Gathering Wives with a System

Chapter 692: Scamming Althea, Seventh Queen POV

Isaac was surprised when they heard the price, but after thinking about it for a moment, it actually made sense. Divine Stones, even fragments of them, were extremely valuable, and if Alice had not already possessed such treasures in the Calloway Mansion treasury due to their ancestor being a Sun Dragon and a Saintess, they would have needed to spend a considerable amount of money or resources to obtain one.

"Let’s take this," Selene said, unable to completely hide the excitement in her eyes as she looked at the stone. She moved toward the Divine Stone Fragment, clearly intending to place it inside her storage ring.

However, just as she was about to reach it, Celia suddenly chuckled and said, "Wouldn’t it be funny if that thing is actually the power source for this entire spatial space, and we remove it and then things go wrong?"

Celia continued chuckling for a moment, but when she noticed that everyone was silently staring at her, her laughter gradually faded.

She looked from one person to another before asking, "...What?"

"Please don’t make those kinds of jokes. It feels like you are trying to jinx us whenever you say things like that," Isaac said with a helpless expression.

Celia chuckled again, seemingly finding it amusing that Isaac actually believed in that kind of thing. However, when she realized that everyone else was looking at her as if Isaac had made a reasonable point, she coughed lightly and decided not to continue.

"It’s fine. This is one of the first rooms we found, so it would be strange if the main power source was here. The power source is actually somewhere closer to the center of this spatial space. I can sense it," Selene said calmly.

She raised her hand, and the locks holding the Divine Stone Fragment in place immediately opened. Selene then carefully placed her hand on the stone and transferred it to her spatial ring, and the happiness on her face became impossible to hide as her tail began slowly moving from side to side.

Isaac could not help but chuckle when he saw her reaction, and the group soon continued deeper into the spatial space. As they walked, he looked toward Althea, who had been quietly observing everything around them.

"We will give you one-fourth of the Divine Stone Fragment," Isaac said.

"What?" Althea looked at him in surprise, clearly not expecting such an offer.

"We found it together, and we also wouldn’t have found this Sky City if we hadn’t followed the route you decided on. Because of that, it would be too unreasonable of us to take everything for ourselves without giving you a proper share," Isaac explained.

"But..."

"I insist," Isaac said with a sincere smile, not giving her much room to refuse.

Althea hesitated, but it was obvious that she was becoming tempted by the offer. One-fourth of such a large Divine Stone Fragment was an enormous resource, and bringing to kingdom something of this quality, she could easily obtain an Apex-rank evolution potion.

Isaac’s smile became slightly deeper when he saw her reaction. Althea might have been raised as a princess and had already learned about politics, business, and the importance of resources, but she was still young, and even she found it difficult to resist the temptation of receiving such a valuable treasure.

"Thank you," Althea said sincerely after making her decision.

Isaac simply smiled and continued walking with the others. He did not say anything else about the matter, but a moment later, Celia’s voice suddenly entered his mind through telepathy.

’Wasn’t that a little too scummy?’

Isaac turned his head slightly and saw Celia looking at him with an expression that clearly said that, even by her standards, he had gone a little too far. She did not need to say anything aloud for him to understand exactly what she was thinking.

’What do you mean?’ Isaac asked innocently.

’Do you really think I can’t tell what you are trying to do?’ Celia replied, rolling her eyes.

Isaac knew that she had seen through him. Celia might have seemed carefree most of the time, but she was not the type to become so excited by a treasure that she completely forgot about the bigger picture.

Still, there was no reason for Isaac to admit it.

He simply smiled at her through the telepathic connection, which made Celia stare at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. She clearly knew he had no intention of explaining himself.

The group continued exploring the spatial space, moving from one room to another while checking what remained inside. In one room, they discovered a blueprint for a powerful railgun, which immediately caught Isaac’s interest because even a blueprint could reveal something about the technology used by the people who had built this place.

Another room turned out to be some kind of training area, though there was not much left inside it. The room itself was relatively ordinary, but the lights installed within it were different from anything Isaac had seen before.

Isaac could feel those lights interacting with his Moon Dragon Bloodline. If he continued absorbing them, they could help him form Moon Dragon wings, which made them valuable even though he already had an abundant supply of moonlight thanks to the Moon Dimension Pendant.

