The dragon's harem

Standing in front of the castle’s drawbridge, the guard yawned and stretched his arms. It was early morning, and he had just heard the news that Arad’s mom had been found.

The guard had seen Arad up close, and he knew he was Alcott’s son. It wasn’t strange to think Alcott had another woman before Ginger, but that meant she was the drakaina. Seeing how massive and powerful Arad was, he could only imagine how his mother would look.

All the guards are now expecting a massive dragon to land in the castle’s courtyard anytime soon, so the bridge has been drawn up and entry to the castle’s courtyard has been blocked.

It was then that he saw a woman, a familiar face, approaching. She was tall, wearing common clothes, and had glowing purple eyes. Vasilissa, he had seen her in Arad’s wedding that happened months ago in the capital.

“Lady Va…” He couldn’t remember her name, so he quickly coughed and cleared his throat, “Sorry, but you can’t go inside.”

“Really? I was told that I need to help the queens a bit.”

The guard would’ve laughed and kicked her away if she were anyone else. But as he knew, she had helped Queen Merida tailor the other queens’ wedding dresses before and was quite close to them despite being just a commoner.

It wasn’t strange for Vasilissa to be called to the castle.

He sighed, “Please wait for a few minutes, I’ll go check with the captain.” The guard turned around and took a step without looking, suddenly bumping into something large, hard, and quite human-shaped.

“Who…” He growled, but soon went silent as he saw it was Arad standing there.

“Your highness!” He cried and jumped back.

Arad looked at the guard for but a moment before turning back to Vasilissa, “Let’s go inside.”

Violet couldn’t stay in the world using her true body for long, so she had already left and was using her doll like she did before.

Arad guided Vasilissa inside, and the guard looked at them for a while before returning to his post, confused and worried. The Emperor himself had come to pick her up, probably at the request of one of the Queens.

“He can destroy whole kingdoms, and they are getting him to pick people from the gate?”

The guard could only sigh and get back to his job. He could only hope that the commander won’t eat him up on bumping into Arad.

Arad and Vasilissa walked into the courtyard, went past the soldiers passing by, and then headed inside the main castle keep.

Unlike most castles, Arad’s castle was at least several times bigger, with countless rooms, keeps, and complex mazes of halls and living quarters designed to house thousands of residents, mostly servants and soldiers.

“Did this place get bigger?” Vasilissa looked at the walls, then smiled, kicking one of them so hard that something cracked. A flash ran across the walls, and Merlin’s voice rang out, “ARAD! She almost broke the barriers!”

Vasilissa smiled as she leaned on the wall, “I don’t mind you expanding the place or using scrying magic to survey the whole place. But when you shift your gaze at me specifically, at least say hi.”

Merlin was using magic to do two things: make the interior of the already massive castle even bigger, and watch every corner as if she had cameras on every corner.

When Arad and Vasilissa walked in, Merlin shifted her magic to watch them walk across the hallway. That’s when Vasilissa could easily tell that Merlin was watching her, and she poked back at her.

“I don’t think you had a problem with Claug watching you. But, forget about it. The guard stopped you at the gate; if I wasn’t watching, you would’ve stayed there until they got done.” Merlin growled and sent several maids toward them.

“Come on.” Vasilissa shrugged, “I could’ve just teleported in, but this is my son’s lair. I’ll at least knock on his door first.”

By that time, the maids finally reached them. They approached Arad and bowed to him, “Your highness. Lady Vasilissa,” They then looked around, “Her highness Merlin asked us to come here and help.”

“I’m going to deliver some supplies to a faraway city called Rain and bring a report back to Isdis, so I can’t stay here.” He looked at Vasilissa, “Follow and help her in the preparations for the evening.”

The three maids nodded, “Understood.” Then one of them asked, “So, Lady Vasilissa, is it helping Her Highness Merida tailor clothes?”

From what the maids knew, Vasilissa was one of the few people talented enough that Merida let tailor clothes with her. It won’t be a surprise for her to be called today to help tailor the queen’s clothes in anticipation of Arad’s mother’s arrival.

“Ah.. it’s…” Arad was about to speak, but Vasilissa pushed him back, “Go take care of your work. I’ll go with them now.”

The maids froze in place, almost crashing out as they saw her push Arad back. And it was strange that he was pushed back despite his massive size.

“Got it.” Arad didn’t even argue and just teleported away, leaving the baffled maids with Vasilissa.

She looked at them with a smile, “So? Shall we go?”

One of them sighed and glared at her, “Don’t touch the Emperor like that ever again. We don’t even know if you’ve got scot free now or one of the queens would be angry.”

The other maids nodded, “That’s right, especially since you aren’t allowed into the private quarter. Don’t touch him, that might lead to your head rolling.”

“Come on, that won’t happen.” Vasilissa patted one of the maids on the shoulder and walked past her. “Let’s head to Merida first.”

The maids looked at her, waited for a second, and then started walking in front of her. “Follow us. We’ll head to Merida’s workshop.”

The castle was massive, but it was masterfully divided into many sections, each serving a different purpose.

There were two private royal quarters, one where Arad and his family lived, which was the biggest quarter in the whole castle, and Baltos’ private quarter, where he and his family lived.

There were several embassies, offices, and even libraries. The empire needed many capable people to run it, and so the castle was like a living being, an endless maze.

Unlike Mira’s workshop, which was in a separate building, Merida’s tailor workshop was just a few floors above, so the maids led Vasilissa through countless stairs and hallways until they arrived there a few minutes later.

One of the maids knocked on the door and called for the maids inside to open it.

But surprisingly, instead of a maid opening the door, it was Merida who opened it. “I see, you’re here.”

Merida glared right past the maids at Vasilissa.

Vasilissa smiled, “Come on, you don’t need to look that angry.”

“I’m not angry.” Merida sighed, “Come inside, I’ll call everyone else and inform them that you arrived.” She then shifted her gaze to the maids, “You made her walk all the way here? Instead of calling any of us to pick her up?” Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoveI(F)ire.net

The maids realised that something was off about Vasilissa, and they quickly took a step back. “The Emperor approved. He was with us at first.” They then went silent. Did Arad really approve? Vasilissa pushed him back after all, but a mere human can’t do anything to a dragon as powerful as him.

“I guess dragons…” Merida sighed, “You might be his mother, but you can walk just fine.”

It was only then that the maids learned that Vasilissa was Arad’s mother. The news would spread across the whole castle in minutes, shocking and scaring many who thought she was just a commoner.