"What a pain," the rich boy groaned. "I never asked for this kid. All I wanted was a little fun, and my slave had to go and get pregnant. Now my father expects me to take responsibility for the child."

Beside him his personal slave ducked her head in shame, resting a protective hand on her swollen abdomen.

"I know you're not really enjoying this, but I'm actually jealous of you," Adrien admitted. "I've imagined for quite a while what it would be like to have a female slave. She'd be mine, someone whose job it is to love me, and I'd be free to make her have my baby as proof she belongs to me. Maybe I should start looking at the girls for sale at market," he said dreamily.

At the other end of the table, his friend Chloe was forming an idea. Adrien's 16th birthday was coming up, and she had an idea what she could give him.

--

"Happy birthday, Adrikinz!" Chloe ran toward their meeting place in the park, cruelly tugging on the rope lead in her hand. A hooded slave stumbled after her, her hands bound together in front of her and attached to the other end of the lead. The rear of their procession was brought up by Sabrina, who though a slave herself, showed no mercy to her peer, prodding her forward every time she stumbled.

"What is this?" Adrien asked, appraising what he could see of the bound girl curiously.

"Your birthday present!" Chloe proclamed. "You've heard of her before, her name is Marinette. She was born to two of my Daddy's slaves, and he gave her to me when we were both 7. I'm afraid she's no good as a domestic servant - far too belligerent - but I've heard that guys actually like the spirited ones for sex. If you'd prefer, just let me know and I'll give you a more submissive one instead, but I think you'll quite enjoy teaching her to respect you."

"Wow, thanks, Chloe." Adrien took the lead from Chloe and gently guided Marinette to kneel beside him and his other slave, Nino.

Nino could hear the new girl crying quietly to herself. She was scared, he knew, any slave would be when getting a new master. He wanted to whisper to her that it was okay, Adrien was a lot kinder than Chloe, and that he never abused his slaves, but something made him feel unsure. Up until that moment, he'd been Adrien's only slave, and that in name only. Adrien always treated Nino as more of a best friend than anything. Still, he feared things could be different for Marinette on account of her gender. His master had specifically been wanting a female slave, and would likely use her for what he wanted whether she liked it or not. See, Adrien wasn't antislavery, he'd never given it much thought. After all, he'd been born into a society where slavery was considered normal. Sure, he considered himself fortunate to have been born into nobility, and recognized that life typically wasn't fair for the commoners or for the slaves, but that was the way it had to be. It was a slave's duty to follow every command and be profitable to his master. Without the slave's sacrifice, the economy would fall apart, or so Adrien had been taught. The point being, he was under no moral compulsion to be nice to his slaves, he was simply the sort of guy that didn't derive pleasure from causing other people pain. However, his upbringing had instilled in him a certain sense of entitlement. Marinette was there to serve him, and he would make sure she obeyed.

--

"Come on, Princess, we need to get home," Adrien pleaded with his birthday present. Marinette had been quiet and complacent during the rest of his party, but once Adrien tried to take her home with him, they only got about a block away from the park before her obstinacy he'd heard so much about kicked in. Marinette had sat herself down in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Nino, would you go into town and buy us the usual groceries?" Adrien asked. "When you finish, take them straight home."

"Sure thing, Dude!" Nino nodded and headed off, the only thing insuring his return being a mutual trust between him and Adrien. Groceries at home were getting low, but they could have lasted. The real reason Nino was sent away was so Adrien could focus on forming a basic trust with his new toy.

"It's okay, you won't be abused by Chloe anymore," Adrien said, squatting down next to her. "She's always been nice to me, but I know she's capable of being awful with her slaves. Well, I'm not like that. I want to be friends with all of my slaves, but you still have to obey me."

Adrien removed the hood from Marinette's head, seeing her face for the first time. He let out a small gasp. "You're beautiful! Has anyone ever told you that before?"