He decided to take some of the lights anyway because their properties being able to generate moonlight could also be useful for research. Naturally, he did not forget to share a portion with Althea, and she immediately became much happier after receiving them.1"> <anno data-annotation-id="ba325f5b-d3c1-8210-4824-a50bb0da1030" data-title="He decided to take some of the lights anyway because their properties being able to generate moonlight could also be useful for research. Naturally, he did not forget to share a portion with Althea, and she immediately became much happier after receiving them.">He decided to take some of the lights anyway because their properties being able to generate moonlight could also be useful for research. Naturally, he did not forget to share a portion with Althea, and she immediately became much happier after receiving them.¹</anno>

Celia was now looking at Isaac with an openly dissatisfied expression. Selene, on the other hand, maintained a calm appearance, but Isaac had a feeling that if she were alone, she would probably be quietly sulking because he kept sharing their discoveries with Althea.

Isaac reached over and patted Selene on the head while they walked. Selene glanced at him, and although she did not say anything, her expression became noticeably better, which made Isaac quietly smile.

They went through several more rooms after that and found various things that had been left behind by the people who once occupied the Sky City. Most of them were useful to some extent, but none of them could compare to the Divine Stone Fragment or the special lights they had found earlier.

At one point, Isaac noticed Alice quickly take something from one of the rooms and put it away. He did not say anything because the object did not seem particularly valuable, although he still wondered what had caused Alice to react so quickly when she saw it.

Eventually, they reached the final room.

The room was enormous, and several large reactors occupied the area ahead of them. The moment Isaac entered, he could sense an enormous amount of mana contained within those reactors, and the sheer quantity was enough to make even him feel slightly surprised.

Althea also noticed the same thing and looked at the reactors with clear astonishment.

Selene slowly examined the room before saying, "This place seems important, but we will probably need the Dwarf King to examine these reactors and tell us exactly what they are used for."

Emily nodded in agreement. "I’ll ask Sir Ezekiel to check them later."

"Thank you," Selene said with a small smile.

Since they had already reached the end of the spatial space and there did not seem to be anywhere else to explore, the group decided to take a break inside the enormous room. They prepared a simple picnic and sat together while discussing the things they had discovered during their exploration.

Emily fed Isaac while they ate, treating the matter as though it were completely natural. During that time, Isaac quietly contacted Selene through telepathy and asked her about something that he had in mind.

After hearing her answer, Isaac finally confirmed the suspicion he had been developing. He did not reveal anything to the others yet, choosing instead to keep the matter to himself until it was perfect time to be brought up.

After they finished eating, the group moved around the room once more and searched the remaining areas. They found a few more useful items and pieces of technology, but nothing else was as valuable as the Divine Stone Fragment they had discovered earlier.

Honestly, every time Isaac thought about giving one-fourth of it to Althea, his heart ached, but he would take something even better in exchange.

"So, should we return now?" Althea asked after they finished searching the remaining rooms. They were still following their original schedule, and there was no reason to stay in the Sky City for much longer.

"Before that, what are your plans for the Sky City?" Isaac asked, looking at her curiously. He wanted to make sure he understood what she intended to do before revealing his own plans.

"Plans? Nothing, really. We can’t take much more from this place before the Monster Tribes and the Lords from the surrounding regions start converging here, so staying any longer would only bring unnecessary trouble. We should leave while we still have the chance," Althea replied.

"Is that really your plan?" Isaac asked, wanting to confirm it one more time.

"Yes. There isn’t much else we can do with the Sky City right now, especially since we can’t move it," Althea said.

Isaac smiled when he heard that answer. "Since you don’t need it, I’ll take the Sky City."

Althea blinked and stared at him, apparently unsure if she had heard him correctly. It took her several seconds to understand what he meant. He was going to take everything in the City instead of leaving it behind, including the flying mechanism and Three Layer Space Problem When the realization finally came, her eyes widened.

"You want to take the Sky City? How are you planning to do that?" she asked before suddenly connecting the pieces. "Wait, you can control it?"

"Yes, I have a way to steer it," Isaac replied calmly.

Selene had already explained that she could control the ruins left behind by the Moon Dragons, and she had also told Isaac that he could use the same principle to operate the Sky City. It would not be as simple as controlling an ordinary vehicle, but with Selene working with the Ancient Dwarf King, moving the city toward Florathi should not be impossible.

Althea’s eyes suddenly widened again when another thought crossed her mind. She looked at Isaac with an expression that made it clear she had just realized something important.

"So that’s why you gave me the Divine Stone Fragment!" she pointed her finger at him in shock.

"What do you mean?" Isaac asked innocently, keeping a straight face.

Althea opened her mouth but did not immediately find anything to say. After a few seconds, she closed it again and pouted, finally realizing that Isaac had deliberately used her desire for the Divine Stone Fragment to make things easier for himself.

She was annoyed, but she seemed unable to bring herself to blame him completely. The truth was that she had become tempted by the Divine Stone because of her own greed and inexperience, and Isaac had simply noticed that weakness and used it to his advantage.

