"That old?... Well now, what in the world made that happen?..."
Hearing that, Yasutaka scowled and answered as he worked his armor off.
"I don't really remember it myself, but apparently my old man dragged me along to celebrate when Lady Mani-hime was born."
"Well, sure, the birth of the lord's daughter and all..."
Mōha grunted in agreement as he changed into his everyday clothes.
"Apparently, when nobody grown-up was watching, I said 'So cute~♪' and kissed her."
"Ah... well, kids do that kind of thing..."
After all, it was the sort of mischief a child could be forgiven for.
Clank, clank, clank, clank...
Mōha kept stowing his armor, waiting for what came next, while Yasutaka did the same, packing away his own gear and changing into plain clothes.
"And then?"
"That's the reason she fell for me."
"...................That's it?!"
Yasutaka said it plain as day, while Mōha felt a chill run down his spine.
"According to Lady Mani-hime, 'I felt destiny in that moment.................My eyes and ears barely worked yet, but the feel of your lips on mine was everything.' I mean, she was a baby! You wouldn't think she'd remember it clearly, right? But no, she remembered it down to the last detail."
"That's some seriously long-cultivated devotion..."
Mōha trembled at just how abrupt and bizarre this origin story was.
"...So you're saying she's been single-mindedly devoted to you since the day she was born?"
"That's right. Her mother's a Spider Woman too, and she served as a priestess of the Insect King, so she was away for five years doing her priestess training. That's the only gap I had, so I made a break for it."
"I see................."
Mōha couldn't hide his astonishment at what he was hearing of Yasutaka's circumstances.
"So, what are you planning to do about it? The way things stand, you can't very well become the Breeding King, can you?"
"Actually, there's one loophole. Even the lord himself has a proper wife and concubines, see."
".................Is that so?"
Yasutaka explained further to the astonished Mōha.
"Mani-hime's own mother was a concubine, after all. The rule is, whoever married first takes precedence, and everyone else steps back a pace."
"Huh................ I would've figured she'd murder every other wife in her way."
"That'd just make her a straight-up murderer, wouldn't it?"
"Fair point."
Mōha gave a wry laugh.
"She's an absolute believer in pure devotion, so she's very aware she's the one butting into someone else's marriage, and apparently that guilt weighs on her. So no matter how jealous she gets, she always defers to the proper wife or whoever came before her. In fact, Mani's mother never once went against the head wife."
"So she always keeps to the proper order, huh."
It seemed there was some code of conscience these women held to, in their own way.
Yasutaka went on talking as he changed.
"So if a man wants to fool around with other women, marrying first keeps him one step ahead. There's apparently a manual on Spider Women that says, 'Make your last concubine one of the Three Great Yanderes of the Realm, and there won't be any more after that.' Seems like some head wives deliberately arranged for one of these women to be taken on, just to put a stop to a lord who kept adding concubines."
"I see, huh..."
Mōha nodded, convinced by what Yasutaka had said.
"So surprisingly enough, it's often the wives themselves who want it that way. They give up on a husband who won't stop cheating and pair him off with a Spider Woman or a Snake Woman, and then everyone gets along fine. Apparently it stops the cheating dead."
"Well, there's no escaping one of them, that's for sure."
Mōha laughed wryly again.
"So this time too, I'm hoping I can shake her off somehow. Isn't there some way to manage it?..."
"Nah... not a chance, right? I can't think of a single way you'd get away."
Just as they were talking, a commotion started up at the gate.
"Let me in there this instant!"
"I told you, you can't!"
"My lady! You absolutely cannot go in there!"
"Bring Yasutaka out here at once!"
Yasutaka's shoulders slumped at the sound of the ruckus at the gate.
"...She can't even wait a few measly minutes? There's no way this works out."
"Isn't there something we can do about this?..."
Shoulders sagging, Yasutaka trudged wearily toward the gate.
By the way, since the old units can get confusing, I'll mostly use modern measurements from here on.
Don't fret over the details too much.