Marinette looked up at him for the first time, and he realized she wouldn't be able to answer. Chloe'd had the girl gagged as well. He picked free the knot in the cloth behind her head. The moment it fell to the ground, Marinette spat out the wad stuffed into her mouth. "There, isn't that better?" he asked.

"Thank you, Master," she mumbled.

"About that..." Adrien scratched the back of his head. "I'm not too fond of that title. It's too impersonal. You will call me 'Master' in public, and in front of my parents, but when we're alone, or if Nino is the only other person there, you will call me by my name."

Marinette was shocked, she'd never heard of a member of the noble class making such a request of a slave. In fact, it was customary for a slave to be severely punished if they showed their master that little respect. Even Marinette, on her constant quest to bring down Chloe's ego, hadn't dared to call her by name in several years. Now, her new master was outright requesting that she call him 'Adrien'. That explained why he'd allowed his male slave to get away with calling him 'Dude' without so much as a swat to the wrist. She was still afraid of the things Adrien would make her do, but she was beginning to realize she could have gotten it a lot worse. "Thank you, Adrien."

--

"Adrien, what is this?"

"Chloe gave her to me! Her name is Marinette!"

"I suppose you're at the age where you would be wanting a female."

"Yes, father. I have for awhile now. I was considering buying one myself, but then Chloe found out what I wanted and she gave me this one!"

"Very well, just don't let her distract you too much. If I see a decline in your performance, you'll have to get rid of her."

"Yes, father."

Marinette shuddered at the thought. As scared as she was of her new role, she wanted even less to be 'gotten rid of'. That most likely meant being taken to market and shipped off somewhere miserable where she'd never see nor hear from her family again. The Agreste family were at least friends with the Bourgeois, who still owned her parents, so it seemed hopefull she would at least get to see them now and again if she stayed.

Adrien noticed her discomfort and chuckled. "Don't worry, you're not going anywhere. This is home." In sync with his last sentence, he pushed open his bedroom door. It was huge, even Chloe's bedroom didn't look like this. Marinette was dumbfounded.

"Let's get rid of this," Adrien untied the rope around Marinette's wrists. "You've earned a little bit of freedom. If you behave, you can earn more, but for now, I don't want you leaving this room. Chloe's told me you're no good with domestic chores, but I want to judge for myself, so let's clean up in here a bit."

Marinette was sure the 'us' in 'let's' meant her, but to her surprise, Adrien got right down beside her and started tidying up some of his things. "You do chores yourself when you have slaves?" she asked.

"If I help too it will be done faster," Adrien shrugged, "and the sooner we can get to having fun."

Marinette gulped, she was scared of finding out what was Adrien's version of fun.

--

"Awe man, you beat me again!" Nino tossed down his controller in mock rage. Adrien laughed. Marinette had never seen a slave and master interact like this before. "I'm not playing again," he declared.

Adrien turned to Marinette, who was sitting at his other side on the long couch. "Have you ever played?"

"U-uh, well, not the n-newest game," Marinette stuttered. "I actually lost all game privileges after I beat Chloe at Ultimate Mecha Strike II."

"So you're good?"

Marinette smirked, "better than that..." she cut herself off. She'd started to feel more comfortable with Adrien since she realized she was the one who was thinking dirty and that his idea of 'having fun' was video games, but she still wasn't sure how he would react to her calling Chloe names. "We had a tournament in Ultimate Mecha Strike II, winner plays Chloe. I won the tournament, and I knew I was supposed to throw the final game to Chloe, but I didn't. I've been banned from video games ever since."

"Here," Adrien handed Marinette the controller that Nino had thrown down. "Chloe's not a very good sport, I won't get mad if you beat me, but I'd like to see you try."

Marinette studied the controller in her hands. "I'm really out of practice... Our tournament was back when the second game was brand new."

"The third game has exactly the same controls," Adrien told her, "just better graphics and a story mode. Come on, best out of three, that will give you a chance to get your touch back."

