Droit du Seigneur: His Lordship's Right of the First Night - Chapter 17
Richard didn’t make much of the fact that her real name differed from her household nickname—it was common even among nobles. Besides, he wouldn’t have to call her by name after tonight anyway.
“I am Richard Mikhail Günther.”
He abruptly introduced himself, and Louise nodded in confusion. With this, their contract was established.
“Then I suppose that concludes our business.”
“Ah, yes.”
Suddenly remembering something important she needed to do, Louise quickly looked around. Carefully getting off the bed, she approached the wall where a decorative dagger hung.
The dagger, adorned with jewels on the hilt and sheath, was quite heavy. Struggling, she brought it back to the bed.
Now, as the head maid instructed…
“If you open the second drawer of the console on the right side of the bed, you will find two pieces of white silk. Leave the evidence of tonight’s consummation there by morning.”
Ah, there it was.
Opening the designated drawer, she found the two pieces of white silk just as the head maid had said. They felt smooth and soft to the touch, almost melting under her fingers. She had worked with fabrics before, but never with silk of this quality.
Richard watched silently as Louise returned to the bed, carefully sitting at the edge with the silk and dagger.
‘But where should I cut?’
Louise pondered for a moment on how to create the proof of consummation. She couldn’t cut a visible part of her body, as there was no guarantee she wouldn’t be seen by those checking in the morning. She didn’t want the sharp-eyed priestesses to suspect anything.
‘I should cut somewhere not visible.’
Glancing back, she was relieved to see Richard didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her. Turning away from him, she lifted her skirt and prepared to cut a deep part of her inner thigh.
Closing her eyes tightly, she raised the dagger to strike.
“What are you doing?”
A large hand grasped Louise’s wrist firmly. Richard had approached without her noticing, now holding the dagger hilt, looking at her incredulously. Louise’s cheeks flushed slightly as their eyes met.
“W-We need to submit evidence in the morning that the consummation took place.”
“I will do it.”
“You, my lord?”
Startled, Louise tried to stop him.
“No, I’ll do it myself.”
“The dagger is sharp but it’s meant for decoration, so the handle is too heavy. If you stab yourself like that, you’ll hurt your hand. Your grip is wrong, too. You could end up with a festering wound and lose the use of your leg. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Ah, I… I didn’t think of that…”
Before she could say more, Richard took the dagger from her hand.
Rolling up his shirt sleeve, he revealed his muscular arm. Thick veins stood out beneath the well-developed muscles of his forearm and wrist. Louise stared in awe at his large, well-defined hand.
Without uttering a sound, he skillfully cut his forearm, letting a few drops of bright red blood fall onto the sheet and the silk. He glanced at Louise’s pale face and added gruffly,
“Don’t look.”
He probably thought she was scared of the blood, judging by her pale face.
Richard stood up, ignoring Louise’s outstretched hand, and placed the blood-stained silk on the designated shelf before returning to the room. Louise, still curious about something she had wondered earlier, cautiously spoke up.
“Um, my lord.”
“Speak.”
“The head maid mentioned two pieces of silk for evidence. What about the other one?”
“Hmm…”
Richard paused, having been tearing the sheet to bind his wound. He remained silent for a moment, his brows furrowing deeply.
“I’ll handle that.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Louise wanted to ask more but decided against it, intimidated by Richard’s stern demeanor.
Would they have to stay here together all night? She was told they couldn’t leave the room until morning….
While Louise pondered this, a shadow suddenly loomed over her. She looked up to see Richard had approached quickly, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Wait.”
“My lord? Why are you… ahh!”
