The dragon's harem

Camilla didn’t know what to do. Seeing Isdis up close for the first time had left her stunned. The blond and blue-eyed ice queen of the empire looked as intimidating as she was beautiful, walking around in her armor at all times, even when about to interview a humble maid.

There was almost no information about the special test, so Camilla didn’t even know she would meet one of the queens. She only expected a servant or a royal maid to be the one handling the test. If the emperor were to show up, she would have lost her mind.

But Isdis then spoke, and her words caused the blood to drain out of Camilla’s veins.

“A while ago, one of the maids taking the test was an assassin. I wear armor for that, especially when there are three maids taking the test instead of one.”

She didn’t look happy about it, not one bit. Isdis had seen Camilla’s paper, and she already knew the other two from the regular maid test. The situation here was clear for her; they were left out and tagged along with her, hoping to get in.

That wasn’t bad on its own, but those two could be here with bad intent, assassins trying to sneak in using a clueless maid.

Camilla looked at the two maids around her with a sweaty face, then forced herself to speak. “That must’ve been a horrible thing to go through, my Queen.” She tried her best to remain calm and shift the conversation away from her having two maids with her.

If a noble lady had personal maids before, and then became a royal maid herself, she was allowed to bring her maids with her. That wasn’t against the rules; what was against them was sneaking people in like Camilla was doing now. Those two weren’t her maids; they just signed a lousy contract to tag along.

Isdis smiled. “It was. Trying to stop Arad from burning their entire family to ash was really hard. We were one step away from waking up to a crater instead of a city in the west.” Just bringing Arad’s name made Camilla shake, and the two noble girls trying to sneak with her were about to apologize and leave.

One of them had once seen Arad fight Vlad, and the other had witnessed him execute everyone who had a hand in trying to assassinate Isdis in the capital. But even without those feats, none of them wanted that three-meter man to come swinging at them.

As Isdis walked in with her two maids behind her, she took a seat on the couch facing Camilla. It happened in just a fraction of a second, but Isdis noticed Camilla sizing up her armor and the sword at her hips. That gaze didn’t look threatening, but it was that of curiosity, telling Isdis that Camilla somehow had an interest in weapons and armor.

“Those two are your seniors, on my right. Lara joined the royal maids three months ago. Ceil is on my left, and she joined just two weeks ago. They are here to help with your test.” Isdis said, then leaned forward and pulled Camilla’s papers from a small folder.

“You passed the maids’ test with ease. You’re good at cooking, cleaning, etiquette, and even sewing. You even applied for the singing and dancing test and got a decent score.” Isdis finally smiled once, causing Camilla to feel a bit at ease.

Unlike all of the noble girls, she didn’t have any wealth, fame, or strength to her name. If she wanted to stand out and be accepted, the only path she had was to be a better maid than they were.

“Not many take those tests, not even nobles who learned such things. Why did you do it?” As Isdis asked, Camilla took a deep breath. “Since I can’t rely on my family name, all I could do was to try and be better in the mundane work of a maid.”

Isdis nodded, then smiled. “But, I got a weird remark here about your dancing.” She leaned back. “Before we talk about that, can you tell me what you know about this special test?”

Hearing that, Camilla’s soul almost left her body. She had spent months training, so what kind of mistake did she make? That thought took over her mind, but she still forced herself to calm down and reply with a shaking voice.

“It is a three-stage test, and there is no information about what the second and third stages are. They are all about uniqueness, obedience, and tolerance. And none of the maids who took the second test had failed. Among the testers, they are now saying that succeeding in the first test guarantees that you get into the private royal maids.”

Isdis giggled. “Is that all? No details? I know some of the maids who tested did leak it out. Don’t worry, I only want to know how much you are expecting.”

Camilla took a deep breath and then spoke. “I heard about maids being asked to cook, some asked to cast spells, and one was even asked to break her own fingers with a hammer.”

Isdis smiled. “Whatever they brag about, I test them on it. That maid said she had quite the pain tolerance, probably referring to spending a night with Arad. So, I had her break two of her own fingers to prove her case.” She looked at the maid standing by her side. “That maid had lied, so she failed. But this one here wasn’t lying.” Isdis reached to the side, grabbed Lara’s forearm, and twisted it in half.”

