*This is a chapter from a longer work by me that I’ve adapted to work as its own stand-alone story. I’ve previously posted another chapter [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/c38gx2/even_dungeons_can_be_pleasant_in_a_good_company/). The full story (WIP) can be found [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054345), but you don’t need to read it to get the stand-alones.*
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Scandalous events were unfolding at Behem Castle.
Now if you told that to anyone in the entire kingdom, you’d be met with immediate incredulity. What, Behem? But that’s the most proper and respectable place in this whole proper and respectable country! All misbehaviour is efficiently culled there, thanks to the efforts of that stern and pious soul, the Lady of Behem, a true guardian of morality. Surely, you must be mistaken?
Not the least surprised would be the castle’s denizens themselves. These long hot days just after Midsummer looked to them perfectly ordinary. Even with that war going on less than a hundred miles away, the atmosphere here, within these well-guarded walls, was sleepy and stagnant. The soldiers kept their dull watch, posted along the battlements. The servants criss-crossed the grassy courtyard, going on about their respectable business. An elderly cook adjusted her apron and swept the dust off the kitchen’s threshold with an elderly broom. Then she leaned against the whitewashed wall, pleasantly cool in the deep blue shadow, and scrutinised this familiar space.