Together Exalted Pine and myself left the chapel, our footsteps crunching loudly on the white crushed stone path. She was pressing herself close to me. It made me aware of her lithe body and the promises she made to me.

I was embarrassed, aware of those who were looking at us as if we were acting strangely.

Back on Earth, how we were walking would cause, maybe, a second look. But no more than that, here, though it seemed as if they were seeing something alien. Exalted Pine giggled slightly. I turned to look at her.

‘They’re shocked and dismayed that the head of their House is acting this way.’ She said, looking up at me with bright eyes. ‘This is why I’m glad I managed to catch you. I can flirt all I like, and be as handy as I like, and you’ll treat it as normal.’

She reached up on tiptoes and gave me a peck on the lips. That was right, she was my wife. I was married. It didn’t seem quite real. But truly this beautiful woman who was looking up at me with those brilliant, bright eyes was my wife.

I couldn’t believe it.

Trait 1 Unlocked: Caring Husband of Exalted Pine.

‘Yes, we’re married now.’ I said, half surprised. ‘You’re my wife, and I’m your husband.’

She gave me a smile, which gave me thrills and chills.

My mind went blank for a moment. But there was something niggling in my mind. I looked at those standing on the platform. ‘I know I have much to do and I have to do it quickly. Right now, though, I need to coordinate with my wife as to what we need to do.’

None of them said anything.

Using my connection with Fastidious House, I sent out a broadcast message. ‘Fastidious House is under martial law. In a moment, I shall allow everyone time to get some food and take it back to their sleeping chambers. You shall get food and return directly to your sleeping chambers. You shall not talk to anyone beyond ordering your food until the doors of your sleeping chambers are locked. Doors will unlock shortly and will lock again in 45 minutes.

‘There shall be more messages tomorrow with further updates. Please wait until then for further news.’

I unlocked all the doors within Fastidious House and set a time to lock them again in 45 minutes.

Then facing those of the platforms, I carried on, fully aware of how Exalted Pine was pressing up against me, and trailing her fingers down my broad, muscular back. ‘I’m not sure when I will call upon you, but I will want to discuss things with you before I provide further updates to everyone else tomorrow.

‘Go, get your food, and I’ll discuss things with you as soon as possible.’

The twelve of them turned around and headed into Fastidious House.

‘You make a great dictator, you know that, and I’m the lucky one who gets to be your wife.’

‘I thought I was the lucky one,’ I told her earnestly, ‘you’re beautiful, sexy, and a right tease. And you’re willing to put up with me and my wild plans.’

‘I’m sexy?’ She said, slightly confused. ‘My body isn’t curvaceous. I don’t really have any hips or waist to speak of. You’re sexy, you have this solid muscular body, just right without being too muscular to be offputting. Those broad shoulders of yours, and the way you look at me, both as a woman and an equal.

‘Damn it, I can’t wait much longer.’ It looked like she was doing a toilet dance, but I doubted it. Especially with her flushed, dusky skin and the way her eyes were seemingly hungry for me.

And to be honest, I doubted I could last much longer with her being like that.

‘Well, we are near some gardens, ones with lovely lawns. And no one lives around here, so we’ll be nice and alone.’

We had our alone time and only broke off our hugging time when things got too cold to stay out for longer. I promised her that one day we’ll bring out blankets and sleep under the stars.

I then mentioned about Silver Moon. The first person who had truly, and honestly, given me any affection in my new life. After that moment of weakness, I tried my best to shift gears into a more upbeat mood. Exalted Pine then took over, and we played an adult version of kiss chase. After a couple of stops for more fun, we finally made it to our room.

Then after christening our bed, we fell asleep amidst our sweaty and twisted blankets in each other’s arms.

In the morning, I woke with Exalted Pine leaning against my broad muscular chest.

‘You sleep well, you know,’ she said with a sweet and strained smile. ‘It’s nice to see, better than the nightmares which plague my dreams.’

I pulled her up to my chest and hugged her tight in my arms.

‘Tell me, what haunts you?’

‘How can you stand it? You spent ten years there, and must’ve been in dozens of Fissures. Yet I spent time in only one and it damn near broke me, and broke my mother. I watched as…’

I stroked her back, doing my best not to marvel at how soft and smooth her wondrous dusky skin was.

‘How did you cope? How did you survive, People’s Defender?’

‘I had the trait School of Hard Knock’s Toughness from the earliest of times. I guess it was something to do with that.’

‘I had something similar, I remember. It was: Stronger Than You Appear. If I remember. They stole that from me after they put me on one of those altars. My mother never made it off the altar as she died doing whatever they did to her.

‘Whatever they did to me made me virtually into a slave, but I found my ways to survive. Before coming to this world, I had never really read a book outside lessons. But with no other ways of escaping, I had to turn to them. Do you know that there are no travelling entertainers, no theater troops, no minstrels, no nothing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

‘That is, unless you don’t count the travelling preachers who keep going around and proclaiming how great the goddess is…’

‘How would you like to get Stronger Than You Appear back?’

‘That would be nice, but I’m worried that if I do that, then things will change between us.’

