"Do you know why you are here, Corin?"
The question hung in the air between them. Corin opened his mouth, then closed it. He'd assumed general labor, maybe some blacksmith work given his memories of the forge. But standing here now, looking at all those female servants moving through the corridors, he realized he'd never actually thought it through.
"I assumed I'd help with whatever you needed, milady."
Lady Catherine turned to face the window, her hands clasped behind her back. The evening light painted her profile in gold and shadow.
"Empires are built on names," she said, her voice taking on a lecturer's cadence. "Not just the great houses, but the small ones too. Every noble family, from the lowest baron to the highest duke, exists because their name continues. Because sons inherit lands, because daughters marry into alliances, because bloodlines persist through generations."
She turned slightly, glancing at him over her shoulder. "And what happens when a name dies? When a house produces no heirs? The lands revert to the crown. The wealth scatters. Generations of accumulated power vanish as if they never existed."
Corin listened, his mind working to follow where she was leading.
"I'm in the business of making sure empires never crumble," Lady Catherine continued, her blue eyes holding his. "Of ensuring that families never die. That names persist, even when nature fails to cooperate."
"What do you mean, milady?"
She moved closer to him, each step measured and deliberate. "Many noblewomen find themselves in impossible situations. Married to old men who can no longer perform. Bound to cruel husbands rendered impotent by war wounds or disease. Trapped in political unions where their partners prefer the company of men to women." Her expression remained neutral, clinical. "These women need heirs. Their houses demand it. Their positions depend on it. Without children, they're vulnerable to being set aside, replaced, left with nothing."
The implication started to crystallize in Corin's mind.
"I provide a service," Lady Catherine said simply. "Discrete, professional, absolutely confidential. These women come to my estate, and I help them secure their futures. Help them produce the heirs their marriages cannot provide."
She stopped directly in front of him. "The healer confirmed today that you have an extraordinary constitution. Strong bloodlines, rapid healing, robust health. Exactly the qualities these women need passed on to their children."
Corin stood perfectly still, his face blank.
"I know this is shocking," she said gently, misreading his silence. "It's a great deal to process, and I wouldn't want you to agree to something you're uncomfortable with. Take time to think about it."
She placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch warm through his tunic. "But remember where you came from. Your stepmother sold you for five gold pieces like you were livestock. Here, you could earn more in a single year than most men see in a lifetime. Two gold pieces per successful arrangement. Room and board provided. Protection under my household. The young man who was here before you bought property in Brightwater after three years and left a free man with wealth most nobles would envy."
Her hand moved to his other shoulder, turning him slightly to face her fully. "You'd be helping these women, truly helping them. Giving them the security and power their marriages deny them. And in return, you'd build a future for yourself that your stepmother could never have imagined."
Lady Catherine's hands squeezed his shoulders once, reassuringly. "Think about it. You may return to your room. We'll speak more when you're ready."
She walked past him, her silk gown whispering against the stone floor, leaving him alone in the corridor.
Corin stood frozen for a long moment. Then he started walking. One foot in front of the other, mechanical, his face still carefully blank. Through the corridors, past servants who bowed and moved aside, up the stairs, down the hall to his room.
He opened the door. Stepped inside. Closed it behind him.
The lock clicked.
And Corin jumped straight into the air, pumping both fists like he'd just won the fucking lottery.
"YES!" he hissed, spinning in a circle. "YES, YES, YES!"
He had to cover his mouth to keep from shouting. His whole body shook with suppressed laughter, the kind that came from pure, disbelieving joy.
"She thinks I was quiet from shock!" he whispered fiercely to the empty room, pacing back and forth. "Shock! I wasn't shocked, I was trying not to grin like an idiot in front of her!"
He threw himself onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
"Noble women," he muttered. "She's offering me noble women. Women who look like her. Beautiful, educated, desperate women who need exactly what I've got, and she's going to pay me for it. PAY ME."
The absurdity of it hit him again and he had to muffle another laugh in his pillow.
