Dark Lord in Chains 44

As fun as dealing with Fernhand had been, I was aware that the only reason my domination went that smoothly was her perilous position, trying to juggle many noble families as the opposition while manipulating them through her mind magic, leaving her with limited actual magical power and command ability compared to her political weight. 

My actions could have exploded badly spectacularly if the circumstances were any different. 

It was why, rather than paying a visit to Emma like my libido desired, I decided to act more carefully, and actually prepare for the upcoming visit. 

After all, greeting a Queen in her throne room was an important political event...

I checked back to my cell first, to see whether I had any surprise guest waiting for me, which predictably came empty, and the wards I had established to check any visitor were undisturbed. 

So, I spent the rest of the day carefully examining the throne room, in particular, the possible secret entrances and exits in case the Queen decided to play naughty. That search turned into the discrete establishment of several explosive magics hidden around the kitchens, warehouses, and several other concealed spots, ready to be detonated remotely to create chaos that would allow me to escape unscathed unless Sapphire decided to mobilize a full regiment. 

Luckily, with her tenuous political position, an emergency mobilization targeting the palace was out of the question, not unless she wanted the faction that was opposing her to react violently, assuming it was a ploy targeting them. 

It wouldn’t be the first time a government cleansed its detractors with the might of the sword. The moral orientation of the government didn’t change that. For the dark faction, it was the business as usual, but even the light faction was quick to find evidence that linking those that was killed to several dangerously nefarious plots like demon summoning, the kind that only the craziest dark lords even dared to touch —often with spectacularly horrible outcomes. 

Even better, Sapphire still had no reason to suspect my identity. For her, I was still one of the allies of a deposed dark lord, trying to make a quick buck while also using the opportunity to enjoy the assets that Sapphire was displaying for a long while in her moonlighting job as an exotic dancer, beautiful enough to drive all nobles crazy. 

As the evening arrived, and our meeting time started to get near, the movement around the throne room started to lessen, and soon, wards around it went on. Servants started to discuss an unscheduled test of magical security system around the core areas… 

Everything was arranged perfectly. 

Of course, I still circled the activated defenses three times, making sure there was nothing out of order. The wards of the throne room were not offensive in nature, but functioning as a shelter, reinforced strongly to ensure no external attack would penetrate them, but they were significantly lacking both in terms of offensive capabilities and in terms of keeping people inside. Understandable considering the strategic objectives. They existed mostly to defend against a surprise attack, but not an extended siege. 

After all, there was little point defending the throne room for months if the enemy had managed to invade the capital to a point of maintaining an extended siege. 

Still, I carefully examined the wards to see if there were any last-minute changes in the wards before passing through a side entrance that had been left deliberately. I wasn’t afraid of Sapphire trying to trap me, not when her thought process was distorted by the side effects of the spells she had tried to use on me, but that didn’t mean stepping inside without properly checking was in any way justified. 

I still waited around the entrance, until it was five minutes after the arranged meeting time. Just a small power play to annoy her while reminding her who held the initiative in our deal despite her theoretical ability to mobilize all resources of the empire. 

Then, I stepped into the throne room, completely empty other than a familiar figure sitting on the throne on a raised platform, the traditional seat of the Emperor, but occupied by Sapphire for the last decade after his unfortunate passing. 

It was interesting to see her in a different set of clothing. She wasn’t wearing the suggestive outfit with the strategic cutouts and transparent areas to effortlessly charm anyone that was lucky enough to see her, nor she was wearing one of the casual dresses —relatively— she wore whenever she visited my cell. 

No, she was dressed in her full regalia. The light blue dress was the most conservative thing I had ever seen her wear, bulky enough to hide even her impressive bosom other than a hint of cleavage on the upper side, just to underline her femininity without highlighting it to a point of undermining her authority. Her hair, gathered in a complicated updo to reinforce that image further. 

And then, there was the elegant tiara on her head, shining softly with an inner light, representing her power as the highest authority in the Empire. 

I was impressed. She went all out dressing in full regalia, sharp enough to understand the full implications of my request about wanting to meet in the throne room. Tonight, I didn’t want to defile Sapphire, the exotic dancer with an overdeveloped ambition. 

