Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 857: Private Talk

Quinlan was lost for words.

Feng leaned against him for fear of falling, wide-eyed.

Their gazes met, equally stunned.

In perfect unison, they both exclaimed:

Hah?”

…

The royal palace’s private tea garden was a serene space built over water. It was circular, open to the sky, and encircled by flowering trees that shed colorful petals onto the surface of the pond. Ornate crystal lanterns floated around the room, casting pale blue light over everything.

Four people sat at the crystal table in the middle. Nalai, the Queen of the Water Nation, sat upright on one side, spine perfectly straight, lips pressed into a thin line. Her expression screamed practiced dignity—though her ruffled hair and flushed cheeks still betrayed the earlier chaos.

Next to her, Serika lounged comfortably, stuffing her face full with a traditional Naryssian dessert—a chilled lotus-jelly bloom layered with mist-fruit slices and glazed in crystal syrup—with one leg crossed over the other like she owned the place.

Between the pair, the tension could’ve snapped a thread. At least, as far as the tension emitted by Nalai was concerned.

”I missed this,” Serika sighed, wiping her lips. “Tasty food that’s easy on the stomach. Tender breeze that caresses your skin. And a little sister pretending not to be happy to see you.”

”I’m not pretending!” Nalai hissed through clenched teeth. “And you flung me into the air in front of half my court.”

”A reunion worthy of fellow queens,” Serika grinned, nudging the plate of sugar-dusted sea biscuits toward her sister. “C’mon. Smile, sis. We have much bigger things to worry about than our perceived image.”

Before Nalai could counter, Serika continued, cutting the blue-haired woman off. “And honestly, I did you a favor. Thanks to your awesome leadership and governance capabilities, you’re slowly becoming something more than a mere human in the eyes of your people. It was good to remind them that you are not a god, just an obscenely gifted mortal.”

I’m oh so thankful!” Nalai grumbled and finally took a sharp bite of the biscuit.

On the other side of the table, Quinlan sipped from a jade-glazed cup. Feng, silently sitting beside him, stared at the royal sisters as though she were watching a particularly wild play, her own cup trembling in her hands. Her eyes were slowly blinking as she tried to process everything. Her Central Processing Unit was struggling to complete the task.

Unlike her, Quinlan wasn’t struggling so much to accept this news. He’d seen and heard weirder things. As such, he spoke up once he placed his teacup down.

”I’m glad to have met you, Queen Nalai. I’m Quinlan, Serika’s student and the Avatar hoping to save the world.” He then looked over at the self-proclaimed ‘nation toppling jade beauty’ and added, “This girl is my sidekick, her name is Feng. Please ignore her if she does something rude; her parents are quite the failures, so it’s not her fault.”

That was enough to snap Feng out of her internal meltdown.

She blinked once.

Twice.

Then slowly turned her head toward Quinlan, her expression one of betrayed horror.

Her hands gently placed her teacup down with grave care. And then, like knives drawn in silence, her eyes began boring holes into the side of his head. ℞á𝐍∅ＢƐş

Quinlan, of course, smiled. That particular, infuriatingly gentle smile of his.

And continued sipping his tea.

She kept staring. He kept ignoring.

But Feng wasn’t the only one jolted out of a daze.

Nalai blinked, then looked visibly embarrassed. A faint pink touched her cheeks as she set her biscuits down and folded her hands neatly on her lap.

”My deepest apologies,” she spoke up, her voice slipping into formal elegance that filled the chamber like flowing silk. “That was terribly rude of me. I had not meant to ignore my esteemed guests. I merely… lost my footing, so to speak.”

She shot a sharp look toward Serika, who was humming happily and back to stuffing lotus jelly into her mouth like a pleased beast.

”This creature has a way of dislodging one’s composure.”

Serika only saluted at her in response, making Nalai’s lips twitch all over again.

Quinlan simply nodded at her in a friendly manner, deciding he would behave properly if the queen herself acted so formally, thinking that doing so would be for the best. Feng, in the meantime, sat upright like a soldier caught slouching during a parade.

Queen Nalai turned her gaze toward the young woman, eyes softening. “Feng Jiai,” she said with a serene voice, making Feng flinch. “Of the Jiai Family of the Seastone Clan, correct?”

Feng nodded slowly, mouth parting as though unsure if she was even allowed to speak.

Nalai offered a gentle, queenly smile. “I’ve heard of you. I am sorry you were born to such horrible parents. As they say, one cannot choose the blood they are given. Some simply draw the shorter end of the stick.”

Her words were kind, but also laced with something else.

It was too subtle for most, but Quinlan noticed the way her eyes drifted, just for a fraction of a second, away from Feng and toward a point in the air before she schooled her expression and smiled eloquently again.

”I do hope you are better off now, surrounded by those who value you,” she added while subtly glancing at Quinlan.

Feng looked like she’d been struck by divine lightning.

”Y-you know my name she whispered.

”And just now I spoke to you, an almighty Sovereign she continued, breathless.

Her eyes slowly widened, cheeks tinged red. She was fangirling hard right now.

Serika spoke up from the side. “Hey now. I’m a Sovereign, too, and I’ve known your name for many days now. I’ve even cooked a meal for you with my own two hands, remember?”

Feng turned toward Serika.

And looked at her as one might a muddy dog that rolled through someone’s clean laundry.

Then turned back to Nalai.

And looked at her like a divine being descended from the heavens to offer wisdom and grace to the lesser mortals.

Quinlan nearly spat his tea as he tried to hold his composure.

Serika scoffed with a mouthful of jelly.

Feng gave her the slowest, most disrespectful side-glance a human could muster.

At the same time, Nalai’s attention shifted back to Quinlan once again.

”And you’re the fabled Avatar. I truly wish our meeting could’ve occurred under a more proper setting.”

Quinlan lightly shook his head. “I’m not one to care much about decorum, so please don’t worry yourself over such trivial matters.”

Nalai smiled brightly in response, relieved to have not ruined her first impression. “Great. So, care tell how you two wound up traveling together with this tanned gorilla sister of mine?”

”Oh, right!” Serika suddenly sat up straight, her voice rising with excitement. “Nalai, I’ve gotta tell you this! Something happened during the Ember Reign Festival that shocked me to my very core!”

She leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “There was this young man—a Core Formation stage combatant—who actually challenged one of my personal retainers!”

Nalai raised an eyebrow while sipping her tea. “And? A bold upstart challenging someone stronger isn’t particularly rare. In fact, isn’t that the whole point of your festival?”

Serika grinned, undeterred. “He almost beat him.”

That made Nalai pause mid-sip.