Summoning Day

Ugh, I'm definitely gonna be late...Mac thought, as he sprinted down the sidewalk, bookbag slung over his shoulder. Despite being a cool autumn morning, he was working up a sweat as he made his way to class, running along the sidewalk. I didn't even stay up that late last night, I just didn't wanna get out of bed... Bemoaning his prior lack of will, he pulled out his phone to check the time. “Dammit, I'm gonna be late anyway...” he grumbled, slowing down to a walk. Between being 10 minutes late and drenched in sweat, and 15 minutes late and not, he chose to be 15 minutes late.

Losing motivation in his current predicament, Mac decided to rest at the crest of the overpass he was currently walking over. Looking over the city made him pensive about his life, a mood he had been in often of late.

At twenty-three, he was beginning to be on the older side for a University student. Taking into account the fact he didn't even know what he wanted to do for a career, at best it could be said he was rudderless, at worst...he was being reckless with his future. Not that he hadn't tried, but every interest in a subject he had taken fizzled out after a semester or two. Now, he was just taking a smattering of general classes to finish off his other credits. After this semester, he had to take courses pertinent to his specific degree, if he could decide on one by then.

Looking at the early morning sun, he closed his eyes. Well, no sense dreading it now, I still have some time to decide, he thought, again pushing the decision off for later. He turned to keep walking and as he opened his eyes...he was no longer on the bridge.

Blinking his eyes a few times, they slowly adjusted to his new environment. While still early morning, the light now was much dimmer, only coming in through windows high up in the chamber he was in.

“The summoning is a success!” a voice shouted, echoing in the hall. This was followed by the sounds of cheering and bugles blaring. Mac froze up at the sensory overload he was enduring. After a few moments, he finally began registering his surroundings, and realized he was encircled by people.

Some were wearing full black cloaks, some appeared to be wearing full sets of metal armor, and some were wearing different colored robes and other formal attire that wouldn't look out of place in a medieval-era castle.

Actually, isn't that just what this is? Mac thought, looking around. Stone walls, high windows, draperies and oil lanterns on the walls, and a regal looking carpet down the center of the room. Couple that with the soldiers and black-robed people, this looked like something out of a fantasy game.

“Welcome to Ositania,” a voice came from in front of Mac. He looked down to gaze upon the woman from whom the voice belonged too. Wearing a pantsuit that was partially covered by chest length, firey-red hair. Um...that's not a natural hair color, right? Some cleavage was poking out through the pantsuit, not because it had been done down provocatively, but because her chest was so large it was barely contained. She also wore large glasses, convex so that her eyes appeared larger than they were. “Please come with me, my lord, we have much to discuss before the day is over,” she continued, beckoning him to follow her.

She was looking right at him, so it was obvious she could only be talking to him as well. Partially because he was in a stupor from the situation, and partially to get away from the cheering of the crowd, Mac decided to follow as instructed. She led him up a few steps, past a large golden chair (no, definitely a throne he thought) and into a smaller room. Of course, smaller was only relative to the large chamber they had come from. This room was still about the size of his entire apartment, with a large wooden table surrounded by a dozen chairs in the middle.

“Please, sit down, sire...” the woman gestured to the chair at the end of the table, it being slightly larger than the others. Still letting himself be taken along with the moment, he decided to sit down as requested. “May I have your name?”

“Mac,” he paused after answering, before asking “...what's yours?”

The woman smiled at the question, “I am Marie, Magistrate of Ositania. Tillie, the tea, if you would?” the woman asked.

To the side, a paunchy, middle aged woman in a stereotypical maid outfit emerged from out of view and sauntered over with a tea set. Giving a big, motherly smile, she set down a pair of teacups and poured some out into each one. He gave a smile in thanks, but quickly snapped back as he could feel the gaze of the red-haired woman who was keeping her eyes locked on him.

As Tillie sauntered off into a different room, the red-haired woman waited patiently. Mac slowly picked up the tea cup, and took a short sip. It seemed to be green tea, with a vague hint of citrus added.

Having watched him take a drink, the red-haired woman smiled. “Good, you seem like you're not going crazy,” she commented, pulling out a small journal and flipping through it.

Mac didn't know how to respond to a statement like that. “Sh-should I be going crazy?”

“No, no, of course not. We just have in our records that Otherworlders can have a high variation in their adaptability, but it seems like you are doing quite well, given the situation. Apparently, some even refused to drink anything we gave them.” Marie explained. She slid the journal back into her pocket, then walked over, grabbed her tea, and sat down in the seat to his left. She then leaned over, looking over her glasses, as if analyzing Mac.

Making a point to actively not look at her chest, which was now hanging in front of him, he instead stared at his tea and took another sip. “Well, I still think I might be dreaming, or maybe fell off the bridge I was on and got reincarnated, or maybe I was just summoned to an alternate world to defeat a demon king. But it would be a shame to let the tea go cold without drinking it.”

“Is it to your liking?” Marie asked. “Also, there isn't any demon king to defeat. Or at least, I really hope there isn't, and even if there is, I haven't heard about it.”

“Yes, I like the citrus flavor that was added. And does that mean I was summoned?” Mac added.

“That is good to hear, I will let Tillie know you enjoyed it. And that is correct, we had the summoning ritual performed, and you are here now due to the success of the ritual.”

The duality of discussing the tea they were drinking while simultaneously discussing being summoned to an alternate world made Mac give a weak smile.

Marie, seeing this, decided to continue the conversation. “I can go into specifics on everything later, but do you have any questions you want immediately answered?”

Mac thought for a second. He had a million, but thought it best to start small. “First, I know you gave me your name...but who exactly are you?”

“Marie, of House Lorraine” she said after standing up and giving a bow. “As I mentioned I am the current Magistrate of Ositania, and I have been running the day-to-day operations while we were without royalty. Of course, even now that we have successfully summoned you, I'll still be helping out under your direction.”

“Well, you kind of answered my second question there. So I'm supposed to be the next ruler?”

“Correct. Actually, by virtue of being summoned you are now already the King, although the custom is to wait for the coronation until a Queen is decided on...” Marie added, trailing off as if deep in thought.

“Hold on, hold on, I have even more questions now. Why are you making a summoned person King? Do you not have anyone else here that would be better? And what is this about a Queen, is this one of those stories that goes 'in order to legitimize the summoned person's rule, we're marrying them off to this princess we conveniently have'?” Mac said, almost laughing at the absurdity.

Marie was taken aback at the answer, staring blankly for a few seconds before responding. “I can answer all those questions with one explanation. In our world, royalty is dependent on being an Otherworlder like yourself, or being directly descended from one. While some of our nobles have loose ties to previous Otherworlder rulers, none left are strong enough to actually claim the throne. If our kingdom had this 'convenient princess' you asked about, we wouldn't have had to summon you to begin with.”

Oh, well that makes sense if that's the case. Although why they want to be ruled by someone not even of this world is odd to begin with. Mac went deep into thought, trying to piece together what was going on. If this was a dream, it was a strangely lucid one, which he wasn't prone to having. He decided to go forward assuming he actually wasn't. Even if that felt a bit weird, if he hedged instead on it actually being a dream, and then it turned out it wasn't, he might end up regretting it later. Basically, he was just being practical about it.

Marie, noticing he was thinking, decided to keep the conversation going, “Based on what you said earlier, it sounds like being summoned to another world isn't a foreign concept in your world?”

“No. I mean, we have lots of stories and shows about it. But it's in the realm of fiction, it's not supposed to actually happen.”

“That explains your reactions then” Marie nodded, seeming to understand. She pulled out her journal again, along with a pen, and started writing.

“There's a wide array of circumstances actually. Sometimes they are summoned, sometimes they die and are reborn. Of course, the main character always tends to be extremely adaptable despite being sent to a new world and stuck there” Mac nodded while explaining.

“Oh, you're not stuck here,” Marie clarified, continuing to write.

“WHAT!?” Mac shouted, his train of thought being broken.

Marie, was taken aback by the sudden outburst, giving him a confused look. “I didn't think to clarify since we take it as a matter of course, but maybe you got the wrong impression from your worlds' stories. You can definitely return to your world, if you desire. Granted you do have to make a decision within a year, but if you want, you can go back.”

Huh, that was...not expected Mac thought, looking back at his almost empty tea cup.

“Of course, once you get used to being King, I don't think you'll want to leave,” she said, adding a smile as if to reinforce the point. “But...it is ultimately up to you. Does that alleviate some of your concern?” Marie asked.

“Yes, actually, it does” Mac nodded. So if I decide this is all too much, I can just decide to high-tail it. Of course, that is if I don't still wake up first. “That's assuming you're not lying to me, of course.”

Marie gave a wry smile in response. “Lying to you would amount to treason. So no, I would not.”

Mac swirled his tea around, taking in the situation, deep in thought. Honestly, I may as well just go along with things for now. This beats going to classes anyway...

Marie, after giving him a few moments to ask anything else he may have had, continued on. “Would you like to see your palace? I would also like to introduce you to the staff that manage the palace, so there is no misunderstanding regarding the new King. Of course, if you have any other questions while we're touring I can answer, although I will be giving you more thorough explanations on everything relating to the Kingdom starting tomorrow.”

That sounds a bit too much like a class for my liking...

As they got up to leave, Mac followed the common pastime of pulling out his phone to check for any notifications.

Nothing. And no bars. I must really be in a different world if I can't get any signal. Turning the phone off, he decided he may as well not waste the remaining battery charge. While he did have a charger in his bag (the motherly maid form earlier, Tillie, had taken his bag and said she would bring up to his quarters) he hadn't seen anything resembling electricity here.

First, they went back out to the throne room, which contrary to the bustling atmosphere before, was now devoid of anyone else besides two guards at the far end of the chamber who, despite probably needing to raise your voice to even hear that far, gave a noticeable salute upon his entry, before returning to attention. That'll take some getting used too. I almost need to pretend I'm in a game or story to get myself in the right frame of mind.

“This is your throne room. When needed, you will hold court here” Marie started explaining.

“So I just...sit here all day?”

“No, no, of course not” Marie replied, reassuringly. “Most nobles will need to make appointments before seeing you, and sometimes ceremonies will be held here. Anything urgent will be discussed in the council chamber we were just in.”

Mac nodded in reply. “Where did everyone go? I'm surprised it cleared out this quickly.”

“The guards would have all returned to their posts, and the summoning mages probably retired to their rooms in the city. The palace is providing food for the nobles in the main dining area, they are probably there, preparing for later.” Marie explained.

“What's later?”

“The Introduction Ceremony.”

“Oh, that makes sense” Mac nodded. If I'm King I have to be introduced to all the important people in the realm.

Marie smiled, “I'm glad you are so quick at picking everything up. Shall we continue?”

Following the throne room, Marie led Mac further into the palace. As they walked, she explained the layout of the palace as being split into 'front' and 'private' halves. The 'front' part of the palace included the main dining area for entertaining and feasts, multiple chambers for different departments in charge of running the kingdom, such as administration or military planning, and of course, the throne room. The 'private' part of the palace was basically just the living area for royal family and their attendants.

“We'll only be visiting the private palace today. I'd also recommend you remain in the private area for the time being unless I'm accompanying you,” Marie suggested.

Mac raised an eyebrow at the restriction. “Am I not allowed out of the private area? That seems like a weird restriction for a King.”

Marie stopped for a second, putting her hand to her chin, obviously thinking through the best way to answer. “If you really want to, you can. Since you're the King you could theoretically do whatever you want. I gave the warning as...when you're out into the front area, you'll be running into and interacting with all sorts of people. People with their own agendas, whether for their own personal gain, or the gain of their House. Especially with how new you are, you will be a prime target for manipulation. For now, you should be wary.”

Ah, the dreaded court politics, Mac thought, grimacing a bit. He nodded to show he understood the warning. I guess I need to consider the bad parts about being King too if I'm going to play along.

Marie nodded in return, “You seem to think through things and are amenable to suggestions, so I think you'll get used to it.”

As they continued on, Mac, having a realization, responded, “Does that mean I need to be wary of you?”

Marie turned her head back at him and smiled, looking almost mischievous. “I won't tell you not to be, as I do have my own agenda. However, mine is always for the betterment of Ositania.”

As Mac was taking her response in, they arrived at the next destination.

“Ah, lovely, I see the maids have gotten the royal bath running.”

Inside the door Marie had just opened was an enormous bath, probably a bit larger than a school swimming pool. At one end, was a bronze statue of what looked to be a mermaid, holding and tipping over a pot, out of which it looks like hot water was slowly filling into the bath. Based on the steam that was prevalent in the room, the water pouring out was quite hot.

“Usually they will run it in the evenings in preparation for you and the royal family, but if you desire to take one at another time, the maids can always prepare it whenever if you give them a little time to get it going.”

“Do I really need this huge of a bath? This is really overkill for just me.”

Marie paused for a moment before responding. “Well, remember my lord, this is meant for the whole royal family in the future, not just you.”

Still, even if the whole family wanted to bathe at once, it could have been like half this size and that would be more than enough.

Marie continued, seeing he seemed uncomfortable. “Your chambers will have a smaller bath in a room inside, so if you are that against it...” she trailed off, before adding “although the maids will be sad to know you didn't use it after the trouble they went through preparing it for the first time in quite a while.”

Mac winced, an image of a soot-stained Tillie shoveling coal into a water-heater going through his head. “No that's fine, I'll take one once we're done.”

Marie, smiling at the response, “Excellent, I will let them know.”

Closing the door and continuing on, they soon came to a hallway, seemingly at the back of the palace (if Mac judged correctly) that had many doors on either side.

“This is the royal family's living quarters, over here...” Marie started explaining.

“All of these?”

Similar to the question about the size of the bath, Marie paused again before responding. “Yes, after a while the royal family can get quite large.”

I guess once you get a few generations, although it seems weird to have the whole extended family in one hallway.

Marie opened the nearest door, beckoning Mac over, “These will be your quarters.”

As Mac followed Marie in, his only thought was: Yeah, pretty much what I expected at this point. The room was fairly large, with one side dedicated to a bed large enough for six of him to lay in, with majestic looking draperies hanging off it. In the middle was a round table and chairs, and on the side opposite the bed two connected rooms that looked like a bathroom and a closet. Opposite the hallway, a door led to a small veranda.

Immediately noticing the view outside, he went out on the veranda. Now that he had a clear view outside, he could see the palace was in what looked to be a castle structure that was on a hill, and a path led down to another wall, past which spread out a town. Beyond that was what seemed like endless farmland, with maybe a few mountains peaking out over the horizon. Wow, this is amazing. Definitely gives off that 'fantasy world' vibe. I wonder what that town is like...

Marie stood silent as Mac took in the view, seemingly satisfied at letting Mac enjoy himself for the moment.

After a couple minutes, Mac turned and said “Okay, where to next?”

The rest of the tour went through the other important parts of the private palace, including the gardens and the maid's quarters (although they didn't go in) until Mac was familiar with everywhere that he might need to go to for now.

Lastly was the royal family dining area. Contrary to the main dining area in the palace for festivities, this was 'smaller', although it could still fit around forty people if enough tables and chairs were brought in. As of now there was only one that could fit about eight.

“Are you hungry, my lord? I know we walked a lot,” Marie asked.

“I'm fine, I guess I could go for a snack though” Mac responded. Alighting on an idea, he added, “Actually, how about a local food from this world? Something commonly eaten as a snack.”

Marie smiled, “Excellent idea, sire, I will go ask Tillie to prepare one. Please sit for now.”

Nodding, Mac sat down and waited. Thinking over the places he was shown, and hoping he wouldn't get lost in the future, he sat in silence. The private part of the palace seems like its larger than a couple city blocks just by itself. It was hard to gauge how large the whole thing is from my room, but I hope its not too large...

Drifting back to the situation overall, Mac still wasn't sure what to think. As he had resolved earlier, he was basically just treating this like he was inside of some game or story and tried thinking about it from that angle. It helped keep his thoughts straight for the most part.

After a while of mulling thoughts through his head, he realized that Marie had been gone for a few minutes now. This is the first time I've actually been alone since I got here.

However, as if sensing this, Tillie came out from a door opposite the entry door, bringing a teapot and plate.

“Lady Marie mentioned you wanted a snack, and I also brought some of the tea you said you liked from earlier today” Tillie explained. She had a deep (for a woman), rich voice that helped accentuate the motherly-character vibes she gave off. She set the plate down in front of him and then waited, looking expectantly.

Taking the hint he should try them, he looked down at the plate. On it appeared to be a cracker with...maybe jam? He didn't let it show on his face to not give the wrong impression, but he was somewhat disappointed in the mundaneaity of it. Picking it up and taking a bite, it tasted like...a cracker with jam. Peach jam to be precise.

“Thanks, it's quite good. I like the jam on top.”

Tillie gave a short, full-body curtsy, along with a smile, before heading back to what he presumed was the kitchen.

Munching on the crackers, he had been left alone again. Maybe Marie forgot about me? Actually that's definitely not true given how today's been. She must have needed to take care of something before we continued...

- Around 15 minutes prior -

Melissandra waited in the kitchen with the rest of the maids. Taking deep breaths, she was intent on keeping herself calm and focused.

The same could not be said for the rest of the maids. While the older ones were casually chatting, the marriageable age ones who had been assigned more recently were frantic. Some were constantly adjusting their outfits to try and accentuate their curves more, while some were gossiping amongst themselves about the summoned King, trying to guess his likes and dislikes.

Alright, just focus on making a good first impression. If I work hard to earn his favor...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the awaited entrant to the kitchen. Marie came in, and called on the girls to line up so she could give her instructions.

“Alright the new King is out there. I know we discussed this previously, but make sure you introduce yourself respectfully, and don't forget to curtsy! I know many of you are new, but its of the upmost importance around the King. Also, I know many of you are hoping to earn the King's favor and...”

In actuality, all of them were. Most of the assigned maids were from nobles families hoping to get an inroad with the new King, trying to get taken as a concubine or possibly even a future marriage partner. The maids all knew this, of course, and like Melissandra, wanted to earn the King's favor in any way possible.

