself.

At the very least, if I had been the pretty boy type that the women of Anhalt Kingdom liked, I wouldn’t be judged even if I said I wore those to protect my chastity.

Anyway, ‘Nobility’, in a sense, could be said to be a business of honor and appearance.

So, I couldn’t and shouldn’t shame myself.

“Then, the only option is to continue using the chastity belt with a fit size.”

“Is that the only option…?”

I hung my head.

In this world, seeing naked women every day wasn’t something strange.

Of course, everyone usually wore clothes, but being naked was nothing to be ashamed of.

As expected, if a woman became a noble, she would wear a veil even if she were naked.

Yesterday, when I went to the royal palace, Queen Rezenlotte was wearing only a silk veil.

That appearance told me that this world was indeed a stupid world—In fact, I was in that stupid world.

Anyway, there was no malice that could be felt from the Queen with the appearance that seemed to appear in some kind of erotic novel illustration.

She was just showing off her physical beauty.

Still, my ‘son’ took a lot of damage.

After that, I was so unreasonably angry that I reflected on myself a little after I calmed down.

In conclusion.

No salvation for me here.

“Second Princess’ Counselor, Sir Polydro, I think it would be best for you to be a married man. Then, even if you’re found out to be wearing a chastity belt, there’ll be no problem.”

“If I can do it that easily, I will quickly get myself a wife.”

I wasn’t popular

To be exact, my rugged and muscular body wasn’t popular.

Even more so, when I was just a Lord of a small frontier.

In the city, the royal capital, there must be many nobles who were second and third daughters who couldn’t inherit the family’s wealth.

Still, there were many who showed reluctance to go from the royal capital to a frontier territory, except for military service, more so spending the rest of their lives there.

Even so, I didn’t give up and thought of a way.

Once I became the counselor of the Second Princess, I asked Princess Valliere to help me marry some random aristocrat woman.

However, with a very grumpy look on her face, she refused, saying that there was nothing she could prepare for me.

Really, very useless.

“Isn’t it okay to be Duchess Astarte’s lover?”

Ingrid suddenly said something out of the ordinary.

“You, what the hell are you saying?”

“Since the invasion of Willendorf, Duchess Astarte always declared Sir Polydro to be her comrade-in-arms. And as if flirting, bards have been singing stories related to it.”

“That was Duchess Astarte’s joke. No, even if she was serious, in the end, she would definitely get a husband who is suitable for a Duchess family from some nobleman with higher status than me. After all, there is too much difference in rank. I don’t want to just be a lover of someone.”

I didn’t dislike Duchess Astarte.

Rather, I liked her. She had big boobs after all.

But I hated to be a mere lover of someone.

More so, a lover of women who had a husband.

If I agreed to be her lover, surely, I could send the youngest child of Astarte to inherit the Polydro territory. But there would be still a possibility that the Polydro territory, my territory, my everything, would be stolen by a child who didn’t even inherit my blood.

Sorry, but that, I would never let that happen.

After all, it would be like spitting on my ancestors and my mother, who tried their best to get and maintain the territory.

“Sir Polydro, it seems you’re misunderstanding something.”

“What am I misunderstanding?”

As if having trouble with what to say, Ingrid hesitated――but in the end, she didn’t mutter anything.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

Leaving the mansion, as soon as Ingrid entered the carriage, she muttered to herself.

“Sir Polydro, you’re misunderstanding something. Duchess Astarte has no intention of taking a husband if Sir Polydoro becomes her lover.”

According to the information Ingrid got, that seemed to be the case.

Duchees Astarte was said to really love Sir Polydro.

Ingrid didn’t tell Sir Polydro about it because the information wasn’t always accurate.

And ――

“If I leaked it, what will happen if someone finds out about that? Even if it’s profitable for Duchess Astarte, I don’t want to talk about it.”

‘Demon Goddess Astarte’… with that nickname, she was said to be a rough but carefree woman.

In the enemy country of Willendorf, her nickname was, ‘Astarte the Exterminator’.

After repelling the invasion of Willendorf’s 1,000 people, together with the royal army, which was slow to come because it was positioned in a confrontation with the enemy country in the north, she went to counter-invasion Willendorf.

Duchess Astarte, like a demon, plundered the people of Willendorf.

All the women were killed and their corpses were crucified. The soldiers stabbed rebelling men with knives while raping them until they died, and all the surviving men were brought back to the Kingdom of Anhalt as slaves.

It was said that nothing remained behind the villages that Duchess Astarte plundered.

Whether in good or bad way, I don’t want to be noticed by that rough-tempered woman.

That woman is kind only to those whom she truly recognizes as her ally.

In a way, only the first princess Anastasia and Sir Polydro.

Thinking so, Ingrid’s spine trembled a little.

It felt as if the monitoring of the counselor of the First Princess, Duchess Astarte, were reaching Sir Polydro’s mansion.

Surely, it had actually enveloped the mansion area.

Duchess Astarte’s network couldn’t be made lightly.

That mansion, seems like a prison set up by the royal family to capture Sir Polydro. And…

“…the First Princess Anastasia”

Even she’s showing interest in Sir Polydro.

The word leaked out by the court nobles ―― the high-ranking bureaucratic nobles.

If it’s not a lie…

“…It’ll be a big business opportunity if I can become a purveyor of the first princess’ lover.”

Ingrid wondered, why Sir Polydro couldn’t get married.

In this world with too many women, from the military family, he’s not valued that low. So, why can’t he make a romantic rumor at all? I’ve never once heard about it, like seriously…

Is it because Duchess Astarte, First Princess Anastasia, the first princess faction in general is harassing him, the Second Princess’ Counselor?

Well, even if that’s how the lower-ranked nobles looked at the situation, it’s not the same for the upper-ranked nobles and me.

Without telling Sir Polydoro all those thoughts.

Ingrid left the mansion while praying that Duchess Astarte wouldn’t pay attention to her.