12 The harem

Well the trip was long and tense. The carriage itself was well built and quite comfortable, but it is not as if I had been able to enjoy it. The main reason was Lord Asmontis, after escorting me (unwillingly into the carriage) he had thrown me into it, climbed behind me, commanded to travel, and closed the door. All of this happened as I recovered from the torment he caused me, and when I finally aligned my thoughts, I found myself pressed against one of the carriage's upholstery while Lord Asmontis kissed me, a reaallly hot kiss. I lost myself in the kiss for a few seconds but when his hand began to trace a path down my belly my senses returned and I angrily bit his tongue hard enough to make him pull away from me.

"Now we're even," I said, smiling as I saw blood dripping from his mouth.

'Even?" he asked, staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

"Yeah," I said trying to break free without much success, "for my neck," I said, and looking at him with all the anger I was feeling threatened, "and if you don't get off me in 10 seconds your tongue won't be the only one hurt place."

"Pfff what the riskiest kitten I got," he said, laughing with delight, and seeing me struggle again he continued in a sensual hypnotic voice. "Well, I'm almost done," he said as he traced his fingers up my neck " You biting me helped me. So maybe I'll give you a reward if you behave yourself." he said blinking and coming close to me again.

I really wanted to shake him off and scream but my body wouldn't answer me, my muscles relaxed as Lord As (abbreviated the name asmontis) massaged my neck at a strange pace. Practically numbed, I could only stare at the carriage roof as Lord As did what he wanted, feeling his touch heat the skin where he touched me. Suddenly he began to sing low in an unfamiliar language, my neck began to cool strangely as hot lines ran through him creating interlaced patterns, when the lord finished singing the last paragraph he pressed his mouth to my Adam's apple and kissed it. A reddish light appeared and faded quickly, Lord asmontis parted from me and being free to move againI finally sat up and began to run my hand over my neck.

"What is .." I interrupted what I was going to say when I felt something that was certainly not meant to be around my neck. Startled, I turned to the window and was shocked when I saw my neck, an ornate silver-and-black object seemed to grow from it. <What is this ???> I thought moving my hand trough the unknown object trying to pull it from me. When I noticed the jewel in the center of the object a ruby ​​that was carved into a round shape and had his name write on it, I turned angry at the lord I met so recently but knew we wouldn't get along so fast.

"YOU HAVE PUT A COLLAR ON ME?" I was so incredulous with the situation that I shouted at him.

"Well, I said you weren't mine rigth? This is simply proof that you are my consort and can get into the harem, " he said, lying lazily on the upholstery opposite me," and then every kitten deserves a decent collar." he said putting a grape in his mouth and chewing.

<Is there a way to remove this necklace?> I thought to sis as I heard what Lord As had told me.

[The only way to remove this necklace is to have its owner take it off. So I'm afraid if the lord in front of you doesn't want to, you're bound to be with him forever.]

<OHHH NO> I thought desperately <I'm really going to kill this MTF>

[I do not recommend this host. This necklace has the function of obedience to the master so you cannot do any harm directly to his master.]

<Fuckk .... Do it have something I need to know?>

[Well, it has some functions, among them obedience, location, recognition, teleportation, are some of them. Obedience as I said prevents host from harming the master, and all orders given through the bond of obedience must be obeyed. Location allows the necklace master to know where his or her partner ... this function along with teleportation makes escape impossible. Recognition makes the necklace work as a key or ID allowing people to recognize who you are and give you access to certain locations. Other functions will be unlocked in the future.]

I was so focused on what the system was telling me that I didn't notice my travel buddy until he touched my hand that was touching the necklace.

"What made you so alof?" he asked when he saw me jump in fright.

"Well, it's not every day someone puts a leash on me," I said sarcastically.

"You will get used to it," he said with a shrug. "I actually put on this necklace to protect you. All demons have an identification necklace that inform your rank or who your patron / master is. Those without a necklace are considered to be excluded in our society. And humans are not well liked by demons either, "he said as he caressed my neck.

"Hmph," I muttered, slapping his hand away from me.

"From what I've seen my kitty is still a little tricky," he said as he returned to his spot in the carriage, smiling. "But never mind we have a very long trip ahead," he said, looking at me and I could see mischief in his gaze. "We have a plenty of time to get to know each other very well."

~ In the demon kingdom ~

After a 10 day trip we could finally see the demon kingdom. It was divided into 9 circles. The first circle was the outermost one, consisting of the great wall, which protected the city from monster attacks, and some tents for soldiers patrolling the wall. The second consisted of high-level prisons and headquarters for the military. The third and fourth consisted of planting fields and peasants villages. The cities began from the fifth and the nobles region were from the 7th circle. The ninth and last circle was where the imperial palace was and it also had a volcano that occupied most parte of the last circle.

