Harem Master: Seduction System

Chapter 477: A Quick Return to Steele Manor

The crisp mountain wind sweeping across the forecourt of the Royal Nine-Dragon Hot Springs Villa carried the scent of pine needles and warm mineral water.

At the base of the wide marble steps, Second Prince Huang Xuan carefully placed the five glowing Dragon-Nourishing Jade Talismans into a silk-lined royal lockbox. His narrow eyes shone with satisfaction as he snapped the gold latch shut and handed the box to Captain Tie, the Half-Step Martial Emperor commander of his twelve Royal Dragon-Scale Guards.

‘With these five talismans and the signed audit scrolls from Aunt Ning and Consort De,’ Second Prince Huang Xuan thought to himself, suppressing a triumphant grin, ‘Royal Father will see that I handled the eastern inspection far better than my foolish eldest brother ever could. While First Prince Huang Wei rots on the reflection cliff, I will take the credit for stabilizing the central provinces.’

He turned back toward the five magnificent women standing side by side at the top of the jade steps: Noble Consort Cui Yulan, Imperial Consort De Yan Ruyu, Imperial Consort Xian Zhao Mengxue, Imperial Consort Shu Su Xinyue, and Virtuous Consort Ning Wan’er.

Even wrapped in their heavy, formal palace robes of violet, ink-black, crimson, sapphire, and seafoam-green silk, their mature, voluptuous figures drew the respectful gazes of every guard in the courtyard. None of the soldiers or elders standing around the square could guess that beneath those layers of royal silk, the skin of all five Imperial Consorts was still warm and marked from Alaric’s hands, or that subtle plugs of condensed mana kept his thick seed sealed inside their wombs as they walked.

“Aunt Ning, Imperial Consort De,” Second Prince Huang Xuan said, bowing politely with his hands clasped. “Since I must ride back to the Imperial Capital with all haste to deliver these talismans to Royal Father, will the two of you be traveling with my escort column today?”

Yan Ruyu adjusted the silver-rimmed spectacles resting on the bridge of her nose. Her fair, aristocratic face was as calm and severe as ever, giving away nothing of how she had spent the past three months screaming and begging beneath Alaric on the wet marble of the bathhouse.

“Consort Ning and I will remain in the eastern provinces for one more month before returning to the Inner Court,” Yan Ruyu stated in her cool, steady voice. “The new Wartime Logistics Directorate in Cloud-Mist City and Azure Fall City requires my personal Palace Discipline Seal to set up its initial ledgers. Once the tax channels and supply depots are properly bound under imperial law, Eunuch Feng and Eunuch Liu will escort us back to the capital.”

Beside her, Ning Wan’er offered her nephew a soft, gentle smile, resting one fair hand atop the jade zither cradled against her wide, peach-silk-covered hip.

“Do not worry about our safety, Xuan’er,” Ning Wan’er said sweetly. “With Eunuch Feng, Eunuch Liu, Commander Jin, and Sister Yulan’s Violet Thunder Guards traveling with us to Cloud-Mist City, we could not be better protected. Tell His Majesty that Sister Ruyu and I will present our full report in person once the supply lines to the northern passes are running smoothly.”

Behind the two newly conquered consorts, their two old Half-Step Martial Emperor palace protectors, Eunuch Feng and Eunuch Liu, bowed their heads in agreement. Having waited outside the bathhouse for three months and witnessed the authentic jade decrees and strengthened auras of their mistresses, the two old eunuchs had zero doubts about Yan Ruyu’s orders.

“Then I shall await your return in the capital, Aunt Ning, Esteemed Consorts!” Second Prince Huang Xuan said brightly. He turned to his half-sisters, Princess Huang Mei and Princess Huang Hua, as well as Princess Gu Ling and Ling Ying. “Royal Sisters, Princess Gu, Heiress Ling, I wish you a safe journey back to Cloud-Mist City.”

Within half an hour, the bronze horns sounded at the main mountain gate. Second Prince Huang Xuan and his twelve Royal Dragon-Scale Guards rode off down the western highway toward the Imperial Capital, while the combined carriages of the five Imperial Consorts, the two Imperial Princesses, Gu Ling, Ling Ying, Lin Ruoli, and Ya Su rolled down the southern road toward Cloud-Mist City and the northern teleportation hub.

Inside the largest imperial carriage at the center of the column, Alaric sat once more on the wide velvet bench, his humble gray physician’s cloak tossed casually over the back of the seat.