--

Adrien won the first game, he thought Marinette was decent, but no match for him. Then in the second game he actually struggled to pull off the win. According to the 'best out of three' stipulation, Adrien had already technically won, but the closeness of the second game gave Marinette a load of her confidence back. As she stared intently at the countdown screen of the third match, Adrien found it pretty cute how the tip of her tongue poked out the side of her mouth.

"I did it!" she cheered at the end of the game.

"Too little, too late," Adrien told her. "It was best two out of three."

"Best three out of five?" Marinette pleaded.

--

Adrien being nice and agreeing to extend their challenge to best out of five lost him the game. He didn't really mind though, Marinette's excitement at rediscovering the world of video games was reward enough. He doubted he'd have found a girl this attractive in both looks and personality if he'd gone shopping for one at market. He knew he was going to treasure this birthday present for years to come.

After several games, Adrien was called down stairs to his private lessons. Even on his birthday, he wasn't allowed to skip out. He didn't leave his two slaves with anything to keep them busy while he was gone, so Nino sat and listened to music while Marinette explored her new environment. She chatted a little bit with Nino. He explained to her that the room was generally kept pretty clean, but that due to the size of it they still had to do a little maintenance on it every day. The video game cases had to be removed from their shelf biweekly, each individually dusted, she shelf dusted, and then all placed back on the shelf in alphabetical order. The zipline had to be greased occasionally, and so on. He said that room maintenance was the most boring part of the day, but that it usually went pretty fast with the two of them, and that it would go even faster now that there were three people to pitch in and help. He also told her that Adrien would be eating dinner with his parents after his lesson, and that the two of them would be responsible for finding their own food in the mini fridge kept in the room.

After several hours Adrien returned, watched a few videos with his company, and decided it was time to go to sleep. Nino departed off into a side room where he had his bed, and Marinette hovered nervously, waiting to be told where she would sleep.

"All right, Marinette, you can change into your night clothes and -" he stopped, realizing Chloe hadn't given him any of Marinette's things. All he had was Marinette, and the clothes she was wearing at the moment. "I'll lend you some clothes for tonight. We'll go shopping for you tomorrow."

"I can make my own clothes!" Marinette exclaimed. Adrien looked up at her from where he was beginning to root through his drawers and watched the girl, surprised by her outburst. "I mean... if it pleases you... Master... Adrien."

"You know how to sew?"

"That was one of the few jobs Chloe let me do. I made and mended most of the clothes for all the slaves belonging to her and to her parents. I didn't dare tell her I liked that job, or she'd have likely given it to someone else out of spite."

Adrien walked over to Marinette, one of his t-shirts in hand. With his other hand, he lifted the hem of her jacket. "You made this too?"

"Y-yes, every bit of clothing I'm wearing right now, from jacket to underwear, I made myself."

"Take it off."

"W-what?"

"Take off your clothes, I'd like to inspect your work. You may leave your underwear on if you'd like, but then I'll be examining them on your body. You can put this on instead," he handed her his shirt.

"Can I go in the bathroom?"

"No. You know for what purpose you were given to me, Marinette, I'm going to see everything eventually."

Marinette had begun to hope Adrien had forgotten the intended purpose of her being given to him. Chloe had told her she was to be gifted to a boy who had fantasies of getting a slave girl pregnant. Her parents had been horrified by that news, it was rumored that sex slaves had life even worse than most. They were known to recieve special favors when their master was in a good mood, but to also be the most accessible person for their master to take out their feeling on any time they were in a bad mood. Sex slaves were also known to be tossed aside and replaced with younger counterparts as soon as their physical attractiveness started to decline. Many young slave children, especially the girls, grew up in fear of one day being selected as sex slaves. Marinette had the fear imprinted on her as well, and now those fears had become her reality. Her best chance now was to please Adrien as long as possible. She stalled revealing anything sensitive to him for the few moments she could by giving him first her shoes and then her jacket. Soon, however, she had to give him her pants and shirt. Standing almost naked in front of him, she was surprised most of his attention seemed to really be focused on her discarded clothes and not on her body. "I think even my father would be impressed with your craftsmanship," Adrien deduced. "He's fussy you know, he runs a company that produces designer clothes."

