I Became The Extra King With Seven Wives-Chapter 20: Meeting The Seven Wives

I looked at my seven wives, gathered there like a bouquet of exotic, deadly flowers.

How heartwarming to see them all together, bowing and kneeling in front of me.

Now, I wasn’t a weirdo, though I admit I had my kinks but it did feel nice. Definitely nice. The sight of powerful women submitting to me scratched an itch I hadn’t realized I had.

However, what I knew about them wasn’t quite so pleasant.

They were all characters from the Game, after all. Not all of them played major roles, but every single one had been mentioned, directly or indirectly, in the lore I’d spent hours scribbling down last night.

Diana Gardenia first.

As I took in her appearance, even my breath was caught freezing.

She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on along Apollina. The rumors about the First Princess of Gardenia were famous throughout the continent, tales of inhuman beauty that drove poets mad. But seeing her up close I could say without doubts the rumors were an insult. They underestimated the reality.

She looked unreal. Like a high-resolution render come to life, but infinitely more vibrant. In the Game, her character art had been stunning, sure, but it couldn’t compare to the living, breathing masterpiece kneeling before me.

In the Game, Diana appeared during the Academy Arc. There wasn’t explicit romance between her and the protagonist initially, but they became close allies. The protagonist was destined to help her save her crumbling kingdom, so romance was definitely hinted at for the future arcs I never got to play.

Next, I turned toward Asthenia.

Her head was only half-bowed, and I could almost feel the struggle radiating off her. Keeping herself in this posture of submission was torture for her pride. But she knew I was King. Nobility and etiquette were coded into her DNA; she would adhere to protocol even if it killed her.

As for her role in the Game...she had none. Not really. She didn’t attend the Academy. Instead, she died off-screen. Her death was a footnote mentioned in a dialogue box at the same time the Kingdom of Helios fell to the Black Sun Organization, an event scheduled to happen in just a few months.

In that incident, my mother, my sister, and Cynthia were also supposed to die. The entire royal family, wiped out in a single night of fire and blood.

I glanced at Ravenna Ashcroft next.

She was supposed to survive.

Because she would be safely away at the Academy when the invasion of the Sun Capital happened. But survival didn’t mean redemption. Ravenna was scripted to play a Villainess role in the Academy arc, cold, manipulative, and eventually, an obstacle for the protagonist.

Morgana Raimond next.

This one could be considered a full-fledged Heroine. She started off with a rough confrontation with the protagonist, clashing swords and egos but then slid right into that embarrassing enemies-to-lovers trope. She develops feelings slowly, gets flustered during training sessions... blah, blah, blah.

"I don’t want to marry, I want to become the Commander of the Royal Guard."

My ass. I knew exactly where her plotline went.

Anyway, my gaze quickly settled on the most important woman here.

Also the most timid.

Dorothy Stoneford.

She played a Heroine-Antagonist role. A dual nature.

I actually only knew about the Heroine part in detail since I had only played through the Academy Arc, but I knew the broad strokes of how she became an Antagonist.

Dorothy was cursed by the Moon. She was the Moon Witch.

No wonder she hit it off so easily with the Protagonist, who was the Guardian of the Moon. In terms of mystical status, he was considered as powerful as I was, the Guardian of the Sun. Their shared connection to the lunar cycle brought them together like magnets.

But the Protagonist was dense as a brick wall. Dorothy would fall in love with him, unable to express her feelings due to her crippling shyness. Watching him interact freely and smilingly with other Heroines would eventually trigger the darkness lurking in her heart. Jealousy, resentment, and that cursed magic would twist her into something terrifying.

She didn’t look like it now, shriveling under my gaze as if hoping the floor would swallow her whole, but she was definitely the most dangerous woman in this room.

Now, looking at the seven of them, I was really starting to process the reality of this harem.

Three of them (Diana, Morgana, and Dorothy) were originally scripted as Heroines for the Protagonist’s collection.

Two of them (Asthenia and Cynthia) were destined to become corpses before the first act was over.

One (Ravenna) was meant to play a Villainess role, a stepping stone to push the Protagonist closer to my other wives before meeting a inevitably bad ending.

And finally... the last one.

I glanced at Eleanor.

What was her role again?

Right. She played a support role. Thankfully, she survived the initial purge, but in the original game, she chose to support the Protagonist because she saw him as the only hope to take down the Black Sun Organization after they conquered Helios. She wanted revenge for her father, who... right, he was going to die too.

