“SO, it was your father who had betrothed you to Monsieur Didier?”
“Oui. About three weeks ago,” Adalene replied in a soft voice. She had calmed down from the tumultuous event of the morning but was coming to grips at the moment of being with the Baron, of all people.
It had taken about three hours of riding in his horse on dusty, uneven roads from the chapelle before they halted in a cabin in the woods to rest and eat. Someone started fire to cook food while the Baron brought her to the riverbank, which was just a short walk away from the cabin to clean up and stretch her unaccustomed muscles from the cramp of riding his horse.
And now, she watched as he arranged his equipment of bows and arrows in their leather pouches on the surface of a shaven log that obviously served as a table of sorts by whoever owned the cabin. She could smell the delicious smell of soup and jerky from there and she was suddenly hungry, and grateful that they were going back to the cabin to eat after he was done with cleaning up his gear so he could have them kept away in a leather bag.
“I’m not doing this to scare you, ma bichette,” he said in that amused tone again when he saw her watching him checking each sharp point of the arrows. “It’s just that we’re done with our hunting and these need to be cleaned and kept with the others for proper handling by one of the men once we reach the manor.”
She shook her head. “Oh, no. No, I’m not scared. I’ve used arrows... before,” she told him, hesitating when he threw her an interested glance after what she’s said.
“Really?”
She nodded. “I sometimes go with my cousins to hunt in the forest. Just rabbits or birds,” she corrected. “They’ll never let me get deep in the forest enough for wild game. It’s... like a man’s place. And I know I’m not strong enough.”
“So... if I return you to your groom, you do know to shoot him with an arrow if he, say, hurt you?”
Adalene stared wide-eyed at the Baron until she realized she was staring at a baron, and she looked down. “I’m not sure I’ll even be allowed to speak to him,” she admitted. “Her isn’t like any man in my family.”
“Seems like your father had betrayed you instead of betrothed you. You are a young and beautiful woman. I see no reason he could not have found you a better spouse.”
Adalene felt her cheeks grow hot. She could not show anger at the man who found something to fault her father with, not just because he was the Baron, but also because she also felt it to be true. She wasn’t sure about being beautiful. So far, he had only shown her kindness. He probably was again being kind to her by saying she was beautiful because she knew he had met so many beautiful aristocrats in his visits to the Duke and Paris.
She opened her mouth to say something, but then she hesitated. Why would he be interested in what she thought, anyway? No man ever did. Certainly no man of his stature.
But the Baron paused from wiping water from his arms and looked at her. He’s begun washing his arms and his face after he was done with his gear. “What is it? You were going to say something?”
She looked at him. Why was he asking her these questions? He couldn’t really be interested. “I... I was just thinking that my father’s opinion and mine about what a better spouse is are obviously different.”
He definitely looked interested this time. He was again watching her with the kind of focus she’d understood a while back, when they were still in the chapelle. “Really? So what is your opinion of a better spouse?”
Even as she still suspected his motives, Adalene felt she had to reply. “I... I do not really mind if the man isn’t rich, as long as he will treat me right.” As long as he will treat me like I am important to him. That I am a treasure to him. Like my cousin treats my friend Marie, she thought wistfully. She would surely work hard to make herself worthy of said husband.
The Baron was staring at her thoughtfully. “Not many peasant girls will say the thing that you just said and mean it.”
That surprised another reply from her, and she didn’t think about it first. “Why will someone even do that? That’s confusing someone else, and it’s not good conversation.” She then gasped at being so bold with her opinion. She was talking to the Baron!
But he laughed. “Oh, you don’t know. Anyone else will say just about anything to get what they wanted.”
“Not to me... or at least in my family and village, I don’t think... I guess it’s because no one really would want anything that hard to fool me to have it.”
“And I have this feeling you’re a woman whose difficult to fool, ma bichette.”
She glanced back at him again, trying to see if had offended him. He was still smiling. “I do say what’s in my head most times, but just within my family and friends. Not that there’s much people around me, it’s really always them. But there really isn’t any reason for anyone to fool me, my Lord,” she said, politely, at last. “I have simple possessions. They can just simply ask.”
“Hmmm. Now, I have another question.” He was looking at her differently. Contemplatively. “Is it true that you’re a virgin? Have you even been kissed?”