"What did original Corin do to deserve this?" he asked the ceiling. "What cosmic karma did that poor bastard rack up that I get to cash in? He dies on a road, and I wake up in his body with a system that literally feeds on sex, and the first thing that happens is I get offered a job fucking noblewomen for gold."
He sat up, running both hands through his hair. "This is insane. This is actually insane. In my old life, I couldn't get a girl to look at me twice. Couldn't even hold a conversation without sweating through my shirt. And now I'm being recruited as a professional... what, breeding stud? Is that what I am?"
The term should have bothered him. It didn't. Not even a little.
"Two gold per arrangement," he said, doing mental math. "If I do one a month, that's twenty-four gold a year. The average peasant sees maybe three silver in a year. I could be rich. Actually wealthy. In five years I could buy..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Hell, in five years I could probably buy my own estate if I played this right."
But it wasn't just the money. The system sat in the back of his mind, that pink screen flickering at the edge of his vision. Every sexual act fed the Parasite. Every boundary crossed made him stronger. Lady Catherine had just offered him a systematic way to level up while getting paid for it.
"This is too perfect," he whispered. "It's too fucking perfect. There has to be a catch. There's always a catch."
But right now, lying on a soft bed in a manor owned by a beautiful noblewoman who just offered him the dream job of two lifetimes, Corin couldn't bring himself to care about catches or consequences.
"Getting laid was impossible before," he said quietly, staring at his hands. "Literally impossible. Twenty-three years and I died a virgin. And now it's going to be my job. My actual job. With beautiful women. Noble women who need discretion and won't cause problems because they can't afford anyone knowing."
The reality of it settled over him like a warm blanket. No more loneliness. No more pathetic nights alone with just his hand and shame. No more wondering if he'd die without ever knowing what it felt like to be wanted.
"I'm going to say yes," he told the ceiling. "Obviously I'm going to say yes. I'd be the biggest idiot in two worlds if I said no."
His eyes grew heavy as exhaustion finally caught up with the day's events. The healer's magic, the walk with Lady Catherine, the revelation that had turned his entire understanding of his situation upside down.
"Thank you, universe," he mumbled as sleep began to claim him. "I don't know why you did this, but thank you."
He was asleep within minutes, a smile still on his face.
---
Dawn broke over the manor like a hammer.
"FUCK!"
The shout echoed across the courtyard, sharp and vicious in the morning quiet.
Senna poked her head out of the kitchen door, eyes wide. "What in the—"
"Is someone dying?" Mira appeared beside her, still tying her apron.
They both stared at the courtyard where Corin was sprawled on the ground, arms shaking as he struggled through push-ups. Sweat already soaked through his tunic despite the cool morning air.
"Twenty... god damn... fucking... twenty-one..." Each word came out between gritted teeth.
[Pathetic. My grandmother moves faster than this, and she's been dead three hundred years]
The pink screen hovered in front of Corin's face, visible only to him.
"Shut... the fuck... up..." Corin gasped.
[Is this really the strength of your bloodline? Are you even a man, or did I bond with a particularly weak child?]
"I'm going... to strangle... you..."
[With what strength? You can barely manage push-ups. At this rate, you'll die of old age before completing my quest]
"TWENTY-FIVE!" Corin roared, collapsing face-first into the grass.
More servants had gathered now. Elara stood with her hands over her mouth, looking genuinely concerned. Two other maids whispered behind their hands, clearly disturbed by the display.
"Should we get the healer?" one asked.
"He sounds possessed," another muttered.
Corin rolled onto his back, chest heaving. The jump rope lay coiled beside him, already used for what felt like an eternity of cardio. His legs burned from the laps he'd run around the property before dawn had even fully broken.
[Rest period: thirty seconds. Then we begin sit-ups]
"Thirty seconds?! I need at least—"
[Twenty-nine seconds]
"You absolute bastard!"
He forced himself upright, positioning himself for sit-ups. His abs already ached from the previous set, but the Parasite wasn't interested in his complaints.
[Begin]
"One... shit... two... damn it... three..."
[Faster. Do you think noblewomen want a man who can't even control his own body?]
