Noblesse Privilege 23 (Patreon)

Noblesse Privilege
Chapter 23

-VB-

Vivi and I made a contract together before the marriage. This was important, which I liked to stress to myself, because despite the fact that it was a logical thing for this pseudo-political marriage, it also felt a little off from what I know of what marriages are supposed to be.

Even my World Noble peers with their wrongness and love of NTR fetish (what else was enslaving only the woman and not the man in marriage and doing so repeatedly while taking their liberties with them?) acknowledged what was normal because they loved to twist that normality into something monstrous to satiate their boredom.

Yeah, this marriage and the pre-marriage contract were abnormal, but I always was a little weird.

So, the details of the contract!

1. Mary Geoise would be our “summer” residence and Alabasta would be our “winter” residence, evenly splitting the number of days we spend in each location.
2. Due to both of our families having only one child, our children will inherit both of our titles, and this title will go to not either of our favorite but the most competent and not batshit insane or cruel child. The fate of many kingdoms rides on the successor, and thus, we cannot afford to play favorites.
3. Until such a time when our children inherit our position, we will not interfere with each other’s roles. Princess Nefertari Vivi would be the Queen of Alabasta Kingdom, at such a time that King Nefertari Cobra abdicates or passes the crown, and Consort Lady of the House of vel Monstrathum. Lord Geoffrey Goldman Achstein vel Monstrathum will be Consort King of Alabasta Kingdom, and Lord of the House of vel Monstrathum.
   1. If one of us passes before the other, we will be regent for our chosen heir until they reach their majority plus two years.
   2. Luponte will be regent if both of us pass.
4. This marriage also formally acknowledges the alliance between our two houses.
5. Future holdings would be evenly split between the two houses based on proximity, not resource needs.
6. Lord Geoffrey Goldman Achstein vel Monstrathum may engage in concubinage with permission from Princess Nefertari Vivi, but each individual concubine must be approved by the latter.
7. Who our children marries will be up to them.

This wasn’t the end of the contract but the top seven clauses and points that were the most important.

The contract hammered out all of the points that could lead to future infighting. Infighting led to collapse, and the wolves and vultures from outside would come to feast on our corpses.

It was a horrible image and dystopian future to tag to one’s future family, I know, but the problem was that I couldn’t afford to think purely optimistically. ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown’ held very much true, especially for this world because when a kingdom failed, pirates tended to raid and loot you before anyone else did.

What surprised me, though, was Vivi’s insistence on including clauses for concubines. She told me that it was her way of controlling situations she knew was coming.

“My fiancee is a very powerful, rich, and handsome man. I would be shocked if no other woman came up to you, married or not.”

I … didn’t want to entertain the idea that I would have any other woman, but future was never certain. However, Vivi was smarter than me. This contract wouldn’t just be about us but our future children. If she or anyone else down the line cannot produce the necessary heir as it does happen, then someone else needs to be brought in.

It was the nature of the beast that was the crown.

A lot of what the contract had was something I personally did not like. I loved Vivi. I didn’t want other women. I was marrying her for love, not the political alliances and house merging that might benefit the future descendents.

“And that’s done,” I hummed as I set my contract down after signing it.

Vivi let out a frayed sigh as she slumped on top of the table.

“Finally.”

I chuckled. “This felt more like a business than marriage discussion, huh?”

She glared at me. “Yes,” she gritted out. “Who knew you were such a nickpicker. Actually, I did if how you run your alliance says anything.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her quizzically.

“You know how Alabasta Kingdom contacted your alliance?”

I nodded. While I liked to keep track of new contacts, I knew that Alabasta would be alright and hadn’t paid much attention, leaving my usual negotiators to their jobs.

“They were stingy, Geoff. They were so stingy.”

“... Huh?”

She told me what happened.

A month after I left, the alliance negotiators came to talk about trade, and it wasn’t until she left to meet me that the negotiations ended. These negotiators, who I recognized by name, spent all of that time debating with King Cobra and his ministers over the finer points of the trade deals.

Everything from price of fruits, type of grain import and export, luxury taxes, trade tariffs for a specific kind of iron ore but not iron tools made from those ores, burial rights, extradition, taxation on highly processed goods, trade fleet basing rights, concessions to Alabasta Kingdom, and so on.

I just raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? I mean that’s the normal things countries discuss on a trade deal,” I replied, still confused.

She looked at me in horror, and I laughed at her expression. She lightly punched me in the shoulder, and I let my laughter die down to a chuckle to not make her feel too bad. Her horror also told me that she might not be as experienced with international politics. I’d feared that, but it was something that could be worked on.

“But stingy!” she complained.

“I mean, give me an example.”

“They furiously debated with Minister Teheran over a hundredth of a berry tariff for conut fruit!” she squawked.

Oh. Yeah, that seemed a little excessive.

She ranted, and I allowed myself to relax as I bantered with her about it all.

In a week’s time, we arrived at Alabasta, and we would soon hold our marriage ceremony.