Chapter 174 – Deciding on a Game

"I think we should let her finish the meal," Seirian says. "I don't know why she is ok with you controlling her drink, but feeding her is a step too far for me to watch."

"You just had to ruin it," Myrrh says. "I was wondering how long she would let me hold the drink. It was just going to be that one bite. I know that is too far. But sorry, Lady Alzi, I think I got a little too into the change in pace we have here."

"No," I say. It is a bit annoying but if she wants to feed me then she has to be ready to continue it. "It was getting annoying, but if you are going to start it, finish it."

"As you wish my Lady," Myrrh says with a strangely cute smile.

"Lady Alzi seems to be letting us run the show here. So, while she eats, why don't we figure out what to do for the hour after dinner we have?" Zeldyara suggests. That would be nice. I really need to find out how they all eat so fast and maybe figure out how to handle these in the future. I like the idea of them all fighting for me rather than picking immediately.

But I should also complain to Aurora. If I wasn't getting anyone in the first hour in the brothel, I would try a lot harder than this to get a client. It could be the Princess screwing me over, but I would've thought that by failing to strip me, they would've switched to themselves. They clearly know my origins.

"How about a drinking game?" Ardri says.

"That is the usual method of passing time," Vicia says. "I doubt Alzi has done that much, and it would be good to introduce her while she has Princess Elora and her maid so close by."

"Do you think we could do a strip version of it? We would have to even things out a bit with Sharn. If Alzi agrees Princess Elora should be ok with it," Seirian says, her eyes watching my reaction.

"We could always do both," Ardri says. "Why limit ourselves here."

Seems a few of the girls think they are out of the running. Going for the route of having Alzi prove her virility. I'm sure the Princess will stop this. If hands are too much, then getting me drunk and naked has to be too far, right? I mean, they still haven't asked me anything while they are fighting about the game they should play.

"Girls, while this plan is perfect for all of you walking out of here pregnant, you are forgetting that it relies on someone who hasn't voiced their opinion yet," Lorelei says. "And Princess Elora will not have the party breaking down into an orgy while she watches. I also don't want to watch you all get drunk and then force me to wrangle you all so I can do the deed and leave."

"Oh, Quiet vampire," Ardri says. "You can have your time after dinner and then leave us to do our thing. We can have a bit of fun planning the night out and then ask Lady Alzi. If she says no, then we find something else to do."

"We could just ask her now," Sharn says, all eyes turning to the head of the table.

"I would prefer not to drink," I say. "And it's not like I mind being naked or anything."

"Perfect," Ardri says before Lorelei can say anything. "All we need is for Princess Elora to not come storming in here and we're all set."

Does that mean we aren't doing the drinking portion? Should I ask that? I said no to it, so it should be fine. Worst case, I just bring it up again before we start. The Princess should stop us anyway.

"Have fun getting the Princess mad at you," Lorelei says, turning back to her meal.

I'm not the only slow eater here, or Lorelei just doesn't feel like keeping up with everyone. It was a lot easier to talk and eat when it was just some soup I would basically just drink if that counts as eating. There were some fruits and whatnot, I guess.

"I think it should be cards," Vicia says.

"No, we have been playing all the card games for years," Ardri says. "She would be naked in three rounds. I think some chance game would be best. We can decide how much skill should be involved from there."

"Cards are chance with skill," Vicia says.

"Too much skill and knowledge. The odds are all known to us, but Lady Alzi doesn't know them, and she won't be used to tracking the cards. Unless you have a luck-based card game you wish to play."

"Cards is no fun if it is all luck," Vicia admits. "Then we can just ask Lady Alzi about the dice games after dinner."

"If we must do it this way then we should do pure luck," Myrrh says. "Princess Elora, if you could please keep us all from cheating on your wife, that would be great. It would be quite rude of us to cheat your wife when she is giving us all an equal chance to possibly carry her child."

Fuck, I didn't even think about that. I'm sure I would be spotted the second I tried to mess with the dice, but I'm sure more than one of these girls could sneak something if the others got drunk enough. Even the maids agree, one moving over to the door.