That struck a nerve. Corin's face twisted with effort as he pushed through, speeding up despite the burning in his core.
"Fuck you... fuck you... fuck you..." Each repetition became a curse, punctuating the movement.
The maids watched in horrified fascination. This wasn't normal training. This was a man at war with himself, snarling and cursing at invisible enemies while his body betrayed him with trembling muscles and ragged breathing.
"Is he always like this?" Senna whispered to Elara.
"I don't know," Elara said quietly. "He was unconscious for three days. This is the first time I've seen him... like this."
Corin finished the sit-ups and immediately grabbed the jump rope. It did look particularly strange to the maids observing but they all agreed within themselves that it was probably something he fashioned himself from his village or something.
His legs felt like they were filled with lead, but he started anyway. The rope smacked against the ground in rhythm with his labored breathing.
[Your form is atrocious]
"Then... teach me... better form... asshole..."
[Why would I do that? Watching you struggle is far more entertaining]
"I swear... to god... I will find... a way... to delete you..."
[You need me. Without me, you're just a weak peasant boy playing at being important]
That made him push harder, the rope moving faster even as his coordination started to fail. He stumbled, caught his foot, nearly fell.
"DAMN IT!"
He started again. And again. Each time he messed up, he cursed louder, started over with more fury. The servants watching couldn't tell if he was determined or deranged. Maybe both.
The sun climbed higher. An hour had passed since he'd started, and Corin looked like death warmed over. Sweat dripped from his hair, his tunic was soaked through, and his legs shook with every step as he ran one final lap around the property.
Lady Catherine emerged from the manor in her nightgown, a robe of deep blue silk wrapped around her shoulders. She'd been woken by the commotion and had come to investigate.
She stood on the steps, watching Corin complete his circuit. His breathing was ragged, his pace uneven, but he didn't stop. Even when his body screamed at him to quit, he kept moving forward.
'Interesting,' she thought. 'Three days ago he could barely stand. Now he's pushing himself like a man possessed.'
Whatever his answer would be to her proposal, this kind of discipline was rare. Most young men she'd recruited needed weeks to build this kind of work ethic. Corin had started on day one.
She waited until he completed the lap and collapsed onto the grass, chest heaving.
"Corin," she called out.
He looked up, squinting against the morning sun. Even exhausted and soaked with sweat, he tried to straighten up when he saw her.
"When you've finished here and freshened up, meet me at the entrance. We're going into the city. There are things you should see before you make your decision."
She didn't wait for a response, turning back into the manor with a swish of silk.
Corin lay there for another ten minutes, staring at the sky, before finally dragging himself to his feet. Every muscle in his body protested. The Parasite had gone mercifully quiet, apparently satisfied with his suffering for now.
He limped toward the manor, past the servants who quickly scattered back to their duties. None of them wanted to be caught staring.
He made it to his room and collapsed face-first onto the bed, not even bothering to remove his sweat-soaked clothes.
'I'm going to die,' he thought. 'The system is going to kill me before I even get to enjoy the benefits.'
A soft knock echoed through the room.
"Young master?" a voice called.
Corin groaned something that might have been "come in."
The door opened. One of the maids stepped inside. Not Elara this time. This was Senna, the blonde with freckles and that bubbly energy. She carried fresh linens and what looked like bathing supplies.
"The mistress instructed me to help you bathe," she said, her green eyes taking in his disheveled state. "You can't go into the city looking like you've been rolling in mud."
Corin turned his head just enough to look at her properly. Even through his exhaustion, his brain registered the curves beneath her simple dress, the way her hair caught the morning light, the slight flush on her cheeks that suggested she was nervous about this assignment.
He pushed himself up on his elbows, a slow smile spreading across his face despite the ache in every muscle.
"Oh," he said, his voice rough but carrying a note of appreciation as his eyes traveled from her face down to her feet and back up again. "Okayyyy."
The way he drew out that last word made Senna's blush deepen, though she maintained her professional composure.
She stepped further into the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
And Corin, despite feeling like he'd been trampled by horses, couldn't help but think that maybe the morning's torture had been worth it after all.