“...I believe we can follow precedent from previous Otherworlders.” she finished, holding up her journal.

Varying reactions were had among the maids. Some gave a phew or let out a smile (generally the larger-breasted ones) while some let out heavy sighs (generally the smaller-breasted ones).

Marie must have caught him looking at her chest, Melissandra (correctly) thought. For her part, Melissandra was fairly neutral to the news. While hers were actually on the larger side in general, several of the recently assigned maids had chests that were even larger. They had mostly likely been assigned by families hedging on the records of Otherworlders having a proclivity for larger breasts.

“Obviously even with that, Tillie and I won't play favorites in job assignments and everyone will go through the normal job rotation, unless he specifically requests you for something. The King seems to be one who thinks through things and may be open to favoring different types of women,” Marie added, trying to cheer up some of the more visibly upset ones.

After Tillie returned from giving the King a snack, they waited a couple minutes in silence. Once Marie deemed it a sufficient amount of time, she went out, with the maids filing behind, lining up in the dining room. As she caught sight of the King, sitting there with a half-eaten cracker sticking out his mouth, he seemed a little surprised.

Remaining calm and focused on her plan, she took in the other person's appearance. Brown hair, relatively tall, and for some reason repeatedly blinking at the sight in front of him. Maybe he isn't used to maids in his world? His loose fitting Otherworlder clothing (a tracksuit Mac had thrown on since he was running late for class) made it hard to tell his body definition, but he at least seemed in reasonable shape, though probably not muscular. Seems like he should be healthy enough. He's probably around my age, maybe a year or two older than me, Melissandra assumed.

Once they had filed in, the maids went one by one and introduced themselves to the King, who's eyes seemed to look at each maid as they introduced themselves, then looked away quickly. As her turn was about to come up, Melissandra thought It's like he's trying not stare at anyone too long.

Mac was doing his best not too stare at any of the maids for too long. With Tillie, she had given off a motherly vibe and the maid outfit seemed like a natural part of her. Now, with all these younger maids, it had a bit different of an effect. The maid outfits were very form-fitting, and some of the maid's had quite ample breasts, with the result being that when they curtsied, some bouncing would be involved. It wasn't so bad that he couldn't control himself, but he felt like he was a few bounces away from being red in the face.

Another reason for consciously making himself not stare was, namely, that not all the maids were human. Or at least not fully human. Several of them had animal ears and and tails, that were either the most realistic looking accessories he'd ever seen, or just actually real. Some looked like what he would definitely refer to as 'elves'. And several that he couldn't even characterize with his existing fantasy world knowledge. Mac was soon overwhelmed with all the new names and faces being thrown at him.

“I'm Melissandra, sire.” The next maid in line said as she curtsied.

For this maid, Mac didn't immediately look away, as his attention had been grabbed not (entirely) by any bouncing this time, but by something else. This maid had long, dark blue hair done up in twin-tails on either side. When she had curtsied, her twin-tails had also bounced and then fluttered about, only to swirl when she turned to get back into line. Entranced by the sight, Mac didn't look away, instead keeping his gaze on the fluttering hair, until the next maid stepped forward to name herself.

After all the maids had finished with their introductions, they began to filter back into the kitchen. Marie walked over to Mac as he finished the last of his crackers. “Hopefully they are to your liking” she said, smiling.

Mac wasn't entirely sure how to respond. “Uh, yeah, they all seem well-mannered and very...maid-like” he added, realizing it sounded dumb but not sure what else to say.

Marie, for her part, found no issue with his description. “Next we'll be having the Introduction Ceremony, which will be held in the throne room, although we'll go to the council chamber first to prepare for the proceedings. Remember these are some of the higher-rank nobles so I would recommend you be polite with them. Although you seem to be as a matter of course, so it should be fine.”

“Uh, do I need to...change or anything? Are they going to be expecting me to wear something more kingly?” Mac added, with the realization he was still wearing his tracksuit.

“Oh no, definitely not. Otherworlder clothes are considered on the same level as the royal regalia, since our royal lines are always Otherworlders. We only need say you were summoned in them, and the nobles will accept it. Some of them might even try to copy the fashion.” Marie added.

Mac closed his eyes, imagining a room full of high class nobles in tracksuits, which he could only shake his head at.

Marie led Mac back the council chamber they had first talked in after he was summoned, now with a stack of paper on the table.

Mac sat down, while Marie took the papers and started rifling through them, sometimes referencing her journal, before sorting them into stacks. He (partially correctly) assumed that this was some sort of notes for the meeting and waited patiently until she finished. After a couple minutes of this, Marie seemed satisfied with her work, and slid 3 piles of freshly sorted papers in front of him. Arranging them, the left one had only three sheets of paper, the middle had probably 8 or 9, and the remaining 20 or so were in the right pile.

Marie sat down, placing her hand on the small pile. “These are your offer letters. While ultimately the decision is up to you, as your Magistrate I would like to offer my advice. Is that acceptable?”

“Oh, uh, sure. You've given me no reason not to trust you.” Mac nodded.

Marie smiled in response, “Good, I will endeavor to keep that confidence in me going forward. So, we need to consider which offers you want to accept. As such, I sorted them first based on value they would bring to your House and the kingdom, and and then with consideration, although to a lesser extent, of what I think might be to your preferences. Here on your left are the one's I would most recommend based on the value, and my perception of your preferences, with the middle being lesser valued or I think not to your preferences. The right I think we can safely ignore, unless one of them really catches your eye, although I didn't think they were worth spending too much time on.”

“My...preferences?” Mac asked, confused why she was using that word. “I'm not sure what you mean, shouldn't we just just take the best valued offers?” Mac added, picking up the short stack first.

Marie shook her head, “I appreciate the pragmatism of that approach, but if they aren't too your liking it could affect your ability to have children.”

Mac froze. Children? “Why would...” he started, before trailing off, as he started to fully understand the situation.

These were marriage offers. Each sheet had the name of of a woman, followed by lists of money and other content that would be conferred to the royal family. Some had estates, amounts of weapons or other raw goods, and most contained varying amounts of gold on them. As Mac read through each one, an unpleasant feeling welled up in his stomach. She had mentioned something earlier about needing a Queen before the coronation ceremony, but this just feels...wrong.

“Is...what....do...I have to choose one of these?” he questioned Marie, partway through the middle stack.

Marie contemplated a bit before responding, “Are none to your liking, sire?” She could see that King was not having the expected reaction to picking a future wife. She wasn't necessarily expecting gluttonous lust, as records indicated some Otherworlders had shown, but maybe at least a little bit of excitement at getting to choose women based on his own whims? Instead, he seemed almost... uncomfortable.

“I mean, this just feels way too mercantile. Do I at least get a chance to get to know them before making a decision?” Mac said. “How am I supposed to marry someone based on just this?”

“During the Introduction Ceremony you will get to meet them....” she paused for a bit, before adding, “although it will play out similarly to how the maids introduced themselves earlier, which based on what you are saying, I'm guessing is not suitable.”

Mac shook his head. “Not really, like you were saying with preferences affecting having children and whatnot, how am I supposed to make a lifelong decision with just this?”

I was more meaning physically, but it is true that personality clashing could cause the same issue... Marie thought, face scrunching up in thought as she put her fingers on her forehead. “That's very...admirable, to think that way.”

“I feel like I'm just stating the bare minimum. I get that I probably have different values from my world, but I feel sorry for the girls just being offered up like an auction.” Mac added, pushing the sheets away.

Marie winced at his words. While she agreed with his sentiments on a basic level, this kind of thing was just standard for the world they were in, and wasn't normally questioned. While she had ended up being fond of her own husband, theirs had been an arranged marriage as well.

“If its any consolation, many of these woman probably volunteered, or possibly even competed to earn the right. For them, marrying a summoned King would be the ultimate goal in life, even if it is just because of the station they were born in. And if any were being forced into it, you could always annul the engagement if you knew she didn't want it.”

“I guess, a bit...” Mac trailed off.

I need to try and take control before this gets bad Marie surmised. Putting her hand to her forehead in thought again. I guess that part of the Records is useless here. “For now, how about we just go through all of them, and let me know any that catch your eye. Then, we'll have the ceremony, and then we can talk about it some more afterwards. You don't even need to necessarily make a decision tonight, and we can maybe try and set something up that is more to your liking in the future.” Marie suggested, saying anything she could think of to keep the discussion moving forward.

Mac paused for a bit before, nodding. “Okay, I guess we can start there.”

Phew, Marie thought. Still, he shows way more consideration for the women than I would have thought. Even if that makes things more difficult...

Mac continued shuffling through the papers for a while, until he had finally gotten through all three stacks. He pulled out...one.

“Did that one pique your interest?” Marie asked, thankful he seemed to have shown interest in at least one.

“Yeah, this one. For a few reasons actually. Eleanor of House Cartegna.”

Marie wasn't sure how to respond...I never thought, of all of them, he'd be interested in her... Marie thought, wincing a bit at the name. “My lord, I...” Stopping herself, she thought No, I shouldn't discourage him, maybe he'll judge differently. “Would you like me to clarify anything?”

“Not that I have a problem with it, but she's a bit older than everyone else, so that stood out.”

Generally the upper limit of marriageable age was considered 20 for women (men, who generally were either apprenticing or in the military at that age, had a few years more leeway), and none of the other woman were above that age. Eleanor, on the other hand, was 27.

“Yes, she is considered quite far past marriageable age“ Marie confirmed.

“Okay, so that sort of answers my question about the offer part.” The offer part of the sheet read simply 'All assets of House Cartegna'.

“It is as you are probably guessing. Eleanor is the last of the line, so the house will die off if she does not get married and have children. So offering everything they can to try and secure a marriage makes sense, since all will be lost anyways if they cannot,” Marie confirmed.

“Still, even if she is older than normal, you would think one of the other nobles would jump at the opportunity to acquire an entire extra House. Plus, it says she has lots of experiencing running it,” Mac stated, scratching his head in thought. “I feel like that experience would be pretty useful, since I don't know what I'm doing.”

“That is true. There is...something else preventing that. While I know what it is, I don't feel it is my place to say, at least not before you are introduced to her yourself. We can talk about it later if you are still interested in her though.”

Raising an eyebrow at the response, Mac just responded “Alright”.

“Were there...any others that caught your eye?” Marie asked tentatively, fearing the answer she assumed was coming.

“Not really, most of them just run together.”

Marie couldn't stop herself from audibly sighing. “Well, as I said, we can discuss more after the ceremony.”

“Okay,” Mac nodded. “I won't get much further just looking at these anyway.”

After going back to the throne room, Mac sat down in the throne with Marie standing next to him, holding a clipboard. Since no decision had been made before the ceremony, Marie had instructed him to only say a “thank you, I will take your offer into consideration” or something to that effect for ones that he hadn't decided on (unless he changed his mind, although Marie was under no pretenses that possibility was high). For Eleanor, if he had decided after the introduction to accept the offer, he could let them know instead, else if not then he should also give them the same response as everyone else.

When Mac let her know he was ready, Marie indicated to the guards to let the first group in. Generally, each group was the Lord or Lady at the head of the House, and the marriage candidate. As they came in, Marie would give their names and they would walk up near the throne, bow, and formally give their offer of marriage (even though officially the offers had been submitted before the summoning even took place). Mac dutifully nodded in acknowledgment, and gave the pre-planned response.

While the woman being introduced were all very attractive, due to the situation, and his feelings on the matter, Mac wasn't affected as much as he had been with the maids. Maybe because I went through this with the maid's already, but this isn't too hard to manage. Actually, some of the maids were more attractive anyways... he thought, with the image of the twin-tailed, blue-haired maid coming back to mind.

Snapping back to the current situation when the next pair came in, he continued with his current rhythm of watching them enter, give their offer, him responding, and them leaving, and then wait a couple minutes for the next pair to arrive, until they finally got to the last introduction.

“Lord Cartegna and his daughter, Eleanor.”

- A few minutes prior-

Eleanor was waiting in a room with her father, her tea in front of her untouched, as she kept her hands clasped together in her lap, to stop from trembling. Her father, Lord Cartegna, was repeatedly trying to reassure her before the upcoming introduction.

“The king is new, he might not have the same prejudices! And you look great in that dress we had made for the introduction, I'm sure he will take to you! And...” he continued.

After a couple minutes of this, Eleanor turned to her father and smiled, “Thank you Father, but I need to win over the King, not win over you.”

Giving a hearty chuckle, Lord Cartegna smiled back, “Haha, too true, my dear.”

Her father having successfully calmed her nerves a bit, she took a sip of tea and signed. “Still, you are correct, it would be great if the King could see past my curse and accept me.”

“Exactly, exactly! Keep that confidence and the King will be yours in-...” Lord Cartegna responded before being cut off by a knock at the door.

“Lord and Lady Cartegna, the King will now see you.”

- Back to the throne room -

Mac's eyes were transfixed the moment the woman in front of him walked into the room. She had long, golden blonde hair, a weepy face with thick lips, was very tall (probably a good 10cm even over Mac), and had (probably) the largest breasts of any woman he had met that day, although still maintaining somewhat of a proportionate hourglass figure. However, the thing that caught his attention the most were here eyes, the left was a deep blue, while the right was a bright gold. Heterochromia? I guess they have that in this world too.

Realizing that he was definitely staring (although the incoming pair were too far away to notice this as they walked over due to the size of the room), he internally shook his head and focused again.

“Majesty, thank you for allowing us to meet you. Here is my daughter Eleanor, which I am offering to you for marriage, as well as the entirety of my Houses estate.” Lord Cartegna said, giving a deep bow.

“Thank you, I will take the offer into consideration” Mac responded. Despite how she looked, even if Mac was somewhat interested he wasn't going to commit to a marriage 10 seconds after meeting someone for the first time.

However, unlike all the prior pairs, they didn't immediately turn around and head out. After standing for a few seconds, Lord Cartegna gathered himself, and started speaking again. “Majesty, I would just like to add that Eleanor would be an extremely valuable asset to the royal family. She has an excellent mind for things, unlike myself who was only ever a military man, and has been effectively running out estates for almost a decade. I would also like to guarantee that, despite being past marriageable age, she is still a virgin, and-” he rambled before being interrupted by Marie.

“Lord Cartegna, I believe you are overstepping the normal protocols for the Introduction Ceremony.” Marie said, not raising her voice, but stating in way that would brook no argument.

Eleanor, for her part, had gone red in the face at the last comment, holding her hands to her face to try and hide her embarrassment.

Mac wasn't sure how to respond to this frank admission. Having your father say something so bluntly in front of you...I guess that's being sold as a bonus for the situation, but I'm not sure how to even respond.

Marie, seeing Mac looking uncomfortable at the situation, ask him “My Lord, do you wish to enact any punishment?”

Mac wasn't sure if what he had done was really worth punishing. I don't want people thinking I'm some cruel King, so I'll just let him off with with something this minor. “No, it's fine. It's obvious to me he just cares about his daughter's future. Lord Cartegna, as I said, I will take your offer into consideration.”

Walking out, Eleanor wasn't sure how to feel, things definitely hadn't gone badly, even if they had been a bit embarrassing.

He...didn't seem to recoil from my eyes at all, Eleanor thought. And he didn't outright decline, even if what he gave is the default response.

“I'm sorry for that embarrassing outburst Eleanor, I just...” Lord Cartegna said before trailing off.

“No father, I understand you are just doing what you think is best for me” Eleanor responded. “We did what we needed to do, it's up to the King now.”

Back in the council chamber, Mac and Marie sat in silence.

After giving Mac a couple minutes to think, Marie tentatively asked, “So, what did you think?”

“I mean, she was honestly gorgeous, but I still don't think I can make a decision already...” Mac responded.

“I actually meant the entire ceremony, although based on your response I presume Eleanor is the one on your mind.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry...” Mac stammered out, going red as he realized.

“What...did you think of her eyes?” Marie asked slowly.

“Oh, the heterochromia? I thought they were pretty” Mac responded, shrugging.

Marie's eyes widened in shock. She had thought maybe the King didn't have an issue with them, but to so far as to call them pretty?

“That is good to hear my lord.” I guess we will just push for Eleanor now. “Since you've already formed your opinion, I'll say now that those are usually referred to as curse eyes and people with them are generally avoided. Lord Cartegna obviously put no stock in it and raised her as part of the main Cartegna family anyway, but generally children with them are disowned and orphaned.”

“That's kind of messed up. We have that in my world too, it's just a trait you have.”

Marie nodded, “Well, we may need to change our thinking on them, then. And if you wish, we could always have a royal decree about it, although it might take a while to change people's actual feelings even if we outlaw it. Regardless, should I take this as you wanting to accept the offer of Eleanor?”

Mac shrunk back into his chair, looking down into the desk as if deep in thought. “No...I mean, no, this is still too sudden. Just because I don't have an issue with it, and I feel bad for her, doesn't mean I automatically want to get married.”

Marie sighed. She had a suspicion this might happen. He doesn't seem uninterested, but he seems like he doesn't want to commit so quickly either.

“Could we just, maybe, table it for now? How long do I have to respond?” Mac asked, almost nervously.

“It doesn't have to be tonight, although past summoned King's would often choose several right after the Introduction Ceremony. We may be able to delay-” Marie added, before being interrupted.

“Hold on, hold on, several?” Mac asked, raising his voice to emphasize.

Marie paused for a moment, before responding “Correct. It is common to have multiple wives for Kings. Queen's will commonly take at least 2 or 3 Kings as well, although obviously it is a bit harder after the first few when it comes to children.”

Suddenly, Mac had a bit of an epiphany. The large bath and dining hall. The excessive amount of rooms just for the royal family. The maid staff that was way too large just for one couple and their kids. Everything was designed with the assumption he wouldn't just have one wife.

“Is that...expected of me?”

Marie nodded. “Yes, although I wouldn't say you have too. If you wanted to just take one and then take only concubines after you theoretically could, although some of the nobles won't be too happy about it,” Marie added.

Mac sat in silence for a bit after that, thinking about this revelation that he probably should have realized earlier.

Marie, again waiting to let Mac think a bit, finally asked, “Is that not to your liking my lord?”