Marinette did know, while the other slaves back at home had worn her creations, the Bourgeois family themselves wore almost exclusively Agreste brand clothes. Adrien folded her outer garments neatly and placed them aside. "I want to see your underwear too."

Marinette had been contemplating how she might please her new master with the least amount of embarrassment to herself. She turned her back to him and removed her bra, reaching out behind her to offer it to him. "Here."

He took the bra. "And your underpants?"

"You said I could keep them on, I'd like too." She pulled the shirt he'd given her on over her head so that it covered her chest, then turned to face him. The shirt was baggy on her, and obscured the top of her panties as well. Knowing she'd be asked if she didn't do it voluntarily, she lifted the hem a few inches to reveal her underpants.

Adrien ran his fingers along the seams of her underwear, flipping the waistband inside out to inspect the inside stitching, and then straightened it out again. "Very good, you may let the shirt down."

Marinette gladly followed his most recent command. "Is that all?"

"Did you use a sewing machine or do all that by hand?"

"Sewing machine!" she answered, her unease beginning to dissipate when asked about her favorite hobby. "I could do it by hand, but it would take much longer."

"I can get you a sewing machine," Adrien promised. "I'm pleased that you have a recreational interest that is this useful. Now let's go to bed."

Marinette watched as he walked over to his bed and climbed up, then patted the spot beside him. "Come on."

Marinette faltered. "You want me to sleep with you on my very first night here?"

"This is your place, Marinette," he told her firmly. "You might as well get used to it. I want to create an emotional bond between us before I do anything sexual to you, but I want you to already be comfortable being close to me by the time we get there."

Marinette walked over to the bed, no longer sure if she was moving against her will or not. She was starting to want to make this boy happy, not entirely for fear of what would happen to her if she didn't, but because she just wanted to make this boy happy. Adrien was giving himself time to get used to her, so maybe that time would also be enough for her to emotionally prepare for what he expected of her. Maybe, if he was regularly as sweet as he'd been to her so far, she'd be able to accustom herself to her new life with him. She fell asleep with these thoughts in mind, and the pressure of his arm across her back.

"Good night, Dude and Dudette."

"Good night, Nino."

"Good night, Nino," Marinette echoed Adrien. Nino closed the door to his room.

"Are you feeling all right, Adrien?" Marinette asked her master.

"I'm feeling great, why?"

"It seems early to decide on bedtime. I'm not sleepy yet at all."

"Good, because you're not going to get to go to sleep for a couple more hours. I've decided it's time."

"Time for what?" Marinette asked. She thought she knew, but there had already been a few times in this month that she'd lived with him where she thought he was coming on to her and it had ended up being something else.

"Tonight I want to try to give you my baby." Well, that was blunt, at least now she knew certainly what he was planning.

"But, we've never even shared a kiss yet!"

"Then I guess that's first on the agenda tonight, isn't it?" He circled around in front of her and backed her toward his bed.

"I thought that at some point we'd kiss and stop there, then go a little farther the next time, and eventually work our way up to going all the way!"

"What ever gave you that idea? You thought wrong."

"Do you really want to take all of my firsts in one night?"

"Why not?" The back of Marinette's legs bumped the edge of the bed, forcing her to lay back to move any farther away from the advancing boy. Then her head was on the sheets and he was hovering over her. "This will be my first kiss as well. If you please me, maybe you'll be the only girl I'll ever kiss."