Despite the young master's hopes for the trip, nothing had happened because I had been sick all trip and couldn't wait for the hour to finally get off the carriage. To reach the palace was about half an hour, after being recognized by the guards the carriage headed to the region intended for the lord.

When the chariot finally stopped and Lord As descended from it, I practically ran to the door, but stopped when I saw at least thirty people in front of the carriage, both men and women, dressed elegantly.

"Welcome back, young lord," they said, all bowing to Lord As.

He nodded his head for everyone to get up and walked to greet a lady who looked quite like him. It was not long before the presents began to strut in front of the lord. Seeing the attention being directed away from the carriage, I took advantage of that moment to sneak out of the carriage. I tried to get away from the commotion, but before I could sneak away I felt someone placing a hand on my shoulder, jumping and praying not to be the young lord, I turned slowly.

"You must be the new addition the master has brought," said a woman of about twenty-eight, dressed in beautiful but not so detailed clothes and with an air of housekeeper, "please follow me."

Sighing with relief from the commotion, I followed the woman quickly. After walking for a few minutes she entered a room and sat behind a table. Not seeing a place to sit, I stood in front of her while I waited for her to continue.

"Lord Asmontis told me that you will be the new addition to the harem," she began looking at me seriously. "Do you know rules of etiquette? How to wash and dry clothes? Peeling vegetables? Read or write?" She started asking me several questions until I answered that I could read and write. She then handed me some papers and asked me to fill out.

"Well, please show me your necklace" she said after reading my answers and I approached her "Um ... blue huh?" she muttered under her breath. "Well, because of your degree of literalness, you should help the library every couple of days. Although the lord has asked me to place you as a level 3 consort we are in great need of manpower for basic Mayan tasks and by coloring your necklace you will be a level 3 attendant, if you work hard and fulfill your obligations you will be promoted. he explained to me as he rummaged in a closet and when he found what he was looking for, he returned and placed the object in front of me. "Here are your new clothes and guide map with the sleeping quarters." In the beginning you will be in the beginner's hall to learn how to move and port around the palace. Then if you find someone willing you can move to other palaces (the consort's gardens). After a year of work attendants have a chance to be released. If you need anything you can come to me, my name is wu sheng. saying goodbye she advised me to look for my native quarters. As I left your room the system beeped.

[New Mission: Work as an assistant. Objective: Complete the 1 year period and gain freedom. Completion time: one year. Conditions: Complete the daily quests given by the system for one year. Rewards: Given daily according to completion rank. Extras: Chances of finding hidden missions with rare rewards increase by 20%. Note: If the host fails to complete the mission for a day he will suffer a penalty and could lead to death in the end.]

<It was taking a long time for a mission that threatens me to die>, I thought when the system spoke of the mission. Sighing I headed to the place I was directed to.

~ 4 months later ~

<I swear that If Lord Asmontis appears in front of me, I will strangle him,> I thought angrily as the ax descended in the stump once more. The last few months had been good, I was able to complete the training in without many trouble, I found a person who offered me shelter if I worked on it and was able to complete all the quests I was given. Well ..... that's what I would like to say. But the reality was shit. For some reason most consorts didn't like me, it didn't take long for bullying to start, they did everything from ripping my clothes to disturbing my sleep at night. When someone finally offered me a place to stay and thought I could start over in a less hostile environment, my hopes were dashed the first night. Apparently I was in the den of people who despised me. It was day and night giving me orders, arranging occasions to physically punish me and laughing at my situation. The system also gave me absurd daily missions. <wash and extend 300 pieces of clothing? Sweep the place for 1 hour? Help receive and pack goods every day? Translate 6 books from 3 different ancient languages? ... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?> I asked after enduring a few weeks of seemingly impossible to complet in 1 day tasks. The system said the quests were randomly chosen and he wasn't doing it on purpose. Nevertheless, thanks to the orders the other consort gave me, I was able to complete all the daily quests.

One night, while eating again, a fastening pill (pills that allow you to get days without eating food) due to my food being unpalatable again, I heard two well-known voices talking in a corner of the garden. Curious as I always got closer to hear.

.....

"Not possible," said the enraged A voice, "how does the lord still send service requests to that new blue servant until today?"

"We have done everything we could and we could not divert the attention of the young lord to that human until now" said voice B. "Even though we pass him the work of 15 assistants for he complete it and he do it all every day, always. We can't even complain about his conduct with the consort chief like that." she said with a little desperation in his voice.