Mac waited a bit before responding “I guess I see the appeal of doing something like that as a King, but it's hard for me to wrap my head around.”

Marie nodded, understanding. “I agree with tabling the discussion for now, although I do ask you to please consider the situation once you have rested. For now, why don't you take a bath and then prepare for bed? If you want I can give you tomorrow off, and then we will start our lessons to catch you up to speed on our world the day after?”

Mac shook his head, “No, I'd rather start tomorrow. If I just rest I won't know what to do with myself anyway.”

Late Night Encounter

Even in a fantasy world, I can't avoid classes Mac thought as he walked towards the bath Marie had shown him earlier. She had said she was going to prepare for his lessons tomorrow, and excused herself. Tillie had quickly joined up with him to help be his guide (although he was pretty sure he had gone in the right direction).

“Would you like help with washing, sire?” Tillie turned around and curtsied, as they arrived at the bath's door.

“I...no I'm fine!” Mac said, quickly realizing what she was insinuating.

“Are you sure, sire? It can be hard to reach your back, and several of the maid's we-”

“Yes, I'm sure” Mac cut in, going red and not wanting to have the discussion.

“Of course, sire. Is there anything you want prepared for after?” Tillie asked.

Not wanting to deny another request, he responded, “I like having some before-bed tea, if you have anything that helps with sleeping.”

Beaming, Tillie nodded, “Of course sire, once you're back at your room I will have some sent up.”

“Thank you” Mac replied as he quickly opened the door and slid in.

Taking in the sight of the bath again, he noticed in the entryway some cleaning supplies, as well as a purple bathrobe with silver inlays. I'm assuming this is meant for me, but this just seems a bit too much...

Quickly undressing and taking the supplies, he walked over to the bath and climbed in. The supplies included a brush that allowed him to scrub his back without trouble. If I have this I don't need help... Mac sighed as he submerged himself completely after lathering up. The hot water felt great after the long day, and while originally having many things running through his mind, his head emptied as he relaxed...

Mac gave a start as he realized water had gotten into his mouth. I must have gotten lightheaded and dozed off. Not sure how much time had passed, he quickly got out and dried off.

Walking back to the entryway, he took another look at the robe and decided to just put his tracksuit on instead. I'd rather just sleep in this...

Despite the creeping exhaustion he was feeling, Mac lay in bed, still in his tracksuit, unable to sleep. The day's events kept cycling through his head, unable to fixate on any one thing in particular. It was as if multiple major life events had all been condensed into a single happenstance.

A 'move', a 'career change', and an 'engagement' all at once...or I guess an attempted engagement.

Mac sat up and swung his feet off the side of the bed, shaking his head to help himself concentrate, he resolved to try and sort through the bigger issues one at a time, or he knew he would just be suffering a sleepless night as a result.

Despite the suddenness of the whole “being summoned to an alternate world” thing, the hardest-pushed topic of the day, and the one he decided to formulate a plan of action regarding first, was the engagement.

From a practical standpoint it makes sense as they would want to secure the royal house, but it felt more like they wanted to entice me to stick around by allowing me a life of debauchery. I'm sure most guys would jump at the chance take several of those woman...

Before his thoughts could get further, a light knock came at the door, with an accompanying “Sire?” whispered closely after.

“Ah, come in. I'm not asleep. Er, obviously.” Mac responded, realizing the second part was unnecessary, but grateful for the distraction.

A girl in a maid outfit slid into the room, carrying a tray with a tea set. Oh yeah, I requested tea didn't I? Mac recognized her from the earlier maid introduction. While most the maids were attractive, he specifically remembered her. On the taller side for a woman (almost to his height), with long dark blue hair done into twin-tails, and a curvaceous figure that was amplified by the close-fitting maid outfit.

Realizing he was staring (even if it had only been a couple seconds) he quickly stammered “Th-thank you...” he trailed off as he couldn't remember her name.

“Melissandra, sire” she responded with a slight nod, and went to set the tray down on the table next to the window.

“Thank you, Melissandra.” Mac smiled weakly and nodded slightly towards her as acknowledgment. He didn't really know how to act with the maids or other palace staff yet, but for now, he was just going to use the same politeness he would use with business clients or neighbors.

I should probably have Marie instruct me on the correct way to address others tomorrow before I make a fool…

Mac's thoughts were cut off by a sudden sensation underneath him. The bed had wobbled, indicating someone had sat down on the side opposite him. Snapping his head around, he saw Melissandra had sat down on the bed, and started to calmly untie the back of her maid outfit.

Seeing this scene play out, he quickly took in the situation unfolding before him and realized what was going on.

Just like this afternoon, this must be to 'entice' me to stay...

Of course, while he thought through this in his head, his body had an entirely different reaction. His face flushed red as he felt his nether regions start to tingle at the sight of the maid undressing. He watched as the back of the maid was revealed, her alluring skin punctuated only by strands of her hair and (what he assumed) was a bra-strap about halfway up.

When she had it gotten it down to a few inches above her butt, she grabbed the front of the maid outfit and turned her head around to look at Mac. “Sire...” she said with an obvious tinge of embarrassment, her cheeks fully flushed with red, maybe even more than Mac's.

With this, his arousal went into full overdrive, the tracksuit pants poking out like a tent top in front of him. He was generally good at controlling himself, but this situation was too much for him to handle.

After a few seconds of looking into each other's eyes (although it felt longer), Mac slowly shifted himself across the bed, although with one hand firmly placed on his crotch. He reached out and brushed her hair aside, causing Melissandra to close her eyes and tense up.

Bracing herself for what was to come, Melissandra tensed up. Marie and Tillie had given her instructing on how to comport herself (including untying the back of her outfit and looking at him seductively, although the seductiveness had mostly turned into embarrassment), but the range of what could all happen depended on the situation and the man's...lustfulness.

He seems to be gentle so far, she thought, feeling him fiddle with the back of her maid outfit. Actually, this seems to be too gentle, what is he even doing... After a moment, it dawned on her that he was actually re-tieing her maid outfit.

Melissandra, not sure how to react to this development, sat in silence for a few moments. “Am...am I not to your liking, sire?” she barely got out, quivering as she gave off a dejected, almost disappointed, look at him.

“No! I mean, yes! I just...sorry...” Mac, not really knowing what to say given the situation, defaulted to apologizing without really thinking.

Melissandra, after hearing that, turned her head back around and thought for a few moments, still quivering. Why is turning out like this? I could swear he seems interested in me, and Marie did as well... she thought. Beginning to tear up, she shot up off the bed, assuming she had been rejected and needed to leave.

“Urk, wait...hold on!” Mac cried out. As she got up, Mac had fallen forward onto the bed, and had reflexively thrown his arms out, which had resulted in her being hugged around the waist.

Now confused whether she had been rejected or not, Melissandra just froze in place (not that she could get away now that she was being held).

Mac looked up, then quickly retracted his arms after realizing what he had done. “Sorry, that was just reflexes.” As a few moments passed with both avoiding each others gaze, he tried to figure out a way to break the tension. Looking around the room, his eyes landed on the table. “Do you want some tea?”

-A few moments passed-

Melissandra slowly sipped on her cup of tea.

While it seemed a bit off to invite your maid for tea, she had been more than happy to get out of the awkward situation they were in, and sat down at the table after a brief pause and an instinctive curtsy. Mac had gotten up and spent a few moments turned around, fiddling with his clothing to, what Melissandra was (correctly) assuming, adjust himself. After taking a few visibly deep breaths, he turned and went to sit across the table from her.

Did he change his mind? Does he just want to drink tea first? She sighed, resigning herself to just going with the flow of the situation, since the original plan had been ruined. It was becoming so odd that even her earlier embarrassment was almost forgotten.

Mac, for his part, was still quite flustered, although drinking some tea, his normal nighttime habit, did a lot to calm his nerves.

“The tea is really good. Did you make it yourself?” he asked to break the silence.

“Yes, sire. Although, I just soaked the leaves in the water for a few minutes,” she pointed out, so as to not give herself too much credit.

“Ah, of course.” Mac quickly followed up, realizing his question wasn't thought out.

After that, they both silently sipped again, Mac feeling himself succumbing to the quiet of the room. Arrgh, and its my fault, I know I ruined the mood even if I had too. And she probably won't initiate anything with me since I'm supposed to be the King...

Thinking for a few moments, he decided to ask some softball questions to try and get a natural conversation started. “So, could you tell me a bit about yourself? It'd be nice to get to know the people I'll be around every day.”

Nodding at the question, Melissandra understood the rationale. “I'm the only daughter of the house of Toulouse, a lower rank noble family from the south. We had a small holding near the border before the last war, but it was overran and wiped out during the initial invasion. My family got me assigned as a royal maid when it looked like war might break out to keep me away from the conflict.”

“Wait, so you're a noble? Why would you be a maid then?” Mac asked, taken aback.

Melissandra looked quizzically at him for a moment, but then remembered he was an Otherworlder.

“Ah, please excuse me sire, I forgot you are not familiar as of yet with our world's customs. Being a maid in the service of higher ranking nobles or royalty is a desirable position for a daughter of a lower or middle ranked noble, as it allows you to be seen by many potential marriage partners during the comings and goings to the manor or palace you serve in. For lower ranked nobles, they have mostly commoners as maid's, although the same process applies. It's the best chance for a commoner to marry into nobility.”

Mac nodded along at the explanation. “Ah, thank you, that makes sense then. So you got assigned here...”

Melissandra nodded, continuing. “Yes. Since the war started almost immediately after my assignment, it was extremely busy in the palace for a time, as many were coming and going, meeting with the prior king, planning campaigns, and being sent out. I received news shortly after that my House's domain had been taken over by the invaders. I never received any news from my family, so I...assumed the worst...” she trailed off, looking dour.

Mac grimaced, feeling a wave of sympathy at the tragic backstory he was hearing from the girl sitting across from him. I guess this isn't a happy-go-lucky fantasy world. After waiting a sufficiently awkward amount of time in silence, and not sure exactly sure how to respond to that, he stammered out “Do...do you need a hug?”

Melissandra looked back up at him with a raised eyebrow at the sudden question, “Does...sire desire to hold me again?”

Getting red in the face once more, Mac quickly responded to avoid confusion, “Er, sorry, I felt bad about your family, and in my world we sometimes offer a hug to someone feeling down.”

After registering his explanation, Melissandra gave out a little “poof” and then giggled. “Don't worry, it is the same in this world” she added with a smile.

Seeing a smile on her face for the first time, the remaining tension in the room drained away, and Mac quickly smiled back, quick-wittedly adding “Well, if you do want one, let me know!”

Giggling again, Melissandra nodded. “Thank you sire, I appreciate the offer. I am okay though, it was six years ago, and Marie, Tillie, and the other maids are my family now. “

With the atmosphere finally having shifted into a lighter mood, Mac and Melissandra continued their conversation, mostly revolving around events in the palace (and to a lesser extent, the kingdom, although that would mostly be saved for Marie's lessons). Since the war Melissandra had mentioned, things had been fairly uneventful, until the run-up to his summoning. After a while, they got up to the present day.

“Are there normally this many maids? It felt like there was about twenty I was introduced too, but that seems like a lot for just me.” Mac asked, pouring Melissandra some more tea.

Melissandra, not wanting to upset the mood herself, just allowed him to pour for her and decided not to insist it was her duty. “No, you are correct. The past few years there was only Tillie, I and several of the older maids, as most were recalled back to their families after the war. There's been a recent surge of assignments being petitioned due to your arrival. Many are being accepted with the assumption the royal family will increase in size in the coming years, as well.”

That again... Trying to move the conversation away, Mac added, “Yes, I'm sure there will be a lot more palace traffic in the near future as well, for the maid's to get noticed.” Remembering from earlier in the conversation, this wasn't too surprising.

Melissandra nodded in agreement. “True, although I'm guessing some have sent their daughters to try and get involved with you. Getting one of their members close to the king can help a house gather info about him, and the future royal family, and if your daughter gets taken as a concubine and bears a child with royal blood, it can be a huge boon to a house, especially lower ranked ones. Even more so in our current situation, where everyone's relationship with the royal family is essentially zero due to the summoning.”

Mac took in what she was saying and swirled the dregs of tea left in his cup while he mulled it over. I guess this is the type of world where that is part and parcel of everyday life. “I know I am in a weird position to be saying this, but I kind of feel bad for the girls in that situation. Maybe it's just my world's values I'm placing on it though.” Mac added, not wanting to be rude.

Melissandra shook her head, “No, I understand what you are meaning. Generally commoners get to choose their partners. Most noble women, and oftentimes men, don't get to choose, but they usually will at least have a say during the process of marriage arrangement, and may even be able to get it nullified if they are totally against it. Generally royal concubine status is one of the more sought after positions, as in addition to be able to help your family, you are afforded a life of luxury and relative ease, as long as you remain in the king's favor.”

Given the circumstances, that makes a lot of sense, Mac nodded in agreement without even realizing. He wasn't really sold on it yet, but he could at least understand it. However, the conversation had kind of taken an awkward turn, given their relative positions. Since the mood was still fairly good and he had 'calmed' down for a bit now, he felt like asking his next question would be fine. “Is that...what you were going for tonight?”

Thankfully, Mac had calculated correctly. Melissandra looked down and gave a wry smile. “Yes. Since I'm past marriageable age, and I don't have a family to be recalled to, I'm probably stuck as a maid. Maids who get called on for 'night service' usually receive preferential treatment from their lord, so I wanted to try and win your favor, and maybe even get taken as a concubine. That's the best path I could hope for.”

Truthfully, that was only half correct. Melissandra didn't want to give away the plan, but Marie had sent her there on purpose. But it also was partly true that she had planned before the King had even been summoned of doing this herself.

With that, Mac furrowed his brow at the situation. Internally he thought she should value herself more, but hearing her explain the situation, her actions made pragmatic sense. He partly felt bad that he had denied her resolve for the path she had decided on. He didn't regret his actions, of course, but...he realized he had a lot more to take into consideration in the future.

Melissandra now had a concerned look on her face, probably because of the face he was making. He quickly leaned back in his chair, smiled again, and responded jokingly to try and make the conversation seem less serious, “Well, don't worry, I will treat you well regardless. I may even call on you to have tea with me again in the future.”

Successfully eliciting a giggle from Melissandra, Mac gave an internal 'Phew' as he drained the last of his tea cup.

Melissandra stared at him for a few seconds, seeming like she wanted to say something, but held herself back and instead poured him some more tea. Picking up on this, Mac asked “Was there something you wanted to ask?”

Melissandra nodded, “Since you asked me my intentions tonight, I...was hoping I could ask the same of you.”

Mac thought for a moment, then realizing what she was asking, blushed red again as he recalled their initial interactions tonight. Mac, wanting to give an answer, but not sure exactly what to say, started rambling a response. “It's not...I don't....look, I think you're very beautiful, so it's not that I don't find you attractive or anything, I just...I don't know how to explain it...”

For Mac, his ideals were more on the romantic side. It's not that he wasn't interested in having sex, he just wanted it to be passionate and filled with desires for the other person, not due to surface-level lust. His favorite stories were ones where the main couple came together after an obstacle-filled relationship, or an arduous journey together, not ones where they had banged four times by chapter two. Even if aroused, he proved he could stop himself from giving in to his baser instincts when he reminded himself of these romantic ideals. This is what led to him stopping the proceedings earlier before they could fully start. Of course, he wasn't sure how to properly explain these thoughts, though.

Melissandra, for her part, started blushing so hard her face felt like it was on fire. She wasn't so naive to think herself unattractive, but to have someone just come out and say she was beautiful was almost too much.

Mac, realizing what he had said, and her reaction to it, tried to steer the conversation back. “I don't want to just...do it with any woman that throws themselves at me just because I'm king.” Remembering back to earlier in their conversation, he rambled on, “I guess the best way to describe it in this world is, I want a commoner romance. Like an actual relationship, getting to know someone first and feeling an actual connection with them. Develop a bond with them, have a proper courtship, and then...” Leaving the last part unsaid, Melissandra knew what he was implying.

“That is...quite admirable.” Melissanda replied succinctly. Although I feel like it is far too much of an ideal for a king to have. “I am sorry I did such a thing earlier.”

“No, after what you said, I understand your reasoning too...” Mac replied.

After that, both of them went quiet as they silently mulled over their thoughts and finished the last of the tea. Mac barely covered his mouth as a huge yawn came out.

“Do you wish to retire for the evening now, sire?” Melissandra asked, and started cleaning up the tea set.

Mac yawned again despite trying to avoid it. “Yes, I probably should. I assume a lot will be happening again tomorrow. Also...”

Melissandra, stopped cleaning to look up at him.

“It feels kind of weird having you call me sire still after talking like this. You can just call me Mac.”

Melissandra shook her head. “I would get in trouble for doing so. Even if you're the one saying it, I don't think the other staff or, especially, visiting nobles will respond well if I were to refer to you by name in public.”

Mac sighed, “Well you can in private at least then, right?”

Melissandra smiled, giving a quick response, “Like when when you call on me for future tea sessions?”

Mac smiled back, “Yes, exactly.”

After successfully inviting herself to future meet-ups with the king, Melissandra was internally ecstatic. While the initial plan had been an abject failure, she had somehow recovered and was now on good terms with the king. She had just wanted to earn his favor by seducing him at first, but felt now she could become a close confidant of the king. And he had said she was beautiful. While he had spurned her advances, he obviously had a favorable opinion of her, so it should only be a matter of time.

With that, she decided to try and get one last nudge in. While she was finishing cleaning, Mac noticed and went to open the door for her. When his back was turned, she ran up and embraced him from behind, smashing her breasts against his back and winding her arms around his chest. Due to their only slight height difference, she was able to rest her head on his shoulder.

“Wha-what?!” Mac yipped.

Holding on for a moment, Melissandra whispered, “This is payback for earlier. And you said I could hug you, right?”

“I...I did.” Mac replied and smiled sheepishly.