Somehow, Marinette felt she could believe the first part of what he said. Something about how slow and careful he was being with her, as though trying not to miss a bit of the experience, convinced her that despite how rich and hot this boy was, she really was his first girl. She doubted, however, that she would remain his only. Most noblemen kept at least one sex slave, and even those who contend themselves with one at a time would eventually look for a replacement after at most twenty years. Adrien would also in a decade or so be expected to find a wife. After all, only a woman of his same social standing would be considered suitable to bear his heir. Marinette found herself being jealous of these thoughts and pushed them away. For now, she couldn't help that she was his, so she might as well enjoy it and stop thinking about the day she no longer would be. She felt his lips caress hers, and felt his fingers removing articles of clothing, alternately hers and his own. After what seemed much longer than it possibly was, she felt the sting of him taking her virginity away from her. It hurt, but she hoped it would be worth it, hoped she would be able to give her master a healthy child, and that he would be pleased enough with her and their child to provide them both with a good future. 'Adrien is a good man,' she convinced herself. 'He can't help where he was born into this twisted class-based society any more than I can. We're a family now, and I have to trust him to take care of his family.'

Marinette stroked her small baby bump fondly. She wasn't quite sure when her master's seed had taken root in her womb, but she didn't really care. She was just thankful for this baby, who had become the center of her world. It appeared have become the center of Adrien's world as well. He'd become ever so protective of her, declaring many tasks potentially harmful to the baby. Ever since she's started to show her tasks had been limited to organizing his drawers and shelves (but only those at the right level so she didn't have to stretch or bend!), dusting (only if she wore a protective face mask!) and thankfully, sewing. Adrien's friend's slave had already given birth to her child, and Marinette had seen the boy who'd been dragging his feet about becoming a father gradually become enthralled with his infant son. If even that boy was begrudgingly enjoying his fatherhood, then Adrien, who had wanted their baby since before it was conceived, should be ecstatic once his child was finally brought into the world. Her baby made almost everything right. Even when complications of her pregnancy made her feel physically ill, her baby would flutter inside her stomach, and draw her attention away from her pain. She would still hurt just as much, but simply quite noticing the pain as a sense of peace washed over her. But, there was one pain her baby couldn't cure. Even as she was busy building the start of a new family inside her womb, her thoughts drifted back to the family she was born into. She wanted to tell her parents that she was okay, that her master treated her well, and show them the bump in her belly that proved her body was being put to good use, growing their healthy grandchild. She would have to ask Adrien about going to visit her family, he told her often these days how much he appreciated her for the 'gift' she had given him, he cared enough about her to let her have this right? She decided she was going to ask him when he came back from his photoshoot later that day, but when he came back, he asked her a question before she could get out her own.

"Marinette, have you seen Nino?"

"No. Not since you sent him to run errands this morning."

"He should have been back hours ago. Father's convinced he ran away. I know Nino wouldn't do that. Something's happened to him."

Marinette had to agree, Nino was content with his life and wouldn't just disappear like this. She couldn't bother her master with her own problems when he was distressed about losing his best friend.

Everyone from the Agreste family searched for any sign of Nino. Adrien's parents Gabriel and Emilie helped their son ask around in town, while the house was left under the watch of their most trusted slave, Nathalie. At the end of the day, Gabriel had to conclude that Nino had made a clean escape, there was nothing more they could do other than make a missing person's report with the police and hope that someone saw their missing slave. Then Nino came home. "Sorry, Du - uh, Master." Nino switched when he saw Gabriel there, glaring disapprovingly at him. "I ran into this chick at the market and she was buying a whole bunch of stuff for her family's farm. Way more than she could get home in one trip. I offered to help her and it took several trips even with two of us."

"Well, it seems your slave wasn't running away," Gabriel remarked, "just being an idiot. It's up to you how you choose to punish -"

"Hey, YOU!" A girl with light brown skin and darker brown hair came tearing up the road. "Are you Adrien Agreste?"

"I am, why do you -"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, KEEPING THIS BOY A SLAVE LIKE YOU DO?! HE'S JUST AS HUMAN AS YOU ARE!"

"No," said Gabriel, stepping between the girl and his son. "Who do you think you are? You're from a commoner family, that makes you hardly better than a slave yourself. You shouldn't be speaking to us unless spoken to, and especially not in that tone."

