Chapter 162 – Alone Time

"I'll think about it," I say. I don't know why Aurora would take the fall for my asshole wives, but whatever. Maybe she knows I won't have the guts to punish a pregnant woman. "How did you know your daughter would be a maid?"

"Her affinity and aura sealed her fate, my Lady. But before that, I was not the head or second wife. Honestly I only got pregnant because a man found it funny I had the aura for a breeder," Aurora says. "I am strong, or I would never gotten into a marriage myself, but I was not the strongest of the five. The man I had a child with was weaker as well. So, all of that pushed Shyla low on the priority for training. I did what I could, but I had the pain and had to keep working to prove my worth. With that, she could only find a place as a maid. Affinity for tailoring made it so she would normally be the head maid for the wife. But with me joining her and you being our Lady, I got the position."

"And my kids with you? What will they become?"

"That is harder to tell. Normally, those with royal blood like yours would find it easy to marry. But with how many kids you are likely to have, it will be harder for them all to find a marriage," Aurora says. "I will do my best to make sure they get the training needed to marry, but many are likely to become maids or soldiers. Neither are bad professions. Soldiers often marry anyway, just not to nobles. They get to travel and grow strong and are important women in their own right. Maids get a number of perks. Right now, it may not seem so, but once the family finds its footing, we will get a lot more breaks as the number of maids grows. Letting us enjoy a good balance in life and enjoy the manor we work in."

"I guess that isn't the worst thing," I say. Everyone needs to work. "Can't maids marry?"

"They can marry. They can't marry nobles, but they can marry commoners. I had to divorce to join this family as a maid. You cannot have your maids working for another noble by marriage. Security risk," Aurora says.

"Is being married really that controlling?" I ask.

"For those with a lot of mana like most nobles, yes, my Lady," Aurora says. "Mana lets magical contracts, like your collar and marriage, be enforced without much intervention. The Princess may not be shocked, but she will find it harder to make plans and move forward with her own wants if she does not work to fulfill her promise to you. Now, I understand her promise to you is not due for a while, but others have promised to help convince her to move it up, and that starts now. Sorry, I am talking about this again."

"How do I know they make a binding promise?" I ask.

"It takes you thinking they are sincere in asking or for them to be sincere. They have shared their promises with me, so I know they are sincere. Shimmer and Geta are both trying, and Princess Elora has talked about your Mother and friends. I can not promise a timeline, but it should be before the Princess becomes Queen, my Lady," Aurora says.

"Why are you saying my Lady again?"

"I upset you, my Lady, and feel like I ended the conversation where you agreed for me to call you by your name. I can start again if you would like, my Lady," Aurora says, bowing her head.

"We don't have much food left, but it would be nice," I say. "I just find it hard to believe anyone here really cares about me. Mommy wouldn't do something like this to me, or Mai, or Kelly. You say Yuki did, but she said she loved me. Comforted me, saw my pain. I don't think she let me go through all that willingly. She must've had a reason."

"If she didn't, Alzi?" Aurora says, looking me in the eyes. "What if she didn't?"

"I still want my mommy. I still want Mai and Kelly. Then Yuki has to prove her love to me again," I say. Yuki didn't hurt me. She wouldn't do that. She nearly died getting revenge for me. I hope they don't ask too deeply into all that. I don't think I'm supposed to let anyone know about that.

"Can you let Princess Elora prove her love?"

"I've told her how to show her love. Yuki would let Mommy marry me."

"She does not have the same pressure as Elora does, but I can not speak to what Yuki would do when you are free. Could you let Princess Elora show her love in other ways? Let her build up love till she lets you marry your Mother?"

"Like what?"

"In whatever way Princess Elora can."

"If I don't think she is showing me love?"

"Then she is not showing you love. Is that what you think right now?" Aurora asks for some reason.

"What the fuck do you mean! I just fucked her all night with a taunt of marrying my Mother. How is that love? How is telling me I'm going to give some stupid noble a child love? How is she showing me love?" I demand. What fucked up world do they all live in!

"She has me teaching you. She is promising to marry your Mother who does not even have an affinity. She is giving you more freedom than the Mistress would be giving you. You are almost to the level of any man would have despite your collar. Here you are eating in a grand garden after a lesson with a well-known healer," Aurora says.

"Nothing Yuki couldn't give me," I say.

