Chương 50: Betrothed?

I barely heard Emily say, "Acceptable, if Mr Jacobson agrees." My ears were ringing, and my heart was racing. I hadn't expected this. I wasn't opposed to it, but I still didn't feel like it was proper. The power imbalance was too wide. After what felt like forever, but couldn't have been more than a handful of seconds, I heard Priest Lewys snapping his fingers at me.

"Hello, Mr Jacobson." When I didn't answer, he clapped loudly right in front of my face. That broke me out of my stunned silence. He smiled slyly.

"Ah there you are, welcome back. Miss Lloyd has agreed to the betrothal, it gives you three months to prepare something. That may seem like a short period of time, but you are both grown adults, you can figure it out. You've already spent far too much time together considering you are two unmarried adults." I looked to Emily to gauge her reaction, but she was staring straight ahead at this point. Colin was looking a little worried, though. Colin spoke up, "What's wrong John? Don't you want to marry my Ma?"

His question startled me.

"No, I mean, of course. I mean, are you sure Emily? You don't have to marry me. I'm more than happy to sign anything you'd like to guarantee you have a right to stay on the homestead no matter what." I turned to Lewys and said, "Is there a contract I could sign that would make her a part owner of the homestead? Or I could give her money at the end of this year and buy her one of her own?"

He frowned at me, but answered in a baffled tone, "Of course you could buy her a homestead, or form a corporation and assign her up to fifty percent percent ownership if you want to make sure she is taken care of. But do you truly find marriage an unacceptable proposition?" That sounded good, but I wanted to be certain, so I asked for more clarity, "Just so I'm correct here. If I gave her fifty percent ownership, or bought her a homestead of her own, it would be hers free and clear, correct?

No, it has to be a man owning it kind of thing?" Lewys was still frowning, but he spoke clearly, "Correct. If you purchased the homestead for Emily, then it would be her homestead. Now, if she marries, and then dies, it would be her husband's as long as he lived. But, Colin would be the heir, not any children they had after the marriage. And he would be guaranteed the right to stay on the land even if Emily died before her husband."

"Okay, what about if I gave her fifty-fifty ownership of the homestead we have now?" I said. Lewys thought for a few seconds, then his eyes flashed blue. Once he had his answer, he replied, "It has only been done on a rare few occasions, but as long as Emily remained unmarried, she could have a fifty-fifty stake in your homestead. I can't comment on what the good bishop would have to say about it though." Emily looked at me, her lips pursed.

"You would do that for Colin and I?" Her words elicited both a sense of relief and sadness, but I nodded.

"Yes, of course. I really do see us as partners, and I don't know where I would be right now without you and Colin. If you want to form a corporation, or get your own homestead, I'll buy you one after harvest." At my words, Emily truly smiled. Then she looked at Priest Lewys and said, "Yes, I believe I would find a marriage to Mr Jacobson more than acceptable." With that, she stood up, motioned for Colin to join her, and they walked out of the temple. Lewys' smile brightened, and he looked at me.

"Well, John, I would take the lady at her word. Please accept the System prompt." His eyes flashed blue, and suddenly I went into System Time. I guess a betrothal contract was important enough that they didn't want someone to have to answer in a hurry! Congratulations! Priest Lewys has agreed to marry: Mr. John Jacobson and the Widow Emily Lloyd on Samhain, Hydref 30th, 1604 CE in the 104th year of Emperor Harold II's reign. Miss Emily Lloyd has agreed to the betrothal. Do you agree as well? Yes/No.

Note: A binding prenuptial agreement may be signed before the marriage date. That agreement may include a bride price among other things. If such an agreement is agreed upon between both parties, it must be submitted to an authorized System representative at least 24 hours prior to the wedding ceremony. I was still in a mild state of shock, but I clicked Yes and popped out of System Time.

As I stood up, Priest Lewys gave me a reassuring shoulder squeeze and said, "Congratulations, Emily truly is a remarkable woman, and Colin will be a wonderful step-son. Will you adopt him?"

"Should I?" I asked.

"If there are benefits to it, and he wouldn't see it as a betrayal of his father then I don't see why not." Lewys shrugged, "The only downside for you is that an adoption would put him first in line to inherit, even over any other children you and Miss Lloyd may have."

"Ah," I said.

"I, uh, had an injury, and I cannot have children." He gave me a pained look, then whispered, "But everything works correct?" If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I blushed and gave off a nervous laugh, "Haha. Of course! The bait and tackle function just fine, I just couldn't produce an heir." His laugh bordered on a giggle, and he squeezed my shoulder again.

"Haha, bait and tackle! I've never heard that phrase before, but I understand the imagery. I will have to remember that one." He laughed again and said, "Then in that case, there is really no downside to adopting him if he agrees to it. If you have no heirs, then the crown would receive all of the proceeds from your estate." I nodded and said, "I'll speak with him then. This is all so surreal, honestly." Lewys shook his head at me in bewilderment, "Why?

You two have been the talk of the entire western half of the territory. I've had multiple inquiries as to why you weren't already married, and more than one unmarried woman asked if that meant maybe you would be open to marrying them." This world really was crazy. His arm now around my shoulder, Lewys led me out of the temple.

