Chapter 29: The Men’s Faction

“Good morning, Lady Rose,” Cole said the following morning as if nothing happened between them.

“Good morning,” Rose smiled, feeling utterly pleasant. She noticed that Cole had no qualms about looking at her nudity now.

“It looks like you slept well,” Cole observed.

“I did,” Rose confirmed.

“Do you know what you want to do about the law yet?” he asked.

“Not yet. We’re going to meet with the men’s faction today and hear what they have to say.”

Rose felt uneasy about meeting with a group of men while naked. The concept was still strange to her, even if it did seem to work in Kraken. After breakfast, she dictated some notes to Cole to be written down. At the same time, her mind kept pulling toward the memories of last night when Cole did something to her that made her cum instantly. She felt so warm, fuzzy, and pleasant last night that she didn’t bother asking about it, and now that their relationship returned to being professional, the question felt inappropriate.

She took a few minutes to check her hygiene while playing out various conversation outcomes in her mind. Late in the morning, she and Cole departed from the governor’s house and made their way through town to where one of the faction members lived. His house was being used as the meeting place. The door opened moments after she knocked, and the man waved her inside.

“It’s true then,” another man said as she entered the meeting room. “The capital really did send us a girl who can’t even manage to grow her own tits to settle our complaint.” Rose looked at the rude man but managed to restrain a reaction to his comment.

“I am Lady Rose of House Scarlet,” she said in a correcting tone. “I’m here on behalf of Lord Ash, and I speak with his authority.”

“Have a seat then,” the man said. “My name is Oakley, and I’m the leader of the men in Kraken. Lexa’s counterpart, if you will.” Two other men sat beside Oakley, who both remained silent.

“And you wish to protest the founding law of this town that gives women authority over men,” Rose stated.

“Our faction isn’t asking for much,” Oakley responded. “We want the right to own businesses and the right to tell women no.” He smirked at the small hint of confusion on Rose’s face. “You heard me right. We have to obey every command from any woman in town as long as it doesn’t endanger our health. That means if the neighbor’s daughter tells me to have sex with her, then I have to cheat on my wife.” He unrolled a parchment on the table containing the town’s laws.

“Most of these only apply to Kraken citizens,” Rose noted.

“Before you tell us to move if we’re unhappy, you should know that men aren’t allowed to leave Kraken without the governor’s permission, and she hasn’t let a man leave in years.”

Rose looked over the laws again, taken aback by how much worse the situation was than she originally thought. It seemed like common sense to adjust the laws to bring some level of equality. Yet, the town of Kraken was very old, so making drastic changes in the law would definitely upset the town’s culture. Oakley continued making his case while Rose considered his words in mostly silence. An hour later, he seemed to run out of different ways to make the same points.