This time, the heat in her cheeks went up in a rather alarming state that she suddenly felt a little faint. But she managed to reply. “Yes, I am a virgin, my Lord. And... no one has yet kissed me.” She looked down at her hands primly sitting on her lap. Eighteen and never been kissed. Her friends would often tease her about it. “My parents feel I should be a virgin and untouched, even by a man’s mouth on my lips, so they can find someone rich to marry me and he will not think I’m tarnished, even as...” she stopped, too hot to continue. She could feel her freckles jumping out of her skin.
“Even as...?” the Baron encouraged.
“The truth is I think my mother did not really want to marry me off. I have become older than my friends who have long ago married.”
He laughed again. He seemed very amused by this. “Tarnished. For being kissed. You have never been kissed, not even once, even on a May Day?”
She was shaking her head on the three instances. “I haven’t gone out on any May Day. My mother will not dare let me out on that day while my brothers often told me that kissing isn’t the only thing that happens on a May Day. I... people get handfasted quick on June because of May, so they’ll lose the chance to marry off their pretty sister to a rich man.”
This time, his laugh was so loud and so clear that it echoed in the forest. Birds flew from branches tittering their complaints. Even after that, he was still chuckling when he looked at her. She could not help but smile at the way his merriment had transformed him from a severe Baron to an affable one. She really couldn’t find a reason to be afraid of him. For one, he seemed to find her forthrightness funny instead of offensive. He didn’t find it odd that she talked-really talked-when she opened her mouth. Others, especially her father, found this really offputting. It was said that her mother shouldn’t have taught her how to read.
So Adalene decided she would not be afraid of the Baron from now on.
His next words threw that decision to the river.
“I am the Baron and I have claimed my right to your first night. That means it will not tarnish you if I kiss you. Isn’t that right, ma bichette?”
She opened her mouth because his expression was waiting for an answer, but all she did was gawk like a fish out of water as she tried to go around the obvious, because there was nowhere to go around it.
She sighed in surrender.
“Yes. I s-suppose if you will k-kiss me... it will not tarnish me at all, my L-Lord,” she said at last, looking at his amused face, knowing he knew that she knew he had just fooled her into getting what he wanted from her.
But she couldn’t get angry. Somehow, she enjoyed the banter.
“There is nothing to be afraid of, ma bichette,” he said in a gentle voice as he approached her. “It is just a kiss.”
HE STOPPED when he reached where she leaned on a log that was beaten down by a storm a long time ago but survived and grew, except the ordeal left it with the shape of an old man bowing low. He then leaned hands on both sides of her, securing her between them, and between the log and his body. She already knew how solid that body was, so she had no intention of even pushing him away. But she was tensed, and she knew it wasn’t because she was afraid. She realized it was from the excitement of being so near him.His face was so near hers that she could see the pores on his smooth skin, but it didn’t tarnish the handsomeness of him. The only danger she could see was her getting cross-eyed. Besides, he was right. It was only a kiss. She had seen no one of her friends dying of a kiss. In fact, they found it to be so thrilling they’d kissed several of their suitors-and as many times not suitors-before they committed to just one and got married to him.Even so, kissing remained thrilling tha
HE HELPED her to get down the shaved log, and by the time she had her feet on the ground and had fixed her skirts, her face was aflame with embarrassment and deep shame. She remembered sounds she’d made she had never done before, and they were loud - the men in the cabin must have heard her. Adalene realized how ignorant she was for not learning more about this thing that eluded her in books her mother had stored in the house, those she was allowed to bring home after retiring from working as a handmaiden to an aristocratic woman.“You’re so quiet, ma bichette,” the Baron observed after he, too, had straightened his clothes and recovered the leather bags from the rocky ground. “Is there something wrong?”“I feel so inadequate, my Lord,” she replied upon when the Baron remained quiet, waiting for her answer.He fully turned to her and frowned. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Inadequate of what?”She couldn’t look at him. “I realized that... after everything I thought I know ab
ADALENE moved to lay on her back on the log. He followed to lay on her side, and kissed her mouth again as thoroughly as he did a moment ago. When he moved down again and opened her thighs, she gulped and closed her eyes, getting herself ready for it. She felt him raise the hem of her skirt and the layers under them, and since he had torn whatever as hindering his exploration under there the first time, she knew the moment she was exposed to him. She felt the breeze touching her there.It felt like her whole body was in flames as she presented to him a sight that she had never, ever imagined she could present to a man, much less him!“Are you comfortable?” she heard him ask from there.“Y-Yes, my Lord,” she whispered.“Hold on to the log,” he commanded, so she did. “Adaline, you can open your eyes.” I did. His voice was amused, as his face was when she looked down her body to see him standing just between her thighs. “You can watch me if you want to.”She nervously bit at her lower li