"Come, we should get one of those wonderful brown ales that Mr Collins keeps stocked. It is time for a celebration. Not too large of a celebration mind, you do have drill tomorrow morning, but a few beers wouldn't be remiss." I was still largely silent for the walk back to the inn, but Lewys chattered about the town and how my marriage would alleviate a big headache that he had with the bishop. Surprisingly, Lewys actually liked the bishop.

He seemed to think that despite his pompous attitude, the bishop really cared about the System. Even his dislike of Emily and Colin was largely due to his belief that they were defying the tenets of the System, as well as the Grand Quest somehow. I tried to pay attention to his talk, but I was a little shell shocked and kept thinking about what it would be like to be married to Emily. If she married me and I adopted Colin, then the bishop would consider that matter closed.

He would probably never actually like Emily, but Lewys felt like my own reputation could be redeemed in the bishop's eyes as long as I ran my homestead well and stayed out of trouble. When we arrived at the inn, we were met by the booming voice of Ben Collins, "Congratulations! Emily is finally going to make an honest man of you!" I smiled weakly.

"Where are Emily and Colin?" Ben grinned, "Colin went to go commission his new hunting belt, he said you gave him the gold for it for his birthday. He said he was going to pick up the knife you ordered the last time you were in town too. Said it was a Bowie knife?" I nodded, "Yeah, his old one was his pa's and it was too big for him, and didn't have a slot for his knife. And the knife is a design I saw one time that was big enough for some self-defense, but small enough to carry around all the time."

Ben nodded, "And Emily went with Janice, and a bottle of wine, to the women's baths." That made me laugh and brought me out of my stupor.

"You know," I said, "I don't think I've ever seen Emily drink." Ben nodded in agreement.

"True, they haven't been in town much, but she's never had anything aside from a single cider from us. But, she seemed happy to have a glass in celebration today!" It was only 2, so we nursed our beers until more folks got off work. Colin showed back up at 5 with my new knife, and all the guys in the inn were impressed. I got a large version of the knife, and it looked almost like a short sword. The blade was twelve inches long, and it was almost three inches wide.

With the handle and weighted pommel, it was close to twenty inches in total length. It had the dip on the top of the blade that formed a distinct raised point. There was a brass hand guard, and the handle was wrapped with treated cowhide leather. The knife was heavy at close to two pounds, but I was happy with the work the Blacksmith did. Janice and Emily finally came out of the baths at six, both more than a little tipsy.

Colin was embarrassed to see his mother drunk; he said it was the first time he'd ever seen her in such a state. Whether it was the alcohol, betrothal, or both, Emily was much less formal than usual. She sat next to me and traded jokes with Janice and the other women who came over to congratulate her throughout the evening. Small-town gossip chains moved at the speed of lightning.

We never did get any alone time to talk about things, but at eleven, when I decided I needed to get to bed, she did stand up and give me a single peck on the cheek. I immediately blushed, and she smiled and quietly said, "I really do look forward to being married, and you will get out of your cabin before winter after all." I couldn't help but laugh at that. I only said, "Three more months."

The two of them would be heading back to the homestead in the morning, so I wished them both a safe trip home before I went upstairs and went to bed while Colin and Emily stayed below. People who came of age didn't serve the year they turned sixteen, so Colin didn't need to get up for militia duty the next morning. I went upstairs and went to bed while Colin and Emily stayed below. People who came of age didn't serve the year they turned sixteen, so Colin didn't need to get up for militia duty the next morning.

The next two days were mostly like the first time I had militia duty, minus the unofficial induction ceremony. We did a lot of shooting, then cleaned the barracks. I still ended up drinking too much thanks to a bevy of congratulatory beers, but I wasn't forced to shotgun a bunch in a row, so it was a more pleasant experience. In no time at all the whole thing was over until our big two week long camp, the first two weeks of November, where we'd actually march around and drill.

I wasn't looking forward to marching around in the cold, but we were a farmer's militia, so it wasn't practical to take two weeks off in the spring or summer.

The processes of betrothal and marriage in the Albion Empire have evolved quite a bit from the early days of the empire when a marriage wasn't official until a child was born of the union. After the Unification Wars and the establishment of the status quo on the continent, it became necessary to ensure that matters of inheritance and the proper dispersal of property were handled in an appropriate manner. It was during the latter years of the 400s that the rule of three was established.

This meant that a property could be divided up by no more than three sons. Securing a good bride price, as well as the System bonus that required marriage from outside one's own clan and territory, also made it far more likely that a bride and groom did not know each other before marrying. This lack of a relationship led to the widespread adoption of prenuptial contracts, as well as a more formal marriage structure where each party had pre-disclosed marital duties.

As the centuries have progressed, these contracts have become more elaborate and extensive, even among lower-class individuals who had very little wealth or property. Excerpt from The Binding Contracts of the System by Waylan Walsh III, Social Historian of the Royal Research Academy. This book is not available in its entirety in the Guild Trade Store, but the almanac contains an entire chapter on System Contracts.