Chapter 8: his circumstances

　――――Just what meaning was there in this conduct.

　I am already sick of it.

　21 years ago, with the position of this country's Crown Prince and with an appearance that could be said to want nothing more, I was born.

　From king training to swordplay lessons, even in magic there was nothing I was weak at, if I tried to do something then the results would come.

　Watching over me as such, everyone praised me as the ideal Crown Prince.

　I myself made efforts to become so, and behaved myself to appear so.

　『Flawless Crown Prince』

　That was the evaluation I received from society.

　Good grief, it was an absurd talk.

　Even I had one or two worries.

　It was a worry I couldn't really tell others, but I had a sexual disposition that was much stronger than most people.

　I could pass over it while diffusing it with something else, but it was rather difficult.

　Furthermore if I just ignored it my concentration would suffer, and it would affect the control of my magic. Since I had confidence in my control, I took quite a shock.

　Moreover it one-sidedly got worse year by year. At the same time the power of my magic also rose, but in return controlling it became more difficult. This year, the effect finally began to show it's influence my offensive magic.

　――――As expected, this was bad.

　For I who led the army and battled often, dragging out a situation where I lacked my powers of concentration was not desirable in the least.

　I had to do something, while thinking so and researching ways to reduce my sexual desires, I heard that the witch who dealt with the one and only women's contraceptive, was selling a medicine with just that purpose.

　I heard that it she overcharged an outrageous amount of money, but who cared about that.

　To carry on in this situation was worse. If I could do something, then I didn't care if I had to use and abuse everything that I owned.

　Desperately hoping, I tried to make contact with that witch but it didn't go well, and in the end I was unable to even meet her.

　Unable to meet with the witch, my way became dark.

　Now that things came to this, rather than decreasing the sexual desire, I sought to vent it out, but my methods were limited.

　It was often said, but if I dealt with it by myself, on the whole I was left quite unsatisfied.

　Though saying so, I wanted to avoid calling women to my room.

　Since I was young, I had already become fed up with women competing for my favor.

　Greatly perplexed and without a choice, I called out the knight captain who was my best friend since childhood for a confidential consultation.

　Having grown up together since young, he was the second son of a ducal family and was aware of my circumstances to a degree.

　After discussing about my predicament and pondering for awhile, he proposed that I vent it out at the evening party.

「Evening party?」

「Right. Although saying so, it isn't just a simple evening party. Do you know of masquerade balls, Freed?」

「I know of them, but...」

　While putting on a mask and hiding their social status, they would enjoy the ball; that seemed to be the intention.

「There, it's fine if you call out to young noble ladies. Only people of certain statuses are allowed to attend, so you can have peace of mind of that person's background, and over there it's manners to not inquire anything about the other party. If you change that conspicuous hair color and don a mask, nobody would consider that you're the Crown Prince.」

「...Sleep with women, you say.」

　I involuntarily sighed.

　If it was possible, I wanted to avoid that.

　To I who was making an unenthusiastic and difficult face, knight captain Gregor (I referred to him as Glen) spoke to me.

「Even though you say that, going out onto the battlefield with your concentration ability impaired and then having something happen to you is worrisome. It can also be said your magic is our army's trump card. You weren't able to find that aforementioned witch, and since it's become that way, the actions you can take are restricted. I don't recommend a brothel, and I am also opposed to the method of inviting women.」

「That's why, the evening party, you say...」

　I stared at Glen with clear bitterness.

「It'll be fine even if you're worried. I've heard good things about the masquerade ball, but there's no doubt it's a place where men and women gather seeking that one night of excitement. At such a place, it's standard to not make future troubles for both parties.」

「...Such a place exists, the world is also near the end.」

「But without it, there wouldn't be a reason to expressly hide one's face and gather. In the end, the masquerade ball is only the superficial reason.」

「Having the reality of this country's dishevelled customs shoved into my face, as a person of the government it makes it hard for me to answer, you know.」

　To my sarcasm, Glen made a sullen face while replying.

「I'm of the same opinion. However, this is the simplest and most reliable method.」

「I can't get motivated at all... Especially on the matter where I have to embrace women who I don't even like.」

　Even though my sexual desire was strong, it wasn't as if I wanted to indiscriminately breed.

　Even though I was in this situation, I never thought of expressly sleeping with a woman I had no feelings for, and if possible I wanted to avoid the act itself. To be frank, I don't like women.

　But, it wasn't as if there were any alternatives left.

　I couldn't find the witch, and the situation was urgent.

　There was an indication that the army would be called to dispatched soon as well.

　I was extremely reluctant, but without a choice, I frequented the masquerade ball whenever I had spare time.

　You'd think that by frequenting the masquerade ball, my problem would be resolved, but as expected, things wouldn't work out that easily.

　I easily led them to bed. My objective was merely to diffuse my lust, I invited women with light discussion and jumped straight into sex.

　That was fine and all, but nonetheless an unbearably intolerable feeling was left inside me.

　Bue even so, there was no other methods.

　Certainly, sleeping with women more or less calmed down the sexual desires I was unable to deal with by myself. There was meaning to it.

　Helpless, I tried to think of it more positively.

　Since I had no choice in the matter, I thought we might as well enjoy ourselves together.

　Thinking so, I thought of doing many things in the bedroom, but it was difficult to achieve outside of imagination.

　In this country, there were nuisances called『Etiquette between Men and Women』and『Manners of the Bedroom』.

　It was referred to as the common sense of our country's nobility, and in most cases, it was taught from parent to child when they began to become aware of the opposite gender.

