Chapter 28 – Child Support
Gray thought his problems were over for the day, which was precisely why he headed to the Royal Pavilion - an inn where the rich bastards in golden-trimmed carriages landed to have a drink and mingle with the other nobility. Some of these mingling involved groping and kissing in corners, or in extreme cases, renting private rooms on the top floor to cover up their loud moans.
Gray didn’t go there to have sex. Sex always felt better at home. But he went there to gather his next batch of women to impregnate. Every day right when he was outside the door, he would take Kitra’s golden pocket watch and check where the hand was. Right now it was half-filled, so he only had another half to go.
He followed the usual strategy - he grabbed a glass of wine and sat down on one of the empty seats while taking slow sips. Then he took his eyes around the room, searching for rich noble ladies who were left by their cruel boyfriends, or ignorant husbands.
There were a few, and he smiled. They smiled back, while some others shuffled in their seats as if wanting to come. The ones who sat beside him always went to his house with him, where he would ask Lyla to prepare a nice dinner with some scented candles, listen to a speech about her boring sex life, and then show her how good sex feels like. In some cases, Andria would look at them in jealousy but now since she wasn’t home, Gray had ample time to fuck more than one woman.
But his thoughts shattered when a pretty girl of his age sat beside him. He hadn’t caught her in the bar, and he hadn’t seen her entering either.
And damn, didn’t she look pretty. Gray loved the way she blew a strand of blond hair that fell on her face, took her tongue over her red lips or crossed legs where he caught a glimpse of her underskirt.
“Hate the weather,” she said, smiling at Gray. “Makes me feel lazy.”
Ah, so the talker.
Most noble women were a shy bunch when meeting someone new. The number of women who came and sat beside Gray was one-tenth of the ones who actually looked at him. And the ones who came and actually started a conversation was one-tenth of that one-tenth.
And Gray loved that kind. They were so desperate. That meant they were easy to manipulate.
“Mmm hmm,” Gray sipped from his glass. “Let me order you a wine. A strong one.”
He called a waiter, but the girl kept a hand on him before he could.
“I just want to talk.”
Oh, no…
Gray hated it when they talked. He only loved the dirty talk.
“It’s not nice to talk to a stranger about your problems,” Gray smirked, letting his legs brush hers. “But if you want to, I’m all ears.”
She gave a sweet smile and kept a hand on his leg. “Your problems are my problems, Gray Burchard. Oh wait, that’s your dead father’s surname. Should I go with your new name? Gray Adlefort?”
Suddenly her touch wasn’t so soothing. Gray scrutinized her quickly - rich clothes with diamond embeddings, a golden necklace with a symbol of a feather - not a lover's gift, more of a parental one, and finally a little paper fan made from those eastern artworks.
This woman was a higher-echelon noble. And that was bad. Gray always aimed for the lower-class nobles. Fucking them made him feel good about his promotion from a servant boy, and it kept him out of trouble.
“And you are?” Gray asked carefully.
“Just a nice and beautiful girl who is interested in you.”
She was beautiful, but Gray doubted she was nice.
“A lot of women have been interested in me ever since I became a noble. Are you one of them?”
“Oh? Are you sure women are interested in your money? Plenty of people in here have money. They are interested in something else,” her hand moved up and up until it reached his throbbing dick. She brushed it over. “During the past six months, thirty-six women have left this inn with you. Is it a coincidence that all thirty-six are pregnant by now?”
Gray felt beads of sweat on his back. That was it. He was caught. The woman knew everything.
But I won’t bow down again to a noble. Not in this life.
“You know something nice and beautiful? That’s the only reason women come to me,” he took her hand and rubbed it up and down his pants. It made him hard. So hard that he thought his dick felt like tearing off his underclothes. “And if you want it, you can bend down under the table and suck me off.”
He moved her fingers to the buttons of his pants. But she didn’t unbutton him, she just smiled and looked at him.
“I’m not interested in that either. I am interested in saving you from big trouble.”
“For getting women pregnant?”
“Oh no, they love being pregnant. There’s even a cult forming in the city who thinks the sudden number of women getting pregnant is a gift from the witches. They even have rituals where naked men and women dance around the fire. But that’s not the problem sweetie,” she unbuttoned his pants. “It’s the child support.”
“The what?”
“Laws and regulations. A man with property should aid a woman without it. As long as a woman has property with a steady flow of income that’s fine, but out of those thirty-six, who actually owned any property?”
Gray paled. Probably at least an eight or nine. In all other cases, he had asked the women to transfer part of their husband’s properties in return for a child.
“Luck isn’t always on your side Gray. Out of those thirty-six people, at least two or three will have children with your hair color and skin. And when the husband and wife don’t have the same, there are going to be problems. Us nobles are a prideful bunch so it could go from kicking the wife out to killing them. But in the end, supporting the child will be your problem.”
Gray shivered. He remembered Lyla’s face begging him for a name for their child. By the divine, imagine having a row of women like that.
His shock only made the girl smile. “I can help you out. Why don’t we go for a more private place where we can discuss the terms of the agreement?”
Gray grabbed her hand and refused to let it go. “Wait, before we go, who the hell are you? How do you know so much about me?”
“I’m Jenna, the daughter of the Duke,” she winked her eyes. “And I’m here to manage your fuck buddies.”