Prince of Wives

by Jason Hale

  And strangely, those words soothed some of her fears.

  "You clearly are a womanizer. Don't you people deceive women on a daily basis? Why the restraint?"

  She had not realized it yet, but she was steadily getting more comfortable.

  "You deceive a woman you just want to sleep with. I've said it before, I don't merely want to sleep with you. I want to own you, body and soul."

  The ease with which he spoke made it sound like the most natural of things, but to her, it felt like she had been marked by a great beast for a hunt she could not escape from.

  "Who are you? Why did you infiltrate the imperial palace?"

  Ilaina's eyesight and knowledge were good enough to spot some things Konnor himself wasn't aware of. Half-demons were generally much inferior to pureblooded demons due to the impurities of their bloodlines. However, she had no doubt that Konnor's innate demonic powers were far beyond the league of the average pureblood incubus.

  This could only mean one thing. His demonic parent was, without a shred of doubt, a terrifying existence!

  "In all honesty, I was sold to the palace by my parents and used to be a eunuch until recently. It hasn't been long since by demonic powers awakened, so I truly do not possess the answer to your questions and fears."

  Konnor replied with his eyes staring directly into hers, and she could find no trace of lies within.

  "Is being of demonic that bad?"

  "Bad? It seems you don't have a clear understanding of what demonism represents in the Holy Continent."

  "It's not bad. It is terrible!"

  ...

  In a faraway palace, a man with long jet-black hairs, violet eyes and a long pair of goat horns played with several beauties within a steamy, crimson pool when suddenly, his violet eyes shone with dazzling light.

  "Oh?"

  He let go of the beauties within his arms and glanced at his right arm where a purple flame shaped mark glittered.

  "What's the matter, your majesty?"

  "It seems the third child has finally awakened."

  The man leisurely said with an amused grin.

  "Does your majesty want us to bring them back?"

  "No need. I'm curious to see who among them will find his way back first and in what shape or form."

  ...

  Ilaina then proceeded by explaining the implications of demonism to Konnor. And indeed, it was much worse than he had anticipated. Perhaps it was naïve of him to think that in a world with so many different races, one couldn't be facing too much hatred.

  But he was wrong. This was way worse than the inquisition back on earth.

  By decree of the Celestial Church, the feeblest suspicion of a relation to demons no matter how shallow was punished by family extermination.

  What was the meaning of "excessive?"

  This was the meaning of "excessive."

  And if that was the fate of those merely suspected to consort with demons. Konnor failed to fathom what would be done to him, were they to ever figure out that he was for all intents and purposes of demonic blood.

  Yet, none of that really mattered at the moment. He strode toward Ilaina and seized her waist.

  "What are you doing?"

  She complained while struggling to get out of his tight grasp.

  "I know I said dying by your side was fine, but I'm glad we didn't die. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to hold you like this."

  He said while gently stroking her hairs and keeping her face pressed against his chest.

  And for an instant, Ilaina thought that insolent unruly youth was no longer that hateful. Perhaps he even was a bit likable.

  Just a little bit…right?

  Chapter 14 - Schemes

  Time held its breath, allowing the pair to enjoy the fleeting moment for what seemed like an eternity.

  Konnor then freed her from his grasp, and although she let nothing transpire on her face, Ilaina felt a small sense of loss swirl within her abdomen.

  "Let' get to proper business. I'm sure you must have an idea as to why they wanted to kill you right? Maybe you even know some of them?"

  The inquiry pulled Ilaina back to seriousness, and Konnor could see the shadow of sorrow hidden within her eyes.

  Following a brief silence, she sighed and stepped toward the three priestesses lying on the ground.

  "The dead males are head eunuchs, and those three women are among the Holy Consort's personal attendants."

  She then moved toward Freya and indexed her drowsy face while casting a perturbed gaze at Konnor.

  "As for her, she is Freya Stein, the daughter of baron Niklas Stein of the golden-eyed lion race. She used to be a court lady working under the Holy Consort, but thirty years ago, she was married to viscount Thorsten Schoner by the Holy Emperor's decree."

  Court ladies were the superiors of the head palace maids and theoretically were not under the jurisdiction of any consort beside the Empress. However, many chose to join the different factions to pave a better future for themselves. Some of them were promoted head palace maids, but the majority came from noble families and entered the palace with the title.

  The house Stein was a feeble noble house, but Freya was a woman of high talent and incredible beauty, so her father sent her into the palace at a young age to serve the Holy Consort and weave connections.

  She didn't fail his expectations and managed to marry into the Uradel house Schoner which greatly improved House Stein's status and brought them countless benefits.

