“It’s not like she can stay your girlfriend forever, Rez,” Tam huffed in exasperation. “Eventually, you will either have to marry her or move on. If you don’t marry her, she needs to find someone else to marry. She can’t just keep being your girlfriend.”

Rezkin furrowed his brow. He had not been aware of this stipulation to the position of Girl Friend. The hierarchy was more complicated that he initially thought. He attempted to liken it to some other type of relationship hierarchy that he did understand.

“What, it is like a promotion?” Rezkin asked in confusion.

Tam laughed. “If you want to look at it that way.”

If Frisha were a career officer in the military, she would be expected to work hard and receive promotions. If she were passed over for promotion too many times, she would be dismissed from service. It sounded like Tam was saying that Frisha’s responsibility as his Girl Friend was to eventually enter into a marriage contract with him. If she failed to meet his standards for such a contract, she would lose her position.

Would whoever was in charge of his friends replace Frisha with a different superior female friend until he finally chose one? Rezkin did not want a replacement Girl Friend. He understood Frisha’s strengths and weaknesses and knew that she would not panic in dangerous situations. In addition, he was surprised to admit, he trusted her not to stab him in his sleep. These seemed like good qualities to have in a wife, and there was no guarantee that a replacement Girl Friend would possess them.

Still, Rezkin was not ready to enter into a marriage contract. He had just left his training and had no need or desire for heirs at this time. Striker Farson was still out there somewhere, and Rezkin had a rising desire to solve the mystery that was his life. There was also the fact that husbands had certain responsibilities to their wives, or so he understood from his studies. He would be expected to provide Frisha and his heirs with a home in which he spent most of his time, and he would need a socially respectable position to provide a regular income. He doubted being a criminal overlord counted as such.

“I am not ready to enter into a marriage contract, Tam, and I cannot provide for a wife and offspring in the obligatory way,” Rezkin replied.

Tam sighed. “But, if you don’t, then General Marcum and Lady Adelina will marry her to someone else. Do you want to lose her? If you aren’t ready to get married, then why not enter into one of those prime courtships instead?”