Herald of Steel

Alexander, despite being only here in Adhania for a few days had already encountered quite a few beautiful maids, all very much tempting him to take a bite out of them.

These girls, while perhaps not in the same level of beauty as Ophenia and the Queen Mother and perhaps not even as beautiful as Nanazin or the twins, could still certainly go toe to toe with the likes of Cambyses and Gelene and maybe even trump them.

For context, Gelene was not in any way shabby, she was chosen for her previous job due to her looks and voluptuous figure. And she was also quite successful in that, managing to become the exclusive mistress of a mercenary leader and thus not having to serve any other client.

Yet these noble, gorgeous girls, some with even better looks than her seemed to lose all self respect and act almost like common street girls around Alexander, trying to tempt him in any way possible.

A few of the times this invitation was so blatant that Alexander even half suspected that if he asked them to strip, they would probably do it right then and there in front of everyone.

Because for many of those ladies, a young strapping Pasha with little background like Alexander was the perfect target. Nothing like him had ever existed in the millennium history of Adhania and certainly it was not going to happen again in their lifetime. So they thought if they could get on his good books early on, at a time when he had limited allies, they could ride that success for ten lifetimes.

Of course, there were also many noble ladies who were apprehensive of his strange background as well as their own family’s allegiance in the ongoing war. So they actively avoided him.

But there were also the brave and risk taking ones who were ready to take that jump, and tried to do everything to get into bed with him.

Things like pretending to be lost and ’accidentally’ ending up in front of Alexander’s chambers, suddenly coming up to him coquettishly offering a meal, showing off large parts of their skin as they brushed past him, asking him for some kind of help with a mundane problem and many more.

It was honestly quite tiring for the man.

Fortunately the man did not have to deal with such advances too long as Lady Ezaya quickly set these wayward girls straight. This competent lady knew the game very well and used less than half a day to swat away every annoying fly.

But despite that, just the fact that these girls could approach someone as powerful and well protected as Alexander went to show how powerful the maids in the palace really were.

They might not seem that impressive from the outset, but... they practically ruled a portion of the palace- the country’s most powerful building.

Heck, even the Queen Mother was a bit apprehensive of their power, having initially suffered quite badly at the hands of this ’syndicate’. The other imperial concubines would use these maids to bully her in various ways.

And even now, despite having attained the peak of power and positions, there would be instances where Seelima needed to apply an appropriate amount of ’salve’ on them to get things done swiftly and properly.

The regal lady both hated and loved them for this.

She hated them for still not always obeying her, but she loved them because if they were always obedient and never corrupt, Seelima could have never gotten where she was today.

All the things she did against the former queen as well as the other ladies in the harem, as well as luring Alozmer to her side and becoming his favorite mistress... all those had been only possible thanks to this underground intelligence network.

For instance, one of her earliest breakthroughs had been to ’accidentally’ catch Alozmer on his way out of the harem while wearing a stunning red and golden dress with an exposed belly.

The intelligence on the route and time of departure was obvious, but Seelima had also learned about that particular dress from a maid. The girl happened to overhear the mad king constantly praising a slave girl’s dress that he had been gifted by a visiting noble.

Alozmer did not particularly like the girl’s face or figure but he loved the dress.

So upon learning that, Seelima offered to buy the dress off the neglected girl for some food, a deal the nearly starving and forgotten girl was more than happy to accept.

And then when Seelima showed herself off in her ’brand new dress’ Alozmer was stunned.

The Queen Mother was naturally extremely beautiful and upon pairing herself with the appropriate, gorgeous accessory, she appeared just like a blossoming flower, one that was simply waiting to be ravished.

Alozmer soon began to crazily pursue her afterwards.

The mad king never asked where Seelima got her dress from; perhaps he simply equated her to the slave girl and thought he was misremembering, perhaps he did not find that to be really important or perhaps he had entirely forgotten about the poor girl and thought he was seeing this dress for the first time in his life.

All these were equally possible given how mad the man was.

But despite all that, the Queen Mother still did not want to take any chances, and one day, she had that poor, slave girl covertly killed- just in the off chance she would bring up the dress in front of Alozmer.

Seelima gravely feared how Alozmer would react if he suddenly were to learn their first encounter had all been planned and that dress actually belonged to someone else.

The mad man would certainly not take too kindly to being manipulated like that... especially given he would regularly bring up that dress as a conversation starter and claim that to be the catalyst for their ’love’

Now probabilistically, Seelima’s fears were very overblown- someone as high and mighty as God king Alozmer would never stoop to lending even a microsecond of his ear to an unknown slave.

And even if he did hear her complain, so what?

Seelima was the man’s favored concubine while that girl was an absolute nobody whom few even knew the name of.

In an exchange of ’he said, she said’, did anyone doubt the winner? Seelima could easily paint the slave girl as a liar and someone sent by her rivals to smear her good name.

Yet Seelima was not willing to take even that small chance.

Because even if nothing happened right then and there, this information would have surely reached her rival concubines. And they would certainly take full advantage of his crack, slowly chipping and prying it open over time until Seelima became fully exposed.

Naturally the red haired slave was never going to just sit there and let her weakness walk around freely.

So she began to build a kind of small rapport with the girl, even slowly becoming somewhat intimate with her.

Then once she had gained enough of her trust, one fateful night, Seelima suddenly asked her ’lover’ to meet at one of the remote rooms at the very top of the palace, indicating she wished to go all the way.

The covert location and strange timing were also something very easy to justify as all imperial concubines were officially barred from having external relations without Alozmer’s permission, be it men or women.

Yet girl on girl action was actually quite common in the palace.

The practice most likely originated from the fact that many times these concubines would be made to serve men together in those clandestine parties. Those pink memories naturally stuck long after the event was over and when they met each other once again in the harem... feelings would inevitably flow out.

While at other times, many of the ladies in waiting would find themselves utterly forgotten by their lord after that initial round of fascination wore off. Bored and frighteningly frustrated over months and sometimes even years of neglect, they could quickly get a bit too touchy with all the accessible harem girls.

Hence there was actually an informal, hidden culture of lesbian hookups within the imperial harem, where women met secretly to vent their lust, and perhaps even just pass some of their too abundant time. Some ladies even met without possessing that much attraction to each other- they just liked the warm feeling of another’s fingers other than their own getting them off.

Most kings also tacitly allowed this- despite it all being open knowledge. In their eyes, they were all his women, so as long as they kept it among themselves without any man in the mix, it was all good- they did not consider that as exactly cheating.

The reasoning was certainly a bit weird.

But for better or worse, that was the palace culture of Adhania and that slave girl was also aware of it.

Hence when Seelima made the offer, she felt herself over the moon. The Queen Mother was her one and only friend in the whole palace and she would love to take the relationship to the next level.

The girl hence entered that dark, dusty, forgotten room with a heart full of anticipation... eagerly looking around for her lover... only to be suddenly struck at the back of her head out of nowhere.

The strike felt like a freight train and the skinny girl fell unconscious almost immediately. And that soon turned into her eternal slumber.

The Queen Mother was certainly no innocent bunny.