Tonight, I wanted to defile the Queen of the biggest empire in the world. It was an amazing rush for any male, and considering her competency in manipulation, she seemed to understand kink perfectly, and was more than ready to sacrifice the dignity of the Empire to satisfy it, just to make sure she got what she wanted. 

“Good evening, my Queen,” I said with an exaggerated tone of respect, even as I bend the knee. “May I approach the throne.” 

“You may,” she answered in a calm tone, the kind she used to order around, but at this point, I was sufficiently familiar with her expression to recognize the annoyance dancing behind the surface. After all, her willingness to use her body didn’t come from a place of subservience, but a desire to continue to maintain her power as the Queen. The fact that I was disrespecting her in her strongest position clearly annoyed her, but at this point, she had invested our partnership far too much to act on that annoyance. 

Especially with her tantric abilities still wreaking havoc on her instincts.

“Thank you, your Imperial Majesty,” I said, highlighting her power through her title. Then, I started walking forward, copying the pompous yet subservient steps of a courtier, making her even more annoyed as the distance closed, before I bowed in front of her and presented the second map with both hands. “I hope you find that to your liking, your Imperial Majesty,” I said even as I looked up. 

I had to admit, the design of the throne room was spectacular, and not just because it was built from the finest marbles, and decorated with a liberal application of silver, gold, and precious stones to highlight the richness of the Empire. I was impressed because, the placement and the shape of the throne, when combined with the careful decoration of the wall and alignment of the other furniture, generated a subtle sense of inferiority to anyone standing at the feet of the throne. 

However, as I raised my eyes, that subtle sense of awe increased even further even as I examined the beautiful face of the Queen. My mana started to rotate instinctively, and then I noticed that the decoration wasn’t the only thing responsible for that emotion. It was a subtle spell that somehow infected my mind, compounding the sense of awe I felt toward her. 

My instinctual response was to blast her with a combat spell to immobilize her, before punishing her for daring to mess with my mind. 

A response that I barely managed to suppress, and only because the spell was distinctly not a tantric spell, which was her expertise. So, either she managed to arrange an expert on such short notice to lay a ward that would help her only marginally, or the ward always existed. 

I decided to give her the benefit of doubt, forcing myself to suppress my fury. I was lucky that she was busy examining the map, missing the possible anger on my face. Which was lucky, because I didn’t want to explain to her why I could detect such a subtle ward while I missed her tantric attempts. 

Of course, I knew that my fury was rather hypocritical. It wasn’t the first time someone tried to manipulate me magically, or even the first time Sapphire tried to do so. 

The success triggered my fury considerably, reminding me the reason why none of my rivals dared to use such methods to manipulate me, not after the examples the first two had been turned into for the attempt. “I hope everything is in order, Your Imperial Highness,” I murmured, doing my best to keep my tone even as I subtly stretched out my mana, trying to detect the source of the manipulation. 

The results were surprising. I actually failed to find the source of the manipulation! 

On the positive side, it confirmed something. It wasn’t something Sapphire had arranged. I had enough confidence in my abilities to know that no expert could set up in a ward in less than a day that was intricate enough to touch my mind, but still hide the main body of the ward from my gaze. 

“Yes, it’s all satisfactory, you can take your rewards,” she answered, her tone impassive, unaware just how close she had came imprisoned into the same cell I had been living in for the last month due to an emergency. 

I could be a tad unreasonable when angered… 

She didn’t have to point me to the noticeable bundle sitting on a nearby table. She stayed still while I opened the bundle and revealed the two dark artifacts, the Blade of Shadows and the Tether of the Underworld. A magical scan later. It was a much more careful one than the one I initially planned, but I wasn’t above admitting that the success of the ward actually spooked me. 

It took almost a minute to make sure nothing was amiss in them, and five more to ensure they were the genuine article. All the while, Sapphire continued to sit on her throne, silent, waiting for my next action. The tenseness on her face suggested that she assumed my careful examination was a part of my power play rather than genuine concern. 

I didn’t bother disabusing her of that notion, at least not before I decided how to proceed…