The Dialectic of Master and Slave - Chapter 257

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The taste of tobacco was different from what she had imagined.

Only after taking a single puff did Jaha realize she had held a misguided longing for cigarettes all this time. Media often portrayed smoking as something people did when their minds were tangled or their hearts troubled, so she had assumed there would be something—despite the foul smell—that would clear the heaviness in her chest. Instead, it was just spicy and unpleasant.

Even with magic eliminating the odor, it was still this bad. She didn’t even want to imagine how terrible it must be in its original state.

Glancing irritably at the now-useless pipe and tobacco leaves, Jaha wondered if anyone would take them off her hands and spoke up.

“Does anyone need tobacco leaves or a pipe? I bought them to try smoking, but it turns out it’s not my taste…”

“In that case, may I take just the leaves? I was just about to buy some since I’m running low.”

“Istina. You’re a smoker?”

“Ah. Only sometimes, when I’m stuck on formulating equations.”

Istina, responding in an offhand tone, picked up the tobacco leaves, sniffed them, and then grinned.

“These are high-quality leaves, magically treated to prevent odor. Thank you, Master.”

Jaha was more than a little surprised watching Istina cheerfully take them. She had no idea. Not only had she never seen her smoke, but there was no lingering scent of tobacco on her either.

“Then, may I take the pipe as well?”

The second volunteer was also an unexpected candidate.

“Do you smoke as well, Madame?”

“No. I plan to resell it. It’s practically new, and it looks expensive, so it should fetch a decent price.”

With a benevolent smile, Madame Mirié pocketed the pipe.

“…Madame, am I not paying you enough wages?”

“Ah it’s not that. It’s just that my second child has recently taken an interest in swordsmanship, so I’m saving up.”

“Ah.”

Jaha nodded in understanding. Madame Mirié was always serious about her children’s education, after all.

In this world, unless one came from an exceedingly wealthy family, it was common for children to be expected to earn their keep once they grew old enough. Madame Mirié was a rare exception among parents. Having grown up in a country where educational fervor was unmatched, Jaha found Madame Mirié’s way of thinking both heartwarming and familiar.

“If your son ends up enrolling in a place like the Academy’s Knight Division, let me know. I’ll prepare a sword for him as an admission gift.”

“Oh my, thank you. Theo would be overjoyed. To be so considerate despite being unmarried—you’d surely make a wonderful parent, Master.”

From the perspective of a modern person, where marriage was a choice rather than an obligation, the remark felt slightly uncomfortable. But given the norms of this world, it was undoubtedly well-intentioned. After all, this was a world where women effectively had no “right to remain unmarried.”

An unmarried woman was either a religious figure or someone with a fatal flaw that made her “unworthy of being chosen by a man.” So, of course, Madame Mirié assumed Jaha would eventually marry and have children.

Marriage. Children.

Jaha mulled over those two words, but she couldn’t quite picture either.

Marriage required a partner. There was only one man she was sexually involved with—but marriage with him? She couldn’t say.

Children were an even more distant thought. Even if she wanted one, it was questionable whether she could have one.

She had considered this before. Though externally similar, the humans of this world and Jaha were fundamentally different species. Lifeforms from different planets couldn’t have evolved through identical processes—genetic differences were inevitable. She habitually used magical contraception, but realistically, the possibility of pregnancy was near zero.

Hybrid offspring did exist—mules from male donkeys and female horses, ligers from male lions and female tigers, leopons from male leopards and female lions—so she couldn’t outright dismiss the possibility. Still, the odds were vanishingly slim.

‘Maybe like winning first prize in a crystal ball lottery ten times over.’

Without the means to analyze DNA, calculating probabilities was meaningless anyway.

A strange feeling suddenly crept over her. She didn’t particularly want children. Yet, she had always assumed that whether or not they factored into her future would be purely her choice. She had never considered the possibility that pregnancy might simply be impossible for her, regardless of her will…

Choosing not to have something versus being unable to have it. The more Jaha dwelled on that gap, the harder she tried to ignore the peculiar sense of deprivation swelling in her chest.