"I'M ALYA CÉSAIRE, AND MY FAMILY IS POORER THAN YOURS BECAUSE WE HAVE A CONSCIENCE! YOU MAKE YOUR MONEY BY EXPLOITING INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO YOU KEEP PRISONER IN YOUR HOUSE. THIS SHOULD NEVER BE LEGAL! I CAN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR ALL THE SLAVES IN THIS WORLD, BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT IF YOU HAVE ANY DECENCY IN YOUR HEART YOU WILL RELEASE ALL OF YOUR SLAVES AT ONCE!"

"Miss, I suggest you leave our property at once. If you do not, I will call the police and have you thrown out."

"Father, wait," Adrien stepped in. "I'm Nino's owner, her quarrel is with me. Alya was it? Please come in and talk."

By the time Adrien returned to the bedroom it was dark out, and he was looking very pensive. "Alya just now left," Adrien sighed. "She talked both of my ears off, but I admit, I'd never considered her perspective before. She was even more enraged when she found out I have a slave who's pregnant with my child. I - I have to know, Marinette, are you happy here?"

"I want to go home," Marinette blurted out.

In the course of a few seconds Adrien's eyes registered confusion, horror, and sadness, then his eyes dropped to his lap. "Okay," he mumbled.

Marinette watched him, and understood what he thought. "Adrien, I meant for a visit. I love you, I just want to see my parents again."

"Oh," Adrien let out a breath of relief. "You scared me, Marinette. Yes, I can arrange that."

"You said 'okay'," Marinette murmured, "even when you thought I meant I wanted to leave you. Why would you do that? It's not like I have a choice."

"I couldn't keep you here if you were miserable," Adrien admitted. "I've fallen in love with you, and I can't be happy if I know you're not. Is a home visit really all you want?"

"I want to introduce you to my parents."

"Okay."

Adrien stood nervously outside of the bakery inside the walls of the Bourgeois estate. 'Why am I nervous about meeting them?' he asked himself, 'they're just a couple of slaves! But they're also the parents of my love... They're the grandparents of my child.'

He and Marinette had worked out a plan before he came. Andre's management style was pretty relaxed, and he more or less left two of his slaves alone to run the place. However, they weren't allowed to taste any of their wares. Andre suplied them with all the ingredients they would need to bake for the customers who came in from outside of the estate, and they had to answer to him if the money in the till didn't account for every missing roll and cookie. These were premium goods, the food Andre gave them to eat was the economic kind, befitting of slaves. The husband and wife had only ever tasted their customers leftovers when someone had chosen to dine in, and leave without finishing their dish. From this, and the smells the pastries produced while in the oven, Tom and Sabine had some idea which baked goods they would want to try most if they were allowed. Their daughter knew this, and passed the specifics onto Adrien. The first part of the plan was that he would go in fifteen minutes before they closed and order a selection of their favorite treats. Well, make it ten minutes before they closed after he was done being uncharacteristically shy.

"Can I help you?" The woman at the counter greeted him.

"Uh, yeah, I want a dozen of these, and a half dozen of those." He felt rattled, just looking at this woman, it was no doubt she was Marinette's mother. 'Meeting the parents is an important step in any relationship,' he reminded himself. 'What am I doing? She's not my girlfriend, she's my property! But... I still want to make a good impression on her parents.'

The next part of the plan was to go back into the bakery ten minutes after they closed, and bring the box of treats as a peace offering.

"Sorry, we're clos? It's you again! And Marinette?"

The couple rushed to hug their daughter, but were held back at arm's length. "Careful, please." They stood still, while she gingerly let herself into their loving arms, and only then did they feel the bump hidden under her clothes.

"Marinette! You're...?"

"Coming up on five months," she sighed happily. "Or maybe I'm already five months along but barely. We're not really sure when it was."

"So this is..."

"This is Adrien, my master, and the father of our baby. Don't worry, he treats me wonderfully."

