The Duke's face turns an alarming shade of purple as my words sink in. Around us, the noble audience buzzes with whispers and shocked gasps.
Several women in the crowd are staring at me with undisguised interest, while their husbands shift uncomfortably.
"You dare—" the Duke begins, but I cut him off with a raised hand that somehow commands instant silence.
"Your Grace, before you let wounded pride cost you everything, consider this: Lord Garrett Blackwood, third row, has been meeting secretly with your tax collectors.
Lady Helena Marsh has been corresponding with your enemies in the eastern duchies. And your own cousin, Sir Edmund, has been asking very specific questions about your will and succession plans."
The hall erupts in chaos. Several of the named nobles leap to their feet, shouting denials, while others look around nervously. I have no idea if any of this is true, but the system's [WEAKNESS SENSE] ability is feeding me reads on their guilt and fear in real-time.
```
[WEAKNESS SENSE] - Multiple Targets Detected
Lord Garrett Blackwood: SEVERE GUILT (Financial corruption confirmed)
Lady Helena Marsh: MODERATE GUILT (Treasonous correspondence confirmed)
Sir Edmund Ravencrest: EXTREME GUILT (Succession plotting confirmed)
+75 Influence Tokens Earned
+25 Corruption Points Earned
```
Holy shit. I was guessing, but the system is telling me I hit the bullseye on all three. This medieval politics game is apparently even more cutthroat than I imagined.
The Duke stares at me with a mixture of rage and calculation. "How could you possibly—"
"Because, Your Grace," I interrupt again, my voice carrying that supernatural authority, "the same source that brought me to your household brought me this information. Call it divine intervention, call it fate, call it whatever helps you sleep at night.
But if you execute me now, you'll never learn which of your allies can be trusted and which are preparing to stab you in the back."
I let my gaze sweep the room, watching several more nobles squirm under my attention.
Then I look directly at Vivienne, holding her eyes with an intensity that makes her breath catch visibly.
"And you'll never understand why your wife looks at me like she's drowning and I'm the only one who can save her."
```
CRITICAL SUCCESS: Mass Manipulation
Political positioning: MAJOR SUCCESS
Lady Vivienne corruption accelerated
Duke Aldric psychological damage: SEVERE
Experience gained: +200 XP
Level 2 threshold reached: 950/1,000 → 1,150/1,000
LEVEL UP AVAILABLE
```
Vivienne's face goes through a cascade of emotions—terror, desire, shame, and something that looks almost like relief. She's realized that someone finally sees her desperation, her hunger for something real.
The Duke follows my gaze to his wife and sees what I see: a woman who has been slowly dying inside their loveless political marriage, now looking at another man like he's offering her salvation.
"Vivienne," the Duke says quietly, dangerously. "Look at me."
She tears her gaze away from mine with obvious effort, turning to face her husband. But I can see her hands trembling, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
"Tell me, wife," the Duke continues, his voice carrying across the now-silent hall, "do you find this prisoner... compelling?"
It's a trap question, and we all know it. If she says no, she's lying and everyone can see it. If she says yes, she's publicly admitting to adultery of the heart, if not the body.
But before Vivienne can answer, something extraordinary happens.
```
LEVEL 2 ACHIEVED
New Ability Unlocked: [DESIRE READING]
Activating automatically...
```
Suddenly, I can see it. Like a movie playing in my mind, I can see Vivienne's deepest fantasy: herself pressed against a stone wall, skirts hiked up, my hands tangled in her hair as I take her with the passion and intensity her husband has never shown. In her mind, she's begging for more, completely abandoned to pleasure, everything proper and noble stripped away.
And it's not just Vivienne. The ability seems to work on the entire crowd. I can see flashes of desires from dozens of women in the audience—noble wives fantasizing about being dominated by a dangerous man, younger women imagining what it would be like to be with someone who commands a room through sheer presence.
Even some of the men are having thoughts they'd never admit—wondering what it would be like to have my confidence, my physical presence, my apparent ability to make women desperate with just a look.
