The dragon's harem

“I came here for another reason besides joining the private royal maids.” Camilla sighed, scratched the back of her head with an annoyed face, then threw a sharp glare at Ceil. “I heard rumors of vampires being spotted around this city, and the emperor isn’t doing anything about them. Turns out, I was right. One is standing right here.”

The rumors had started and died quickly after the plague incident, where an abomination attacked and caused a vampire lord to lash out. Alcott and Claug did deal with that incident, and it was forgotten by almost all, except Camilla, who had already developed an irrational hatred for them.

She knew that a vampire lord won’t die silently like that, and so, she suspected that it was either spared or managed to trick Alcott and escaped. The emperor had already beaten Vlad, so he should be able to kill vampire lords, but he didn’t show up.

Camilla quickly came up with her own conclusion and summarized that someone at the castle must be covering up for the vampires and keeping the information from reaching the emperor, and her eyes were on that witch Claug.

She wasn’t here to just join the maids, but to investigate one of the Queens, whom she suspects of treason and collaboration with vampires.

“Sorry, girl. You got all backward. The vampire’s evil road died with Vlad. But there is one problem, Vlad might’ve been evil, but a vampire of his power, a Blood Lord, has to exist and keep the vampires in check.” She smiled. “So you’re half right, there are a lot of vampires in the castle, but they all work for one of the wives, under the emperor’s command. The last rampage was due to an alien monster.”

Camilla sighed, not wanting to believe a single word. She had seen first-hand how scary vampires are.

“But, did you really expect to pass this test unnoticed?” As Isdis giggled, Camilla growled. “Not everyone expects mind-reading and vampire spawns to show up during an interview.”

Isdis reached forward and tapped Camilla on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, the vampires are under control. Once you get in, you’ll fully understand. For now, you aren’t doing anything rash.”

When the dust settled, Isdis shifted her attention to the other two maids. “Alicia, what about you?”

Alicia gasped upon being suddenly addressed; she was too busy trying to understand and consider the implications of what just happened. Vampires in the royal court? One of the queens is a blood lord now, like Vlad? Who? But now, she can’t do anything; she can’t even fight. So all she could do was play along and hope she wouldn’t die in the process.

“Technically, I lied on my maid papers… Which would make me unqualified to even be here.”

She looked around, her eyes stopping at Camilla. “Sorry, unlike you, mine is just a silly mistake taken too far.” And Camilla gave her a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

Isdis cleared her throat, and glared at Alicia. “Aren’t you dodging the question? What did you lie about?”

“Well… one day, when I was living in the capital, a lot of things happened and I happened, to see the emperor, before he was an emperor. It was on that day that he carried a massive boulder and plugged the gate.” He looked around with a blush on her face, and scratched her chin.

“Seeing him walking down the streets, carrying such a boulder, with sweat dripping across his massive chest and abs… I might’ve gotten a little too excited… and used the handle of a sword a bit too aggressively.”

As Merlin only told Isdis, the two maids, Ceil and Lara, stared at Alicia with stunned faces. Camilla rubbed her face, and Roana was just gasping for air.

“I might’ve lied on my application and said I’m a virgin… I’m not. I used a healing potion right after, but it didn’t fully close.”

Isdis wanted to laugh, but she didn’t; instead, she threw a smug smile at Alicia. “How about this? If you pass the test, I’ll tell this story to all the maids, but in exchange, I’ll put you on bath duty for Arad whenever I get into the bath with him.”

Alicia was happy for a second, but when she imagined all of the maids learning of her secret, she quickly shook her head. “Please don’t.”

As that story was wrapped, the conversation shifted toward Roana, and she quickly dropped a bomb on them. “Well, for me…” She looked away. “I’d rather not say. It’ll get me in trouble.”

“I already know. What do they say? Confession makes your sentences lighter?” She smiled. “Worry not, no one would get punished. I would’ve already thrown you and your entire family in jail if I wanted. You know, saves you? Mira’s interest in your talent.”

Roana took several deep breaths and then opened her mouth. “Since I was considered useless in my family, coming here was my punishment, and my only chance of proving my worth. Father said to either steal Queen Mira’s diagrams for her craft and leak them to him so my family could gain market share, or poison and get rid of her.”

She then opened her mouth wide open, then gagged. Slowly, a small glass vial was forced out of her throat, and she spat it in her palm. “Deadly wyvern poison, enough to kill a thousand people. It took me a few weeks to learn how to hide it well, and it is the reason I was late to the selections.”

Isdis hummed, “Second assassin, welcome home.” She then looked at them all, “So what do we have? A wannabe vigilante and vampire hater, a pervert, and a silent killer?”

At that moment, the door opened up, and an angry Mira stormed in. “Isdis! Why do you keep calling me here? Don’t complain later when the windows for the inner church won’t be…” She growled, frantically rubbing her hair, spreading sawdust everywhere, before glaring at Isdis. “What is it? I’m busy!”

Isdis pointed at the vial of deadly wyvern poison. “Roana, remember her? She was here on a mission from her family to either steal your work or kill you. What do you want to do?”

Mira grabbed the vial, broke its glass lid, and chugged it down without a moment of hesitation. Roana cried, and so did everyone except Isdis, who watched with a smile on her face. Black veins bulged on Mira’s face, neck, and chest, before fading away a few seconds later.

“Sorry, this poison is too weak to work on me, and I’ll show you my diagrams later. Good luck finding the materials or magic needed to mimic my work. For now, I’ll go.” As Mira stormed away, Isdis looked at the shocked Roana.

“Queen Mira is a Demigoddess; you can’t kill her with poison, at least not a mundane one like this.” With a flick of her finger, she froze the empty vial in a cube of ice to prevent any residual poison from leaking out, and then leaned back on her couch.

“By the way, the first assassin is alive and well. Lara here had a bit of fun with her, but she is now working as a respectable maid under Queen Eris. Now, for your obedience tests.” She clapped her hands, and the room changed into an open field.

She pointed at Alicia, “You’re scared of heights, so I’ll have you jump from above the clouds.” And then shifted to Roana, “And you’ll be swimming naked through a room full of cockroaches, hungry, big, cockroaches.”

She then looked at Camilla with a smug smile. “For you… Let’s hurt you a bit. Ceil is a vampire, so how about you get her to make you pass the test? Good luck convincing her.”