Kallen Strikes Back (or tries to)

Kallen Stadtfelt had never been a girlie-girl like her parents- real and adopted- wanted her to be. Her birth mother wanted it for her because she wanted Kallen to move up in the world, her step-mother had wanted her to stop disgracing the family name, and her father wanted her to stop drawing attention to herself because he was afraid someone would find out about her Japanese heritage.

Like her heritage was something to be ashamed of.

Kallen had never complied. She had never allowed them to strip her of her pride. She would never let them change who she was.

She didn't wear dresses because she couldn't fight in those. She preferred shorts and skintight tops that didn't restrict her movements. She didn't wear make-up that could make her stand-out, preferring to disappear in crowds. She didn't carry hello-kitty purses. The only accessories she carried were disguised knives and guns.

She wasn't a girlie-girl like Milly Ashford was, and not too long ago, she would have taken pride in that. She didn't anymore because while Kallen wasn't a girlie-girl, she wasn't stupid either. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results was the height of stupidity.

She and Milly had been competing to become Andrew's bride, and their competition only had a few months left. A few months until they would graduate high school, and Andrew would choose his partner. While she couldn't presume to know his mind, she suspected she was doing worse than Milly.

Milly wasn't being garbed as a maid, after all. Nor was Milly the one learning to cook and clean; jobs of a maid.

The writing was on the wall. If she couldn't turn things around and soon, she would lose this game.

If she wanted to win, Kallen would have to change and so she resigned herself to doing so. She might not have been willing to change for her parents, but they didn't matter to her as much as Andrew did. For him, she could- would- do anything.

"Darling," Kallen intentionally used Milly's nickname for Andrew as she curtsied, lifting her voluminous red skirt and allowing her chest to incline as she dipped. She held herself at the bottom of her pose, hoping that Andrew was enjoying his look down her shirt. When she rose, she offered him her best demure smile. "Welcome to one of my family's manors."

As she rose, she could see that he wasn't looking at her, but rather behind her, at the Victorian-style mansion. Kallen knew she should be pleased that her plan was going well, but she couldn't bring herself to be. In addition to the house, she had spent a lot of time dressing herself up for this, and not having it acknowledged hurt more than she cared to admit.

Everything about this was carefully planned and choreographed. Kallen speculated that one of the reasons that Milly appealed to Andrew was because the statuesque blonde was a model noblewoman. Calm, graceful, and poised.

Her behavior and courtly fashion sense ensured that it was easy to forget that she wasn't a noble anymore. Hadn't been for over half her life, since her family had been censured by the Emperor.

Kallen, on the other hand, was. Even if she didn't behave like how some people supposed a noble ought to, it didn't change the fact that she had more money than most commoners would ever see, and had access to her family's portfolio of expensive real-estate.

The easiest way to remind Andrew of which of his potential bride was more valuable was to throw it in his face. If Kallen had her way, she would bring him to her family's main home, valued at over five-million pounds, but that house was occupied.

Andrew had requested that they keep their relationship secret for the time, so Kallen couldn't bring him to meet her family. Instead, she decided on the Stadtfelt's second-most-expensive home, this one valued at four-and-a-half million pounds.

The mansion was constructed right after the war between Japan and Britannia had ended. Her father had wanted a retreat in case he felt like going on a short vacation amid business in the capital.

To that end, the manor had all the comforts and facilities a vacation site might need, ranging from a state-of-the-art kitchen to a home theater, to outdoor sports facilities, to a small private library. And it was beautiful besides, made of a diverse assortment of finely designed woods, with windows of stained glass, and chandeliers for lights.

Best of all, the manor was unoccupied, meaning that Kallen and Andrew had the entire place to themselves.

"Would you like me to show you around?" Kallen tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. As a consequence of not being able to tell anyone she was bringing Andrew here, she had to clean the mansion herself, something she had become unfortunately good at ever since Milly made her take those lessons.

While she had been cleaning, Kallen had gone out of her way to set-up the parts of the mansion where Andrew might want to have sex. Kallen had ensured that the master bedroom had fresh coverings, fluffy pillows, and scented candles. Afterward, she imagined that Andrew might want to bathe with her and so had stockpiled rose water and flower petals.