"Yes, those are not great shows of love, but they show you being more than a slave. A Princess gave you control over her body for a night. A slave could control a Princess. The way she did it may not have been well thought out, but the Princess struggles to connect with others. Most of the wives understand her desire to serve the Queendom and how that shapes her love. You, rightfully so, do not understand that. It is something she needs to work on, not something you need to change. But I just want you to know she loves you. Just struggles to show it correctly."

"The Princess needs to figure it out. Right now, I feel zero love and a lot of hate," I say. Fucking my owner is a show of love? It was nice seeing my sperm coating her thighs, but the taunt and collar made it hard to see any love.

Whatever, Aurora can rave about the better treatment, but I'm still a slave. I can give the Princess some credit for better treatment, but I think I'll take it all away for making me wear the collar.

"Everyone is working with her on it," Aurora says. "It seems we finished dinner. Would you like me to show you to your room now? I will wait outside it, and you can call me for anything you need, my Lady."

"That would be nice," I say, moving the silly napkin up to the table.

Aurora follows suit and stands up. Leading me back through the garden, to the stupidly large house, and up to the fucking fourth floor. What a show of love. At least I have smaller heels on than normal.

Inside my room is a pleasant surprise.

Black. My light is no longer shining all over the place—a chance to fall asleep naturally at night.

I think about thanking her, but they should've changed my room the first night I was here. The least they could've done was change the decor immediately.

"I am sorry about the wait, my Lady. I asked for everything to be changed. Normally, the furniture can stay white for a while, but I asked for it all to be removed. The furniture was made just for you. I hope it fits you better as well. I will leave you be. I will be just outside if you need anything, my Lady," Aurora says, bowing out of the room.

"Wait. Do you have a piece of wood I can have?" I ask before she can close the door.

"Wood? How large? Do you care about the type or any other properties?" Aurora asks.

"No, about five inches should do," I say.

"Five by what, my Lady," Aurora asks me.

"By what?"

"The other length and thickness, my Lady. I can give you a board of wood or a block or stick, but I need to know the size and shape," Aurora clarifies.

"Cube is fine, and I don't care about the rest," I say.

"I think this should do. It is a bit dented and not really square, but see if it works for what you need. If not, I can get a better piece for you, my Lady," Aurora says, handing over the dark wood.

"This will do," I say. "That is all."

"I will knock when dinner is ready to be served," Aurora says.

"Ok," I tell her, turning to go out onto my balcony. I haven't used it yet, and well, now seems like a good time to test it out.

The cold temperature is a lot more noticeable on the balcony, but I'll be fine till it gets dark.

I sit down in one of the many chairs they have out here and look over the cube Aurora gave me. It really is dented. It looks like someone had a habit of hitting it with a thin rock or maybe rubbing it with a ring.

Aurora didn't give me something precious to her, did she? I was hoping to make a statue of Geta out of it, but I think I should do Shyla instead in case it is somewhat important to Aurora. I don't have Shyla as well memorized, but if I give her a simple dress I can get away with it.

I don't know why I said a cube would work. I'm going to be cutting so much off the sides. Oh, and I don't have a lot of mana.

I really planned this poorly.

Well, first thing first. Make a notch for where the base will go, then shape out the head and start cutting.

The base is slightly less than half an inch, and the head can be about an inch, I think. It's just a simple shape. I haven't seen Shyla pin her hair up or anything. The shoulder blades should be a fine length.

Eh, I'm just going to hand it over to Aurora. It doesn't need to be my best work. Well, it may be important to her, but I shouldn't make it too ugly.

I keep marking out the features on the cube so I can cut away the large section of waste before working on the details. The pose will be really simple: Shyla will stand with her arms crossed in front of her. I don't think I can do the full details of the maid uniform. So, I'll switch that over to a simple dress.

Maybe Aurora will like it better that way. It doesn't seem like being a maid is too bad, but I would imagine a normal dress should look better on the nightstand.

I surge my mana into the wood and start to make the first real cuts. Taking my markings and giving the figure a real shape. The head pops out with a block for hair. Thinning out for a neck before the shoulders and chest to form.

I have to leave extra material below so I have something to work with in creating a dress. Then, I will finish up the base and cut a bit off the bottom to give it a flat base to rest on.

I start on the hair next, just giving it a bit of texture over the block I started with and finishing up the face. Next is the top half of Shyla's dress, cutting out her arms and hands.

How far down should I make her dress? Knees should be a conservative guess. Give it a bit of a wave, then a thigh gap. Add simple shoes, and I'll have made my first clothed figure.