Instead, it opens to the familiar food cart, with a giant cake sitting on top as the third maid pushes it in. I guess they are counting all the vegetables in the soup for the salad today.

It's hard to compare the size of the cake to anything. Even cut evenly, each of us is going to have a bigger piece than I normally have for dinner. So, I guess Shimmer lied about those being a slice. Or tea parties are more important for the Princess than I thought.

Well, maybe this isn't that special. I think I'm the only one that cares about the cake at all.

"What kind of sweets did your village have?" Seirian asks. "I know they would be limited, but surely they had stuff for some of the festivals."

"Not much like cake. I think the only time we had that was for the affinity party," I say. "Mostly just slightly better meat. Maybe some of the richer people had better sweets. Mommy had to spend the extra money on getting meat, and we didn't stay at the festivals for long. Kind of boring; our neighbors would leave early as well, and we would play."

"Hmm, I guess sugar is hard to get, but not all cakes need it," Seirian says. "I don't think too many traders go to the dragon village either. I think they may need a permit from the Queen."

"No, Duchess Azothir controls the trade," Sharn says. "But she doesn't care too much anymore. They aren't a threat or anything. Seems the dragon realm has decided to let them be."

"Oh, really. How do you know that?" Ardri asks.

"She told me," Sharn says, raising an eyebrow.

"Really, really. She didn't want to share with others who she married? Sending you to a tea party for your introduction," Ardri says. "I was wondering why I didn't recognize you. Duchess Azothir is hoping to show you off with a belly then."

"She just offered me a chance for a kid," Sharn says. "Didn't ask the reason."

"Your cake, my Lady," Aurora says, and once again, the other two pass out the rest. "Chocolate cake for dessert. Myrrh, please let my Lady drink for herself now. Please enjoy."

The slice Aurora gave me was much larger than the cake squares they normally give out for dinner and bigger than the other slices they handed out. They don't seem to mind as I take the first bite, but Aurora really needs to start explaining things.

Is it normal for the host to get a larger slice? What normally happens at these stupid parties? Why does it seem like the Princess is suddenly ok with sexual activities when it was wrong before? Why go through all this when I could just spend the time getting them pregnant? Will this be over if I just choose a woman to fuck?

I also need Shimmer to explain these card games. Geta and Shimmer had me running around then the first party I'm at, they call me too stupid to play a fucking game with them. Sure, I would lose, but I'm too stupid to play any of the games?

At least the cake is good. I think Mommy would like it. I tried saving some cake from the affinity party, but the mayor told me to just finish the piece. Mommy never wanted to start a fight with them. Always be careful of the silver dragons. It was always a bit strange how everyone would settle down around them.

Even if they didn't see them. They did have more people with an affinity than the other families, but how would you know to settle down if you didn't see them? I got in trouble a lot because I would keep talking too loud when they came by.

Stupid rule if you ask me. They never showed their scary side to me.

I wonder how much Sharn knows about dragons if she just married the overseer. If that is the right term. I always thought the Queen was watching us with the capital right there.

"Sharn, what do you know about dragons?" I ask.

"Not much. Azothir handles the town," Sharn says. "She doesn't do much. Just few people asking trade with them here and there. Few request move in that she denies."

"Denies people moving to the town? What about leaving?" I ask.

"Don't know," Sharn says with a shrug. "I don't think she cares. Got people you want out?"

"Well, my Mommy still lives there with a few wives now, and she is pregnant," I say. "I want to marry her."

"I can ask," Sharns says.

"That would be great. Thank you," I tell her. Fuck she is going to send a letter for an answer, isn't she? The Princess better not read it and switch it out.

While I worried about the letter, everyone else seemed to get worried about Sharn. I guess this would be a point where I just choose her for being nice to me. I could ask her to check on Mommy for me, or I could have Aurora send someone.

I should get that if they truly wish me to marry her soon. It would be best to keep an eye out for her so that the wedding can happen as quickly as possible. It wouldn't hurt to ask both. Make sure they aren't lying to me. If they aren't switching out the letters.

Why does Aurora have to be right about reading?