Sean warned Kurtin as soon as he left Yuki's room.
"Lock her up. Don't let her leave that room! Order the guards to watch the door and window night and day."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Kurtin replied, but Sean might not have heard, as he was already far down the corridor.
He left the palace and made his way to the Gumis Wing. He hated the place, but he had to get in. And he entered without knocking. What he saw made him so disgusted that he almost forgot everything Yuki had revealed to him. They were all naked, with their penises erect, while they waited patiently for one of them to finish ejaculating inside a young girl.
When one of them saw him coming, he immediately covered himself and his frightened reaction caught the attention of the others, who also rushed to cover their faces in fury. The young woman stood up and, sitting down, saw Sean, and her face burned with shame. Sean looked away from the young woman's naked beauty.
"What are you doing here, Your Majesty? We're hibernating!" One of them said annoyed.
"I order you to stop your 'hibernation' immediately! The kingdom is being plundered, the Gumis' advice is expected and needed and you are here..." He looked at the girl. "You! Put on your clothes and follow me. The Farida has demanded that you be given to her to serve her, just as she has demanded for herself all the women of the blood of the Pharaohs, who come after you, to be servants of her Faridas." Sean said and looked at the Gumis, who were glaring at each other in disgust, not even noticing the happiness on the young woman's face.
"She can't leave us without a woman. We are the voice of the people!" One of them said and looked at the young woman. "You stay where you are! We're not done with you for today!" He said when he saw the young woman reach for a dress on the floor.
"You dare give an order that overrides your Pharaoh's order?" Sean asked in a threatening tone, but Gumi met him with a cutting gaze.
"I dare. Here within our Ward, we are the highest authority. Here, none of your laws have any value. Here, the Gumis are the highest authority."
Sean almost smiled when he heard that. He slowly lowered himself and when he stood up, he was holding a sword that burst into flames in his hand.
"So maybe this is the time to make the Gumis extinct forever. I have a good story to tell." He said and with a spin around himself with the sword held high, he crouched down and watched satisfied as the Gumis fell, cut in half, just like the Ice people did a few days ago at the National Bank of Mahagah. "But I don't think you'll ever hear that story."
He clapped his hands and the sword disappeared, then he turned to the young woman, who was staring at him in awe.
"Did you see what the Ice People did?"
She nodded.
"The Ice People invaded the Gumi Ward and killed them all. I escaped, because they couldn't find me, because I was trapped in chains in the basement and was found by my Farida who decided that I would now be her servant. Your Pacifica." She said and knelt before Pharaoh.
"That's right. Now get up and put on your clothes. You're going with me to the palace."
...
Sean was entering the palace when he saw the host walking past holding Selytha's hand towards his Wing and looked at the woman in front of him.
"Come in. Look for an official and tell them I asked you to take her to Farida." He removed a ring from his hand and handed it to her. "This represents my scepter. Show it to them to allow you into her room." He said and went in the direction the host was taking the girl and caught up with them at the entrance door to the host's house.
The host saw him approaching and held Selytha's hand tightly, sensing that something bad might happen from this encounter.
Sean stopped less than a meter away and his eyes lowered to Selytha, who stared at him as if to challenge him.
"You tricked me, host." Sean said without looking away from Selytha.
"My Pharaoh..."
Sean's mouth twitched with indignation and he turned his eyes back to his host.
"You will be living in the Royal Dungeon from now on." Sean said and turned to leave, but stopped and spoke without turning around. "Report immediately to a soldier and ask him to escort you there. Take the girl to keep you company." He said and hurried back to the palace.
He went into the study and took a bottle of cognac, sat down with it and began to drink from the neck.
His thoughts tormented him. He had found the young woman raped and, out of pity, had never spoken of it to anyone. He saw the blood of her virginity on the bed sheet, and now everything was clear. Attila visited not only his own offering, but yours too. Sean released her before he left and left his cloak, when he realized that there were no clothes for her to wear. Usually the offerings wore only flowery garlands and gold on their arms and legs to be thrown into the fiery volcano. He didn't want that fate for that young woman and now he regretted not having resisted his impulses and abused her. He didn't know that the girl who was offered into the volcano wasn't the same girl he had lain with, because he thought at the time that she hadn't managed to escape. And now there was no way of knowing who Selytha's father was. Whenever it was checked, it would only be detected as Royal blood, because Tykar's mother was not part of the harem, but was the heir to the throne of Ice itself. Only heirs of queens were born with magic.