```
[DESIRE READING] - Multiple Targets
Lady Vivienne: Intense submission fantasies, husband inadequacy complex
Duchess Helena Northgate: Domination kink, bored with gentle husband
Lady Catherine Westford: Forbidden attraction, virgin bride fantasies
Sir Marcus Trollbridge: Bisexual curiosity, submission desires
Lady Morgana Vale: Sadistic tendencies, wants to corrupt innocents
CORRUPTION POTENTIAL IDENTIFIED: 23 HIGH-VALUE TARGETS
```
The information floods my mind, and I have to struggle not to react visibly to the sudden intimate knowledge of nearly half the room's sexual secrets and desires.
But I do let a slow, knowing smile spread across my face as I look around the room, making eye contact with several of the high-potential targets. Each one reacts like I've just read their diary—flushing, looking away, shifting in their seats.
"Your Grace," I say, my voice now carrying absolute confidence, "I think your wife is about to give you a very honest answer. The question is: are you prepared to hear it?"
Vivienne looks at me, then at her husband, then back at me. Something seems to break inside her—all the years of pretending, of performing the role of dutiful wife in a marriage that has given her nothing.
"Aldric," she says quietly, but her voice carries in the silent hall, "when was the last time you looked at me the way this man does? When was the last time you made me feel like a woman instead of a political ornament?"
The Duke's face goes white. Around us, the noble audience holds its collective breath. She's just publicly humiliated her husband in front of the most powerful people in the duchy.
"When was the last time," she continues, standing up slowly, "you made my heart race? When was the last time I felt alive in your presence instead of like I was slowly suffocating?"
```
CORRUPTION BREAKTHROUGH
Lady Vivienne Ravencrest: 28% → 45%
Emotional barriers destroyed
Psychological dependency establishing
+125 Corruption Points Earned
+50 Experience Points Earned
Warning: Target now extremely vulnerable to further manipulation
```
The Duke stares at his wife like she's become a stranger. And maybe she has. Maybe that proper, dutiful noble lady was always a mask, and now the real woman underneath is finally clawing her way to the surface.
"So yes," Vivienne says, looking directly at me with eyes that burn with years of suppressed hunger, "I find him compelling. I find him alive in a way that makes me remember I'm alive too. And if that makes me an adulteress in my heart, then so be it."
The hall explodes in shocked whispers and gasps. Several nobles are on their feet, shouting about scandal and propriety. The judge looks like he's having a stroke.
But I only have eyes for the Duke, watching his world crumble around him as his wife's public declaration strips away his authority, his dignity, and his illusions all at once.
"Your Grace," I say into the chaos, my voice cutting through the noise like a blade, "you have a choice to make. Execute me for crimes I didn't commit, while your real enemies plot against you and your wife withers away in a marriage that serves no one. Or..."
I pause, letting the alternative hang in the air.
"Or recognize that I might be the only person in this room who can help you save what's actually worth saving."
The Duke looks around the hall—at the nobles who are whispering about his humiliation, at his wife who has just publicly declared her emotional infidelity, at the political enemies I've exposed who are now scrambling to cover their tracks.
When he looks back at me, I see a man who has just realized that executing me won't solve any of his problems. If anything, it might make them worse.
"Stand down," he says quietly to the guards. Then, louder: "This trial is postponed while we investigate... other matters."
As chaos erupts around us and nobles begin shouting questions and demands, I catch Vivienne's eye one more time.
She's looking at me like I've just offered to burn down her entire world.
And from the hunger in her eyes, I think she's ready to hand me the torch.
```
QUEST COMPLETED: Survive Initial Crisis
REWARD: 750 XP + 400 CP + Major reputation bonus
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: Corrupt the Desperate Wife
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: Infiltrate House Ravencrest
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: Navigate Noble Politics
TITLE UNLOCKED: "Authority Challenger"
Warning: You have made powerful enemies
Warning: Primary target now extremely vulnerable
Opportunity: Multiple corruption paths opened
```
As the guards escort me back to my cell—but without the same rough treatment as before—I can't help but grin.
Time to see just how far this game is willing to let me go.