27 - Valentina's Paradise
2-4. The Daughters of the Florida Grand Ducal Family
Moving Edeled to her room at the top of the Grand Ducal castle was probably due to indifference rather than being overwhelmed. The reasons given later—that it was the quietest and safest place in the castle, that outsiders couldn't come and go, that the secret medicinal herb storage was next door—were just excuses.
She just wanted to keep her in sight so she could feel at ease. It was the only place where even Edgar couldn't enter without her permission.
And by the time she realized her indifference, it was too late to move the room.
Valentina, with Pepe, laid the unconscious Edeled on the bed and gathered herbal juices, water, and bandages to prevent infection. The bleeding had stopped, but she had to be careful to prevent it from festering. The women of the Florida Grand Ducal Family were basically experts in handling medicine, so they were skilled in treatment.
But when she tried to lift his outer garment and chemise to wipe the wound and even take off his underwear, Pepe was horrified.
"Your Highness! What is this outrageous behavior! I will take care of that, so please step aside to the next room for a moment."
"Why?"
"Unmarried, virtuous ladies should not see men's naked bodies, nor should they enter rooms where men are being treated!"
Pepe stood firmly in front of her with his hands on his hips. Valentina smiled and retorted.
"Unmarried? This is a big problem. I only have two witnesses to my wedding, and one of them seems to have lost their memory."
"Even if you hold the marriage ceremony ten times, if you haven't gone through the night's procedure, you are not a Domina but a Dominella. The virtues of a Dominella are modesty, purity, and appropriate innocence."
"Talk sense. I am a daughter of the Florida Grand Ducal Family. Pepe knows what that means better than anyone, right?"
"Of course, I know it well. Dominella is too knowledgeable from what she has seen, heard, and learned to be curious about men's bodies or to have her heart flutter with anticipation for the first night! That's why she looks at a grown man's naked body as indifferently as if it were a stone, and why all those men's confessions of love sound like a neighborhood mutt barking. Of course, most of them are no different from a real mutt barking."
Pepe wrinkled his nose and grinned, then began to urge her earnestly.
"Still, you should memorize this much. The 'noble and virtuous unmarried lady's reaction' that is usually recommended in such cases is to quickly cover her face and run away, scream and faint, or, at most, secretly peek and blush. Got it?"
"What is that..."
Valentina burst into a chuckle, then turned around, startled. She didn't think it was something to hide, but she didn't want Edeled to hear these words. Fortunately, Edeled was still motionless. Judging by the evenness of his breathing, she wondered if he had fallen into a deep sleep rather than lost consciousness.
"If you're so concerned, Pepe, examine him while wiping his body to see if there are any other wounds."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Pepe sent Valentina far behind him, then took off all the blood-soaked clothes and wiped the blood-caked body. Then, he began to apply herbal juice to the wounds on his side and abdomen.
Valentina watched the scene with her arms crossed behind her. She didn't feel as indifferent as if she were looking at a stone, as Pepe had said, but she didn't want to cover her face and run away or scream and pretend to faint.
Florida, with its trend of actively enjoying the pleasures of the present, was also active in developing and learning the art of pleasure. Ascetic moralism, solemnity, and obsession with religious duty were considered unsophisticated, oppressive to the human spirit, and worthy of ridicule.
At the pinnacle of this, the education of women in the Florida Grand Ducal Family was a mixture of two very different cultures.
In the marriage market of the continental archdukes, the most important 'commodity value' of unmarried ladies was 'purity and chastity,' and Florida was no exception in desperately protecting it. This was almost the only way to guarantee the 'pure bloodline of the family.'
However, actively teaching the art of love was different from other countries. In the chambers of the Florida Grand Ducal Family, there was a tradition of thoroughly teaching the techniques and secrets of the night until marriage. They even called in prostitutes who were known for their skills and left their techniques in pictures to be passed down.
Chastity was said to be property until the wedding, and the techniques of the night were weapons to be used until death after the wedding. And the education that one should not trust the love and sweet talk of men, but only trust one's own territory and oneself, was their strong shield.