　If I had to explain it simply, it was present when courting ladies at the evening party, and it also influenced the methods of sexual intercourse.

　In this country, with the exception of marrying into royalty, virginity was not important at all.

　Perhaps for that reason, the romantic affairs between men and women were quick in reaching physical relations.

　At any rate, it was because in my country's『Etiquette between Men and Women』, women were to strive to be『ladylike』and to know『shame』.

　For example, the evening party's rule was like this.

　Ahh, it's only a rule applied to invitations made at the evening party, so please keep that in mind.

　First

　It's decided that the one to start the conversation should be the male. Before you strike up a conversation, make eye contact with the female you're aiming for. If she averted her gaze, then you should consider it to be hopeless and resign yourself.

　If the OK signal of precise eye contact resulted, then that meant they permitted you to initiate a conversation with them.

　Second

　The contents of the conversation should mainly be praising the female.

　If you displayed your enthusiasm for as long as possible and they approved of it, they would be inclined to feel delighted. While in the middle of conversation, if they shook their head, or if they escaped then that was the signal for rejection and you would then say your partings and retire without a fuss.

　Third

　Lastly, and only in the case that you're ably to continue the conversation, you were permitted to invite them afterwards.

　Of course, it was perfectly fine to continue discussing like normal.

　In any case, as long as you reached this point and the female wasn't unwilling, after having an enjoyable discussion and exchanging information, you were able to do as you pleased.

　However, inviting them to a separate room, in other words inviting them to the bedroom, there was yet another rule.

　Inviting indirectly in the most roundabout manner was virtuous.

　Here, the woman would reply by either nodding or shaking her head.

　If she nodded, then it was finally considered a success. It would progress to escorting the woman to a separate room.

　Thus concludes the basic rules of courting women at evening parties, but generally speaking the woman is on the receiving end.

　Since it's a country where the ratio of women were few, it was probably a rule made with the intention of confirming the woman's will over and over again, but it was very troublesome.

　If you exhausted your words and all that came back was a silent nod, your eagerness would become dampened. In my case, I was only looking for a one night stand to relieve myself, so it was a very bothersome time spent.

　Next, in regards to『Manners of the Bedroom』

　Even in the bedroom, women were sought to be『submissive』and to『have shame』.

　Just by saying this it was easy to comprehend, but in any case they lacked assertiveness.

　If I were to start a kiss, I would be the only one giving. If I repeatedly caressed them, they would only gasp.

　They were completely passive. They were taught that way, so it was only natural.

　Even during insertion I could say the same thing. After spreading their legs, it was only inserted in the predetermined default position.

　When I thought to be even a little more positive and to enjoy myself, I knew of the manners but I wanted to attempt various positions, so there were times I tried to put them into practice. However, according to the women's common sense it appeared to be unthinkable and brutish, and when I attempted to flip them over and enter, each one of them screamed in protest.

　Humoring them back into a good mood afterwards was difficult, so ever since then I maintained a monotonous and proper sex routine....

　Fed up, I once asked Glen if such dull sex could be enjoyed, and was asked if there was a problem while mystified in return.

　He didn't seem to have much dissatisfaction.

　...Was I the strange one?

　At any rate, because it continued in that trend, without being able to at least enjoy sex in a clear cut manner, I fell into a situation where my frustration piled up in reverse.

　It completely became a job of spitting out my desires, indifferently embracing women and leaving after the deed was done. As those days continued, I who originally didn't like women now became disinclined to even touch them.

　Even though my sexual desires became more favorable, it was a hard fact that my mood was not getting better.

　After sleeping together, I naturally didn't feel the need to go out and meet them the next morning.

　Taking into consideration my sexual desire, I was able to continue for numerous times, but I was never in the mood to.

　I wasn't enthusiastic from the beginning. After releasing once, my mood cooled further. I never thought of doing it once more.

　Even though I slept with them that way, it seemed my reputation among the women was favorable, and before I knew it without doing much they would meet my eyes with a smile, and would tempt me to bed with trivial words. I wasn't troubled over partners for the night.

　But, I wouldn't sleep with the same woman twice.

　It might've be cold, but I didn't them to form feelings towards me.

　Those gloomy days continued.

　My feelings of enjoyment became quiet and inconspicuous, and I began to wonder why I was doing this. I attended the evening party with the feeling of meeting my quota and embraced and slept with women as if it were an occupation, they were just days of me performing my official duty. I lived each day monotonously.

　I thought I would go crazy.

　――――Let's stop, I finally came to this conclusion.

　Honestly, I was sick of it.

　I didn't feel like humoring women who I didn't even like, and there were days when I felt like vomiting just from the scent of a woman.

　Was there such a need to release my lust to this degree?

　Having my sexual desires pile up was difficult, but the times I when I couldn't bear it anymore and deal with it myself was much more preferable.

　One more time.

　This time, I needed to search for that witch more seriously. This time, I would split the grass to find her.

　Since I had already contacted them to inform my attendance, I couldn't be absent from the next evening party.

　But, that would be my last.

　I feel bad towards Glen who was only thinking of me, but I won't embrace women anymore. I don't even want to.

　I'll just greet the organizer and return home immediately, and then return to my former lifestyle.

　Thinking so, I felt unusually refreshed.

　It seems to have been quite burdening to me.

　Noticing myself, I laughed mockingly at myself.

　Like that, just when I thought I recovered my former self.

　――――The king of this country, my Father, summoned me.

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The opening movement for now.

The main story will start next time.

Thank you very much.

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Credits to kagura no Konbu