After holding on a few more moments, Melissandra let go and hurriedly went back to pick up the tea set, before exiting the room. She kept her gaze towards the floor, hoping Mac didn't notice how red her face was, again, as she exited the room.

However, Mac had indeed, noticed.

Closing the door silently after her, Mac stood there a few seconds before walking over towards his bed. I had finally calmed down too!

Thinking of her face again, Mac thought I feel like...no I definitely set a romance flag for myself.

At this point though, Mac was so tired, he fell into bed and, with the sensation of Melissandra on his back all he could think about, quickly fell asleep.

- Earlier -

Marie anxiously waited in her study. Despite being firmly convinced she had taken the best course of action, she still felt a twinge of guilt. She had essentially sent Melissandra to seduce and give her virginity to the newly-summoned King. Based on his reactions during the engagement meetings, she (correctly) assumed that the summoned King was inexperienced with women and was hoping that sending a woman to spend that night with him would awaken some lust, or at least more interest, inside him that seemed absent earlier when they met the marriage partners. Failing that, it would at least show what the benefits of being King could be and entice him to stay in their world.

When she had gone over this with Melissandra, Melissandra had not only immediately agreed with the plan, but even asked for advice from Tillie and her on the best way to go about it.

Given that chastity was a desirable (or really, a mandatory) virtue when looking for a potential marriage partner, this would normally preclude Melissandra from finding one in the future. However, since Melissandra was already two years past normal marriageable age, giving it to the king in exchange for preferential treatment in the future made this a worthwhile gamble. If we're lucky, she may even be made into a concubine. The King obviously seemed to take a liking to her appearance...

When the King was being introduced to all the maids, she and Tillie both agreed that the King's gaze had lingered on Melissandra's longer than the others. While all of the assigned maids were attractive, for whatever reason he had been taken with her.

...For whatever reason, Marie thought, because she really didn't know. While she presumed he had been looking at her chest (as records indicated Otherworlders seemed to highly value large breasts in women), it didn't make a lot of sense. She had caught him glancing at her own chest a few times throughout the day, including immediately after the summoning, and had made sure to have the large-breasted maids front and center during the introductions. However, while Melissandra's were definitely above average, there were still quite a few amongst the maids that had her beat.

Shaking her head to help her change her train of thought, she pulled out the forms for the marriage partners again and decided to re-evaluate them based on Melissandra's looks and demeanor. Since she had not returned immediately, it seems the King had accepted the invitation.

- Back to the present -

Melissandra was taking her time in returning to Marie. While she was tired due to the extremely late hour, she needed to report in, and she also knew she wouldn't be able to sleep for some time anyway with all the thoughts racing through her head.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The main reason she was taking her time was due to trying to work out the best way to explain this to Marie. While the initial plan had technically failed, she felt like things hadn't gone bad per se. It seems like the King was interested in her, at the very least. In a way, more interested than if he had just immediately jumped on her when she had started undressing. A weird sensation filled her chest as she recalled her time chatting with the King, and a warm, giddy feeling went through her head as she couldn't help herself from smiling, holding her cheeks in her hands.

Realizing she was about at Marie's office, she quickly stifled her thoughts and, composing herself, knocked at the door.

“Come in” Marie whispered, just loud enough that whoever was at the door would hear.

Quietly opening and closing the door as she came in, Melissandra walked in, curtsied, and stood facing Marie.

“Are you okay to sit? Did it hurt?” Marie asked concernedly, motioning to the chair in front of her desk.

Melissandra shook her head as she sat down. “No...I'm fine. I...” she looked down at the desk, her words trailing off.

“It's okay. Just take your time” Marie reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she leaned over the desk.

Taking a deep breath, Melissandra quickly went into a retelling of the nights events, from the awkward initial rejection, to the light-hearted chat over tea, to the King's explanation of romantic ideals. While she gave a faithful report, she decided to leave out a few of the more embarrassing details, including the hug she had given to the King before retiring. She didn't think Marie would be upset, but the warm and giddy part of her wanted to keep it a secret between her and the King.

After she finished, she looked up at Marie, who's earlier concern was now a look of befuddlement.

What...what am I even supposed to make of this? It's like our Records on Otherworlders are just completely wrong Marie thought. Normally, most Otherworlders were supposed to be demons of lust and easily swayed by enticing them with women. The ones that showed initial resistance were thought to be inexperienced and gave way after being tempted with late-night visits from the more attractive maids. Leaning back in her chair and putting a hand to her forehead, she tried to parse through her thoughts.

“Well, I'm glad you're okay” Marie eventually said, looking at Melissandra. “And I apologize, I really did think that he had found you desirable. I guess we will need to try someone else tomorr-”

“I- I do believe he did” Melissandra interrupted, face growing slightly red.

“But he refused you?” Marie said, phrasing it as an obvious question.

“I apologize for leaving it out from my recounting of events but...sire was obviously aroused by me when I was undressing. I could...see he was aroused.” Melissandra finished, face going even redder at her words.

Marie stared at the blushing girl, understanding what she meant. While Marie had only ever been with her late husband, she knew what the easiest way to tell if a man was truly aroused or not was.

“You're...quite sure?” she asked hesitantly.

Melissandra nodded. “Yes. I'm...sorry for leaving this out too, but during his explanation on why he rejected my advances, he let out that he thought I was...beautiful.”

At this, Marie's eyebrows raised and eyes widened. Most men could be aroused even from the thought of having sex with a woman they found only marginally attractive, but being aroused and going so far as to call her beautiful...he must have some strong conviction. Or he's just weird. Marie decided not to voice this to Melissandra though, as based on her reactions, she seemed quite taken with the King after their talk. Seeing an opportunity to both find out more about the King, and to make Melissandra happy, she quickly made a decision.

“Alright, for now, we'll have you visit the King for tea at night. Report to me afterwards with any useful information you secure. Whether it be about his thoughts, his preferences, or just any reading you can gather on what type of King he'll be. Honestly, anything would be useful at this point, it seems like our Otherworlder Records are going to be of minimal help. And of course, if he decides to invite you to his bed as well...” Marie trailed off.

“Of course. I had already resolved to do that anyway” Melissandra nodded. “I...I think in time he will. I think I may even have a chance at becoming a concubine” she confidently added.

Marie smiled. With that confidence, I think there's a good chance of it. “As the Magistrate, I need to focus on the King's education and getting him to take at least one Queen.” She stood up, walked around the desk, and gave Melissandra a hug, whispering “But as Marie, I want to see you happy. I'm loathe to lose such a capable maid, but I hope he does.”

Hugging Marie back, Melissandra shed a tear of happiness as they embraced.

Day 1

Mac woke, confused at first why sun was streaming down onto his face. Whaaaa...my window doesn't face the morning sun. What time is it? Then, slowly blinking as he took in his surroundings, the events of yesterday all flooded back to him. Oh yeah...

Sitting up in bed, he looked around the room, nothing having been modified from yesterday. Groggily, and not really knowing what he should be doing, he decided to just hop out and, after quick stop at the restroom, head out the door.

He was immediately greeted by a catgirl maid (of whom he couldn't remember the name) that was waiting across the hall. “Good morning, sire. Would you like to take breakfast now?” she asked, while curtsying.

Wiping his eyes, Mac slowly replied, “Uh, yeah, I'm pretty hungry.”

“Follow me, please” the catgirl maid replied, taking off down the hall.

As Mac followed her, he progressively woke up and thought of the situation. This is still kind of surreal. I'm following a catgirl maid down a hall in a palace. Catching upon something, Mac asked, “Were you...waiting all night for me to wake up?”

“No sire, we take four hour shifts.”

Mac frowned, “I feel bad having you wait on me like that...”

The catgirl maid slowed down a bit with his response, but then went back to her normal walking speed. “It is part of our job, sire, so please do not feel bad.”

Mac shook his head, I guess this is one of those things with being a King. “Well, you should at least use a chair or something...”

“Is...that an order from sire?” the catgirl maid tentatively asked.

“Uh...yeah! It is! Have one brought there for the maids to sit on while waiting, if you're going to wait.”

He thought the catgirl maid gave a small giggle.

After that, they walked in silence until reaching the royal dining room from yesterday. Excusing herself at the door, Mac went inside, only be greeted by two more maids. One was a large-breasted brown-haired girl, while the other was an equally large-breasted blonde-haired girl.

“Sire,” they said in unison, while curtsying. The brown-haired maid continued, “What would you like to have?”

“Um, can I just have some coffee? And maybe some eggs?” Mac responded, not really sure what constituted breakfast in this world. “Could I have some more of those crackers with jam from yesterday, too?”

Smiling and curtsying, she went over into the kitchen, while the blonde-haired maid pulled out a chair for him at the table.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed at the treatment, he quickly sat down. The blonde-haired maid went over to the wall behind him before standing. Is she just gonna...stand there? Mac thought. Feeling awkward having someone behind him like that, he briefly considered asking her to sit down too, but decided it might insult her, based on the reaction he got from the catgirl maid earlier about doing her job.

Luckily, he heard some sounds coming from the kitchen, and after a couple minutes he could smell the faint aroma of coffee coming through. The brown-haired maid came out, set the coffee down, then went back.

Glad to have a familiar smell, Mac blew on the coffee a few times before giving it a sip. It had a smooth taste, while being only slightly bitter.

After a couple more minutes, the eggs and jam crackers were brought out as well. This time, the brown-haired maid took position besides the blonde-haired one again.

Trying to pretend they weren't there, Mac greedily ate the eggs first. They...tasted like eggs. While Mac enjoyed eggs, he was almost disappointed they didn't taste any different from his world's eggs.

As he started to chomp on his jam crackers, the door opened, with Marie, in a similar looking pantsuit to what she worn yesterday, walked in. With a look to the maids, they curtsied to her before leaving out the door Marie had come in.

“Is everything to your liking, my lord?” Marie asked, walking over.

“Yeff, efrythinf if grayf.” Mac replied, mouth full of crackers.

Marie chuckled at his response, “Sorry my lord, I'll wait until you're done eating.”

Mac, hurriedly swallowing, replied “No, it's my fault for trying to talk with my mouth full. You can sit if you want.”

Catching him off guard, Marie quickly shook her head, “No my lord, you shouldn't invite me to sit with you here.”

“I...sorry. I didn't think it was an issue since we sat together yesterday.”

“No, it's not your fault, and I'm not upset. It's because of the situation. Yesterday, we sat together in the council chamber while having discussions. There is no issue there, as that is what the council chamber is for. However, now, you are asking me to sit with you in the dining room reserved for the royal family. It's a bit roundabout, but you would essentially be inviting me to join your family.”

Mac scratched his head, “I guess I see what you're saying...”

“Yes, this is a more direct example, but say you invite a woman into bed with you. While you're ostensibly just inviting someone to lie next to you, that's not what you are actually doing.”

Remembering the events in his bedroom last night, Mac blushed a bit before directing himself back to his crackers. “Thanks, I will make sure I think about that stuff before speaking in the future.”

Marie, giving a hint of a smile, nodded her head, “I appreciate it, my lord. If you are in a situation where things could be misconstrued, as long as you make your intent clear their shouldn't be any issue.”

Mac quickly ate the rest of the crackers before sipping on his coffee, while Marie explained the day's schedule. “First, this morning I planned on starting lessons today, since you said it would be okay...”

“Yeah, I look forward to it.” Mac responded. While he wasn't excited about more classes, he thought maybe learning about this world would at least be interesting.

Marie nodded, “That is good. We will stop around lunch. In the afternoon, I will need to attend to governmental affairs, so you will be free to spend your time as you please. After dinner, I was hoping to...” Marie paused, weary of bringing the topic up, “...discuss the marriage offers again.”

Mac internally groaned, but tried not to let it show. “Is everyone coming again? I don't know if I can go through that again so soon...”

Marie quickly shook her head, “No, no, we only need discuss. If you would like to meet with any of them, we could invite them up of course...”

“No, that's okay, just discussing is fine,” Mac quickly replied.

“I'm glad to hear it.” Marie nodded, and then continued to go over her clipboard. “Also, would you desire any company during your afternoon off? Melissandra, perhaps?”

Splurting out the coffee he was drinking, Mac starting coughing. “What...why...” he got out in between coughs. Does she know about last night? Wait, if she is bringing her up specifically then she has too know.

Marie gave a mischievous smile, “Should I take that as a...yes?”

“I, well...I was just planning on walking around the palace a bit.” Mac defeatedly replied.

“Excellent, you should have someone accompanying you anyway, so I'll let her know.”

“I...okay, then” Mac nodded. I wanted to explore alone, but I guess there's a lot worse options than having a pretty girl like Melissandra with me.

After he finished his coffee, Marie led him out of the inner palace for the first time. Since it was still pretty early in the morning, there wasn't a lot of activity, although a few people in robes were walking around. When they saw Marie, they looked over at Mac, then realizing who he must be, did a quick bow as he walked by.

After a short walk, she led him to an empty room that looked similar to a lecture hall. “This looks like a classroom.”

“Yes, that is what it's modeled after. This one is usually used for war planning, as the layout allows one to talk to all the commanders at once easily. Of course, we will be using it for your lessons for the time being.” Marie went to the front, indicating Mac should sit in the front row.

Bringing out a sheet of papers and setting them on the lectern in front of her, she adjusted her glasses before asking, “So, before I launch into explanations, I want to know what you are most interested in first. My hope is by going over topics you are interested in, we can expand out and cover everything eventually.”

That makes sense, I wish my uni-instructors had followed that methodology. Mac sat back in his chair, feeling comfortable in his natural habitat of a classroom. Thinking for a few moments, he decided on “If I'm going to be king, I'd like to know what the biggest issues facing the country is.”

Marie nodded, “ A good question. Also, remember you are the King now, even if you haven't been coronated and aren't doing any duties yet.” Marie shuffled a couple of papers. “Any country has a number of issues, but many of them are minor and sometimes resolve themselves. At present, I would say there are 4 main issues, two that need resolved in the near term, and two that we need to prepare for but have a bit of time. We'll start with the near term. First....we have no treasury.”

Mac did a double-take. “What...so, is the country going to fall apart right after I'm summoned?”

Marie shook her head. “No, we take in enough tax revenue to keep the bare minimum running but...we had a large expenditure recently.”

Mac raised an eyebrow, “Which was...?”

Marie paused, as if she didn't want to answer. Eventually, she replied, “You're summoning, my lord. The cost for the emperor's summoning mages is quite high and took several years to afford. While we can eventually build back up our coffers, as of now we don't have the money to do anything if something were to befall Ositania right now.”

I know I'm the one who asked, but that's a heavy burden to take in... “I guess I didn't even think about that. Sorry...”

“No don't apologize, it was a necessary task. This, however, leads into the second near term issue. The lack of a royal family. If something were to happen to you, we would need to perform the summoning again. Therefore, it is important to expand the royal family and prevent needing to perform the ceremony again, as we can't afford it” Marie explained.

Mac sat in silence. Now I get why the marriage offers were pushed so hard. It's not just the nobles trying to establish connections, its needed for the good of the kingdom. “I'll keep that in mind later.”

Marie gave a wry smile, knowing by now his disdain for the topic. “Thank you, my lord. Now, for the longer term issues. First, and this isn't really an issue but still something we need to prepare for, is the Empire's Princess Engagement ceremony.”

Mac just looked at her, confused.

“Of course, we don't need to worry about it too much now, but in a couple years, the empire will be having a ceremony similar to the introduction ceremony you had yesterday, except the kingdoms will be sending men to marry the Empire's princess.”

“So, is the empire really important? You mentioned them with the summoning mages too” Mac asked.

Marie nodded “Yes. The most powerful country on the continent claims the title of Empire, and becomes the center of the continent. While they are technically our overlords, for all intents and purposes they are just the most powerful among kingdoms, although obviously that still makes them important.”

Mac nodded, thinking he understood. There were several examples in his world that were similar, if not exactly.

Marie continued, “The ceremony will be held in a couple years, and we will need to present an offer too. Well, we don't have too, but the potential upside for forming a relationship with the Empire is immense, so it would be irresponsible of us not too. Also, just to make you aware now, the candidate has be an Otherworlder or a descendant of an Otherworlder, so it must be you.”

Mac gulped, more of that...

“If you were to have a son soon, they could also theoretically qualify, but due to the age difference between your potential son and the princess, it's highly doubtful it would be accepted” Marie continued.

“I don't think I would want my son to get engaged that young!” Mac exclaimed, worrying about his non-existent son.

Marie smiled, “I wouldn't either. It's not common to arrange a marriage that young, although it does happen.”

Mac shook his head, not wanting to think about it. “So, what's the last thing?”

Marie's face turned stern once again, before answering “Needing to prepare for the next war.”

“The next war?” Mac responded with a quizzical look on his face.

Marie launched into an summary of events of the previous war. Around six years ago, the neighboring kingdom of Provent had invaded Ositania. Quickly laying waste to the south of the country (including where Melissandra's House's estate had been), they conquered most of the border areas before the Ositanian Army could even respond. Once they had, the two sides fought off and on for a few months near the border areas, before eventually slaying the previous King during one of the larger battles, causing the army to rout and fall back to the capital. Despite now being King-less, the then royal captain of the guard (Marie's husband, as it were) rallied the troops, and forced the attacking army into a siege that lasted over a year. While many died in the siege, they held out long enough that the besieging army became withered after many attacks, and eventually was forced to retreat after receiving news that Provent had been invaded by some of it's other neighbors. Sortieing out as they left, the remaining Ositanian troops harried them back to the other side of the border. While they were able recapture all of the taken land, most of it had been razed and pillaged by Provent and any refugees that had escaped didn't, or couldn't, return, as the area had now become a hotbed of bandits. In all, they probably had lost about 15-20% of the countries population, with a disproportionate amount being military age men. After that, they had been slowly recovering, although with much of the countries income going to the summoning fund, they couldn't spare a lot for reconstruction efforts the past few years. Which led to the present, where, while things were peaceful, they weren't great.

Mac sat in silence after that long explanation, filling in the gaps in his head with the newfound knowledge. While he knew a portion from his discussion with Melissandra the previous night, the full weight of everything fully hit him as he sat there.