Kallen hadn't limited her preparations to just the house, of course. She also modified her looks- or at least how she dressed- to line up more with the stereotypical Britannian noblewoman. No more skin-tight clothes.

Kallen had opted for a flowing red dress, only a shade lighter than her hair, that covered her breasts well and trailed down to her ankle, flaring at her waist and accentuating her frame without being scandalous. Kallen had even troubled to acquire flowers to pin in her hair.

Everything was ready and things were going to go great. Andrew would be thrilled. Kallen just knew it.

Unfortunately, Andrew didn't get the memo. As her question drew his attention away from the house and onto her, his lips dipped into a frown. "What are you doing out of your maid uniform?"

Kallen felt her heart shatter.

Andrew studied Kallen. She was dressed differently than normal and he didn't like it. The reason he had Kallen dress the way that she did was so that he could have easy access to her fantastic body.

Her maid uniform, for instance, came with a thigh-length skirt. If Andrew wanted to fuck her pussy or her ass, all he had to do was lift the skirt with one arm and pin it against her back. If he wanted her tits, her breasts were only concealed by a few buttons. He could easily pull her top apart if he wanted quick access or he could take his time and take it off a button at a time.

Truth be told, he didn’t care much about what Kallen wore, as long as it met those specifications. This dress didn’t.

The voluminous red skirt went down to her ankle and was far too large to comfortably roll-up and pin against her back as he would do with her maid skirt. Even worse, the top and the skirt was a single unit, held up by a nightmarish assortment of laces. Even looking at it, Andrew could tell he wouldn’t be able to get at her breasts in a hurry.

The dress was pretty and Kallen looked hot in it- but it was Kallen. She looked hot in everything. Given how inconvenient it was, Andrew could honestly say, "I preferred the maid uniform. You should have worn that.” The verdict issued, he turned his attention back to the mansion. “No one is here, are they?"

Something complicated passed in Kallen's eyes. A look Andrew neither knew nor could be bothered to interpret. Her voice was softer than normal when she answered him. "No-" and then she stopped as though trying to figure out what else to say. "No one besides us, darling."

Kallen tried to breathe deeper to center herself but found that she couldn't. Not only was her mind in turmoil, but more practically, she had tight-laced her corset to make her bust look bigger and her waist thinner.

She would prefer not to dwell on the fact that 'thin waist, big bust' was Milly's body summarized, nor did she want to dwell on the fact that she had actively tried to emulate the look and failed.

"I preferred the maid uniform. You should have worn that.” Would it have even mattered if she had succeeded in emulating Milly's look? If Andrew's mind was already made up, then nothing she could say or do would change it.

The clothes felt restrictive, far more than they did when she had placed them on. Kallen knew it was a trick her mind was playing on her, but that didn't stop her from fidgeting, trying to get in a more comfortable position, and failing.

Trying to distract herself from her failures and the possible price of those failures, Kallen **** a smile. It wasn't over until the fat lady sang- or until they graduated high school and Andrew married one of them. Until then, she had to keep trying.

She checked her smile, trying to make it more demure like Milly always did. Then she gestured towards the mansion, the move feeling stiff, unnatural, and uncomfortable. "Can I show you inside si- darling?" She had almost called him sir. Fortunately, she had caught her slip and corrected herself.

Unfortunately, Andrew didn't look particularly enthused at going into the house. "Or we can wander around the estate. I could show you the sports facilities," Kallen hastily changed her offer.

"I've never been a huge fan of sports," Andrew replied, signaling his decision and making Kallen regret her addition. She was screwing up so badly.

"Right," Kallen agreed immediately, desperately trying to remember mostly ignored lessons on how to socialize with your peers. Something about not disagreeing if you don't have to because everyone you'd meet was important and making enemies would be inconvenient. "I've never liked sports myself. These were only installed at my father's insistence."

Andrew looked openly skeptical of the claim, eyes tracing her exposed arms. Kallen knew without looking that even completely relaxed, her muscles were visible. Her limbs were lithe with corded muscles running up them, similar to an athlete. She didn't look soft- like Milly. Her body betrayed her lie.

**** to change the subject, Kallen pushed the already unlocked door wide open and hurried him inside. The smell of polished cherry wood greeted them. It was a scent that Kallen liked. She glanced at Andrew to see if he agreed, and to her disappointment, she found that he still didn't look enthused.