  "You may not understand the meaning of "Uradel" so allow me to explain. Nobility titles may not be hereditary, but nobility is. There are two kinds of noble families. The Uradel that constitute the ancient nobility, noble houses with more than ten thousand years of history, and the Briefadel, noble houses with less than ten thousand years of history."

  "Uradels wield enormous power and prestige within the Holy Flame Empire and can all trace their lineage back to a saint. Viscount Thorsten Schoner is a five hundred years old second step Transcendent Knight with an army of more than fifty thousand troops. He endured public criticism to divorce his previous wife and beg the emperor for an opportunity to marry Freya. That alone shows how much he loves her. But look at what you've done to her…"

  "Careful, I might think that you're actually worried about me."

  "Who's worried about you? I'm just warning you in good faith."

  But she was indeed worried.

  "That aside, I suppose the reason why they're targeting me is because of the Holy Consort's political games."

  Again with the Holy Consort. Although he had never met her, Konnor was starting to find that woman particularly annoying.

  "Else, the Holy Consort is the country's number one talent. She is less than three hundred years old but has already broken through to the Holy Knight Rank. But although she's the emperor's favorite consort and admired as the empire's number one beauty, she's not satisfied."

  "In the last decades, she's been amassing an increasing amount of political power, and already has a hand in many government institutions. She also gathered the support of many Briefadel houses. This has alarmed many powerful nobles who now attempt to thwart her influence. Among them is my father, Count Wolfgang Kracht."

  She paused, her eyes drifting into the past.

  "The reason why my father sent me to the palace is not because of my illegitimate status. He was forced to do so by the emperor due to Else's intrigues. Ten years ago, as a warning to my father, she had me and my cousin sneak attacked by a ninth step True Priest. As a result, my spiritual cultivation was sealed while my cousin fell into a coma."

  "In fact, was it not for me always hiding my spiritual cultivation, I would probably be in the same state."

  There was nothing more terrifying than a power-hungry woman. The level of cruelty they could reach often went far beyond men in the same positions. Thinking about it, that was only natural. After all, their rise was often more challenging and required an abundance of ruthless decis
ions early on.

  "Who's the cousin you mentioned? Is she the one you needed the other high-grade True Spirit Restauration pill for?"

  The reason why Konnor was confident in the cousin being a "she" was simple. Since she could be used to threaten count Wolfgang, she was undoubtedly her paternal cousin and belonged to the Uradel house Kracht. That being the case, it was impossible for her relatives to not have True Spirit Restauration pills at disposal. The only explanation was that just like Ilaina, she had entered the palace.

  As for her status, Konnor recalled the rumor of Ilaina being related to a consort.

  "Her name is Daphne, an imperial consort and the daughter of one of my uncles. Although my father always doted a lot on us, he could not resist the emperor's decree to send us into the palace. Fortunately for me, my illegitimate birth allowed me to avoid the miserable fate of becoming a consort."

  Challenging the emperor's decree was treason. Oddly, a commoner committing treason would only get himself beheaded while nobles caught doing so would drag their entire bloodline alongside them. This had something to do with commoners not possessing family names.

  And now that Konnor knew the full story, he couldn't help but pity those women caught in the crossfire of political games.

  "It is necessary to give them a lot of penetrating love."

  "What did you say?"

  "Hum, hum, nothing, nothing…"

  He needed to stop that nasty habit of thinking out loud.

  "Regardless, I do not think the Holy Consort is the one who sent them after you."

  "Why is that?"

  Ilaina was puzzled. Who besides the Holy Consort could dispatch those ladies within the inner court? Freya was especially known to only obey Else's will.

  "From what you've told me, the Holy Consort is callous but shrewd. You and your cousin are her political hostages. Meaning that as long as your father doesn't go beyond a certain limit, she will keep you alive. She can harm you, but she cannot kill you. Otherwise, she not only loses her advantage, but she also gains your father's unrestrained retaliation. It makes no bloody sense. Even if she wanted to kill one of the hostages to send a powerful message, she would first start with your cou…"

  At that time, Konnor's eyes widened in realization.

  "Not good! Quickly lead the way, your cousin is in danger!"

  Only now did Ilaina become aware of her own neglect. If she was being attacked, then wasn't it almost certain that her cousin also was?

  Without another word, she turned and shot toward Daphne's palace with Konnor right by her side.

  …

  Meanwhile, at Daphne's palace, the only attendants left with her, servants carefully handpicked by house Kracht to assist and protect her, were now fighting tooth and nails with a group of masked assassins. But their resistance was coming to a brutal end.

  Chapter 15 - The Thing I Will Never Dread

  Just like the team sent to deal with Ilaina, the assassins in Daphne's quarters were a combination of maids and eunuchs that either directly worked for the Holy Consort or belonged to her faction.

