The dragon's harem

As Arad and Merida wrapped around the entire capital and returned to the castle’s gate, the people finally relaxed. With this day ending, the emperor had only shown four of his wives. Just four of the queens were enough to give the imperial citizen quite the headache.

First, it was Queen Aella. For ages, the people only saw the spirits as a manifestation of nature’s raw will; they were akin to wildfires and storms, uncontrollable agents of the natural order. But on that day, they found out their Queen had direct relationships with them, granting the emperor quite the influence on the spirit world.

It would’ve still been insane if it ended at that. Just having Aella alone would’ve been a huge boon to the entire empire and its people, but the emperor didn’t seem to know when to stop.

Then there was Queen Mira, a genius demi-goddess who can both craft deadly magical items and pristine pieces of furniture and tools. Even before meeting Arad, she was known through Alina as a genius carpenter who only worked when she wanted, and always made pieces of art that no one could understand how they worked.

The people were surprised to learn that their emperor didn’t just pick her up long before he rose to fame, but that he was the one to turn her into a demi-goddess as well, raising several more questions about his true power. It seems that brawling with werewolves, punching bears and vampires weren’t his only talents.

Then, as if the people didn’t have enough heart attacks, came Eris, the Newborn goddess of the sun, who is now sitting on the same throne as Amaterasu. Usually, when anyone challenges Amaterasu’s rule, her priests simply ask them to take it up to her if they can, pointing at the proud sun in the sky. The sun is always out of reach, too powerful to oppose, and too magnificent and bright to look at. Eris is now on the same level as the common people, but it seems that their emperor didn’t get the memo.

How did he reach a goddess, and a sun at that? That was beyond everyone’s comprehension. But the part that made everyone even more confused was when Amaterasu decided to spend a few days in the capital’s church, as if giving the emperor her seal of approval. No one can reach the sun, except the emperor, it seems.

Then, when the people were expecting a calm, peaceful day with a reasonable queen who was an expert couturiere, they instead got a divine demon lord. Merida didn’t just show off; she clearly stated that she can and will kill anyone who dares go against the empire. Wasn’t she living in Alina until recently? When did she become such a powerful existence, and how in the nine hells did such a creature of horrific power end up on the emperor’s bed?

Remembering her face when she marched across the city, the people were unable to imagine her acting like a wife at all. She looked too rough, angry, and powerful for that. But the ones who were the most baffled by the revelation were the noble ladies who were ordering steamy clothes from her, and many of them were now staring at the stupidly degenerate clothes she made for them in utter disbelief.

Those were four absolute monsters, women who could’ve led the empire alone into thousands of years of glory, yet all four are under one man, one emperor. They didn’t know how the emperor was able to keep them all in check, but they sure don’t want to find out what would happen if he can’t.

Luckily for them, the next Queen should be reasonable; they had known her for years, ever since she was born. Princess Isdis, the daughter of their former King Balots, and the woman known as the Knight Princess.

She had trained as a soldier, mastered ice magic, and fought in many battles. She had even led her own battalion of knights at one time, and that was when she met Arad for the first time. Right now, she was holding the entire empire’s political landscape like a genius, doing enough work to make ten kings pass out.

The people started decorating the street with snow lilies, Isdis’s favourite flower, and maintaining them with cold magic. Many had even gone as far as to paint murals of her on the walls, and even though it was just the evening of Merida’s crowning, the people already wanted to see their princess.

They didn’t know that their princess had become a completely different existence from what they knew. She carried the blood of the ancient hero, the demon slayer, Silver. Ever since she trained with Isbert, her body had started cooling down, slowly reaching Absolute Zero.

She might just be a bigger surprise than everyone before her, since with the sheer fact that her crowning was coming, the winter came as well. It was a big early, but snow started falling that very night.

Inside the castle, Arad was busy, having to treat Merida’s pent-up hunger. She was wild, like a beast, and had no love for foreplay. She had been waiting, not just for the entire day, but for many days before. If the maids hadn’t gotten in her way, she would’ve jumped at Arad in the middle of the living room.