Fraught with nervous energy, her voice came out an octave too high when she asked, "Not a fan of architecture either?"

"Why are we here?"

"E-excuse me?"

Andrew repeated his question, and upon seeing that she was still confused, he elaborated, "On the day you were gone, Milly and I fucked."

Kallen felt off-balance. This wasn't a part of the script. This wasn't what a proper Britannian noble lady talked about. At the same time, she couldn't go against Andrew's will. Andrew was always right. Besides that, she had to admit to feeling a bit of curiosity about what she had missed. "But we do that all the time."

"Exactly," Andrew nodded. "The difference was that you weren't there. You get a lot of solo opportunities to show your stuff in the mornings that Milly doesn't get because she doesn't share our route to school. Milly used her day alone with me to catch up and show what she could do for me."

Kallen was having a hard time reconciling what he was telling her with what she knew- had thought she knew- to be true. Hadn't Milly used the opportunity to ply Andrew, convincing him to use Kallen as a maid?

"I preferred the maid uniform. You should have worn that.” No, Milly was responsible. She had to be responsible for this somehow. "I preferred the maid uniform. You should have worn that.” She had to be.

If it wasn't then that meant that putting her in the maid outfit was Andrew's idea from the start, and Kallen refused to believe that.

Kallen was drawn out of her thoughts when Andrew repeated his question, this time with a bit more context. "So why are we here? I would have thought that you'd want to take this opportunity to show how much you loved me. Instead, we're touring your family home."

"All I wanted was an opportunity to make it clear how much I can help you, and what I can offer you. My family, as you know, is highly placed nobility. This is our second home in Tokyo, and we have more residencies spanning the globe from the Americas to Africa to Australia." And then, with boldness born of desperation, she added, "If you marry me, you'll be Lord Stadtfelt and they'll all be yours."

Andrew quirked his eyebrows, "Are you telling me that you won't give me access to your properties unless I marry you?"

And suddenly, Kallen was left trying to backtrack, not even sure why she was backtracking. "No- I mean, of course, I'll give you access darling. You can have whatever you want. I just meant that this would give you more direct control of the estate and-" Andrew raised a finger to her lip to hush her.

"If you want to impress me, you shouldn't have bothered with this. Next time, go with a shorter skirt and a skimpier top and I’ll be happier with you for it." He drew back his finger, letting her speak again.

Kallen took the opportunity as soon as he did. There were a hundred things she wanted to say, ranging from apologies to requests. What came out of her mouth was a statement. "The bedroom is ready."

"What?" It was Andrew's turn to be confused.

"We've never had sex in a bed before," Kallen told him, flushing. "We've always used the student council room after school, alternating between having sex on the table, the couch, and against walls. I thought it would be nice to have a proper bed for once, so I set the bedroom up."

A beat of silence. And then Andrew laughs. "Good whore," he slapped her ass. "Here I was thinking you were wasting my time, but you did something right after all! Well, let's not waste any more time. Lead the way."

And there it was. As Kallen turned around, a frown slipped on her face. Now that Andrew couldn't see her face anymore, she could let her true feelings leak through.

Kallen couldn't remember Andrew ever calling Milly 'whore' or 'slut.' At his most playful, he addressed her as 'minx,' but more normally addressed her either by her name or by calling her 'sweetheart,'

As she led him up the stairs and into the bedroom, she was left to wonder why they were treated so differently.

Was it because of how they dressed and acted? Kallen had tried doing both more similarly to Milly today, and it hadn't worked. In fact, Andrew had outright told her he would rather she didn't.

So what should she be doing?

Her hand slipped into Andrew's pants as she led him to the bed, pumping slowly to warm him up. He was already groaning- faster than Milly could ever get him to groan.

He clearly enjoyed her company.

His hands tangled in her red hair, dragging her into a kiss, more aggressive and less tender than any he had ever given Milly. But it was the good type of aggressive- the type that screamed of lust and an inability to restrain himself because of want. The type that screamed that he wanted to be inside her as fast as possible.

Milly couldn't elicit this reaction, or at least not to the same extent. So why was she coming in second?

As she climbed onto his lap, his mouth rested near her ear. "Good slut," he whispered as she started to gyrate.

What was she doing wrong?

This chapter was a commission for The Shaman for February 2021.

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