The moment the carriage doors closed and his Sound-Severing Void Ward locked into place around the cabin, the icy, untouchable demeanor of Imperial Consort De vanished completely.

Without needing to be told, Yan Ruyu dropped smoothly to her knees on the plush carpet between Alaric’s parted legs, while Ning Wan’er sank down right beside her, both women looking up at him with flushed cheeks and dark,hungry eyes.

“Did I handle the Second Prince to your satisfaction, Master?” Yan Ruyu asked huskily, her slender fingers already reaching up with practiced confidence to unfasten the belt of Alaric’s trousers while her massive, ink-black-clad breasts pressed against his right shin.

“And my nephew suspected nothing at all, Master,” Ning Wan’er purred softly, resting her chin on Alaric’s left knee as her soft hands helped Yan Ruyu slide his trousers down to free his heavy, half-hard shaft. “Eunuch Feng and Eunuch Liu believe Sister Ruyu and I will be spending the next month inspecting grain ledgers in Azure Fall City. We can stay in your bed every single night without anyone asking a question.”

Sitting on either side of Alaric on the velvet bench, Cui Yulan, Zhao Mengxue, and Su Xinyue watched with amused, satisfied smiles as Yan Ruyu leaned forward, her silver-rimmed spectacles glinting in the carriage light as she opened her red lips and took the thick head of Alaric’s cock straight into her hot mouth, while Ning Wan’er eagerly licked along the underside of his shaft and cupped his heavy sac.

‘Three months ago, she wanted to cut my head off for seeing her naked in the bath,’ Alaric thought with a quiet smirk, resting one hand atop Yan Ruyu’s coiled black hair and the other on Ning Wan’er’s soft cheek as their two hot tongues worked over his length in unison. ‘Now the Chief Arbiter of Palace Discipline can’t even wait ten minutes after leaving the courtyard before she needs my cock in her mouth.’

“You both played your parts well,” Alaric said, his voice calm and measured as he guided Yan Ruyu’s head deeper down his shaft, making her throat flex around his girth. “Once we reach Cloud-Mist City tomorrow, Huang Mei, Huang Hua, Gu Ling, and Ling Ying will remain at the central manor to take over the provincial tax offices and checkpoints that the Second Prince just signed over to us. Yulan, Mengxue, Xinyue, Ruyu, and Wan’er will return with me, Ruoli, and Ya Su to Azure Fall City through our private relay.”

Zhao Mengxue leaned her head against Alaric’s shoulder, her hand sliding across his broad chest. “And after we reach Azure Fall City, Master? You mentioned in the bathhouse yesterday that you intended to make a brief trip back to your homeland across the sea.”

“Yes,” Alaric replied, looking down as Ning Wan’er took her turn swallowing his slick crown while Yan Ruyu licked his shaft from the side. “Now that our territory here stretches from the northeastern border all the way down through Cloud-Mist Province, there is too much ground to manage with only our current circle. Plus, I have been away from my family estate for over three months. It is time I brought my mother, my aunt, and my two personal Grand Mage maids across to the Eastern Continent.”

Hearing that Alaric was bringing the leading women of his own household across the ocean, Cui Yulan’s silver eyes lit up with genuine interest, and even Yan Ruyu glanced up through her silver-rimmed spectacles with curiosity while keeping her lips pressed against his hip.

Over the next three days, the transition was executed with quiet precision.

After dropping Princesses Huang Mei and Huang Hua, Princess Gu Ling, and Ling Ying off at the warded inner sanctuary of the Gilded Lotus Auction House in Cloud-Mist City—where their respective guards and clan elders settled into the outer quarters to oversee the new provincial offices—Alaric used the subterranean spatial anchor to transport the five Imperial Consorts, Lin Ruoli, and Ya Su straight back to the Border Marshal’s estate in Azure Fall City.

Once Eunuch Feng, Eunuch Liu, and the outer palace guards arrived by flying carriage two days later and were stationed around the outer perimeter walls of the Azure Fall estate, Alaric descended alone into the steaming cavern of the Earth-Heart Profound Spirit Vein beneath the manor.

Standing atop the primary spatial circle carved into the white jade bedrock, Alaric drew a deep breath of the golden-blue mist, channeled his violet-gold mana into the platinum master disc in his palm, and activated the cross-continental bridge.

“Spatial Gate: Steele Manor.”

A pillar of silver-violet light enveloped his tall frame. For the space of three heartbeats, he passed through the folded astral current bridging the vast ocean between the Eastern and Western Continents.

