The Towns: Beyond Shelter Forest

Chief Akjan (Male Orc x Female Reader)

You hadn't known that you were an illegitimate child of the noble house where you worked until your eighteenth birthday, when your birth father decided to marry you off against your will.

Count Justice Renard was a wealthy nobleman living in the largest city in the region, Dunmountain, and was a member of high society elite. He made his money in horses; buying, selling, and breeding the best of the best to provide the finest quality steeds and warhorses to both the royal family and the aristocracy. The only person who outranked him in the city was Grand Duke Leonidas, who was the brother of the current king and ruled over the region.

Count Renard was married with three children: twin daughters Caitlyn and Ciara, who were nineteen and set to marry noblemen in the capital, and his son and only heir, Justice Jr., who was barely six weeks old. He was still in swaddling clothes and would be solely cared for by nannies until at least his second year, as was common for nobles. Justice Jr. was born at a time when the count had nearly given up on having an heir with the countess and was contemplating either divorcing her and remarrying, taking a concubine, or adopting a boy from a noble family of equal status. The countess, desperate to keep her position, had gone to great lengths to conceive, despite her age. Justice Jr.'s birth had cemented her status in the house, and the count ceased any talks of divorce or taking a lover.

You had believed up to that point that your father was a soldier who'd died before your birth. However, on the morning of your birthday, you and your mother were called to the count's office for the first time in your life. Your mother, who'd been a maid at the manor since she was a young girl, began to panic, her face as white as a sheet. You weren't sure why and she didn't tell you, either.

"Come, darling, we must be quick," She said, pulling you along by your hand, her grip tight. "You know the master has a temper."

Despite saying that, her steps were slow as if she were wading through honey, and her visible anxiety caused your own to go into overdrive.

It couldn't be avoided for too long, though, since as your mother said, the master did get angry quite easily. The two of you stood in front of the large, ornately carved double doors leading into the count's office and, with a shaking hand, your mother knocked sharply on the door.

"Master, it's Margaret," She said, her voice small. "I've brought my daughter with me, as requested."

"Enter," A curt voice said, as cutting as a whip.

Your mother turned the handle, and before swinging the door open, she whispered to you, "I'm so sorry."

Before you could ask why, the door opened to reveal the count sitting in a chair at the end of a long tea table he used to entertain guests. Sat there with him was his wife, the countess, and his twin daughters. All three women looked at you with hostility and contempt.

You and your mother curtsied and kept your eyes cast downward until you were told otherwise, as was customary.

"Raise your heads," count Renard said, and the two of you straightened, though you both kept your eyes down. He called your name, and you jumped; you didn't even know that he knew your name. "Step forward."

You hesitated in confusion, but your mother nudged you forward. The count looked you up and down, taking your chin and turning your head this way and that. You were anxious and struggled to keep still; neither the count nor his family would typically touch someone lowly like you unless they meant to hit you.

The count himself didn't have much to do with you, but the countess and her daughters seemed to delight in tormenting you in particular. They weren't exactly kind to their staff on the best of days, but they spent several hours every week demeaning, humiliating, and beating you for no other reason than they seemed to enjoy it. Your mother also got severe punishments from the countess as well, but the sole victim of the twins was you, and you never understood why.