[Vol. 4 pt. 13]

The first thing I did with Oliver’s wife was walk her through how to accept a trade from me. As for what I traded her, it was just a plain, black robe that completely covered everything except for the head. Then I had to walk her through how to equip it. Once I was done, though, I could tell just from her expression how much more comfortable she was. Well, from that and the relieved sigh she let out.

“Thank you,” she said. “I hope that I haven’t inconvenienced you.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I always keep a few spare robes in my inventory for exactly this sort of reason. Though, I have to admit I rarely ever need to actually do this. But there have been a few times in the past where I met a new player who wasn’t comfortable with how revealing the normal outfits are and was too self-conscious of going into town to get something better.” To be fair, I probably would have encountered more players like that if I actually spent more time in the first starting areas. It wasn’t like I was going to meet any of those players if I never actually hung around where they’d be. Still, it didn’t hurt to be a bit prepared.

“I—I see.”

It always made me feel awkward whenever I explained something and then only got an, “I see,” in response, but I wasn’t going to hold that against her. “Anyways, let me make a wild guess here to see if I can figure out what’s going on, alright? Wait, first, what’s your name?” Her husband never even told me her name.

“A-ah. It’s… Marcia.”

“Alright. Nice to meet you, Marcia. I’m Damian.”

Marcia nodded. I wasn’t sure if she was just shy or wanted out of the dungeon already. Or potentially, I was misreading the situation and she was incredibly excited about what was supposed to happen, but I doubted that.

“Anyways, your husband wants to see you cheat on him. He may or may not have pressured you into the idea of it. You agreed, probably reluctantly, because you wanted to make him happy and he kept bringing it up. Now, you’ve been pressured into doing something that you’re not actually interested in and are having doubts. On a scale from one to ten, with one being as wrong as possible and ten being perfectly right, how close am I?”

Marcia hung her head low and sighed. “Seven.”

“Figured.”

“You… seem to really know these sorts of things.”

“Let’s just say I’ve got a lot of experience in various fetish communities. I know how they work. While cuckolding or swapping isn’t something I’ve ever been interested in, I’ve known enough people who were into it and I’ve seen enough relationships fail from it.”

“That’s—that’s what I was worried about. What if… he doesn’t love me anymore after it? What if he sees me with another man and regrets it? Or…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

“Worried about how you might see him afterward? Or worried about what you might discover about yourself?”

Her first reaction was to shake her head, but then she lowered it and said, “What if I like it more? What if it… ruins sex with him? I looked it up after he kept on asking me about it, and I saw a lot of stories like that. Stories about women being pressured into it, then leaving their husbands. And stories about men who think they like it, but then regret it and can’t look at her the same way anymore. I told him about these… but he just kept saying it would be fine. He said that would never happen as long as it’s only in a game, but… I don’t know if he really wants to keep it to just a game. And even if it is just a game… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I—I shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“I mean, the entire point of me wanting to get you alone away from him is so that I could talk to you about it. I want to make sure you’re comfortable and actually interested in this. Sex isn’t fun unless everybody involved is enthusiastically consenting to it. So, tell me, honestly. Do you genuinely want to sleep with another man who isn’t your husband, whether it’s in a game or in real life?”

Marcia waited for a few moments before shaking her head. “I don’t. I… thought about it, and I tried to make myself want it for him because of how important it seemed to him, but… I always thought I would get married to a man who only wants me to himself, and I would only want him to myself. If I don’t partake in this for him… I’m rejecting something he really wants, and I don’t think he’ll ever stop wanting it. Maybe… I was too boring for him. Or maybe he stopped finding me attractive… even with this body,” she looked down at her covered chest, “it’s the opposite of how I really look. What am I supposed to think about that?”

“One, it’s a game, so don’t worry too much about how he made you look. Just because he’s attracted to this body type doesn’t mean that he’s not also attracted to yours. Two, it’s rarely a matter of not trying enough in the bedroom. People who want to be cucked are typically going to desire that no matter how incredibly you might perform in bed. Honestly, there’s basically no way to prevent it from happening.”