"You already gave me the Divine Stone Fragment, and I can’t take the Sky City with me, so it’s only reasonable that I let you have the entire thing. Besides, if you can actually control it, you can make sure that the Monster Tribes and Lords won’t be able to reach it easily," Althea said with a small pout.

She thought about the situation for another moment before continuing. "Of course, you won’t be able to take this thing all the way to your own city because of the distance, but you can bring it to Florathi. Since I have already acknowledged that the Sky City belongs to you, Florathi won’t have a proper reason to forcefully take it from you."

Althea sighed as she considered what would happen next. "I’ll probably have to give some of the Divine Stone Fragment to the kingdom as tax just to let you bring this thing into Florathi. You really scammed me."

Isaac could not help but chuckle at her expression. Even if he had not given Althea the Divine Stone Fragment as payment, he would still have needed to give something to Florathi because bringing the Sky City into the kingdom would inevitably attract attention and create complications.

Moreover, the kingdom could have demanded even more if Althea had not already recognized Isaac’s ownership of the Sky City. He could not simply leave the city somewhere in the wilderness either, because a structure this valuable would eventually attract powerful enemies, and Isaac had no intention of leaving such a prize exposed.

In the end, he had simply paid Althea less than he otherwise might have needed to pay, while also using her own decision to avoid several troublesome negotiations. There were still some problems to deal with, but those could be handled by the Seventh Queen.

"It feels like I’m dealing with the Seventh Queen. She also likes doing things like this to me, and somehow, I always end up realizing it only after everything has already been decided," Althea said, still looking slightly dissatisfied.

Isaac chuckled again. The group eventually decided to split up. Isaac, Selene, and Catherine remained inside the Sky City and began moving it toward the Florathi Kingdom through the normal routes, while the others traveled with Charlotta’s summon and headed toward Florathi City ahead of them.

The journey for the others was considerably faster, and they reached Florathi City without much trouble. The others would take longer because they had to move the entire Sky City, but there was no need for them to rush as long as they avoided attracting unnecessary attention.

...

Seventh Queen POV

Jasmine knew that it was a dream, and that knowledge did not make her hate it any less. It was an accursed dream that had appeared several times over the years, always showing her a version of herself that she found completely unacceptable.

"Darling~" she said softly in the dream as she knelt between a man’s legs and held both of his hands against her cheeks. The man looked at her with a helpless smile before sighing and allowing her to continue with her strange behavior.

"Yes, my lady," the man replied, sounding slightly exasperated despite the smile on his face.

Jasmine giggled before kissing his palms and sitting up. She then straddled his waist and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him with an affection that was mixed with an obvious possessiveness.

"It’s already daytime," the man said, sounding as though he was trying to remind her that she should probably stop. His expression remained helpless as she ignored his words and moved closer to him.

"I don’t care," she replied, closing the remaining distance between them. Their noses almost touched as she leaned forward, and then—

Jasmine suddenly woke up.

Her breathing was heavy, and sweat covered her body as she sat upright in bed. The memory of the dream remained fresh in her mind, causing her brows to crease as she recalled what had happened.

She bit her lip in irritation as she remembered the scene. She was the Queen of Florathi, yet in that dream, she had been shamelessly kneeling between a man’s legs and calling him darling while behaving in a way that was completely different from her usual self. It didn’t help that he was not her husband.

A quiet feeling of disgust rose within her when she remembered how affectionate and possessive her dream self had been. Her face, however, remained mostly expressionless, making the difference between the woman in the dream and the real Jasmine even more obvious.

She rose from the bed and walked toward the bathroom, her clothes slipping down as she moved and revealing her graceful figure. She had a narrow waist, wide hips, a full bosom, and an hourglass-shaped figure. Her blood-red hair and chilling green eyes added to her beauty.

Anyone laying eyes on her would easily realize why she was called the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.

Puppets soon entered the room and began helping her wash. Jasmine remained silent throughout the process, and even after she sank into the bathtub, her expression stayed cold as she tried to push the dream out of her mind.

She closed her eyes and took a slow breath, hoping that the memory would finally disappear. Instead, the face of the man from the dream appeared in her mind once again, making her expression grow even colder.

"Isaac Hargraves," she whispered, her voice carrying a faint trace of venom. "I pray that you are actually useful to help stop the calamity that is about to come."

She opened her eyes and stared ahead with an emotionless expression.

"Otherwise, I will kill you."

Yes, moonlight normally is just sunlight reflected on moon. But the moonlight in their world is special. The details will be explained later. "> <annotations >Yes, moonlight normally is just sunlight reflected on moon. But the moonlight in their world is special. The details will be explained later. </annotations>