‘Maybe it’s my trait, but I’m sure that even though things change, we can always do our best to keep, build, and maintain a strong relationship between us.’

She shifted her body so that it lay on top of mine. ‘So what trait is this, then?’

‘Yesterday I unlocked the trait, Caring Husband of Exalted Pine.’

‘I want rid of the traits they forced upon me. I want to have the freedom to choose how I feel and what I dedicate my life to.’

‘Come on, let’s go to the chapel, and we can change all the traits to your heart’s desire.’

She refused to get off the top of me until she gave me a proper good morning. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long until she was pregnant and we would have our first child… The image of that poor, heavily pregnant twelve-year-old struggling to carry those heavy buckets of water soured my mood. I just hoped that our children wouldn’t be forced to do something like that.

Exalted Pine noticed something was up, so she quietly got up off the bed and started getting dressed. Instead of a gown or a formal dress with complicated knotting, or instead of calling for help, she put on a simple navy blue dress; one which she could put on herself. To give it shape, it had a belt.

I watched in fascination as she brushed her own hair. It was strange that despite seeing her naked, there was something erotic about the nape of her neck as she brushed her hair. Once she had finished her hair, by tying it up in a ponytail with a navy blue ribbon, it was my time to get ready. It was oddly off putting and exciting watching her watch me as I got dressed in simple trousers and an overly ornate tunic.

Once we had finished, we headed back to the chapel. That poor girl, with her badly fitting clothing and large round belly, kept preying on my mind, even if I didn’t want it to. It got so bad that I wasn’t in the mood for my wife’s flirting.

After changing some traits, deleting some, increasing her system protection, and changing her system to Adaptive Mode she was much happier.

With her permission I analysed her using the altar.

Name: Exalted Pine

Concept: Anything to Live an Easy Second Life

Traits:

‎ Free Citizen of Fastidious House: 4.1

‎ Attentive, supportive, sensual, and sexual wife of People’s Defender: 1.9

‎ Needlework: 4.1

‎ Bookworm: 4.2

‎ Lady of Fastidious House: 2.2

‎ Stronger Than You Appear: 3.0

‎ Supporter of Freedom: 0.8

‎ (2 unused trait slots)

System Traits:

‎ Standard Broadcast Receiver: 1.1

She moved, so that she was sitting on the edge of the altar, her legs swinging in an oddly child-like way, banging against the edge of the altar. She was acting so unlike the regal woman I thought she once was. It was a nice contradiction to see. ‘So, Hun, you ready to shake the Heartlands to its core?’

‘I think so.’

‘What’s with that tepid response, Hun Bear,’ she said, slightly pouting. ‘What’s on your mind?’

‘Earlier I was thinking that the way we’re going you’ll end up pregnant soon—’

‘Is that a bad thing?’

‘No, no, it’ll be great. I think.’ Ignoring the slight flash of pain which washed over Exalted Pine’s face, I carried on. ‘I was thinking about another pregnant woman, no, girl would be a better term. She seemed to be about twelve years old, and despite being heavily pregnant and suffering with it, was forced to carry two large buckets of water. And she didn’t have clothes which fit her, so she was forced to wear rags which didn’t even cover her large stomach.

‘Her clothes, and swollen ankles, and struggling legs were splattered with mud. And that child she’s carrying, if it lives, would be forced to stay in a simple muddy pen—one which would not be fit for animals back on Earth.’

‘Where was this? I’ve not seen any pregnant people in Fastidious House? Nor have I seen anyone not dressed up in anything but the finest finery they could afford.’

‘Outside the walls, she was a Tier Three. She was so unlike Whirling Cloud,’ I felt myself smile slightly.

‘And just who is Whirling Cloud?’ Exalted Pine asked sternly. I wasn’t sure if there was a bit of jealously in that question or not, but I wouldn’t blame her if she was.

‘Before I met you, before I even knew you existed, I met up with a beautiful woman. One with such beautiful eyes, which seemed to shine like the stars. She’s an oracle, a powerful one. She said that we would be together, as in married.’

‘Does that mean you’re going to divorce me?’ Those feet beating against the altar stopped. Her beautiful, dusky face looking forlorn and hopeless. Tears welled up in her eyes.

‘No.’ I stepped in close to her and wrapped my arms around her. ‘I love you, Exalted Pine. What we have, even though we haven’t had it for long, I do know that I do not want to lose it. Nor do I want to lose you. I don’t really know anything about her. I know far more about you than about her.’

I saw her face brightened slightly before she pushed her face into my tunic.

‘Do you mean that? Do you mean it that you don’t want to lose me?’ She asked, her voice muffled.

Holding her tight in my arms, I kissed the top of her head. ‘Exalted Pine, I have no plans, now, or in the future, to ever let you go. I love you and will do all I can do to hold you tight and never let you go. You are my first true love…’

I trailed off as I said that.

It was true, wasn’t it? I had feelings for my flatmate, but now I knew they were but a crush. The elderly Greek woman was a friendly bit of fun, and the only love between us was love between friends.

‘You are, you know, you are my first true love.’ I told her in all seriousness.

It was almost midday before we were ready, and focused, to bring the twelve people back together again.