The dragon's harem

“She lives and dies by the abyss.” Arad looked at Tina, “They’ll be fine. Kali should know what she is doing. For now, call the next one.” But before Tina could turn around someone knocked on the door, “Tina, Kali told me to come here.” Isdis’s voice came in and Arad allowed her inside.

“Ugh…this mess, those two must’ve been pent up.” Isdis looked at Arad, “Badly…Didn’t you clean up?” her eyes quickly shifted to face Tina.

“Did I bring you here?” Tina said and Isdis shook her head, “Then that explains it. Kali asked you to come? She just nabbed Merida and Kino.”

“Should we look for them?” Isdis looked at Arad and he shook his head, “They’ll be fine.”

Isdis smiled, “Then I’ve got time while Tina cleans you up.” She sat beside him, “Aella brought me a letter from home, did she tell you about it?”

“No.” Arad shook his head and Isdis smiled, “The Letter wasn’t opened, she didn’t even mention it to you. It seems I can trust her more than I ever thought.”

“You lot don’t keep a lot of secrets, but each speaks of her own. If the letter concerned you, then she won’t speak of it, wait for you to make a move.” Arad leaned back, letting Tina clean his still hard flesh. “What was in it?”

“Matters of state. With you supporting the royal family, allowing them to live in your castle and having your head of finance Roberta handle all of their funding and wealth… it became common knowledge that I’ll soon get crowned as the Queen of Ruris, even Charlie had decided to do his own things.” She looked at him with a smile.

“Your Majesty?… Sadly, I don’t know how to kneel, wasn’t partially taught in the matter of noble… etiquette.” He looked at her with a smile and she giggled, “You’re the king, people will kneel to you.”

“True, but I’m marrying into the royal family, you’re the crowned one, not me. Still got a few things to learn.” He leaned forward, “But this isn’t all that letter contained, right?”

“True. With most people knowing that I’ll become the next queen, troubles are brewing up. Probably I should call them nuisances?” She looked a bit troubled and Arad growled, “I bet we can’t just blow the trouble away.”

“No, nuisances since I don’t like it. But it’s a common thing.” She looked at Tina, “This means you’re now the royal’s headmaid, outside of Arad, I or the other wives, you’re the one with the most political power in the kingdom.” She giggled, “Even greater than father when he retires.”

“Since I can influence the king and queen.” Tina looked at her and she smiled, “You’re smart. People will fear you since you can make us two act. Which brings me to the first problem.”

“What is it?” Arad waved a hand with a confused face. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

“There are over eighty of them…” Isdis said with a stern face. “Eighty of what?”

“Marriage proposals.” Isdis said and Arad gasped, “For Tina?!”

“No, for Serin. Tina has already been claimed by you, no one would dare lay an eye on her.” She looked at Tina, “Her daughter is another matter.”

“Girl still not out of the diapers yet.” Arad growled with a tired face, “Give me a list of their names, I’ll speak to them.”

“It’s not like you think.” Isdis shook her head, “They are trying to secure her, claim her so that in fifteen, twenty years she’ll marry into their families. Most of the grooms are still in the cradle or not even born yet. They’d even sent the groom and his mother to live with the royal family, so he could grow up with the adequate etiquette and beliefs.”

Tina looked at Isdis, “Mean we can mold him to whatever we want, make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“But there is something wrong.” Arad glared at them, “Even if Serin were to grow up and bring a man I’ll still have to see what he’s worth, let alone those stupid contracts.” He turned to Isdis, “All rejected, when she grows up she’ll solve this problem herself.”

“Fair enough,” Isdis leaned back, “What about Mira’s child? Word got out about it as well.”

“The poor one not even out of Mira yet. Hell, I we don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl.” Arad gasped, unable to believe his ears.

“Only forty-six proposals, not many nobles had both a boy and girl to offer, just in case.” She giggled and then looked at Arad, “No, like before. Don’t worry, we’ll not accept any.”

“Good.” Arad sighed and Isdis leaned to sit on his lap, “Now, to the important matter. You.”

“Don’t know any etiquette, can barely even spell the word.” Arad shrugged his shoulder with a gentle smile.

“Concubines, you’ve got over three hundred fair maidens waiting around the castle.” She said with a smile and Arad froze in place, “What? You’re the one with the crown, not me, right?”

“The people know that I’m married to you, and they know you have more than one wife. Don’t underestimate the nobles’ intelligence networks.” She sighed, “Well, I might’ve exaggerated that number by a lot. Not all of them seek to be concubines, albeit all of them won’t refuse it.”

Tina stood, “They just seek ties with the noble family. I suspect your father will be taking his entourage of servants and maids with him when he retires, Master, must get a fresh batch to fill the void.”

“Tina!…” Isdis stood, “Come here, I’ll hug you! I never expected you to figure out so much, for once I feel like I’m talking with Rey and Ray.”

“No thanks, we’re both naked, I’d rather not.” Tina just shook her head and Arad sighed, “They want to be royal maids?”

“Usually each queen would at least have four maids with her at all times, the king himself could have up to ten normal maids, but a lot more under specific circumstances.”

“Like what?”

