16 Chapter 16: Wifely Duty

After a few vigorous rounds of 'disciplining' my wife I was feeling much more relaxed. I held Maya softly in my arms my fingers tracing down her hair and stroking her back. She was already sleeping deeply so my tender caress did little to stir her.

I got up slowly so as not to disturb her and began getting dressed. It had not taken much for me to change my aesthetic taste to match my new world. I made sure to properly tame my hair, as I reached for a simple clean shirt. Oddly the tailors of this new world seemed to be quite advanced, the stitches were barely noticeable on the clothing. I had thought with the limitations that the products would be vastly inferior.

I made sure to dress smartly choosing only dark colors to downplay my appearance as much as possible. While I was certainly never a knock out in my last life, this new body does seem to turn a few heads. Given the young lass's infatuation with me I hope that simply being a bit uglier will get her to back off.

Walking down the hallway I listen in on the conversations that the maids are having with each other. There wasn't much special about what they talked about, but if you were patient, and very lucky there would be hidden gems. "Did you hear, about the new lord?" My ears perked up at that. Were they actually going to badmouth me here? Oh, I gotta see how this goes! Peeking around a corner I can see two older maids standing by a large collection of cutlery laid out on a table. The first maid seemed to be the one who had asked the question. She was fairly tall, standing only a few inches shorter than me, with fraying grey hair and blue eyes. She wore the standard maid uniform, the exact same as her friend. Her friend was a large woman, both tall and wide, with fiery red hair that hung in curls down her back. She had on a wide smile.

"No, what did he do?!" She asked her friend eagerly eyes nearly shining. "I heard that he's been taking a maid for a 'visit' of the grove every night!"

What?! Blasphemy! I have been defamed! I want to yell out to them, but for now I simply wait as my anger begins to grow. I have been taken a girl to the grove every night, but it was my fucking WIFE! Shouldn't be any issues there!

The second maid gasps and leans towards the thin one. "Oh, now I knew it! I heard he even wanted to get Lady Terra to join him as well!"

"Oh fuck no!" I yell. I can take them talking about me, but I will never EVER be accused of stealing another mans wife! That is wrong on a deep level. As I storm towards them, the faces of both maids lose all coloring and the larger woman even attempts to flee. I reach and grab her shoulders as she attempts to bolt. "You both stay right there." I growl at them my voice grave and dark. I force myself not to cause them any harm as my heart begins to slow.

"Now then, do you ladies have anything to say." I ask them my voice completely devoid of emotion. The thin maid speaks up first, "Oh its nothing Lord Masamune, we were just getting back to work. This silver won't shine itself!" She attempts to sound nonchalant but even a deaf man could hear the lies in her words. "Oh is that so?" I ask taking my hand from the shoulder of the large maid. Placing that same hand on my face I stroke my chin softly. "Well if that is everything then I suppose I don't need to worry do I?" I ask as a fake smile makes its way to lips. The two maids seem relieved. I nod my head and begin walking away, then I suddenly turn smacking the larger of the maids hard across the face. Since she had the gall to imply that I was sleeping with the lady she was clearly the more deserving of some discipline.

She falls roughly to the floor, however I definitely didn't do any sort of permanent damage. Based on the rules of this world with my level still being so low, I did at most a few points of damage. While there was a lot of force behind it, it was still far gentler than anyone else would have been. I slowly turn to the first maid whose face has once again gone a deathly white. Getting up close to her until my nose is nearly touching hers I stare into her eyes. "If you ever dare to imply that I have been unfaithful to Maya again you two will die."

I walk away after that. Over the last week here I had learned that the Snake people were a very interesting society. They only respected the strength. Whoever was strongest could pretty much do whatever they wanted, as such the servants should NEVER be allowed to spread rumors like that. It would destabilize the image of power and confidence that the rest had in their lord. While I would certainly never consider striking someone simply for speaking how they felt in my last world, shit was different here. When in Rome, be a Roman.

I sigh softly to myself, I'm starting to feel like I've gotten more cruel since my change, but it couldn't be helped. My last life was simply too different in regards to common sense to real be used for a comparison to my new one.

***********************************MAYA***************************************************************

My heart was beating fast when I awoke. After Masamune had punished me several times this morning I had think I must have fallen asleep. I can't help but smile, married life was quite a bit different than what I had expected, and even feared. Since I was young I knew that my husband would most likely not like me. I had accepted that a long time ago, being a cursed race it came with the territory. However, her husband had truly shocked her time and again with his unique behavior patterns.

Somehow, a venerable druid had deigned it okay to make with her! That was incredibly rare, a gift from the gods!

That was not what was truly shocking though. Her new husband gave her a voice! With how exalted his position was it wouldn't be strange for him to demand complete obedience from her, in fact most other husbands would! Unless the wife had significant power in her own right it was always the man that called the shots, but not for Masamune. He let her voice her opinion on every matter, no matter how big or small. He even allowed her to be as selfish and willful as she wanted! He dared to even call it cute when she was being intentionally obstinate! Her heart was incredibly warm with a brand new feeling. He was definitely a man that was picked for convenience but spending even just a week with him had changed her deeply. These new feelings that she had never expected were incredibly intense, as if he was her whole world! She wanted to monopolize all of his time, and even hated the idea of having to share him with his next wife.

I slowly got dressed in a simple outfit, and didn't even bother fixing my hair again. He was most likely already headed towards the grove, or Lord Ravvin to help with whatever issue he had. A small grin was on my lips as I strolled through my home in a dreamlike state when I saw something very odd. Was that her Masamune yelling at a maid? That was weird, he never seemed to be the type. I slowly hid myself down by a door frame in the hallway and listened in.

She heard everything even that the maids had accused her darling Masamune of coveting the maids! "How dare they." She growled softly to herself. She watched as Masamune slowly left and the larger maid Irene slowly picked herself up off the floor. She was livid! "Soo, you wanted to attack my husband did you?" She asked pleasantly to the two poor maids. They had narrowly escaped death earlier, when a coldness descended over their hearts. Their mistress looked quite...displeased.

"Why don't we go have a little chat shall we?" I asked pleasantly a wide smile plastered on my face. Irene had tears pouring down her face as she simply nodded.

The thinner maid bolted for the door, but before she could make it more than a few feet I grabbed one of the many weapons lining the walls and threw it through her black heart.

"A wife's work is never done, but don't you worry husband. I'll make sure to get rid of all these scheming little rats before you return."