2 Deception

As Jerry gets ready to lay in bed he starts talking with his wife. "So what are you worried about, it looks like something happened to you" Olivia sighs as she takes out a piece of paper that looks like an important notice "Well the local lord's men came by today and gave me this flyer w- which says that he's become interested in me becoming his main concubine and there is no way to stop this "invitation" of his and he will arrive with his men in the morning to bring me home." She says this with clear distress in her voice as she hands Jerry the flyer so he could see for himself, he takes it and he becomes angry that he allowed the lord to see his wife as he recalled when the lord first saw her.

It was four years after he left the military to live a quiet life with his wife on the farm. Normally when the harvests are finished they are all sent and recorded by the local lord for him to collect, and he then sends back money accordingly but he normally doesn't go himself to collect and due to that the money sent back is smaller than what it should be from his men making the excuse of "Without us you wouldn't even have any money at all, be grateful!" While Jerry was a soldier he wanted to stay low and have a quiet life so he just left as is. That poor treatment lasted until after years of complaints by all the farmers and a largely successful harvest in Jerry's farm compelled the lord to go down himself so give some "fair treatment" since the lord himself didn't care whether they got what was less than normal but he decided to go down anyway since one of the harvests was greater than the norm. This causes Jerry how strange the lord was on that day.

"Well? Have we arrived yet?" The lord asks haughtily while looking out the window "W-well Master Vern we have almost arrived at the property." "Good now, what is the name of this farmer again?"

"The farmer's name is Jerry and he served in the military for some years and he retired early to come to the farm life as to why we don't know. Despite having such a great record he slowly fading away as he was never in the military, although some would still recognize him." "Interesting such an amazing man is under my command, well we shall see what he is like won't we?" As they arrive they step out of the carriage and they see a family of three with one of them being a small infant. "Welcome, Sir Vern thank you for coming to our humble farm" Olivia extends her sincerity to the lord as they give a slight bow. As they do this the lord looks at Jerry's wife and starts to admire her. "Well, it is my duty to check up on my residents isn't it." The lord rolls his eyes discreetly to not be caught since this is the first time he has ever done such a thing. "Well anyway, do take me to see the so-called large harvest." The lord commands this with eyes still trailing on Olivia. On the way to the field, Jerry explains that while his normal crops of wheat and barley would normally feed 12 families of 4 the harvest this time would be nearly double from accidentally discovering a way to get rid of insects and also taking advice from another farmer to spread the cattle feces on the crops to help them have more than usual. the news makes Vern excited if they can spread this strategy across the other farms my standing among the other lords will be higher, but he would take the idea as his own. "Well that is quite outstanding, I believe you have done a great job in this so what did you do to keep the pests away?" "Well I went to burn some wood to have a small party with my family but it caught on some our flowers but we put it out before it could spread, the next day all the bugs seemed to have left so we started growing those and using them. I can give you some as a gift."

After they have all the crops loaded the lord pulls Jerry to the side. "I've heard that my men have been taking a part of your money from crops don't worry I will reimburse you fully, rest assured." While Jerry believes that the lord is a kind person, Vern had other thought 'If I make sure that farmers wife eats well she will be well groomed to be my main concubine when the time comes.'

At the end of the day, both groups were happy for different reasons one for the opportunity to seise a beauty and the other was that he could feed his family.

After Jerry thinks of Vern's weird behavior he realizes why he was fully reimbursed and he had immediate medical aid for his wife with no charge, it was to lead Jerry's family to not suspect him doing anything other than being a kind noble.

Jerry looks at his wife and tells her what he realized and when he does Olivia's face soon has terror as she realizes something else. "I think I know why he picked tomorrow when he could have done it anytime... He was waiting for the military to forget you so they won't care to aid you even if you retaliate it will be in his favor!" "Okay calm down I think we can avoid this somehow remember the cellar we have in the woods? You and Alice can hide there I'll invite our neighbor over to drive suspicion away from you. Wake Alice up and bring some supplies to last a few days I can give you more when they leave now hurry!" Olivia goes to get Alice while Jerry gathers the supplies.

"See you in two days Jerry" "Bye daddy!!" They both descend into the cellar hoping for the best as they wait to see what happens. Jerry closes the cellar and covers it with plants and leaves to hide it and tells his neighbor to come over tomorrow and, makes it look like his wife left him without a trace of her own will without him knowing.