“I feel sort of trapped here now. I understand you really need a king, and you spent a ton of money on me, but I don't think I'm cut out for this.” Mac shook his head, making his feelings clear. “I'm just a normal guy, I can't run a kingdom.”

Marie, biting her lip, thought for a few moments before replying, “If you wish to leave now my lord, we can. But I would like to ask you wait a while longer. It's not like you are going to be running it by yourself, I and the rest of the administration will help run it. Plus the wives you take will be there to help. And we still have commanders from the last war to lead armies, so you only need affirm their plans. Of course, if you want to pass laws or command troops, you can, although I would prefer if you waited on the latter until royal line was secured.”

At this, Mac got a little frustrated, “Am I really just here to be a breeder horse?!”

Marie, wincing a little, quickly replied, “No, no my lord, I am sorry if it feels that way. I just want to impress upon you the importance of it. The previous royal line dwindled to solely the last King, who died in the war without an heir, partly leading to the situation we're in. As Magistrate, I can't afford to to have that happen again.”

Mac, taken aback by the directness, aplogized, “I'm sorry, you're just doing your job...”

“No, as I said, I am sorry too...”

Just like Melissandra, she has her own situation to deal with...

Sitting a few moments in silence, Marie coughed before resuming talking, “Well, we can discuss that more later. Let's move on to the main topics for today.”

The rest of the morning slipped into a setting that Mac was all too familiar with. Marie gave lectures on the different races of Ositania, giving details such as where they lived, how they differed from other races, and so on. While Marie explained it as if it were different types of rocks, Mac ate it up. Now this feels like a fantasy world again he thought, briefly forgetting some of the earlier, darker topics. I wish I had a...oh, I do! I need to bring a notebook tomorrow.

After several hours of this, Marie finished up the latest race. “Okay, I think that about covers it. Do you have any questions on the dwarf race?”

“No, at least from a basics standpoint, I think I got the gist” Mac replied. It helps they have a lot of similarities with the fictitious dwarfs of my world.

“Good, I'm glad you take this in so well.”

Mac nodded, as this was much easier than many lectures he had been in previously. While he was thinking about the lecture, the silence was broken by a loud grumble from his stomach.

“Ha, sorry, guess I'm hungry.”

Marie smiled, “This is a good place to stop anyway, lets go to lunch and we can pick up here tomorrow, my lord.”

Leading him back to the dining room, this time lunch was immediately brought out as he arrived. The dish had what looked like chicken (which also tasted like chicken) and a purple vegetable in slices (he had no idea what this was, but it tasted good), along with a fruit juice (again, he had no idea what it was, but it was sweet and refreshing). Due to his hunger after the lesson, he ate quickly, then slowly sipped the last of his fruit juice.

Marie had excused herself at the door, and the only other person was a short haired maid with brown, shoulder length hair behind him.

He stood up, and turned to her, “Thanks, it was good.” The maid curtsied, “Of course sire, I will give Tillie your compliments for the food.” Before taking the dishes and leaving into the kitchen.

Now Mac was alone. Assuming he was free, he walked through the door back to the hallway...

“Ah, sire.” Waiting on the other side was Melissandra.

Remembering the conversation from this morning and their previous encounter from last night, he blushed slightly, before looking at Melissandra, who was also blushing slightly, “Marie informed me that you wanted me to accompany you on a walk in the palace today.”

That...she was the one who basically forced me to agree! Mac screamed internally. Wait, since I think she knew about last night too, does that mean Marie is the one setting all these romance flags on Melissandra?! She wants to talk about engagement offers but secretly tries to set me up with a maid!

Mac shook his head. I should just focus on exploring for now.

“Do you...not wish me too?” Melissandra asked, a hint of disappointment on her voice.

Mac, realizing he had just been standing there thinking, and shaking his head, “No, please do. It would be nice to have someone with me in case I get lost.”

Still red but now smiling, Melissandra curtsied, “Of course, sire.”

Taking off down the hall, Mac had had a specific goal in mind since yesterday. He wanted to visit the town he had seen from the veranda. Should I just waltz out? Marie cautioned me against going out and interacting with other people, but that's because I'm King. If they don't know I'm King, I should be fine...right?

Formulating his plan, Mac stopped when he didn't see Melissandra anymore. Stopping, he turned, only to find her trailing a few feet behind him.

“Sire?” Melissandra asked, confused at him suddenly stopping right after they started walking.

“Do you not wanna walk beside me? It's awkward to talk to you if you're behind me.”

“Oh, I didn't think you would want to talk to me as well...” Melissandra said. Of course, she was actually overjoyed to be invited to walk beside him. “Did you want to talk about something specific, sire?”

Mac paused for a moment, before giving a mischievous smile, “Well, now that it's come to it, you're going to be my accomplice.”

Melissandra listened as Mac explained what he wanted to do. His plan was to sneak out and explore the town (the capital) that he saw from his room.

I don't think Marie would be too happy about him going out right now. But, he is the king. Also... Melissandra couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of secretly sneaking out of the palace with the King...no, with Mac. Of course, she still had to think of her duties.

“So with all the said, do you know a way to sneak out?” Mac ended.

“Yes, I know a back gate in the gardens, but...are you sure? We might get in trouble, and I don't think Marie would be happy if you snuck out. And I'd be sure to get a scolding from Tillie...” she internally winced at the thought.

“Of course! We just need to make sure we don't get caught then, right? If we're back by dinner no one will notice!” Mac added.

Seeing such enthusiasm, Melissandra could hardly say no. “Okay, but first...I think we should get changed.” She said, looking at their clothing.

“Ah, yeah I guess your maid outfit might draw attention” Mac nodded.

“Well, it may, but actually I was referring to your Otherworlder outfit. Any noble or guard who has seen you in it will instantly recognize you.”

“Oh...yeah good call.”

Agreeing to meet behind a certain hedge row in the back of the gardens, they separated to go change.

Date Time

Mac couldn't help but be excited. Once he had accepted the fantasy world he was living in, he had wanted to do something more thrilling, but most of it so far had been mundane or uncomfortable (with the exception of his visit from Melissandra last night). Now that he had the opportunity, he wanted to something that felt more befitting the situation he was in.

In his room, he remembered seeing some clothes the previous day in the drawers in his room. Finding the plainest looking outfit he could find (a button up shirt and a pair of loose fitting pants) he quickly changed and went to leave. Pausing as he was about to open the door, he instead doubled back and grabbed a piece of paper, writing “Do not disturb” and pinning it to the front of his door as he left. Hopefully that will buy us extra time if we need it Mac thought, not sure how long that might keep anyone from entering in a pinch, though.

Quickly making his way to the gardens, he didn't see Melissandra yet. Surmising it probably took her a bit longer to change out of her maid outfit, Mac looked around. The place Melissandra had said to meet was behind a row of hedges in the gardens, and he could understand why. Where he was at now, nobody would ever find him unless they specifically walked all the way along the gardens path until the very end, and came past the opening in the hedges, which were almost at the back wall.

Wondering how she knew about it in the first place, Mac saw a flash of movement as Melissandra appeared before him.

In contrast to her normal maid outfit, she was now wearing a looser fitting white blouse (although not loose enough to completely hide the curve of her breasts) and a long, blue skirt that matched her hair. She also had a basket.

Trying to distract himself from staring at her, he asked “Did you make it out okay? I was worried some of the maids might get suspicious of you changing out of uniform.”

Melissandra nodded “Yes, I think they are all eating lunch right now so the maid quarters were empty. I had planned on making the excuse that you had asked me to change into something different while I accompanied you if I had.”

“Oh, that explains why I didn't see any either.”

“Yes, we usually take our meals directly after the royal family finishes theirs.”

Standing in silence for a few seconds, he looked again at her outfit. She was holding the basket behind herself with both hands and puffing out her chest, as if trying to make sure he got a good view of it.

I...think she wants me to say something. I probably should, I'm basically falling into the Melissandra route anyways at this point. I wanted this to be an exploration but now it feels like we're just going on a date? If she's going to be this aggressive in pursuing me, I may as well go along with it and see if we're compatible, at least, or else I feel like I'm doing her a disservice. Mac shook his head, I can't say I'm not interested...I guess we'll just see how today goes.

Going through all this in his head in a second, Mac responded “You look nice in that, is it your normal casual outfit?”

Going a bit red (but not too red, probably because she had been fishing for the compliment to begin with), Melissandra stammered out, “Y-yes, I'm glad it pleases you. I think you look handsome in that outfit as well, it's a nice change of pace from your Otherworlder attire.”

Mac chuckled, “Haha, yeah, I probably shouldn't wear that all the time anyway, I don't know if I'll be able to replace it here.”

After their short exchange, Melissandra led the way to a small gate in the wall of the back of the gardens. She presumed in the past it had been used to easily bring plants into the gardens, but now it just sat, swung partially open, with the hinges rusted to the point it couldn't be closed nor swung farther open.

Having had time to think while they briefly separated to change, Melissandra decided she was going to use this opportunity to the utmost to gain Mac's affection. Having quickly cycled through outfits, she was glad the one she decided on had gotten a compliment, even if she had partially baited it out of him.

“This way sire,” she directed, pointing out a path through the trees. “this runs parallel to the palace, then through the forest, until it eventually ends at the treeline near the main road that brings us into town. The junction is far enough away that no one from the palace should see us.”

“Nice! I'm glad you knew about this.” Mac smiled, taking off down the path. “Oh, you shouldn't be calling me sire. I said you could call me Mac in private, and in town you definitely shouldn't be calling me sire.”

“Okay...Mac,” Melissandra said, a hint of hesitation in her voice.

“Oh, if its okay, I was just going to call you 'Mel' too. I think Melissandra is a pretty name, Mel is just easier to say in casual conversation.”

“Oh, yes, that's fine.” Melissandra responded, blushing a bit.

Deciding the mood was going well, she decided to put the next part of her plan into action. As they were partway down the path, she quickly wrapped her left arm around his right, and made a point of nudging the side of her breast into his arm.

“Err, are you okay?” Mac barely got out, almost stumbling at the sudden contact before catching himself.

Melissandra, despite also blushing, pointedly looked straight ahead, “Yes, I figured we could disguise ourselves as a young couple going shopping in town. That's what the basket is for.”

“Oh...yeah, good idea” Mac got out, still a bit unsure of how to act in the situation.

I definitely caught him off guard, but he doesn't seem to have an issue with it...

Letting the now-attached Melissandra guide him along, after a bit of walking they exited the forest, with the road in front of them a couple dozen meters away. From the road, you wouldn't be able to find the path in the forest unless you already knew of its existence.

They were about halfway down the path from the palace into town, and a steady procession of people, carts, and carriages were heading in both directions. It was mid-day, and everything was in full bustle, but luckily no one was paying them any mind, as they slipped into the stream of people without anyone batting an eye. I thought she just wanted an excuse to hold onto me, but this disguise looks like it should work Mac thought as they made their way down.

Most of the walkers wore similar clothes to him and Mel, if often a bit more worn and in duller colors. In the carriages, he caught glimpses of what might be nobles, often dressed in clothes similar to the ones he had seen during the introduction ceremony. Definitely a good thing I didn't wear my tracksuit either, I would have been a beacon for any nobles I had met!

Making their way to the town gate, they slipped in and Mel directed him to the side of the street.

“Si-Mac, was there anywhere you wanted to go in particular?” Melissandra asked.

“Not specifically, I wanted to explore around and get a feel for the town. If you have somewhere you'd like to start....”

Melissandra smiled, “I do.”

There was a particular cafe shop that she wanted to go to. Mac, thinking that would be a good place to 'people watch', readily agreed and let her lead him. She no longer had her arm wrapped around his, instead using both hands to hold the basket in front of her, although she had smile on her face. Well, she seems to be enjoying herself, so we can save the exploring for later.

After a few minutes, they stopped outside of a building nestled in one of the side streets. Even if he hadn't known what it was beforehand, he would also have described it as a cafe. There were seats inside with people drinking, and a bar where people were taking orders. If it weren't for the clothing and non-humans, this could be a scene out of my world.

“Get us a seat, I'll grab some drinks.” Melissandra said as she motioned over to some of the available seating.

Deciding to minimize any potential contact and allow them to talk privately, he grabbed a small table in the corner and waited, watching over the scene around him. At one table, a man with several gold chains around his neck was sipping tea as he read over some papers. At another, two elven men in bright red clothing were having a whispered conversation, ignoring their drinks as whatever their business they were discussing seemed to be more important. The majority of guests, though, seemed to be men and women on what could only be described as 'dates'. Ah so it's like that. I guess this works for what I had in mind, too. If she was taking that into account as well, I have to admit she's pretty good. Actually, wouldn't that make her incredibly adaptable?!

As he was appreciating her ability to think on the fly, Melissandra returned with a tea set, along with a now-filled basket full of bags. Melissandra instinctively grabbed the tea kettle after she had set the tray down and started pouring.

“Mel, switch off your maid mode...” Mac whispered, half-teasingly.

Realizing she had started acting out her normal job, she coughed and quickly sat down, a bit red.

“Did you buy some tea?”

“Ah, yes, the palace buys tea from here sometimes, and I wanted to get a few of my favorites for our future tea sessions.”

I guess she was looking forward to those. Although I'm not surprised at this point. “I look forward to trying some then. Is this one of them?” he asked, holding up his tea cup. Melissandra nodded.

Giving it a sip, he thought it tasted like black tea with a hint of vanilla. “That's pretty good. Definitely a good mid-day drink”

Melissandra smiled, “I'm glad you agree.”

After that, they both sipped in silence. Melissandra seemed content to just enjoy the moment, so Mac continued to 'people watch'.

One thing he had noticed was the large number of street vendors. There were so many they packed the streets, in some places restricting the flow of traffic due to how many there were.

“Is it normal to have this many vendors? It seems like they almost outnumber the people just walking about” Mac asked

“It depends on the time of year. It gets really busy during harvesting, or during festivals. Right now...” Melissandra paused, looking side-eyed at him, “...I think everyone is excited about our new King.”

Ah, I guess that makes sense based on everything Marie said earlier. For everyday citizens I represent a return to normalcy after the last few years.

“Do you want to go visit them?”

“In a bit. I'll let-...I want to enjoy the tea a bit more.” He had almost said 'I'll let you enjoy the moment a bit more' but had thought of a better way to tease her after looking at the stalls.

After enjoying the atmosphere a bit longer, they left the cafe and went walking through the streets, with Mac stopping at almost every stall to get a look at what was being sold. While there was many sellers that were basically grocers with their food, there were also more exotic stalls, having pets, weird looking weapons, and all manner of bright clothing and jewelry.

Melissandra, despite wanting to be more aggressive, was holding off for now and staying a few feet behind him, as seeing the enjoyment Mac was getting just from looking at all the stalls, she decided she didn't want to interrupt.

Eventually, noticing he had stopped in front of a stall for a couple minutes, she walked up and decided to restart the 'intimate contact' part of her plan, asking “Did you find something you want to buy?”

“I did yeah, hold still.”

Taken aback at the response, Melissandra did as asked, as Mac began threading a white flower into the right side of her twintails.

Quickly going red, and looking down, she stammered out, “Wha-what?”

“Haha, I think your wife likes it!” the vendor exclaimed at the site unfolding in front of her.

After he finished, Melissandra leaned over and quickly whispered, “What are you doing!?”

Mac whispered back, “I saw some girls in the cafe with ones in there hair, so I thought I could get you one as well as thanks for the tea.” Leaning back out, he asked the vendor, “How much?”

“If just the one, then two coppers” the vendor replied, still chuckling.

Melissandra whispered again, “Men gives flowers for girls to put in their hair if they think they are pretty and make their interest in them known” she finished, blushing a bit darker with the explanation.

“Doesn't that fit our 'young couple' disguise then?” Mac replied back, with a smile.

As Mac dug around in his pocket for the payment, the vendor followed-up, “I don't know what you two are whispering about, but you should probably stop sir, I think you're wife will get mad soon,” she said with a grin.

Mac grinned back, before taking a coin out of his pocket. “I don't have any coppers, is this fine?”

Eyes widening a bit, the vendor shook her head, “Sorry sir, I don't even begin to have enough change on hand to give back for a gold.”

“That's fine, it's the only type I have on me” Mac replied, putting it down on the table.

“No, there's no way I could accept it.” The vendor shook her head and pushed the coin back.

Thinking for a moment, Mac slid it back, “In that case, just think of it as prepayment for when I need to get more flowers for my wife in the future.”

Melissandra, still in a bit of a daze, could only look down as she blushed a further shade of crimson.

The vendor looked at the two of them, chuckled, and grabbed the coin. “Alright, I'll accept that then.” Putting it into her coinpurse, she looked at them again, “You know, I like you two. Reminds me of my husband and I when we were younger. How's about you join us for dinner?”

While Melissandra didn't think it was a good idea to be getting this familiar with townsfolk, she was currently incapable of saying no to Mac when he seemed so excited about the prospect of visiting their home. With that, the flower vendor lady (who they learned was named Bella) closed up shop, as the gold coin was more than she normally made in a few weeks, so earning any more right now wasn't a pressing matter. Following her a couple streets over, they ended up at a small, cozy looking house nestled in a lane of identical houses. If they weren't painted different colors, you probably wouldn't have been able to tell them apart.

As she opened the door, a couple of kids came running out to grab her legs, “Mama!”, shouted a girl and boy, probably both under five.

An older lady inside the house, presumably who had been looking after the kids, followed them out, “Oh my, Bella, you're back sooner than normal. Did you already sell out?”

“Not quite” she replied, before leaning in and whispering into the older lady's ear.

First looking startled, then followed by a smile, she waved at Mac and Melissandra, “Please, come in! Come in! We'll start dinner shortly.”

Taking the invitation, they followed her in and sat in the chairs the ladies pulled out for them. Bella immediately rolled up her sleeves and began preparing ingredients, while the older lady, (who Bella had called 'Aunty'), engaged them in conversation.