I don’t think Eleanor was ever meant to become a Heroine, though. Even when the Protagonist showed interest because of course he did, Eleanor kept their relationship strictly professional and platonic. She was all business, focused on liberation, vengeance and freedom for her people.

Somehow, I felt good remembering that. It was already irritating enough knowing that the Protagonist might have had a shot with three of my wives in another life. Knowing Eleanor, whom I’d quickly grown to like was never part of his harem was a great relief.

Not like I had any intention of getting cuckolded anyway.

To be honest, I started that damn game not because of the generic, dense protagonist, but because I was bored and because Diana and Selenia’s character designs had caught my eye and well because one of the women I slept with was playing it all night after we had sex so I got somewhat pulled in it as I watched her playing.

Regardless, the mere fact that I was alive changed everything. In the original game, my death released these women from their vows before the story even began. Now, three Heroines would enter the Academy still tied to me by royal marriage.

The plot was already derailed.

Well, of course, unless the assassins really managed to kill me off before the game story started. But nope. Not happening. I’d burn the castle down around their ears before I let some faceless rogue put a knife in my back.

Anyway, knowing what I knew, I had to handle all of them thoughtfully.

My priority was my Family and my Kingdom. To protect both, I needed all these women on my side. Even Dorothy, the Witch of the Moon, technically an antagonist and diametrically opposed to the Guardian of the Sun. If I played my cards right, I could turn even that opposition into an asset.

Enough thinking.

I stood up from the throne.

"As all of you have seen with your pretty eyes, I have changed. Body and mind. I have successfully completed the First Ritual of Helios," I said, my voice projecting clearly as I descended the dais steps.

I stopped in front of them, looking down at the row of bowed heads.

"And I do hope you don’t forget that I am now the King of Helios and the Guardian of the Flame. That makes me not only the most important figure in Helios but one of the most pivotal figures in the entire world," I said, eschewing any pathetic attempts at modesty.

This was the truth. They needed to hear it. They needed to hear it from my mouth, the mouth of their husband and King.

"I know pretty much all of you, except Dorothy. But my knowledge and our relationships were formed under different circumstances, with different statuses. So now, I want to wipe the slate clean. Reset everything to zero and start our relationships anew," I said with a disarming smile. "We wouldn’t want to put Dorothy at a disadvantage, would we?"

I glanced briefly at Dorothy, who trembled slightly under the attention, clutching her skirt.

"However..." I looked back at the group, letting the smile fade into something more serious. "Relationships must be built on mutual trust. And trust must be earned. Among you, only two people currently hold my unconditional trust."

Turning on my heel, I walked first toward Cynthia.

"Cynthia." I reached out my hand.

She raised her gaze, her beautiful amber eyes hesitant, searching mine for the boy she used to know. Slowly, she took my hand, and I helped her to her feet.

"Cynthia, with whom I have spent my entire childhood. Our bond has been strong long before any of this. I trust her, obviously. She has been my family since birth," I said, holding her gaze for a moment.

She quickly looked away, a flush of awkwardness coloring her cheeks.

I smiled, letting go of her hand and walking toward Eleanor.

"And the second person... you might wonder. Well, it is Eleanor," I said, extending my hand to her.

Eleanor raised her emerald eyes, a flicker of surprise breaking through her composed mask.

She may have thought I would have chosen Morgana who was also some kind of childhood friend for me.

I could feel Asthenia and Morgana, in particular, bristle in their kneeling positions. The insult of being ranked below a merchant’s daughter seemed to sting their pride, but they remained silent.

"Your Majesty..." Eleanor muttered as she accepted my hand. I pulled her up easily.

"You trusted in my return," I said, locking eyes with her. "And you were there, watching over the council, defending me and my name when everyone else was busy burying me. You have my unconditional trust, Eleanor."

From the brief moment I had talked to her and the knowledge of the game, I knew that I could trust her. Eleanor sought vengeance in the game but she also wanted to free Helios from the Black Sun because it was her birth Kingdom; she was loyal to the Crown and her Kingdom.

Eleanor looked into my serious eyes, searching for something and then she bowed her head slightly.

"I am greatly honored and pleased to hear that, Your Majesty."

This woman, full of honesty, loyalty, and courage, was a keeper. I meant every word.

I smiled, raising her hand to my lips and pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her knuckles.

"I am the one honored to have you by my side," I said quietly.

Eleanor, caught off guard by the public intimacy, blushed a lovely shade of pink but nodded, accepting the tribute.

I smiled, releasing her hand and stepping back to face the remaining five wives who were still kneeling.

"You can stand now."