When the silver light faded, the humid, mineral-rich heat of the subterranean spirit vein was replaced by the cool, familiar stone air of the deep underground chamber beneath Steele Manor.

Alaric stepped off the runic circle, checking the glowing blue lines connecting the teleporter to the Seventh Order Thunder Tyrant Behemoth core humming deeper in the foundation. The barrier network covering the entire Duchy of the Azure Peaks and Steele territory was running at full capacity, stable and untouched.

Adjusting his dark gold-trimmed coat, Alaric ascended the winding stone stairs and stepped out into the sunlit central hallways of the manor.

More than three months had passed in the Western Continent since he had last walked these corridors before teleporting to Cloud-Mist City. As he headed toward the rear terrace overlooking the main reinforced training grounds, the rhythmic ring of clashing weapons and the deep rumble of elemental magic echoed through the crisp morning air.

Walking out onto the raised marble veranda, Alaric paused beside the stone balustrade, a warm, appreciative smile touching his lips at the sight before him.

Seated at a white garden table on the veranda were his cousin Fiora and his princess wife Griselda, alongside the sisters Iridelle and Natasha. Fiora’s belly showed the gentle, unmistakable swell of her pregnancy now, her fair face glowing with health and happiness as she sipped warm herbal milk, while Griselda sat beside her sorting through household ledgers, looking as sweet and plumply radiant as ever.

Before Fiora or Griselda noticed him, Alaric raised a finger to his lips to keep Iridelle and Natasha quiet for a moment as he watched the intense two-on-two sparring match unfolding across the vast grass training field below.

In the center of the warded field, two breathtaking blonde women were locked in fierce combat against two curvy young women in tailored battle-maid uniforms.

The two blondes were his mother, Matriarch Lyra Steele, and his aunt, Cassandra Galanis.

Over the past months of digesting the three-thousand-year-old Eastern Spirit Marrow he had left them and practicing the high-tier breathing techniques from the Mystic Ice Sect archives, both sisters had undergone a remarkable leap in power. The golden-red and violet-blue Battle Auras blazing around their bodies were no longer at the Grandmaster level—both Lyra and Cassandra had cleanly broken through into the Martial King realm!

Lyra wore a form-fitting white and gold martial tunic that hugged her mature, voluptuous hourglass figure like a second skin. Her massive, heavy breasts strained against the reinforced leather chest-piece with every sweep of her longsword, and her wide, motherly hips and long, toned legs moved with lethal, fluid grace.

Beside her, Cassandra wore a sleeveless dark-purple combat suit that left her smooth, fair shoulders and the deep valley of her generous cleavage exposed to the sun. Her purple eyes blazed with fierce excitement as she wielded twin curved short-blades, her lush rear and curvy thighs flexing powerfully with every dash.

Facing them across the scorched grass were Alaric’s two personal maids, Kara and Ulriya.

Since the night Alaric had awakened their latent mana and elevated them to Grand Mages, Kara and Ulriya had spent months studying the Eloriath Royal Archives and sparring under the guidance of Archmages Priscilla and Maelis. Now sitting at the absolute peak of the Grand Mage rank, just half a step from the Archmage threshold, the two maids were no longer clumsy novices struggling with basic cantrips.

Kara stood with her feet planted firmly on the earth, her dark hair tied back and her full, rounded breasts rising and falling beneath her black-and-brown battle-maid bodice as dark shadow-mana and heavy yellow earth-energy swirled around her outstretched hands.

Next to her, Ulriya’s blue eyes shone with calm focus, her own lush, curvy figure framed by a blue-and-white maid dress as shimmering rings of freezing ice and pressurized water orbited her slender waist.

“Don’t hold back, girls!” Lyra called out, her rich, commanding voice ringing across the yard as golden-crimson flames of Battle Aura erupted along the length of her longsword. “If you let Cassandra and me close the distance, your barriers won’t hold for three breaths!”

“Yes, Matriarch Lyra!” Kara and Ulriya answered in unison.

Moving with practiced teamwork, Kara slammed both palms down onto the turf while Ulriya swept her arms upward in a wide arc:

“Dual Earth-Shadow Magic: Umbral Earth Binding!”

“Combined Water-Ice Magic: Glacial Mirror Labyrinth!”