They came to learn that Bella's husband (Ben) was a lumberjack, so he was usually a bit late getting back, depending on how far out of town they were chopping that day. Despite being 'Aunty' she was actually Ben's mother, but Bella had known her for a long time before marrying Ben, so she still referred to her as 'Aunty'.

“Of course it's rude to only talk about us, please, do introduce yourselves!” Aunty said with a soft tone.

“I'm Mac, and this is my...wife Melissandra” Mac replied, stumbling over the word 'wife'.

“Oh my, you don't seem too sure” Aunty replied teasingly.

“We just married this year, sometimes I think he forgets that we are” Melissandra replied, giving a small sigh.

If she wasn't a maid she could be an A-list actress!

“Haha, I could tell! You two could have been mistaken for a couple of lovebirds on their first date together!” Bella shouted from the counter while chopping some vegetables.

Well, yeah, because we basically are...

“Now I wanna hear how you two met!” Bella followed up.

“Do you mind if I tell the story, dearest?” Melissandra asked, looking at Mac.

“Uh, of course, that's fine.” Isn't she getting too into this!?

“Well, at the time, I was working as a maid in the service of Mac's family. Since we saw each other a lot, over time, we grew to care for each other. At the same time, Mac's father was trying to arrange marriage offers, but Mac rejected them all, only having eyes for me.”

Bella had stopped chopping and turned to look at them. Aunty looked like she was about to tear up.

Melissandra continued, “His father even sent women to tempt him, but he spurned all of them, since we wanted to spend our first times with each other. Eventually, his father found out I was the reason for Mac not being interested in other women, and decided he would take my virginity for himself, thinking it would cause Mac to lose interest in me. Some of the maids tipped him off, causing Mac to fly into a rage and beat up his father. Since neither of us could stay there after that, we ran away that night and eloped to here.”

Everyone, including Mac, was wide-eyed and speechless as she finished.

What even is this story!? It has some amount of truths or partial truth's to it so that it feels believable. And...is Marie supposed to be the evil Dad in the story? Although that means Mel was both the temptress woman and herself.

“Oh my, well if you two aren't fated partners then I don't know who are!” Aunty smiled, with tears running down her cheeks.

“That's for sure!” Bella added, turning back to cooking. “Ben and I just grew up on the same block together, and when we got a bit older, we realized we fancied each other.”

“I think marrying your childhood friend has a romantic quality as well” Mac responded, shrugging.

“Haha, I guess your right” Bella responded, scratching her cheek and blushing just a tad.

Melissandra grabbed his hand and gave it a little squeeze. Is she signaling that was a good response? I don't know hand-squeeze code. Not sure how to respond, he decided to give a little squeeze back.

Melissandra seemed startled, but then returned with a smile and a nod.

Aunty smiled, seeing this exchange, “You two really are the cutest...”

They continued making small talk for a bit, until Melissandra decided she was going to help cook (maybe her maid instincts kicking in again, Mac thought) until eventually they were joined by the burly Ben, who sported a short beard and large muscles, making the assertion of him being a lumberjack unsurprising. As if Bella had timed it perfectly, dinner was done a few minutes after Ben arrived, with him and the children (who were busy sitting on their father's shoulders) joining them at the table.

The dinner, a beef and vegetable stew, Mac thought was delicious, and gave him a nostalgia for home cooked meals that only a college student could understand. Ben also shoved a beer in his face, which he was more than happy to take, and drink along with him.

As they were finishing, Melissandra pulled Mac over to whisper in his ear, “I lost track of time, but I think we need to get back soon. It's starting to get dark.”

Mac, looking out the window for the first time in a while, saw that it was nearing dusk. They probably had less than an hour before it was fully dark.

Mac turned to the family, “Thank you for dinner, but we should be heading back now. We don't want to impose any fur-”

“Nonsense! Come, have another beer with me! I want to hear this dramatic story about how you two got together as well” Ben roared, already a few beers in.

Bella shushed him, “Hush, Ben, its obvious they want to spend some alone time together before the day is over.”

“Ohhh, of course. Well, I might want to as well...” he added, giving a grin to his wife.

“Oh, stop it” Bella retorted, although smiling and blushing a bit at him.

“Do stop by again, we'd love to have you any time!” Aunty said, smiling and waving as they left.

Making their way back to the castle, Melissandra grabbed his hand again while they were side-by-side. “Just so we don't get separated in the dark” she responded, when Mac looked at her.

Well, that's fine, I guess that makes sense if this is going to be a proper date.

As they walked, Mac reflected on his past two days. I feel like I'm just being dragged along by Marie and Mel.

Hand in hand, they quickly made their way back to the forest. By the time they slipped back through the rusted gate, it was dark enough they could only see a few feet in front of them.

“I think Marie might be mad...I did put a sign up on my door to not disturb me, but I was supposed to talk to her after dinner...

At this, Melissandra grew a bit red, enough that Mac could tell even in the low light, “Since I was missing as well, I think they would have assumed that we were...together...in your room.”

“Ah...” was all Mac could reply. That's kind of embarrassing, but I guess it works as an excuse for now. “Well, I don't think we should tell anyone about today. Especially if we want to try and sneak out in the future.”

'We?' Melissandra thought. So he wants to include me when going out in the future? Does he mean like today's impromptu date, or just in general? Although I guess I want to join either way. Happy at the thought of spending more time with Mac, she decided her plan for the day wasn't done yet.

Sneaking through the castle, Melissandra led Mac through the halls so as to avoid contact with anyone. After a few tension-filled minutes, they eventually made it back to his room. In front was the catgirl maid from this morning. This time, however, she was sitting on a chair, and very visibly asleep. Wow, that ended up being a stroke of genius by past me... Tiptoeing so as not to wake her, they quietly opened the door (with sign still hanging on the front) and went in.

Once inside, they both let out big sighs of relief, before looking at each other and quietly laughing.

“I really enjoyed today, si-Mac. I've never done anything like that.”

“I mean, I've gone on a few dates before in my world, but nothing as exhilarating as sneaking out of a castle.”

“So you considered it a date?” Melissandra responded slyly.

“Well, I just wanted to explore the town, but I feel like my accomplice had other plans...”

Mel looked at him, holding her hands together, and going a bit redder in the face than she already was. “Do you want to...continue?”

Mac looked at her blankly, for a few moments, before realizing that she was looking towards the bed. “Hold on, hold on, you don't need too-”.

“Do you still not wish to invite me to your bed? I...I felt like things went well today, and I thought maybe...” Melissandra trailed off, lightly touching the flower still in her hair.

Mac grew red at the sudden questioning, looking at the flower too, before starting to ramble.“Wait! I did too, but that doesn't mean...I had a lot of fun in town, but still, we just met yesterday! I mean, I enjoyspending time with you, so let's just keep our relationship like this for now. There's no need to rush into anything.”

Melissandra's shoulders slumped.

“...Alright” Melissandra got out after a pause. After stopping to consider what he was saying, while not totally comforted, she didn't think Mac was just giving her empty words, either. Or at least, she couldn't bring herself to think that. “I know I'm just a maid, but I'm going to be upset if I hear you invited a different woman to your quarters after you tell me that.”

“I don't think I can see you as just a maid anymore...” Mac trailed off, shaking his head. “And obviously I wouldn't do that!”

Thinking quickly, heart pounding at the words she was hearing, Melissandra quickly stepped up to Mac and gave a breast-smashing hug similar to the one from last night, except this time while facing him, laying her ear on his shoulder.

This time, however, Mac wasn't completely caught off guard, and gave her a hug back, loosely crossing his hands around her lower back, adding “Hopefully a hug will do.”

Melissandra let go, and giving a mischievous smile, replied “Yes, for now.” Before quickly slipping out the door.

She's really good at the rapid-heartbeat-inducing exits, Mac thought, watching the door close. Falling into bed, he couldn't clear his mind of her sly smile she had given before she left. Yeah I'm definitely on the Mel route now. Yesterday was one thing, but today basically turned into a full blown date event, complete with flirting and everything. Hopefully she at least understands that I enjoyed her company, but want to get to know her better first, and take things slow. Or at least, slower than she wants to progress them...Mac shook his head. She seems worried, so I should try and clarify tomorrow when I'm not trying to formulate a response on the spur-of-the-moment.

Melissandra's heart pounded as she quickly made her way back to the maid quarters. It almost seemed surreal to her, jumping from a full-blown date with the king to going back to the mindset of her job as a maid. 'I don't think I can see you as just a maid anymore...', he really said that, right? Does that mean he wants to be lovers?

If that's the case though, I just can't wrap my head around Mac's intentions. He obviously felt something for her, but seemed to have no interest in inviting her to bed with him right now. In fact, between the tea session yesterday and the date today, he seemed to enjoy his time doing everything and anything with her besides that. Thinking about it, it was nice that the King enjoyed spending time and flirting with her without also having sex with her. Wait...is that...Suddenly Melissandra had a realization...is that what he's after? Was that what he was trying to convey when he was rambling? I feel like I'm starting to understand what's going on...

Contemplating what she needed to do going forward, she smiled at the situation she had gotten herself in, and just how much she unexpectedly enjoyed it.

Day 2

Waking up with the sunlight beaming in again, Mac groggily sat up in bed. Realizing he was still in the outfit he wore into town yesterday, he changed out into his tracksuit again. Hopefully I can take a bath before class with Marie...

Stepping outside, the catgirl maid who had been sleeping the night before was gone, and a short, brown-haired girl stood up in front of him and curtsied. “Good morning sire. Will you be taking breakfast now?”

“Yeah, I'm pretty hungry,” Mac got out, while also barely suppressing a yawn. He had had a lot on his mind and had taken a while to fall asleep.

Leading the way to the royal dining room, the maid briskly walked down the hall, with Mac, still waking up, barely keeping pace. As they approached, he could see Marie standing next to the dining room door, arms crossed.

Ugh, she's mad isn't she...

The maid quickly curtsied and left after they arrived, as if sensing the atmosphere.

Without making eye contact, Marie led him into the dining room.

“Get his majesty whatever he had yesterday” she instructed the two maids who were standing there.

Mac, wincing at her tone, sat down and looked at the table. Marie stood a few feet away, boring her eyes into him now that they were alone.

“Are...you upset I missed the marriage offer discussion?”

Marie didn't respond right away. After a few moments, she responded “Regarding the discussion of the marriage offers, no. I understand your feelings on the matter, and its fine to push to today, although I ask you inform me ahead of time the next time you wish to rearrange the schedule. As to whether I am upset at all....that depends. How is Melissandra doing?”

Mac looked up at her, taken aback. “What do you mean?”

Marie raised an eyebrow, “When I inquired before bed, I was informed she had not left your room yet.”

Ah, so Mel was right, they didn't realize we left, they thought we were together in my room the whole time.

“She left pretty late, it might have been after that.”

“Well, okay then, I'll check in with her later.”

Hopefully she can keep her story straight! We should have made sure we got it prepared beforehand.

“But sire...you need to be more gentle with woman, especially when it's their first time. Spending the whole day like that, I worry about how she is feeling this morning...” Marie trailed off, shaking her head.

Mac, embarrassed at Marie's scolding, retorted, “No, I didn't do anything to her! We just...” he trailed off, realizing he didn't know what to say.

Marie, again, raised an eyebrow in the exact same way as she had earlier, “You just what? What did you do then? Are you saying you spent all day with her but didn't lay your hands on her at all?”

Mac, knowing he was in danger of spilling the beans, stammered out, “No, we just drank some tea...and talked for a bit...”

Marie stared at him over her glasses, as if unsure how to reply to this admission, or whether she even believed it in the first place. Thankfully for Mac, at this point the maids returned with his breakfast.

“Well, we can continue this later. Eat up, we have a long day ahead of us...”

Shuddering internally at her words, Mac grabbed his coffee and took a long swig.

After breakfast, Marie led him back to the classroom they had used the previous day. Picking up where they left off the day before, Marie began to talk more about the races and peoples of Ositania. Mac, wishing he had remembered to bring his notebook, did his best to retain everything she was going over, but worried that some of it was going to slip through.

- A couples hours later -

“I believe that covers all of the beast-human races in Ositania with a significant representation. Do you have any questions before we move on?” Marie asked.

Mac had been wondering something, but was slightly embarrassed to say it.

“Whatever it is, go ahead and ask” Marie said, noticing he seemed to have a question. “It's very important you understand all aspects regarding your subjects.”

“Well, I was wondering, are species able to...intermix?” Mac asked tentatively, not sure if he was going to offend.

“Oh, I apologize, I should have covered that. Our records indicated Otherworlders are fascinated by non-human and beast-human races, so its understandable you may want to take some as wives or concubines. There's also a few among your marriage offers...” she trailed off, her meaning implied.

Mac just grinned nervously.

“Well, it depends on the race. When humans and beast-humans have offspring, the child always bears the race of the mother. So, for example, if you were to have children with a cat-human girl, she would bear cat-human children.”

Mac briefly thought of the catgirl maid, and then of her holding a cute catgirl baby in her arms...and then, for some reason, of an angry Mel chopping him on the head.

“For non-humans, the child will generally take on a mix of the two races. For example, many upper rank noblemen tend to desire elven wives, so its not uncommon to see part-elven children in Houses. There isn't a lot known about some combinations though, as a lot of races tend not intermingle with others too often, like dwarves.”

Mac could understand that, dwarves had a distinct look that probably wouldn't make other races too interested.

“Was there anything else?” Marie asked.

Mac shook his head.

“Well, let's get to lunch then. After that, we need to discuss the marriage offers,” Marie emphasized.

Mac gulped. Not wanting to risk her anger, he simply nodded.

Marie nodded in return. “Good. Are you able to get back to the dining room yourself? I need to talk to someone while you're eating...”

- A few minutes later -

Marie sat behind her desk, arms folded, staring at the blue-haired maid in front of her. Melissandra was like a little sister to her, but she felt like she needed to be a bit stern here, if she was going to sort this out.

“Can you explain to me what happened yesterday? You and his majesty were in his room from lunch until after sundown?”

Melissandra gulped, “We drank some tea, and talked for a bit.”

“Just a bit?”

“It was...hard to keep track of time.” Melissandra replied.

“Is it true that he didn't lay his hands on you the entire time?”

Melissandra blushed a bit, “Um, well, not in the way you mean...”

Marie raised an eyebrow (a common occurrence today), “So, did he do anything? Were we mistaken about him fancying you?”

Melissandra quickly replied, “No he does! We did hold hands and....hugged” she let out after a short pause, her voice becoming quieter the more she described.

Marie stared blankly at the girl in front of her. They're at the level of commoner children flirting with each other!

Closing her eyes and thinking everything over, she apologized to Melissandra, “I'm sorry, I really feel like this got jumbled up, and its my fault. Even if it was for your benefit, I had you try to seduce the King, and now...you're in a weird spot.”

Melissandra quickly shook her head. “No, please, don't be. I've really enjoyed my time with sire. And he definitely seems to enjoy my company. I think...I think I just need a bit more time. Please allow me to continue, and I think he will eventually...”

“It's not like I was going to stop you, especially if he continues to ask for you. We just need...” Marie trailed off, thinking about the situation. “How about this: Go to the King's chambers after dinner. I will try to set favorable conditions for you. I'm not saying try to seduce him, but...see how things progress, then report back to me. I don't want you to jeopardize your relationship with the King, but if you can get any info, that would be helpful as well.”

Melissandra nodded, “Thank you.”

She must really want to be with him, I didn't expect a 'thank you' there...

Mac sat in the council chamber, not looking forward to the discussion that was coming next. This just isn't a good way to go about engagements. Instead of submitting offers and parading in front of me, I should at least be able to spend time and go on dates with them. With that thought, images of Melissandra with a flower in her hair entered his head. If Melissandra had been one of the marriage offers, would I have chosen her? Or would she just get lost in the pile with everyone else? Not liking his current train of thought, he shook his head and tried to clear his mind.

Luckily, Marie entered the room at that point, sitting down next to him and pouring herself some tea. Not saying anything, she took a few sips first, before turning to Mac.

“I just want to start off by apologizing. I should have been more considerate the day before last, before and after the ceremony. After you holed up with Melissandra yesterday, I realized you felt really strongly against it.”

Stunned at the frank apology, Mac just stared for a few moments, before finally getting out “It...it's okay, I understand you are just doing what you need to do as Magistrate.”

Marie nodded, “Thank you, my lord. Although as Magistrate I also need to take care not to upset my King. As such, I wanted take a step back before discussing the marriage offers again. What do you want in a woman you want to marry? Not necessarily any of the marriage candidates, just any woman.”

That's kind of vague....I guess I can just give a general answer then.

“Well, this is kind of basic, but someone that I can get along with and who I enjoy spending time with. If I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with them, then I feel like that's a baseline to start at.”

Marie nodded, “Anything else?”

Mac looked up, thinking, “Um...I guess a capable woman? I don't think running a kingdom is going to be easy, so if they can help with stuff I'm bad with, that would be great.”

Marie smirked, “I admire the humility. Any other qualifications?”

As Mac kept thinking, Marie furrowed her brow. “So you're not concerned about their appearance?”

Mac reddened a bit, although mostly kept himself composed, “I won't pretend like that doesn't hold importance, but there's more to consider than just that.”

Marie nodded. “So, set aside yourself as the King for a moment. If you wanted to pursue a woman, what would you do?”

Mac, raising an eyebrow, replied, “Well, I guess I would let them know I'm interested, see if she reciprocates, and then we could talk and get to know each other. Maybe go out on a date and have fun together.” Wait, aren't I basically just describing-

“So, basically, like what you're doing with Melissandra then?” Marie interrupted, saying what he was thinking.

Mac, looking down in embarrassment, replied softly “Maybe...”

“Do you have feelings for her?”

Mac seemed a bit taken aback, “Wh-what!? I don't know, it's only been a couple days, I can't decide something that important that quickly!”

At this, Marie stared at her tea, unworried about his outburst, and deep in thought. “If you want to have a relationship with her, whatever form it takes, that is fine. Actually, if I'm being honest, I would encourage it. Melissandra is a smart woman and knows the in's an out's of noble culture. For her sake, I think you need to clarify what you want. I know I am toeing over the line saying this, but I don't want to see Melissandra's feelings hurt. She's gone through enough as it is.”