  They numbered twelve in total, with ten high-level True Knights and two Grand Knight court ladies. The reason for such a formidable lineup was Daphne's skilled entourage.

  Imperial consorts were allowed to possess six personal attendants that could be handpicked from their families, so house Kracht had chosen six loyal ninth step True Knight ladies to protect her. Those women all came from lesser houses subordinate to the Kracht. But unfortunately, they weren't able to detect the sneak attack carried on by Else's priest.

  Since then, they had dutifully taken care of the comatose Daphne. Little did they expect that after all those silent years, they would meet a full-blown assassination attempt.

  The twelve emerged from the shadows with no warning and immediately shot toward them. They fought hard to repel the assailants but were quickly suppressed and repelled by the Grand Knights leading them.

  "Why? How young lady has already been comatose for more than a decade and did nothing to offend the Holy Consort so why must you be so ruthless toward her?!"

  Roared one of the attendants with indignity. In the past, her relationship with Daphne was the best, and she always blamed herself for not having been able to protect her.

  But to her outrage, the Grand Knight pair burst into laughter.

  "If you want to blame someone, blame count Wolfgang for being unruly. He actually castrated his son to remove his succession rights and managed to obtain an imperial decree to not only legitimize that bastard daughter of his but also make her heir to his estates! Since he doesn't care about your lives, why should we?"

  Count Wolfgang only had two children. His son Alex born of his legal wife and his daughter Ilaina born of his beloved concubine. While men were not allowed to have more than one wife, nobles held the right to possess concubines should they desire to. The higher their nobility title was, the more concubines they could have. But only rarely would they actually go through with it.

  The reason was simple. Their wives were no pushovers. To maintain the loftiness of their noble blood and forge alliances, noble males only married highborn ladies. Those ladies often came from houses on the same level and thus possessed significant backgrounds.

  Taking a concubine was not only an insult to them, but it was also an insult to their houses. More than one noble had been threatened with divorce for entertaining the thought of a concubine. Thus, only those mighty lords could genuinely afford to do so. At the peak of the Transcendent Knight Rank, Wolfgang Kracht was one of the most powerful Uradel counts, but even he could not do such a thing without consequences.

  The day he brought in Ilaina's mother was the day his wife left him to join the Holy Flame Church as a priestess.

  Since then, Alex had always resented him and sought to oppose him in any possible ways. Thus, when Else's agents approached him with the promise of helping him take over his father's estates before due time, he readily joined her faction. Not knowing that his father had been monitoring his every move and recording his misdeeds.

  But no one had expected, that three days ago, Count Wolfgang would walk into court, kneel in front in front of the emperor and say.

  "I Wolfgang Kracht only have one daughter whom I love dearly. But for two decades she has been in your majesty's care, and I've not been able to see her ever since. Now my only wish is that your majesty grants me the right to legitimize her so that I can add her to the family registry. On account of all my contributions on the battlefield, I hope your majesty will agree!"

  He was not only a powerful noble but also a mighty general with many contributions, and it was rumored that he would soon break through the Semi-Holy Knight rank and be promoted to the position of margrave!

  Taking into consideration the fact that he had never asked for anything, the Holy Emperor granted his request which caused Alex to fly into rage and vehemently curse his father in public!

  In retaliation, Count Wolfgang beat him into a bloody pulp and crushed his balls to the shock of all the present nobles! He then announced that his daughter would be his heir and returned to his mansion.

  And it would seem that act caused the incensed Holy Consort to order the execution of Ilaina and Daphne.

  "How could this be…?"

  The attendant didn't believe that Count Wolfgang would go so far as to destroy his only male descendant. Wasn't that no different than proclaiming his will to challenge Else to the end?

  "I also want to know why. But with that move, he made it clear that he cared not for your lives. That being the case, you can die!"

  The court lady bellowed and shot toward the maid with her brandished sword. But at that time…

  "HALT!"

  …a voice thundered from behind, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

  "Who?"

  And alongside the gathered individuals, she turned toward its origin and was surprised to see Ilaina who should on all account be dead standing with a bre
athtakingly handsome black-haired youth by her side.

  "Yo, you really are an idiot. In the middle of your attack, someone says "halt," and you actually stop?"

  Said Konnor with a disappointed elder's tone.

  And immediately, black lines crept on all the gathered individuals' foreheads.

  "Kill them!"

  "Lady Ilaina? Why are you here?"

  The attendants weren't relieved. On the contrary, their hearts were full of apprehension. With the present lineup, there was nothing Ilaina alone could do to tip the scales. She could only follow them to the underworld. As for that pretty boy, …he seemed to fit the "too handsome to be reliable" type.