Sean frowned. If there was anyone who could know if she was his daughter, it was Mycon, but he couldn't do that, because he had promised that he would look after the child's safety and if Mycon knew, the girl would be put on trial. If she were his daughter, they would condemn her to death, as it is forbidden for the Pharaoh to have a female heir before the male heir. Or perhaps she would suffer the same fate as the young man he had just freed from the hands of the Gumis. And if she were Attila's daughter, they would condemn Yuki to death, because they would know that she was the offering that had escaped and would consider that she had betrayed the Pharaoh's trust.
In one gulp, Sean drank half the liquid in the bottle and looked up quickly when the door opened with a soft knock.
Kurtin entered and closed the door behind him.
"Pharaoh, I'm sorry, but a young woman came into Farida's room, saying she was sent by the majesty and asked me to return this." He said and put Pharaoh's ring on the table.
Sean took the ring and slipped it on his own finger.
"Thank you, Kurtin."
He saluted and as he was leaving, he stopped when he heard Pharaoh's voice.
"Get a bottle of whisky and sit down to drink with me." Sean ordered.
"I'm not thirsty, Your Majesty."
"It wasn't water I offered you. Don't disobey me, Kurtin. Right now I don't need a loyal soldier. I need a friend."
Kurtin took a bottle of cognac and sat down.
"Who is that young woman?"
"I don't know. She must be some distant cousin."
"She's the young woman who was being abused by the Gumis." Kurtin said with a smile trembling on his lips.
"Yes."
Kurtin sipped from the bottle thoughtfully.
"The Gumis must have been furious at your intrusion."
"The Gumis?" Sean asked and laughed out loud. "The Gumis don't exist anymore."
Kurtin didn't seem surprised.
"Your Majesty, I..."
"Sean."
"Sean, I don't think you should repeat that to anyone else."
"Don't worry. It was the Ice People who invaded the palace and killed them all."
"Yes. I prefer that version of the facts. That way the people won't revolt against Pharaoh. We don't need any more trouble right now."
"But that's the truth."
"Providential truth." Kurtin agreed with a smile. "Did they suffer?"
"No. Although I believe they deserved the pain."
"That won't go down well. The people will believe that we can't protect them, since we don't even protect the palace."
"That's good. It will be easier to convince them to take up arms to defend themselves and their family."
"The crown has no more gold. We can't distribute the warriors' weapons among them."
"I have a colossal vault full of weapons, Kurtin. That won't be a problem."
They were silent for a while.
"Did Farida try to leave the room?" Sean asked suddenly.
"No."
"I want to kill her, Kurtin."
Kurtin laughed.
"With kisses, chocolates, diamonds or flowers?"
Sean laughed too.
"My father was a romantic fool. You shouldn't keep repeating his gallantries."
"What do you mean? He was a master of the art of seduction."
"He's dead." Sean said in such a sad way that Kurtin became alert.
"Yes, my Pharaoh. But you bear no responsibility for his death. He didn't die of grief because you ran away."
"Of course not. He had Attila. He was always Pharaoh's favorite son."
"It's not fair of you to say that."
"Maybe it's not fair, but it's reality. I remember... Pharaoh showing his preference and his pain that no one would accept that Attila should be his heir."
"Attila was always the son who was ready to be whatever Pharaoh asked. You were the rebellious son. But I know that Pharaoh, your father, saw things as they were. You were born to be king, while Attila was a man of war. Attila would never be happy sitting on a throne as long as there were battles. Battles that he would never avoid and some that he would provoke."
"I too will never sit on a throne while my army dies in battle. I will always fight alongside them." Sean said offended.
"Yes. No one doubts that, but in times of peace, you will focus on your people. You'll seek out new laws so that your people are always safe and you'll ensure their well-being, while Attila... In times of peace, he trains for times of war. You know your strength and you know that you don't need constant training, because that's why you're the Pharaoh. That's why you have magic. Your power is our weapon. Your power can devastate an army in a few minutes. Your father always told the little soldiers, me among them, not to turn away from following you ever. He always warned us that we should learn to kill people from Attila, but we should never learn from you how to love those same people."
Sean was surprised.
"That's what Pharaoh..." He was interrupted when Mycon came running up to him.