Hearing the bones crack, Camilla cried and almost jumped away, but Lara was unfazed. Immediately, Ceil started healing her as Isdis tapped her on the back. “As you can see here, Lara cannot feel pain. She was born this way. Not that useful of a trait, but one to be noted.”

“Is that so? That makes the first test that of uniqueness? Why are you telling me this? Wasn’t it supposed to say a secret?” As Camilla asked, Isdis replied with a calm smile. “Of course, I’m telling you this because you’re the last one.”

She pointed at her papers. “You’re good at everything, and I don’t see any sign of you bragging about anything specifically, so I’ll test you on what piqued my interest the most. Would you mind dancing a bit for me? The same way you danced in the maid’s dancing test.”

Camilla looked down at herself for a second. She was wearing her official maid outfit, which was designed for work first and was too constricting to dance in. But even so, she might manage. “Okay.”

She stood, moved a bit away from the couch, and was about to start dancing when Isdis pulled a violin out of a magic bag she had on her waist. “I’ll give you a simple tune. Show me what you can do.”

As Isdis played her violin, Camilla danced. Due to her outfit, she had to stick to simple moves. So, she couldn’t manage anything flashy, but that shouldn’t be a problem since the tune Isdis played was calm and had a slow rhythm.

“Good.” After just a minute, Isdis asked her to stop and gave her one long look. “You got good basics, but something indeed feels off about your moves. I can’t get you dancing clothes quickly, so would you mind taking that outfit and dancing in your undergarments?”

Camilla smiled, she was going to be a private royal maid after. She had applied for the nightly service as all the others did, so such a thing shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, she believed Isdis asked her to test if she was willing or not. If she hesitated to strip now, she is probably not built for serving in the royal quarter and would be kicked out before she embarrasses herself further.

“Of course, it’s my job as a maid? I wouldn’t mind taking a layer or two.” As Camilla spoke, the two maids beside Isdis sighed, and Isdis herself smiled. Camilla had noticed, a second too late after opening her mouth, that she shouldn’t have said that.

“Ho… I just wanted to see how your limbs move and how well-developed your muscles are. I usually won’t strip you down until I’m pretty certain you’re getting into the maid ranks.” She leaned back. “I don’t want to do that to any girl who isn’t joining, but how about this? Take everything off.”

As Camilla started taking her clothes off, Isdis called to her again. “I was joking, don’t take everything off. The fact you’re willing to do it is enough for me. Just take the bulky maid robe.”

At this moment, Isdis had more info about Camilla and her two fake maids that any of them would guess. From the moment they walked out of their homes heading to the castle, they were being watched by vampires from afar. After the incident last time, she won’t take any chances.

Camilla herself had a nice little secret that she didn’t disclose, and Isdis wanted to find out for herself. The more Camilla danced in front of her, the more curious Isdis’s gaze became. Those moves didn’t belong to a dancer, even though they were a dance.

Each step, twist, turn, and flex of her muscles felt sharp, snappy, and well-calculated. Most dancers memorize their movements into their muscle memory and then perform them, but Camilla was different.

Camilla wasn’t dancing based on skills developed by practice; she knew the moves, performed them well, but each move was conscious. She was a fighter mimicking the moves of a dancer, only by using her superior agility, speed, and martial talent.

“So, you’ve training with dances for a few months, and already mastered fifteen different dances that you performed in the regular maid test. On top of that, I see your moves are not those of a common girl.”

Hearing those words, Camilla stopped moving, looked away, and mumbled. “You can tell?”

Isdis stood, “I can tell a skilled fighter the moment I see them move. I might be a bard, but swinging a sword is something I do daily.” She approached Camilla and gave her a closer inspection. “You move like a master.”

Camilla took a step away from Isdis, then looked at her maid’s robe. “Father is a castle guard, and when I was young, I used to train with him every day. He must’ve thought I was just playing and mimicking him. But I really wanted to become a night.” She reached toward her robe. “When we lived in the former capital, he used to spend days, sometimes even weeks, in the castle without coming home, so I used to sneak out behind my mum’s back and go hunt monsters outside the walls. I was even an adventurer in my early teens.”

She pulled an old, expired guild card. In it, Camilla was shown as a B-ranker, and she had a stellar record in monster slaying quests, albeit a tendency to abandon them halfway sometimes.