The daughters of the Grand Ducal Family lived with their property, weapons, and shields firmly in their grasp. As a result, the ladies from the Florida Grand Ducal Family were characterized by being chaste in body, excellent in the art of pleasure, and cynical about love. As a result, it often happened that lords who married ladies of the Grand Ducal Family ruined state affairs while being wrapped up in their wives' skirts.
And Pepe was a Romani nomad who was most knowledgeable about such rumors. He had accumulated enough information in this field to talk about it all night long.
"Your Highness must be aware that you have received an unusual education. I have searched every corner of the continent and traveled through the chambers of noble ladies to cure unspeakable gynecological diseases, haven't I?"
"And?"
"I guarantee that the chambers of the Regio Florida Grand Ducal Family are the only place that teaches women hundreds or thousands of bedroom techniques and thoroughly teaches them everything from the heads to the assholes of men."
"So?"
"Among the well-bred ladies of other families, there are many cases where they get married knowing that babies are picked from cabbage fields or that they are conceived by the Holy Spirit like virgins. Then, on the first night, they are shocked, horrified, and in terrible pain, and they don't know what the pleasure of intercourse is and live their whole lives. There were also noble ladies who lived their whole lives believing that nighttime was a penance given by God to produce heirs and then passed away."
"Pepe, would you like me to live like those women, talking about cabbage fields or storks in the bedroom on the first night and then growing old and dying of frigidity?"
Pepe waved his hand and chuckled.
"Oh, no! It's a hundred times better to become the best expert, enjoy everything, and live a happy life!"
"Right?"
"And you are already a sufficient expert."
"I don't know yet about the difference between theory and practice."
"Oh my, too much humility is worse than boasting, Your Highness."
Pepe grinned, revealing his yellow teeth, and spoke frankly.
"Anyway, the story of playboy men who used to dominate innocent ladies being dominated by a lady of the Florida Grand Ducal Family and having their souls and bodies completely plundered from the first night is always satisfying to hear. It's like a 10-year-old neuralgia flying away."
"Then why do you ask me to pretend to be coy?"
"But until you officially hold a wedding in front of people, being chaste and innocent... well, that would be impossible for Your Highness... but still, a reputation as a moderately pure lady is very important. To maintain that reputation, you have to show a little bit of coy pretense."
"Ah, just imagining it is annoying and tiring."
At Valentina's answer, Pepe jumped up and began to shout.
"Oh, Your Highness, there's no such thing as a free lunch in the world. It's annoying, but it takes effort. Even if the confessions of love from the riffraff are annoying, you have to grab your chest, gasp for breath, dab some saliva on your eyes, and even if you're indifferent to a man's naked body, you have to pinch your cheek to make your face blush and then run away!"
"Pepe... stop it. I won't do it, I won't."
Valentina shook her hand, giggling like a child, but Pepe's conviction was firm.
"If you absolutely can't do it, at least cover your mouth with a handkerchief and pretend to be surprised. You have to make a fuss like, 'Oh my, what should I do, how outrageous, oh my, Pepe, what is that hideous thing? Oh my gosh, it's moving on its own...! Pepe, I'm scared!' No matter how annoying it is, you can at least make that much effort, right?"
"What is that, Pepe! Why do I have to do that?"
Valentina finally burst into laughter.
In the meantime, Pepe noticed that the nape of the neck of the patient lying as if fainted had turned red and slyly sniffed his nose.
What, when did he come to his senses?
This young punk, daring to flirt with our Highness?
Pepe carefully applied the medicine, lightly covered only the lower body with a blanket, and stepped back behind the bed.
"I have to bandage it after the herbal juice dries, so please wait a moment."
"Okay, I understand."
"By the way, Your Highness, you should eat something. It's already midnight, and you haven't had dinner properly. Aren't you hungry?"
Only then did Valentina realize that she had not eaten dinner. Even the patient lying down had not even eaten lunch properly.
"Bring two meals here. Make it porridge with well-minced meat or a stew that has been cooked until soft so that it is easy to digest. Tell them to leave out the Mandrako spices. Oh, and bring clothes for the patient to change into. I don't have any clothes to change him into in my room."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Pepe, who was about to go out with a basin of water and dirty clothes, saw Valentina approaching the bed and smiled with a mischievous face.
"Your Highness, leave the blanket as it is now until the medicine applied to the wound is dry."