"Nice to meet you," Adrien acknowledged them. "Speaking of treats, these are actually for you."

"That went well, my parents loved you!" Marinette cheered.

"You made me buy their love with pastries." Adrien complained.

"I don't have power to make you do anything," Marinette reminded him. "I asked you if you would and you did on your own. Besides, they wouldn't like someone just because of a few pastries."

As the chatty couple neared home, they saw someone sitting on the front steps. "That's Alya," Adrien sighed. "What does she want?"

"Adrien!" Alya stood up and greeted him. "Have you thought about what I said?"

"Yes, I have. As a matter of fact, I just went with Marinette to meet her parents. It turns out she'd been wanting that for months, but was afraid to ask me until I specifically asked her if she was happy. I should have realized earlier that she would be missing them, so thanks for that."

"That's a start," Alya snorted.

"What is it that you two talked about before?" Marinette asked.

"I've been trying to spread the word about why slavery is immoral," Alya explained. "Your boyfriend here is the first person of the so-called 'noble class' to hear me out."

"He's not my boyfriend," Marinette corrected her, "he's my master."

"Girl, I don't believe in calling any human another human's master. You're obviously romantically involved with each other, but you're not married or engaged, so it only makes sense to call him your boyfriend. Adrien, being sensitive to your captives' feelings is a good thing, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that you are holding people captive."

"If he offered me my freedom, I wouldn't want to leave," Marinette defended him.

"That's good!" Alya exclaimed. "It decreases the resistance against emancipation. The most popular justification for slavery is that business would fall apart without forced labor, but if you stay willingly after being freed, and manage to be successful, it will send a message to other slave holders that it's possible to be successful without being an oppressive jerk."

That argument changed Marinette's thinking completely "Adrien, can't you? Not for me, but for slaves that don't have such a good master?"

Adrien sighed, "you attribute more power to me than I have. I can't just set them free. Sure, I could let them out of the house to go where they please, but eventually they would have to look for work to sustain themselves, and the minute they did, they would be rounded up and resold at auction because they have no proof of being free. You and I, Alya, have documents that identify us a free people, if we lost those or destroyed them, we could be sold off as slaves ourselves. I can't just give them this paperwork. A person is decided to be slave or free at a very young age, the decision is made on the ... birth certificate." Adrien's voice got quiteter.

"What did you just realize?"

"You'll see."

--

Marinette lay in bed, holding her sleeping newborn in her arms. She was exhausted, but the agonizing process of giving birth was over, and the baby was asleep, so she should be able to relax. She sighed, it was impossible to relax with people yelling at each other in the hallway outside the room. The entire time she'd been carrying the child, Adrien's parents had seemed indifferent to her pregnancy. She could tell this wasn't a grandchild to them, but merely a slave child. Now, on the day of birth, something had stirred them up.

The door opened and Adrien came in, looking angrier than Marinette had ever seen him before. He said nothing to her, and sat on the edge of the bed. "What's wrong?" she asked, brushing her fingertips across his arm.

"I made an unpopular decision," Adrien growled, "but my mind's made up and I couldn't change it now if I wanted to." He looked down at the baby and his expression softened. "She's a free child."

"What?"

"When two slaves have a child, the child will automatically be a slave. When two free people have a child that child will be free. But when a child is born to one free and one slave, it's the free parent's choice if the child will be slave or free. I didn't even know this until I started looking into what I would have to do to register her birth. The only socially acceptable answer is to make the child a slave, because a free person with one parent who is a slave is expected to grow too lenient toward their slaves. My parents are mad because declaring Emma free also makes her my heiress. If the laws ever change so that I can set you free, I will, and then I'll marry you. Until then, I'll treat you as though you were my wife. If I'm never able to set you free, there will come a day when Emma will inherit ownership of you, and she will certainly treat you with love and respect since you are her mother. I'm also setting a new goal, to buy abused slaves and give them a better life, but we're going to have to work hard to rescue as many people as possible. I need your help, are you with me on this?"

END