“Then what do I do?”

“You talk to him about it. You let him know that you’re not interested and that you want him to stop bringing it up because you don’t like how it makes you feel and you have no interest in ever trying it. You’re a married couple, so communication is important. Be honest and talk about it.”

“But I did! I said no the first few times I brought it up, but he kept insisting! Even when I told him it made me self-conscious and that I was never going to be interested, he said he was sure I would eventually come around to the idea and enjoy it. It’s like he’s been trying to train me into liking it.”

“What made you finally agree to it?”

“He… he said I only have to try it once. He said if I still don’t like it after I try it, then he would never bring it up again. But even if it’s only once and then never again… that’s something I can never undo. I will be somebody who cheated on my husband for the rest of my life.”

“Do you trust him when he says that he’ll never bring it up again?”

Once more, Marcia waited for a few moments and then shook her head. “I can’t. He said similar things before and then always brought it up again.”

The more I heard, the shittier the situation sounded. And it wasn’t an unheard-of situation in the cuckolding and swinging communities by any means. If anything, it was the most common story that ever came out of those communities. There weren’t any official figures on it, but I always suspected there was a far greater amount of relationships that failed due to attempted cuckolding or swinging than relationships that lasted through it.

“Another question,” I said. “Do you know about his activities in this game? Do you know about him coming to the dungeon to have sex with girls managed by the computer?”

“I—I do,” Marcia answered. “He promised me that it’s only with the computer… so it’s no different from masturbating with a toy, he said. He… he’s only been with the computer, right? He hasn’t done anything with any real women?”

“I can only tell you what I’ve seen myself, and I can promise that I have no knowledge of him being with anybody but the computer.”

“Good. That’s… a relief. So… if I’ve already tried talking to him before… what should I do?”

“Talk to him again. It’s the only real thing there is to do. You need to set your boundaries and stick to them. If he doesn’t respect them, then you should reconsider whether he’s really who you want to be with.”

Marcia was already shaking her head before I even finished talking. “This is the only thing I don’t like about him! I love everything else! He’s a great husband and, before this began, made me feel more loved than anybody else ever has. I—I only want to spend the rest of my life with him. I don’t even know where I would begin if something happened between us. No matter what he might be into… I still want to be with him.”

I had a feeling that her belief was founded in insecurity and fear than genuine love for him, but that wasn’t for me to talk about. That was territory that went beyond what I specialized in. “Then if that’s how you really feel, I believe you should go get some counseling. You should both go to a relationship counselor together, and you should also go to one on your own. But for now, I’m not going to let you fuck anything or anybody in my dungeon even if you beg me to let you, and you need to tell him that you’re serious about never trying this and that you want him to stop pestering you about it. If you can’t put your foot down and stick to it, then you’re not mature enough to be in a relationship in the first place.”

I might have taken it too far as evidenced by how she glared at me for a second as if she wanted to slap me, but she relaxed her stare and sighed while looking down at the floor. “I know. I just… I don’t want to lose him. He begs me to do this for him more than anything else he’s ever asked me for. I don’t like him asking me to do this, but I feel like I’m not satisfying him if I don’t.”

“No matter how many times you go in a circle here, it’s not going to change that you need to talk to him, set boundaries, stick to them, and get some counseling together.”

“I know.” A few moments of silence passed, neither of us sure what to really say. Then she spoke up again. “Thanks, by the way. You’re… easy to talk to about this sort of stuff.”

“I get that a lot. Don’t worry about it. I just want to make sure that everybody is having fun and doing what they really want to do. Like enthusiastic consent. If there’s no enthusiastic consent, then nothing is going to happen. But if everybody involved is consenting and excited about it? Then they can od absolutely anything and everything as long as they’re being safe.”

Marcia chuckled a bit from that. “I didn’t expect the owner of a sex dungeon to be so friendly.”