She really cares about her, doesn't she? Well, at this point, it would be partially my fault if I just cut her off anyway. “I understand, I don't want to see her hurt either.”

“Good” Marie nodded. Coughing slightly, she continued “We got off track a bit, but...while I don't intend to get in the way of what you are looking for, you need to consider your place as King. It would be ideal if you could compromise between what you are looking for and what would benefit the kingdom.”

That...is hard to argue with. I'm not sure I want to compromise, but if I'm to play as King for now, then it's probably the best path forward. “Alright, I understand. So...are you saying we invite the candidates to stay at the palace so I can get to know them and better make a decision?”

Marie quickly shook her head, “No, we can't do that. Remember what I said about how actions are perceived? If we were to invite these woman to stay in the palace with you, you're essentially saying your planning on marrying them, or at least making them a concubine. Which I don't believe is your intention.”

“Oh, no it's not. So how do we go about it then?” Mac asked quizzically.

“If the King were, to say, visit the estates of the Houses making these marriage offers under the pretense of further negotiation, you could stay there a few days, and there would be no issue with your spending time with the marriage candidates, since the House would want to have them in your eye as much as possible anyway.”

That's...reasonable, I guess. I A few days is a lot better than what I have now.

“I think...I don't want to promise, but I might be able to make that work. It's at least better than what I have now,” Mac added.

Marie smiled, “Good, I'm glad we are getting somewhere.” Preparations will need to be made, but once we're closer to being ready we can narrow down a list of the ones you want to visit, and go from there.”

After that, they sipped her tea in silence.

“Are we...done for now?”

“Yes, why don't you go to your room, I'll send Melissandra up as well.” Marie said, giving a knowing smile.

Well, I guess I wanted to talk to her anyway.

- A bit later -

After Mac arrived in his room, he had only sat down for a couple minutes before Melissandra arrived with the tea. Did she run here!?

Closing the door and sitting down, she quickly poured some tea and sat down across from him.

After a few moments of silence, Mac asked “Did Marie question you about yesterday?”

She nodded, “Yes, I only told her that we had tea, and-” before abruptly cutting herself off.

“What's wrong?” Mac replied, now a bit concerned.

Melissandra grew a bit red, “I...told her we held hands and...hugged, as well.”

Oh...that explains the talking to I got from Marie.

“Well, um, we did, so that's fine, right?” Mac replied. Going silent for a bit, he eventually broke it by asking “What...exactly are we?”

Melissandra stared. “Well, I'm a maid-”

“No no no, I mean, like what is our relationship to each other? We've only known each other for a couple days, but we've gotten into some stuff already, and...it's kind of been all over the place.”

Melissandra looked down, not replying right away. After some thought, she asked “What do you want it to be?”

Mac wasn't sure how to answer. He'd been giving it some thought, but it was hard to get a grasp on how he actually felt about her given everything the past couple days had been a whirlwind of events. Alright, lets sort through this. I obviously feel something for her, or I wouldn't even bother thinking about this, right? Of course, it would be hard not too feel something when a girl is pursuing after you this strongly. I guess my biggest hangup is that she's really only pursuing me because I'm the King...Mac's thoughts trailed off.

Melissandra, sensing he was mulling over the situation, tentatively asked, “Are you...upset about how forward I was? I thought that was the best way to assert my intentions-”

Mac held up his hand to cut her off, a little red from her bringing it up again, “No, no, my issue wasn't with the forwardness of it, just...it felt like skipping too many steps. Normally, you would get to know someone, go on dates, make your feelings known, then....” he trailed off.

“Then you would want to invite me to your bed?”

“You really are forward...” Mac said, blushing and looking down.

“You said you didn't have an issue with it” Melissandra said, blushing slightly herself, and twirling one of her twintails.

I haven't seen her do that before, that's unbearably cute.

Diverting his eyes to regain some composure, Mac replied “Well, to answer your question, maybe? That's the point though, you get to know them first, then decide if things go that far.”

Melissandra nodded, “Alright, so should we do these things now?”

“You want to now?”

“Yes.”

She took the forward thing to heart. Maybe this is more her normal personality?

“Alright, hmm.....” Mac trailed off, deciding to play along for now. “It would be nice if we could sneak out again, although I'm a little worried about it, I think we just got lucky yesterday.”

“I agree. Next time, we need to plan a good time in advance and make preparations.”

Mac nodded, “Yeah that's for the best. Well, do you want to walk through the castle a bit? Actually, I want to go through the gardens again, I only saw them briefly yesterday before we met up.”

Melissandra smiled in return, “That sounds great.”

The palace gardens was an open part in the back of the palace that was covered in flowers, trees, shrubberies, and a myriad of sculptures and fountains interspersed. There was several branching walkways that led to benches and gazebos, and one main path that wound through the whole thing. Since Mac was wanting to see everything, they opted to walk down the main path for now.

Once they got a little ways in, Melissandra slipped her hand into his as they walked.

Mac looked over at her, giving a questioning look.

“You seemed to enjoy it yesterday.”

“Do you?”

“....Yes” she let out, after a pause, staring forward as if trying to keep herself composed.

Hmm, I guess this is a good time to ask, since I feel like I need to anyway.

“I want to preface this by saying, I won't get mad regardless of your answer, but...are you only doing this because I'm the King?”

Melissandra stopped as if running into a wall, her hand falling out of Mac's. Quivering slightly, “Sire, I'm sorry...” she muttered out, looking as if she was about to cry.

Mac held her shoulders, “I said I wouldn't be mad, please don't cry...”

Melissandra nodded, wiping the few tears that had come out, “Sire I-”

“Mac, remember?”

“Yes, Mac,” she paused, taking a deep breath, before launching into an explanation, “I...I did. At first, I just wanted to just get in with the King for my own aspirations. I have no prospective suitors, and I didn't want to be a maid my entire life. I wanted to marry. I wanted to have a family. I wanted to run a house. So when you came, I saw an...opportunity. I wanted to use you for my own gain, I....” as she let her feelings out, she progressively started crying again, until she was close to bawling her eyes out.

Mac, feeling the pain coming from her, quickly wrapped his arms around her.

“Please...please forgive me...”

“There's nothing to forgive, I'm not going to get upset at something like that. If anything, I admire your resolve and ambition.”

Melissandra smiled a bit, but she felt like she was weak in the knees and might fall over at any moment. Mac noticed to the side a large tree that had a small clearing around it, so you could sit in the shade underneath it. Leading Melissandra there, he sat down with his back to the tree, pulling her down to sit beside him.

Mac held and arm around her, and after a few minutes, Melissandra mostly had calmed down. “I'm sorry I had to show you something so shameful...”

Mac shook his head, “No don't be, I'm glad you feel comfortable enough around me to bare your feelings like that.”

Melissandra bit her lip, before continuing from earlier, “...I don't think I can just see you as the King anymore. I think maybe I realized it when you put the flower in my hair yesterday but...I'm really glad it was you.”

'I don't think I can see you as just a maid anymore...', his words to her yesterday. However their relationship had started, it wasn't there anymore. Feeling the moment, Mac grabbed her hand again as they sat there, and this time intertwined her fingers with his.

Melissandra stared at their hands. “Is that a normal way to hold hands? This feels much more...intimate.”

“Yeah I think that's the intention,” Mac suggested. As they smiled at each other, Mac saw something out of the corner of his eye. Walking over to get it, he then came back, putting a flower in her hair as he had done during their date in the capital.

Melissandra giggled, “Do I just look better with flowers?”

Mac acted like he was seriously thinking, “Hmm...maybe the flowers look better with you?”

Eliciting another giggle form Melissandra, she took the chance to lay her head on his shoulder.

After a few minutes of sitting, Mac noticed Melissandra had fallen asleep. Deciding to not wake her up, he figured he may as well close his eyes for a bit as well.

Slowly opening his eyes, Mac took a minute to figure out where he was at, before quickly remembering all the events that had gone on before he had fallen asleep, causing him to blush a bit from the embarrassment. He went to try and get up, but realized something was preventing him. On his outstretched legs, Melissandra was laying with her head on his thighs, facing outwards.

Isn't the lap pillow supposed to be the other way around!? Hopefully she feels better now, though. As Mac thought this, he had an irresistible urge to stroke her blue hair that was sprawled out before him. Right as he touched it, he heard a stifled “Nya-!” come from somewhere in front of him.

A few meters in front of him, behind a bush, he saw a pair of cat ears sticking out over top.

Melissandra, who looked to have been woken by the sound, groggily rubbed her eyes, looking at him. “Mac, what's wrong...”

“Ummmm...” Mac only uttered, motioning his head to the cat ears.

“Hmmm...Kay!?” she asked in surprise as she focused on the ears.

“Nyaaahh!” Mac heard again, the cat gears quickly receding behind the bush.

“It's okay, you don't need to hide Kay,” Melissandra said reassuringly.

From behind the bush, the catgirl maid (who apparently was named Kay) that Mac had talked to yesterday, and who had been sleeping last night when they snuck back in, slowly came out.

Instead of curtsying, she repeatedly bowed. “I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I came to find sire to inquire about dinner, but when I found you I....couldn't bring myself to interrupt.”

“No you're fine, I needed the extra sleep anyway” Mac explained, shaking his hands.

“Don't worry Kay, he really won't be mad. Sire isn't one to get upset over trivial stuff,” Melissandra added, as if to reassure Kay of the point.

Kay flitted her eyes between them. “Well okay....but I have to say, I am pretty jealous Mel. Getting to nap with the King...”

At this, Melissandra went bright red. “Please forget you saw this,” she murmured, causing Kay to laugh.

Mac smiled, “It seems you two are on good terms.”

Kay nodded, “Yeah, our beds are right next to each other in the maid quarters so we got to know each other pretty well.”

Melissandra, standing up and brushing herself off. “You should go to dinner sire. I need to finish some of my duties for today anyway.”

“Oh...okay.” I can actually feel myself feeling sad at her leaving. He sighed, I guess that basically confirms it, as if I needed any more confirmation...

“Um, first, can I...” Melissandra asked tentatively, but then turned to look at Kay.

“Sure, sure, I'll go wait over there” Kay waved, turning around and walking past the bush she had been previously hiding behind a ways.

Melissandra quickly grabbed Mac in a hug again. As Mac went to hug her as well, she instead gave him a quick peck on his cheek before shuffling away past where Kay had gone.

Standing there touching his cheek, Mac stared at her retreating form, blushing a bit at the sudden advancement. I never stood a chance of not going the Mel route.

As they walked down the corridor to the dining room, Kay slowed down and went apace with Mac, before leaning in and whispering, “Is it true you're calling Melissandra to your room for night service every day? Mel won't say anything, but that's the rumor, and seeing you two like that...I'm guessing its true.”

Mac shook his head, “No, I...” Technically she came herself the first night, and last night we just got back late. Actually you were even there! Just asleep on the chair outside. “...it's true we've spent a lot of time together but I haven't done anything like that.”

“Really!?” Kay responded, giving a look like she didn't quite believe him.

“I'm serious! I don't just jump on woman like that!”

“Hmm...if you say so, sire.” Kay nodded and continued “Still, it's making the other maids quite jealous.”

Dammit, I didn't even think about that! Mac stopped in his tracks. Remembering Mel's words about the assigned maids wanting to get in with the King, he was now worried they might get jealous and do something to her. “Are all the other maids really after me?”

Kay nodded, “Most would probably love to receive that kind of attention, since it would be a big win for their houses if they can get information on the King, or even better, become a concubine.”

“Were you...sent here for that reason as well?” Mac asked tentatively.

“I was,” Kay nodded, confirming matter-of-factly. “My father, the head of House Gascon, really likes cat-human girls, and took several as his wives and concubines. I'm the daughter of one his concubines, and since I was the only unassigned daughter of marriageable age, I was sent. My father assumes all men must love cat-humans as he does. 'Just show him your cute ears and tail, and he'll fall for you instantly!'“ she said dramatically, doing an impression in a deep voice.

Mac nodded, “That makes sense, I think a lot of men from my world would instantly fall for a cute catgirl like you.”

“Nyahhh! What are you saying when you already have Mel!? You can't call me cute!” Kay shouted while going red in embarrassment, and holding out her hands, shaking in protest.

Oh so she only says it when she's surprised, but not during normal speech. Noted. “I'm just being objective. I bet Melissandra would agree with me.”

“Hmph, fine” she said as she crossed her arms. “Ahhh, there's no way I can come between you and Mel now though, you two just looked so cute together under the tree!”

Blushing a bit, Mac looked down. I'm a bit relieved, if Mel has someone like this with her, I can worry less.

“Is your father going to be disappointed?”

“Probably” Kay nodded. “He won't believe I couldn't get in with you.” She sighed, continuing down the corridor.

Kay was feeling a mix of emotions. On one hand, she was happy for her friend Mel, as the King seemed quite taken with her, and it was obvious that Mel felt that way about the King too. On the other, the King seemed so infatuated with her that she didn't see much chance of winning the King's favor right now, and would be empty-handed for her House. Nyaaaah...if only there was some way I could make both happen... she sighed internally. Actually, maybe there is a way I can!

“Say, sire, I have an idea to suggest.” Kay asked.

“Uh, sure, you can go back to talking casually like you were though.”

“Of course, of course. Anyway, I thought of a way we could help each other. If you were to feed me useful information I could send to my House, in exchange, I'll look after Mel and make sure there aren't any issues with the other maids. I could even cover for her too if you want to meet up without anyone noticing.”

Mac's face lit up. “Yes! That would be great! Thank you so much, I'll definitely help you out,” he said, bowing to her repeatedly.

“Nyahh! Please don't bow or someone will get the wrong idea if they see..” Kay asked, waving her hands to get him to stop while looking around. Wow, I can tell he definitely likes her...

“Sorry. I'll try and think of some stuff. What would be useful to you?”

“Hmm...I'll think of some info I would like, then I'll stop by later and you can give me answers. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great!”

Nyahaha, perfect!

After arriving at the dining room, Kay took her leave. As Mac entered the room, the maid waiting inside curtsied and left to the kitchen. Marie, who had been talking to the maid, welcomed him. “Glad to see you take dinner today, my lord. I'm assuming everything went well with Melissandra?”

“Yes, everything is fine. We're....good.” Mac responded, not entirely sure how to describe it.

Marie nodded. “Understood. Now, after dinner, we'll be ascertaining your magic ability so we can-”

“Magic!? This world had magic the whole time and I'm just now learning!?” Mac nearly shouted, incredulous this hadn't been brought up yet.

Marie, stunned at the response, simply replied, “Yes, how do you think we summoned you here?”

“Oh yeah...” Good point.

Marie took the now-familiar journal out of her pocket, thumbing through it. “The reason it wasn't brought up before, is according to our Records, Otherworlders tend to get distracted once introduced to magic, and getting them to do anything else can be hard. So, it's best to wait a bit to introduce it, I even removed the Magic lines from the marriage offers so you wouldn't get distracted.”

Mac shook his head, before replying “That...actually makes a lot of sense. I probably would have been trying to use magic all the time. Actually, why don't I see anyone ever using magic? Can everyone use it?”

“Most nobles can. Commoners don't normally have magic, and if they do, with how tiring magic can be, most rarely if ever use it. Nobles generally have much stronger magic, which is usually why their nobles in the first place, but it can be exhausting to use continuously, even with training.”

That sounds disappointingly limiting.

“As for why you haven't seen it, no one around you probably has had any need. And while it's not explicitly forbidden, usually magic shouldn't be used in the palace without good reason,” Marie explained.

“Can you use it?”

“Of course” Marie responded, before snapping and producing a small flame similar to what would come out of a lighter from her fingertip.

“That's awesome” Mac responded, staring at the flame.

“Haha, I'm glad you enjoy it, it's refreshing seeing someone not familiar with magic appreciate it” Marie smiled in response. “I can make it larger, but it would tire me out, and I still have a lot to do today” she finished, extinguishing the flame.

As the food was brought out (what looked to be a steak and some sort of leafy green vegetable, which as with everything, tasted great), Mac asked, “So is this about determining what type of magic I can use?”

Marie nodded, “That is correct. Usually magic is passed down from their parents, either inheriting the mother's or the fathers, although sometimes it will 'skip' a generation or two and a child will inherit one from a grandparent instead. With Otherworlders, we have no way of knowing, so we have to ascertain with a special stone.”

After dinner, Marie led Mac out to a part of the outer palace, and then down some stairs into what he assumed would be the dungeons. Or at least, that's what he assumed they were, with no windows and a dreary atmosphere. Luckily, only a few doors down, Marie stopped at one and unlocked a huge padlock on the door.

Inside, on a pedestal, was a giant crystal orb, that was almost a meter across, with what looked to be a smaller black stone in the middle.

“This is the Drain Stone. It forcibly consumes your magic, which normally would be bad, but in a situation where we have no idea what your magic is, it allows us to see what you actually possess. Observe.” Marie pressed her hand to the orb, and Mac could see flames being drawn from her hand into the black stone.

“Wow, this is pretty convenient.”

“Yes, they've been here since time immemorial, and are very rare, and by extension valuable, hence why we have it hidden and locked up down here. If you would, my lord.”

Walking to the stone, Mac psyched himself up, before putting his hand onto the orb. As he did, he saw numerous purple streaks come from his hand and into the stone. What even is that!?

Marie, also looking at the streaks, stared for a bit, until, “I'm not sure what that is, I don't think I've seen anything like it. The closest I can think of is...lightning?”

Oh, that's gotta be it! “That's awesome, how do I cast it?” Mac said, taking his hand off.

“Cast?” Marie asked, unsure of the word. “Do you mean how to use it? You just need to imagine what you're trying to do, and you'll do it.”

“What? It's that easy? There's not a chant to recite?” Mac asked, almost disappointed.

“Chant? I didn't say anything when I used mine earlier, right? Of course, it's not completely that easy. If you imagine something you're not capable of, you'll only do what you are. For example, I can make my fire about as large as a bush if I really concentrate. But if I were to try making one the size of a tree, it would still only grow to the size of a bush still, since that's the limit.”