ADALENE was dressed for a banquet or, as much as a peasant maid like her could possibly know, it felt like she was dressed for a banquet. The gown that she wore was the most beautiful, luxurious gown she had ever worn in her entire life that she almost fainted upon first sight of it!The skirt, flaring from a high belt tightly tied on her ribcage, was dark blue. The underskirt was in brighter turquoise. Her headdress was like a cone sitting atop her head, and a pale blue veil cascaded from its peak down her back. It concealed her hair which had never appeared that shiny or soft or lovely, and enhanced the blue in her luminous, wide eyes. She spread her arms so she could see the embroidery of gold threads trimming the sleeves in the biggest mirror she had ever seen in her entire life. Under her skirt, she was wearing the softest undergarments. And on her feet were the most beautiful scarlet slippers.If her mother could see her now... or her friends, but she could barely recognize hers
AS THE SUN started its setting in the west direction from the Baron’s chateau, Adalene got up from the bed and took the beautiful hand mirror she found in the elegant vanity in the bedchamber she was using, because she decided she wanted to see what she was doing.She made sure the door was firmly closed with the wooden bar in place, and then she went back to the bed, lay down on her back, and raised the hem of her sleeping garment to discover what’s within.She opened her thighs and used the mirror to look at that intriguing spot, the one her cousins called pussy, for the very first time. She took a deep breath after seeing what the ruckus was all about, then frowned.Well, it certainly looked strange, with that dark thatch of wiry hair that she felt she should trim and the rosy bud peaking between pink folds of soft flesh, plump and shy-looking. Like it only wanted to lurk and not show itself. There was nothing attractive about her pussy at all. If she had ever dared look at it like
ADALENE’S CHEEKS had become rosy and her freckles stood out as she watched herself in the mirror now and remembered what she just did that afternoon in the luxurious bed just across the room from where she sat.It was wonderful to know she could pleasure herself.And yet, even as she came atop those sheets, she had felt missing something. She remembered how his phallus had looked – a long, hard column of meat that felt alive while she held it. And she tried to imagine cumming with all of that inside her. Her fingers could only fill so much, could only reach so much. What did she know? But somehow, she knew that hard, throbbing member of the Baron could do so much more for her than what her fingers could.It was almost dark outside when the servants came back to assist her in the bath and to get her ready for dinner. She would have protested except what they did to her had been outside of her experience. She could not do as good on her own, and they would not dare defy the Baron’s orde
WHEN THE KNOCK finally came and the same servant called to take her to the upper hall where the Baron was waiting for her, Adalene jumped like a frightened goose. She felt so on edge.Do not think. The day will pass and you will survive this, she told her wide-eyed reflection in the mirror. It cannot be as bad as when you and your cousins faced that boar in the woods and you were so frightened for your life. Or... or if you are right now in Louis’ chamber and you are suffering the touch of his probing hands and the terrible smell of his rotten teeth!As if she was running away from something terrible from the room, she bade the servant to enter at once. There was only the youngest one, Juliet. She determinedly faced her, shy but sure about what she wanted to know.“Juliet, I need to ask you something.”“Yes, Mademoiselle,” she replied, and the gently teasing smile on her face told her Juliet knew what she was about to ask.Her face warmed up but it didn’t stop her from asking. “Have y
“MY... MY LORD?”He looked up. “Yes, Adalene?”“Can... can I seat near you? So I will not have to... shout when I talk to you?” She cringed after she asked, almost sure that he was not going to be pleased.But to her surprise, he smiled. “I would like that, too.” Then he called the maidservants and ordered them to bring her plates and cutleries to a seat to his right. He stood up and helped her up, then escorted her the length of the table to her new seat.She felt relieved sitting on her seat with him just a reach away. They could talk.And they talked.She was hesitant at first, but when he started the conversation by asking her a few questions about life on the farm and how the farmers were, they were soon talking well. The subject, at least, was something she knew. She was surprised to find out he knew of more details about how farmers do their trade before the produce even went to the borders than she expected. He answered her questions when she got more intrigued after he talked