"Yes," continued voice A, "even though he is bullied daily and forced to eat pig food he still continues to commit whatever orders we give him." Voice A sighed and continued in disgust. "I thought humans were weak."

"My sisters calm down," said a third serene voice, but I could feel a note of darkness in her tone. "From what I can see so far this human has not complained to Lady wu or shown interest in serving the Young Lord, perhaps he don't wish to serve the lord personally" when the lady with the serene voice said this point the other voices began to speak indignantly at the same time, but their protests were cut off by the serene lady "calm down, if he does not wish to serve the young lord then perhaps we can help him. After all there is that forbidden palace in which all consorts do not want to serve him(the lord) is not it? Maybe we could send him(xu ze) there as a gift to our Cold sisters." When finished explaining the other voices agreed with the idea and all began to plan.

.....

<Hmm so all this bulling was on purpose, I swear one day I will kill Lord Ass for all the trouble he brought me. But well, it seems my troubles are going to get better, at least,> I thought as I walked away and back to my quarters.

The next day Lady Wu called me again to tell me about my new position. There were a mixture of relief and worry on her face. Relief that she finally got people willing to go to the winter palace and worried to see me after four months. Although I hid the marks that the palace of logenvity had caused me, my body showed what I went through. I had lost weight and my skin was more listless. After convincing Lady wu that it was no big deal (she reluctantly agreed) I asked her to explain more about the winter palace and the colors of the jewelry on the necklaces.

She started to tell me about the ranking system, finding it odd that I wasn't introduced to it so far. Apparently the harem ranking was decided by the color of its stone, they ranged from green, indigo, blue, violet, yellow, orange and red. Green and indigo were given to attendants, blue was for consorts who could be high-class attendants or, in some cases, promoted to lady beauty (low ranking consorts serving Lord Asmontis directly). Violet would be high ranking lady beauty who is allowed more contact with emperor but you still do not fit in his bed. From yellow (lady grace) you start serving the lord in his bed if he calls you. Orange lady talent, has control over finances of some palaces. Lastly, the red, lady wisdon, the highest ranking and most likely candidate for Empress, you get to participate in political treaties. Paused Lady Wu for a moment, sipping her tea while I processed the said information.

<THAT SON OF A B *** WHY THE HELL DID HE GAVE ME A RED JEWELRY?> My thoughts were in full swing <Good thing that at that day chaperones warned me indirectly (spying on their conversation) that it was strange to me owning a red jewel.> after hearing this conversation I had wasted no time and used the conceal technique I had recently learned and camouflaged the color of my jewelry. Anyone who saw this necklace, except people higher than mine in cultivation (martial techniques level), would see a saphira instead of a ruby. I was not surprised to hear that Lord Ass again was the cause of my bulling. I had already realized that some of his consorts were quite ... possessive.

"Okay," I said after thinking about what Lady Wu had told me, "what about the winter palace?"

"Well the winter palace is very well maintained and pleasant" said lady wu looking nervously sideways "It has 6 consorts (women and men) who live in it, and each has a very ... unique ... skill." After looking thoughtfully at me for a moment she added, "Perhaps it would have been right to send you there from the beginning. I apologize for my failure" Lady wu was not silly, she had overheard some of the trials Xu Ze had been through in the logenvity palace, but unfortunately she could not get him out without the lady talent of the place allowing it.

"If he's so good," I asked suspiciously, "why doesn't anyone want to go there?"

"Well ..." Lady wu said after a moment of excitement "probably by two factors. The first being that all the people in that palace do not serve Lord Asmontis directly. And second because it is a very strict place, "said Lady Wu, taking a sip of tea," the six consorts who own the place help Lord Asmontis by giving him advice on some kingdom policies. The palace winter ladys have managed to avoid tragedies for the demon kingdom more than once. But they do not accept anyone in their circle and several candidates who went to work on them come back after a few weeks." finished telling lady wu.

"Um, this place looks really challenging, and you said they don't serve the lord?" I asked and seeing lady wu agree with me continued " so this place is perfect for me" I smiled thinking that finally would be free of this useless bullying "but wait, they do not serve the right Lord? So how do they partake of political issues? Wouldn't they have to be a red-jeweled consort and serve the Lord for it?" I asked confused.

"So one of the problems with recruiting new people for the winter palace," Lady Wu said with a sigh, it was a difficult trait to find among the candidates. "The lord recognized the consort's talent at that palace and decided to ask for their help to command the kingdom, but they only agreed if the Lord allowed untouchable status for them in the harem. As soon as the Winter Palace was created, its name was given not only because the consorts were untouchable but also that all without exception have blue jewels."