Observing a mishap
After learning of father's rejection of such measures, I felt a little saddened. He must have had a reason though, so I dismissed the thought.
Next time I went out I noticed a woman sneaking around at night and go into a different house. Then woman came out after 45 minutes and went home. She looked sweaty coming out as if she did some labor and her clothes looked sloppier than usual. I wondered what she was sneaking around for. Maybe she is doing something criminal.
When I asked her husband, he seemed shocked by it and soon everyone was calling her different things. The ones that stood out to me were slut, harlot, and whore. He also seemed mad at his neighbor for some reason. Further the neighbors wife was yelling at him for some reason. Exactly what did they do wrong. Maybe I should have kept the incident secret.
When Bob found out, he called me over and explained a lot of things to me. Namely what she was doing. He seemed surprised that I didn't know about such things, but I simply never encountered such situations at the castle. Then I think back to all of the rumors spread around the 15 year old nobles about certain women. Before, I simply didn't know what the word slut meant, so I assumed that they were simply calling someone names. But looking back on it, the rumors were almost always spread by girls and never taken seriously. Why? Again I asked Bob and he simply said that girls are envious creatures.
After meeting with Bob, I felt curious about the things he discussed with me. It may take some time for me to properly understand this. For some reason after I tried dismissing the thought it lingered. I tried asking the maid more about it and she said I shouldn't talk or think about it too much, so I distracted myself with other things.
The woman that I discovered that night seems to be both scorned by the village and watched by her husband, but I don't see much attention to the man she had visited. In fact, only his wife gave him any grief about it. I wonder why this is. I do not know why this is, but I think it will get clearer as I get older.
The whole incident leads me to think about what my marriage will be like. Noble and especially royal marriages are often arranged by their parents, but if by the age of 17 they are not married, they are free to choose on their own. I hope I'm such a case, because it sounds like an important decision.
Shortly after the incident was my birthday, making me 9 years old. Those around me were briefly excited, but otherwise it went without the celebration I'm used to due only in part to the weather. After 2 months passed, it was time to hunt those wolves.