“Depends on the sensitivity of their work. The maids who only clean and cook are one thing, but if a maid is expected to stand behind the king while he works on important documents to serve him tea…” She looked at Tina, “She has to be enslaved, to make sure she doesn’t spill anything, even under torture. Heard of it.”

“I see…so what do you think?” Arad could feel that Isdis has a plan. Out of everyone, she is the rightful queen and should know better how to act.

“First, I’ll fill all of the servant spots, from the maids to cooks to gardeners. For concubines, some are easy to reject, some hard to refuse, but there are a few that I really want to accept, some even as wives.” She then turned toward Arad, “And there are two outrageous ones that I might’ve already accepted them…”

“Speak, didn’t know you’d get me two wives without even telling me.” He looked at her and she looked down with a sad, “I know I’m in the wrong, but listen to me. You can punish me later.”

“I’m listening.” Arad wasn’t angry, he just wanted to know what she was thinking about.

“The hard to refuse one, a childhood friend of mine, daughter of an archwizard working for Father. I said that at best I’ll get her a concubine spot, but at worst a wetmaid. And that if you rejected her I’ll keep around.” She looked at him, “She needs the royal family’s political support to keep her magic research going, I’m sure she’ll be along with Merlin.”

“What’s a wetmaid?” Arad asked and Tina was the one to reply, “A maid responsible for cleaning the royal baths and toilets. That’s her sole work, to make sure those places are spotless. And I’m talking about the bath and toilets frequented only by the king and the queens, the ones in the private royal quarter.”

“A high-paid job, and with her magic she can finish it in the blink of an eye with a single flick of her fingers and get back to her research. What do you say?”

“Depends on her character, need to wait until I see her face to face. Tell me about the two you accepted.” The moment Isdis heard him ask, her face paled, “I’m really sorry… I was taken by surprise and ended up accepting them, you can punish me however you like.”

“I’m not angry. Just tell me, what did those two do to catch you by surprise? You don’t need to keep a promise to a corpse, you know that?” Arad looked at her with a smile, “Did they really think I’ll let someone who tricks my wife live?”

“No! You can’t harm them…they are…” She looked down, “The elvish high queen and the dark elf high queen.”

The moment Arad heard her words he froze in place, “What? What are those two thinking about?”

“They wanted to form an empire, a great empire. The alliance would be formed with you marrying them, which would make you effectively the king of three kingdoms, the high emperor of the human/high elf/dark elf alliance.” She scratched her head, “Which…” She stood, “No, I can’t speak straight of this.” She knelt before Arad, “It was all my mistake, I won’t rest without a suitable punishment.”

“What’s now…” Arad sighed, helping her to stand.

“Remember the proposals coming from the nobles or Ruris? Now…there are even more proposals coming from the high elf and dark elf nobles.” She was far too terrified from Arad.

“Wait, you’ve been here with me the whole time, same for Roberta. When did you two have the time to go and check?” Arad waved his hands.

“This morning… Luminous, Betty’s grandma seems to have left a mirror here with Hati.” Isdis looked away. “Why do I feel like there is more?”

“Remember Dalla? The elvish queen’s maid, she also wanted to join so I promised her the position of queen’s maid.” Hearing Isdis’s words, Arad nodded, “Well…”

“What?” Tina stared at him.

“Dalla is a special case, if she wants to join, even as a wife I won’t refuse her. I would even say we should seek her.” Arad’s reply stunned the two, “Wait, what?” Isdis cried.

“Not just for me, for all of you. Her slap technique is something that all of you should learn.” He waved his hand for Isdis to sit.

“At least one is fully my fault.” She was glad that Arad would’ve accepted Dalla anyway.

“So, about the others…” She looked at him and he gasped, “There’s more?”

“Hati also wanted to tie the beast kingdom with you, that’s why she is offering Astrid and Frida…Matilda as well. The three have already accepted.”

“Matilda? How did she get involved?”

“I don’t really know, Hati is probably behind it all.” Isdis sighed, “Betty as well, she represents both the university and the halfling kingdom to the southwest. Her grandmother also insists that she marries you, as a concubine if nothing else.”

“All of this coming at once…someone must be behind it all…and I feel like Hati is involved,” Arad growled.

“There are two matters left, similar but quite different. The dragon queens, Mary the Metallic dragon queen and Dola the Chromatic dragon queen had both invited you to their layers.” She sat beside Arad, “The Chromatic queen said she has work for you and the reward is her daughter, and the Metallic queen’s messenger just said that you should visit the fortress.” She shook her head, “Sorry Arad, it’s my fault. You’ve ended up wrapped in the matters of state like this.”

“I’d say I’m half at fault, if I wasn’t me I doubt the whole alliance would’ve been possible…shit…” He growled, “Hati played me…I stopped an invading army for her, she must be planning to use that as a declaration to the world that I stand with her…”

“What should we do now?” Isdis looked at him, “Forget about it. We’ll figure something later, for now we have other matters to attend to…your punishment.”

“You just said you won’t punish me!” She cried with an annoyed face.

“You love singing and dancing, I’ll be sitting here, show me what you can do.” Hearing what he wanted, a large smile covered her face, “With pleasure, I was intending on doing that anyway. My Emperor.”