But the maids weren’t powerful enough to drag her away, so they had to rely on the help of the other wives, since it seemed they couldn’t count on Arad, who was about to comply with Merida’s hunger on the spot.

Aella, Mira, and Isdis were the ones present, and they had to drag Merida away to Arad’s room. She didn’t resist and walked with them, but the three could tell that if they didn’t show up, she would already be jumping on Arad’s lap.

”If you don’t relax a bit.” Isdis wrapped her arm around Merida’s neck and breathed a gust of frigid wind into her back. ”I’ll cool you down.”

Merida looked at her with a smile. ”Big words coming from you.” She then smiled. ”How about this? I’ll let you join me, but we’ll go back to the living room.”

Isdis stopped walking and looked at Aella and Mira. ”Sorry, I’m with her now.” The two sighed, and the maids cried in the back. ”No, you can’t, your highness. We’ve just cleaned the living room, and we’re expecting some guests in the morning. We won’t have enough time to clean it again.”

”We’ll be careful.” Merida replied, and the maids stared at her silently for a second. Then one of them spoke. ”My lady... do you really believe you’ll be careful and keep the place clean?”

After a long moment of consideration, Merida reflected for a bit. She indeed won’t be careful, and out of all Arad’s wives, she might be the messiest of them in bed. She would rather be in a separate room where she can let loose than, here where the maids would keep nagging at her.

”Why do you even want to do it in the living room?” From behind them, Tina approached, and the maids backed away. ”Do it in Arad’s room, or in your rooms.”

”Well... we just never did it there before.” As Merida mumbled, Tina grabbed her by the ear and pulled her. ”That isn’t a reason. What are you? A child? To Arad’s room, and you three, join her and make sure she doesn’t come back here.”

The maids were horrified. They knew well that Tina didn’t have enough power, stamina, or willpower to drag Merida around like that, and yet Merida is crying as she is getting pulled away like a little lamb.

As they reached Merida’s room, Tina released her and looked at the maids guarding the room. ”Make sure she doesn’t get out.”

As the two maids nodded, Tina paused for a second. ”You two stand on the inside. If asked, serve.”

The maids opened the door, and Aella dragged Merida in as Isdis and Mira followed alongside a crew of their own maids and servants. They all had to get ready for Arad’s arrival. He wasn’t here for the moment, but should be back soon.

He was checking on Eris, who still didn’t wake up.

Arad walked through Eris’s divine hall, and all of the angels bowed to him as they moved out of the way. Soon, he reached a massive, locked gate right behind her divine throne. This led to the divine sanctum where Eris was asleep in her coffin, and it needed thirty biometric signatures of the angels serving here to open up.

The angels tried to gather up quickly to open the door for him, but they were surprised when it opened up with ease the moment he pushed on it. This entire heaven is built inside his stomach, and it obeys his laws. He can override any security measure inside as long as they didn’t actively try to block him.

It was like how Zephyr can pass through any magical barrier, since the casters usually don’t block air. When Arad walked inside and reached the sanctum, he found Eris asleep in her coffin, being watched by Diana.

”You’re on time.” Diana stood, and Arad extended his arm over the coffin. She looked at him for a second, then slashed his wrist open so he could bleed on Eris’s face and drown her entire body in his blood. When Eris’s entire body was submerged in his blood, Arad healed his wound and looked at Diana. ”Call me if anything happens.”

”She is steadily recovering and should be up in a few days. Rest assured.” She patted him on the back, and he disappeared like a ghost. Arad landed directly inside the hallway of the private quarters, and when he looked around, he saw one of the maids staring at him with a surprised face.

”Your Majesty... Queen Merida, Queen Aella, Queen Isdis, and Queen Mira are waiting for you in your room, alongside their servants.” She bowed, and Arad nodded. ”Got it, I’ll be going there immediately.”

As he turned around, the maid called him again. ”Your... Majesty. If you’ll excuse me... can I... watch?” She looked both scared and nervous, so Arad gave her a smile. ”Ok, how about you just join in? Come with me.”