“Okay, I think I get it. So I should just imagine myself doing something with it?”

“Yes. Go ahead and try using a small amount at the wall, to be safe.”

Mac tried thinking of an image in his mind, and the first thing that sprung into it was an evil emperor from a popular sci-fi series. With that as his guide, he put his hands up and imagined himself doing the same thing. As he did, a multitude of purple streaks shot forth from his hands, dancing across the wall and lighting up the room. Surprisingly, he didn't feel like he was being electrocuted, just a small tingle coming from his palms.

Marie's eyes widened in shock, “This is...incredible. I don't know how you imagined it so easily, but this is definitely a new type of magic. We'll need to register this.”

Stopping, Mac felt a bit short-breathed. “Is that...good?”

Marie nodded, “Very much so. To have a new type of magic is a boon to the nation. Although...” she paused, before adding, “I'm not sure if you're going to like all the consequences.”

“Why not? This sounds like it's great.” Mac asked, inquiringly.

“Well...it is...but remember what I said about magic being passed from parent to child? With a new magic like this, every house is going to be sending droves of women to try and have children with you.”

Erk, this again, Mac thought, wincing at the implications.

As if to reassure him, Marie added, “We can delay announcing a bit, but...just remember that.”

Mac shook his head, not wanting to think about it. “I'm gonna try again.”

“Wait, you should be careful, you aren't used to it yet...” Marie quickly said.

Mac, already starting, imagined himself shooting lightning into the wall again, this time as a big, single bolt. “Why, I'm feeling...guh...” Mac started to respond, before he fell over.

Mac felt a cool touch upon his forehead. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked and saw Melissandra, with her hand on his head.

Feeling groggy, Mac thought Am I dreaming about Mel now? I guess that's fine, actually.

“Mac!” noticing he had opened his eyes, Melissandra exclaimed with a concerned look on her face. “Are you okay? Don't get up yet, just stay lying down” she added, seeing he was starting to push himself up.

Acquiescing, Mac asked “I'm fine, but what are you doing? Actually, why am I here?”

“Marie said you exhausted yourself using magic and fell down, bumping your head. She carried you here and had me use my magic on the swelling.”

“Ohhh, you have cold magic? That's pretty cool” Mac added, interested but woozy enough to not be able to formulate a good response..

Melissandra smiled, “I'm glad it can be of use to you here.”

Still feeling a bit woozy, Mac closed his eyes again, “Sorry, just let me rest my eyes a bit.”

“Of course,” Melissandra replied, using her non-cooling hand to grab his.

Feeling the sensation of her hand, Mac drifted off to sleep, only thinking this is nice...

Waking up again, this time with it being dark out, Mac slowly rubbed his head, feeling where he had hit it earlier. Blinking a few times, he saw Marie sitting at his table, doing what looked like some paperwork.

Marie, noticing he was awake, asked “How are you feeling? Melissandra was quite worn out from cooling your head so I had her go to bed and took over watch.”

“I think I'll be fine...” Mac responded, wincing at the pain as he sat up.

“Good. I don't think I need to explain the lesson here...”

“Right, I'll be more careful in the future.”

Marie nodded. “Well, rest up, we need to continue your learning in the morning. We've still got a lot to cover.”

Errrggghhh...Mac groaned internally. Lying down again, he closed his eyes as Marie left the room.

I feel like an idiot now was his only thought, as he drifted back to sleep once again.

In the morning, with his head now only having a dull ache, Mac quickly went through the now normal routine of getting breakfast, before Marie gathered him to take to his morning lesson. Today, she was going over the Houses and the political structure of Ositania.

“At the bottom are the commoners. This includes anyone not in the noble houses, so you're farmers, merchants, laborers, etc. They pay taxes to their local lord, and in exchange the lord guards the towns and villages they live in.”

“Is it possible for a commoner to become a noble?” Mac asked, curious at how rigid the class structure was.

“Under certain parameters, yes. Sometimes a wealthy commoner will purchase a noble title from the King, or one will be awarded to a knight after performing heroically in battle. Of course, there's always the option to marry into nobility as well, although that is just joining an existing House as opposed to starting your own.”

Mac nodded along, writing furiously in his notebook.

“Are you....” Marie asked, seeing what he was doing.

“Oh go ahead, this is just to help me remember everything.”

“Well if that's the case I won't say anything. Next, is the nobility, or Houses. They have estates they preside over, and have their own troops that guard their territory and can be mobilized when needed during war. As I touched on yesterday, another main part of what sets the nobility apart from commoners is the concentration of magic power. The hereditary passing of magic power is usually kept with nobles. While uncommon, it's possible for commoners to have magic too, though it is often at much weaker levels when they do.”

That probably explains why I didn't see any when Mel and I were in town.

“If a commoner does possess a strong magic, a noble house will almost certainly adopt or marry them into their ranks to increase their own House's power.”

“I remember a few times it's been mentioned of having 'lower' and 'upper houses', is that actually some sort of ranking? What is it based on?” Mac asked, continuing to jot everything down.

“Yes and no. There isn't an actual stratification, but generally they will be referred to as such to help differentiate when discussing. An upper rank house will have some combination of money, land, and powerful magic. A lower ranked house might barely have anything besides a small estate and their name. And then there's everything in between. And of course their influence can wax or wane depending on situations. Many grew in power after they took in refugees during the last war as they saw their tax base increase.”

“They taxed the refugees?” Mac asked, stopping writing and raising an eyebrow.

Marie shrugged, “I understand your concern, but they were still citizens. Of course, some lords gave respite until they were able to get settled down and find work. Others were...less forgiving.”

Of course we have those types in this world too...

Seeing Mac wasn't going to say anything else, Marie continued, “Moving on, we have some 'exceptions' that are outside the normal structure. Generally, these are races or other groups that have some sort of special status or arrangement with the Kingdom. For example, the dwarves of Ositania are not required to pay taxes to local lords as normal and have some autonomy within their own villages, and in exchange they are expected to send arms and equipment during war time, as well as a retinue of dwarven warriors.

“Has that worked out well?” Mac asked, back to writing.

“Yes, they have never failed to honor the agreement once, including the last war.”

I'll have to keep that in mind.

“Finally, we have you, the King, and the royal household. The royal family receives taxes paid through from the nobility, as well as any estates that are part of the royal demesne, and has a royal guard that is directly loyal to the royal family. You, as the King, are the sovereign, and will generally have a number of queens, or kings if the current sovereign happened to be a queen, who wield the same authority as you, although can be overruled by the sovereign. “

“What if the queens gave conflicting orders or instructions?”

Marie waited a moment, before bluntly stating, “Then it means you're doing a poor job of running your household.”

“Ah...” was all Mac could respond with.

“I wouldn't worry about it too much right now, just pick your queens well. Anyways, under the queens, we have concubines. While they generally don't have any actual power like the queens, they and their children are still held in high regard in terms of power and influence, and...” Marie trailed off, as Mac raised his hand. “Are...you asking me to stop?”

“Oh sorry, old habit. I just had a question. Do I....have... to take concubines?” Mac asked, growing a bit red in the face.

“I understand you aren't like most men when it comes to this, but are you saying you'd be satisfied with only your queens?”

“That would be great actually” Mac nodded.

Marie put her hand to her forehead, appearing to be deep in thought. “Is...is your reservation with concubines that they are ostensibly only there for sex and procreation?”

Mac silently nodded, still red.

“I'm not sure what exactly your notions are, but it's not like you need to treat them like that. It's quite common for concubines to be treated just as well as the queens are, and in some cases better, although you might upset your queens in the latter case. Additionally, there can be times when you might want to take a concubine due to securing their magic ability for the royal household, or because they might have some other sort of skill or talent that could benefit the kingdom” Marie explained.

“I...guess I can appreciate the pragmatic usage,” Mac relented.

“Good. Also...you should probably not say such things around others. Especially Melissandra.”

Oh...that's right. I forgot what with the weird way our relationship evolved, but that's what her end goal is. Mac nodded to show he understood.

Giving a return nod, Marie continued, “Next, we'll go over how the taxation system is calculated and implemented...”

The lecture continued for some time, with Marie pausing occasionally to give Mac time to keep up his notes. After some informative, but mundane, explanations, it was time for lunch.

“After dinner I wanted to discuss the marriage offer visitation idea more in depth, so why don't you take the afternoon off to think about it? I'd rather you not exert yourself too much after yesterday still...”

Realizing he shouldn't argue, he nodded, and followed her back to the dining room.

After lunch, Mac made his way back to his room, setting his notebook down on the table and leaning back in his chair. I like idea of traveling around for a bit, but just going to visit nobles seems...dull. I want to do more exploring cities, or going to other parts of the kingdom. Actually, if I'm the King, shouldn't I do that anyway, to get a better idea of my realm? Mac thought, thinking of justifications on how a road trip would make sense.

While he was mulling over the idea, a knock came at the door. “Come in!”

The door opened, and in walked a catgirl maid holding a tea set, with a big grin on her face.

“Oh, hey Kay. Thanks for the tea.”

“Nyahaha, were you expecting someone else to bring it? A certain blue-haired maid perhaps?” she added teasingly.

“No...well maybe I was, but it's not like I have a problem with you or anything.”

“Nyahaha, don't worry, you can come in now Mel.”

Mel, slightly embarrassed, quickly walked in from outside as well.

“I told you he wanted to see you!” Kay said, poking her in the shoulder.

“I know, I just thought maybe he would want to rest this afternoon after yesterday...”

“No it's okay, I'm mostly feeling better now, I'm sure thanks to you” Mac reassured her.

Smiling in return, Melissandra nodded.

“Hey, not to ruin your lovey-dovey atmosphere, but I was hoping I could get some info for our deal, sire” Kay jutted in.

Mac responded, glad to have someone to bounce his idea off of, “Oh...actually you two could help talk my idea over with me-”

“Wait, what is this about a deal?” Melissandra interrupted.

“Oh, I thought Kay would have explained it...”

Looking over at Kay, she pointedly looked away and pretended to whistle.

“Well, whatever. I agreed to feed Kay info about the King, err...me, for her family, and in exchange she would look after you in the maid quarters and help us get time together without the other maid's realizing.”

Melissandra facepalmed and shook her head. “Mac, that is way too weighted in Kay's favor. Insider info on the royal family can be worth a lot for any noble house.”

Mac shrugged, “I was worried about the other maids treating you poorly, and I don't think Kay is malicious.”

Kay laughed, “Nyahaha, I think the King values you a lot more than you realize Mel. And besides, I wouldn't do anything to undermine you or the King. I just want to help my House.”

Mac motioned to Kay as if to say, there you have it, causing Melissandra to sigh.

“Okay, okay, I appreciate your concern, even if I think its overkill. For now, tell us about this idea you have.”

Mac explained Marie's idea of visiting the marriage candidates that he was considering the offer's to try and get an idea and possibly form a relationship with, and Mac's desire to travel the Kingdom and avoid the nobles as much as possible.

Kay nodded at the idea, “Now would be a good time to do that, when most of the commoners don't recognize you at all. Once everyone knows what you look like it would be hard to engage with them as you want.”

“I understand what you are thinking but...you shouldn't shirk your duties with the marriage offers. It's very important for the kingdom” Melissandra added.

“This is a bit awkward to say, but...you're wanting me to visit other woman?” Mac asked tentatively.

Melissandra shrugged. “I knew even if I succeeded I would be one of many from the outset, now I just want to be...the favorite” Mel added, determined but also going red at her own words.

Kay crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded, “That's the correct attitude to have.”

Mac looked down and shook his head, I don't even know what to think about that...but at this point I think that would just make her unhappy to say anything.

“To be honest, I was trying to figure out a way I could bring you along with me” Mac said.

Melissandra nodded, “Yes, please take me as your personal attendant.”

Mac did a double taken. “Wait, it's that easy? We don't need to scheme something?”

Melissandra shook her head. “No, even if you were to just do the original plan of visiting nobles, it would be normal to take a maid along.”

Kay added, “Yes, it's common to take your favorite night service maid along for when you get lonely.”

“Kay!” Melissandra shouted, blushing in embarrassment, chopping her on the head.

“Nyahaha, ow! Hey, careful around the ears! They're my only selling point!”

These two could make a good comedy duo Mac thought, chuckling too himself.

Melissandra coughed to get the conversation back on track “So...how many offers were you planning on considering?”

“Oh...well, Marie wasn't too happy about it, but only one really caught my attention” Mac responded, remembering the Introduction Ceremony from the first night.

Melissandra and Kay both looked at each other, than at Mac. “Really? Who was the one?”

“Eleanor of House Cartegna.”

At this response, Melissandra raised her eyebrows, while Kay started laughing.

“Eleanor? I'm...well, I've only met her once, and I don't have anything against her, but...” Melissandra trailed off.

“Nyahaha, why am I not surprised you'd go for the most unexpected offer,” Kay laughed, clutching her sides.

Mac shrugged, “Are you surprised because of the whole eyes thing? Marie said in this world people consider them a curse, but they don't bother me at all, and since she has a lot of experience running her House, I figured that might be useful. Plus she comes with her whole estate.”

Melissandra shook her head, “It's not that...I guess I just expected...” she said before trailing off.

Kay finished her thought, “She was probably expecting someone that looked similar to her.”

Melissandra grew a bit red, but nodded in agreement.

Mac shrugged, awkwardly getting out “It's not like I'm only interested in women if they look exactly like Mel...” I want to joke, 'I already have Mel that looks like Mel', but that feels too embarrassing...

Kay renewed her laughter, “Nyahaha, that's a good piece of info right there. 'The King will take any woman no matter how they look.'”

“Please don't, I don't want weird rumors floating around me when I just got here...”

“I know, I know. I'll word it better, but that is something I'd like to report...” she trailed off while poking her fingers together.

“Yeah if you don't word it weirdly I don't mind, it's not like that really affects me at all...and it's not necessarily wrong” Mac responded with a shrug.

“Nyahaha, thanks! Well, I think I intruded enough, I'll leave you two some alone time since I have enough info for now!” Kay smiled, before hopping up and out the door.

Melissandra, taking another swipe at the retreating Kay (who ducked it this time) shook a bit in anger at her friend's needling.

“It's nice you get along so well.”

“Since she found us yesterday she's been teasing me relentlessly...” Melissandra sighed.

Oh yeah, yesterday...Mac thought, everything they had done together coming back to him at once. “I wouldn't get too upset, she doesn't seem to be mean-spirited about it.”

“Well, could we hold hands again? I think I'd be less upset then” she asked, twirling one of her twintails like she had done yesterday.

Mac stammered out, “Of-of course! If it's something we've already done, you don't need to ask.”

“Good, I'll keep that in mind” she replied, before scooting her chair over next to him and intertwining her fingers around his, while laying her head on his shoulder.

After a bit of sitting like this in relaxed silence, Melissandra gave his hand a squeeze before standing up as if to leave.

“Do you...have more maid duties?” Mac asked, trying to guess the reason.

Melissandra nodded, “I wish I could stay longer, but...”

Mac decided to be the initiator this time, and wrapped Melissandra in a hug, assuming (correctly) that is was fine to press against her. Melissandra smiled and returned the hug.

“Don't worry, we can spend more time like this in the future. I'm not going anywhere. Err, well actually I will be, but not without you” Mac added hastily.

“You'd better not,” she replied, before giving him a peck on the cheek and quickly retreating, in a similar fashion to her exit the day before in the gardens.

Emboldened, Mac decided to give it his all in thinking of how best to get his idea across to convince Marie of his plan.

“I really don't like this plan,” Marie replied, after Mac had finished explaining what he wanted to do.

After dinner, Mac and she had retreated to the council chamber once more to discuss the plan of visiting marriage candidates. Mac had said he had thought of a plan, but having the King travel around the country a few days after he was summoned was sure to provoke the ire of the nobles. Still, I shouldn't reject him outright, and I can understand some of the merits...especially if it gets him to decide to stay here in our world.

“So...you're against it? Mac asked, shrinking in his chair.

“No, not totally at least. But you can't just ignore the marriage offers. Are you...still only interested in Eleanor?”

“Out of all of them, yeah” Mac confirmed.

Marie nodded, before closing her eyes to think for a bit. I think we can compromise on something here. It's obvious he's interested in learning more about the world and we can still accomplish some of our goals...

“Alright, how about this. We'll announce that the king will be visiting prospective marriage candidates and will be traveling for a bit. In reality though, you'll travel around as you wish, under some conditions.”

Mac nodded to show he was understanding.

“First, you'll need to be incognito. We can say you're the son of a rich merchant traveling the country for whatever reason, and we'll have the guards dress as mercenaries instead of royal guardsman. Having a maid with you wont be an issue either, then. I assume you'll want to take Melissandra as your personal attendant?”

Mac nodded.

“Good, good. Second, I want you to you this as an opportunity and consider the countries issues that we talked about a few days ago. I'm not expecting any miracles, but if you can think about it and plan for possibilities in the future, that would make this endeavor much more worthwhile.”

Mac nodded again.

“Third, we'll still need you to visit at least one noble so we're not lying in our announcement. So, we'll have you visit the Cartegna estate on your trip. If things go well, then we're good. If they don't, well...we'll deal with that when it comes. I have a feeling things will work out with Eleanor so I am not too worried.

“Re-really? That's awfully confident of you” Mac stammered out.

Marie smiled, “Let's just say its a woman's intuition.”

“Um...alright, I'll trust you on that.”

“That's good. Which reminds me, make sure you take care of Melissandra on your trip” Marie added with a stern look.

“Isn't she supposed to be attending me?” Mac asked half-jokingly.

“You know what I mean” Marie responded, with the stern look turning into a glare.

Mac put up his hands to reassure her, “I got it, I got, I don't want anything to happen to her either.”

Marie nodded, standing up to leave. “Good. Oh, and if all else goes poorly, at least try to decide on a woman you want to have children with, whether it ends up being Melissandra, Eleanor, or even some random girl you meet on the street.”

Mac chuckled, “I don't think that will happen.”