Chapter 357: The Demon King’s Growing Harem

With that small spark of hope shining faintly in his eyes, the young demon prince retreated alongside his imposing half-siblings.

He would probably continue to be treated with the same contempt in his homeland, but considering all the trouble the Ignis nation had gone to in order to reclaim him, Ryan knew with absolute certainty that they wouldn’t kill him.

Even so, his life as a defective bastard in the court of a Demon King would not be easy at all. With his departure from Kowarre, another of Ryan’s pending strategic tasks had been successfully completed.

Two days after concluding that tense meeting, Ryan woke up before dawn, as was his usual custom.

Slipping stealthily out of bed, he left behind the naked, exhausted bodies of Helen, Mirian, and Irina tangled in the silk sheets. Although both Chloe and Alicia had also shared his bed the previous night in a rather wild session, neither of them had stayed to sleep until morning.

’Alicia mentioned she had logistical duties to prepare first thing in the morning, and Chloe... she probably sneaked back to her room out of pure shyness,’ Ryan thought with a faint, satisfied smile.

He walked through his bedroom door wearing only loose pants, his bare torso still marked by scratches from the night, and a white towel resting over his shoulder.

He made his way down the long main corridor with the sole intention of trying out the new baths his workers had finished building in one of the castle’s recently extended wings. It was a spacious indoor hot spring, a luxury he had suggested himself and that his people had wasted no time in making a reality.

The elves, using their refined water magic, had filled a massive pool of polished stone, and thanks to the complex thermal matrices created by his artisans, the water was constantly kept at a hot, relaxing temperature.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," greeted a high-pitched, unfamiliar female voice in the middle of the hallway.

"Your Majesty, have a very good morning."

Ryan looked down and found two girls kneeling on the floor, bowing their heads in deep respect. He tried to search his memory for their names, but among so many new recruits, it was impossible to remember them.

"Rise, I’m just heading to the bath," he ordered casually, without breaking his stride.

"Would you like me to accompany you to wash your back, Your Majesty?" one of them offered, looking up with a bold gleam in her eyes.

A smack immediately echoed through the hallway.

A third woman had appeared out of nowhere and mercilessly smacked the bold girl on the head.

"Have a little more respect for your king and know your place," the newcomer hissed in a stern tone, before kneeling in a flawless martial posture before Ryan. "I beg you to excuse her, Your Majesty. She really is a novice and didn’t mean any harm by it."

Ryan stopped in his tracks and observed the woman in front of him. Alicia, his strict assistant, didn’t usually ask him for personal favors, but after Helen brought those twenty-two demon women to the castle, the beastwoman had formally requested to take direct charge of a group of them to help with her administrative and security duties.

"You are Eva, aren’t you?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she replied, lifting her face with a slight, proud smile at having been recognized.

"Good. Don’t worry about the incident. Keep doing a good job in the castle," Ryan said, turning back around to resume his walk.

"As you command, Your Majesty," the three replied in unison, bowing deeply until he walked away.

Even though Alicia was a beastwoman, the demon Eva hadn’t had any issues accepting her as her superior.

In fact, it was Eva herself who had personally begged to be part of Alicia’s squad. The young wolf’s military fame had skyrocketed within the ranks of Kowarre, especially since she was the one who delivered one of the killing blows to the colossal Earth Dragon a while ago.

Given her overwhelming power and discipline, her new demonic assistants felt nothing but genuine and profound admiration for her.

As he made his way through the corridors toward the hot springs, Ryan continued to meet multiple pairs of curious eyes. The stares came from both the new demon warriors Helen had brought and the rescued elves from the village who now worked in the castle’s maintenance. With his heightened senses, his ears picked up every whisper as he passed.

"His Majesty is incredibly handsome, I still can’t believe they let me work inside his castle..."

"Ah... the young master just smiled!"

"Hey, did you hear that the main wing was really lively last night? The noises reached all the way to the stairs..."

"Hehe, I’m so jealous. I wanted to be in that room with the young master, too."

The indiscreet feminine murmurs spread like wildfire behind his back.

"Hey, will you keep quiet already?"

"Oh, sorry, do you think I spoke too loudly?"

Based on their individual talents, Alicia had assigned specific tasks to the newcomers. Two would assist Runa in the forge, three would be Mika’s alchemy helpers, and ten would work directly on the castle’s logistical duties.

However, even if their current duties involved cleaning or running messages, absolutely all of them were experienced Principality-rank warriors, lethal and perfectly capable of fighting to defend the fortress if the situation required it.

’They do know I can hear absolutely everything they say, right?’ Ryan thought with a slight sigh, ignoring the blatant gossiping.

The sound of bubbling hot water began to echo in the distance, but the mental mention of the work assignments brought up a pending memory.

’Four of the girls Helen brought were supposed to work directly with Alisa in the tailoring area...’ Ryan stopped for a moment in front of the bath’s entrance, framing his thoughts. ’Now that I remember, right before we left for the war against Rigal, Alicia mentioned that her sister had something of utmost importance to discuss with me. I’ll definitely have to go visit her as soon as I finish showering.’