“There’s still a bit of a stigma around degenerates like me, but I assure you that we’re usually some of the nicest, most respectful people that you could ever meet. Sure, sometimes one might be in charge of a sex cult and unironically think they’re a god, but those are the minority. Hopefully.”

“I would rather my husband be a sex cult leader than want me to cheat on him.”

“Unfortunately for you, he’s not, so you’re going to have to talk to him.”

“Do you… umm, are you going to be there? I don’t think anything is going to change if I’m the one who does it by myself, but maybe if you’re there… you could talk to him about it? I know he respects you. He’s talked about you before.”

“Yeah. I’ll be there.”

Marcia nodded and moved a hand close to me as if to touch me, probably just a gentle pat or stroke out of appreciation, but stopped herself and looked away. I had to assume that she was so uncomfortable with the entire situation that she didn’t want to do anything that could be seen as even slightly cheating on her husband.

“I’ll go grab him, alright?”

“Alright,” Marcia replied. “Thank you.”

With that, I went to go grab Oliver who was still waiting away from us.

As soon as Oliver saw me approaching, he lit up with excitement and ran up to me. “Hey! You talk to her? Everything good?”

“Not quite,” I answered honestly.

“Wait, what’s wrong? Did I mess up with customizing her? Not into her? I could have her change her avatar if you want.”

Hearing his questions made me want to slap some sense into him right then and there, but I resisted the urge. However, I couldn’t resist saying something. “Listen to yourself. Something isn’t right and, instead of asking about how your wife is, you’re focused on asking questions that are only going to help you fulfill your fetish.”

“Well, I—I mean… I know nothing bad would happen to her in here, and I trust you, so that’s not really something I have to worry about, right?”

“You really don’t get it.” I didn’t want to just place blind faith in his wife’s side of the story, but I had a feeling she wasn’t leaving anything out that might make him look better. If anything, she probably made him look better than he deserved to look. “I’m going to tell you this right now instead of wait until she says it: she’s not into this, she’s never going to be into this, and she has no interest in doing what she believes is cheating on you regardless of whether or not it’s with a real person or a computer-controlled NPC. You need to step back from your fetish, realize you’re pressuring her into doing something that she doesn’t want to do, and relax.”

And… surely enough, he took a step away from me and crossed his arms over his chest. His expression went from one of excitement to defensive in an instant. “What are you on about? She’s the one who said she’d try this. Wait, what did you do? Did you talk her out of it?”

“I asked her what she wanted to do, and she doesn’t want to do this.”

“She did when we came here! You should have seen how excited she was!”

“Was she really excited, or were you just so thankful that you finally succeeded into pressuring her into this that you mistook her reluctant consent as eager excitement?”

“I know my wife better than you, and I’m telling you that she was excited.”

“She looked anything but excited since the moment I saw her.”

“Well, I mean, she was still nervous! She’s never done this sort of thing before! Of course she’s going to be nervous!”

“She wasn’t just nervous, she was dreading the thought of it.”

“Damn it! You talked her out of it, didn’t you? I thought I could trust you to make her more comfortable with this. Seriously, fuck me. I finally get her to relax and try this out, and then I get fucked by the one person who I thought would understand and help me out here.”

“Nothing is happening, and you need to realize that your obsession with your fetish is going to destroy the relationship that she still wants to make work.”

“She wants to make it work but gets talked out of finally doing something for me by some guy she doesn’t even know? Yeah, right.”

“Alright, out.”

“What?”

“You’re banned from my dungeon.”

“Chill. I just—I’m just upset, alright? I—”

“My, darling,” Thera said, her voice coming from around the corner behind me. “I just came on and this is the first thing I hear. Would you appreciate some assistance?”

“I’d be happy for some,” I answered.

As Thera approached our now-banned client, I couldn’t help but to think one thing.

Now I remember why I never get involved in other people’s relationship drama, even if the drama revolves around sex.

Giving advice to the masses via videos online was one thing, but getting involved in an individual’s drama… was something else entirely and far more unpleasant.