*RUMBLE—CRACK!*

Instantly, dozens of thick, black-iron stone chains laced with living shadow erupted from the shadows beneath Lyra’s and Cassandra’s boots, whipping upward like giant pythons to wrap around their ankles and thighs! At the same time, Ulriya froze the moisture in the air into twelve towering, ten-foot-tall mirrors of blue glacier ice that surrounded the two blonde Martial Kings in an octagonal cage, each ice mirror reflecting their movements and firing dozens of razor-sharp icicle lances from every angle!

On the veranda, Fiora leaned forward eagerly. “Kara and Ulriya’s casting speed has gotten so fast! Even a Peak Grandmaster Martialist would be trapped instantly inside that combo!”

Down on the field, however, Cassandra let out a low, husky laugh, her purple eyes flashing as deep violet Battle Aura surged from her energy center and formed the phantom outline of massive, sweeping wings behind her back:

“Garuda Wingbeat Breath: Gale-Splitting Flash!”

*WHOOSH—CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!*

Moving with explosive, bird-of-prey speed that left an afterimage inside the shadow chains, Cassandra kicked off the ground before the Umbral Earth Binding could tighten around her calves! Her twin short-blades blurred in a spinning whirlwind of violet steel, shattering thirty incoming icicle lances into harmless snow-dust as she vaulted straight toward the top of the nearest glacier mirror!

“Kara, she’s flanking above the mirrors!” Ulriya warned, pivoting her hips to redirect a pressurized stream of freezing water upward:

“High-Tier Water Magic: Coiling Frost-Serpent Whip!”

A thick torrent of sub-zero water lashed into the sky like a striking serpent toward Cassandra’s mid-air figure, while Kara raised her right hand and clenched her fist, causing three massive pillars of shadow-coated granite to shoot diagonally out of the ground to Pin Cassandra against the water whip:

“Master Earth Magic: Triple Shadow-Crag Impale!”

Before the stone pillars and the frost whip could trap her sister in mid-air, Lyra stepped forward in the center of the ice cage. Taking a deep breath, the blonde Matriarch of the Steele Family swung her longsword in a sweeping, majestic horizontal crescent as blazing golden-red Phoenix Battle Aura roared from her blade:

“Steele Secret Art: Rising Sun Cleaves the Mountain!”

*BOOOOM!*

A thirty-foot wave of condensed golden sword-light tore across the training ground!

It sliced cleanly through all twelve of Ulriya’s glacier mirrors, sheared the top off Kara’s three granite pillars in mid-air, and evaporated the Coiling Frost-Serpent Whip into a cloud of white rainbow mist—allowing Cassandra to drop smoothly behind the two maids and rest the flat of her dull sparring blade lightly against the side of Kara’s neck, while the tip of Lyra’s sword stopped an inch in front of Ulriya’s heaving chest!

Both Kara and Ulriya froze, panting hard, their cheeks flushed pink with exertion and their heavy breasts heaving beneath their maid uniforms before they lowered their hands and bowed respectfully.

“We yield, Matriarch Lyra, Lady Cassandra!” Kara said, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead with a bright, respectful smile. “Your Martial King Battle Aura broke right through my earth reinforcement!”

“Our casting transition between the third and fourth spells was half a second too slow,” Ulriya added thoughtfully, analyzing her own mistake. “If we had layered an Ice-Mist Slowing Field inside the mirrors first, Lady Cassandra wouldn’t have been able to use the Garuda Wingbeat Breath so easily.”

“Clap, clap, clap.”

The slow, steady sound of clapping hands echoed from the steps of the marble veranda.

On the veranda and down on the training field, all eight women spun around at once.

The moment their eyes landed on Alaric walking down the marble steps in his dark gold-embroidered coat, every trace of martial sternness and scholarly focus melted into pure, unhidden joy.

“Alaric!” Griselda gasped, rising quickly from her chair as Fiora placed a hand over her rounded belly and beamed from ear to ear.

Down on the grass, Lyra lowered her longsword, her mature, aristocratic face softening with a deep, possessive warmth as her blue eyes drank in the sight of her son, while Cassandra’s purple eyes lit up with a fiery, hungry spark and Kara and Ulriya hurried forward to drop to their knees on the grass before him.

“Welcome home, Master!” Kara and Ulriya chimed together, looking up at him with shining, worshipful eyes.

“Stand up, both of you,” Alaric said warmly, reaching down to pull his two curvy Grand Mage maids to their feet and giving each of their firm, linen-clad bottoms a fond, familiar pat that made them blush and giggle softly. “That combination of Umbral Earth Binding and the Glacial Mirror Labyrinth was very clean. Six months ago you were struggling with basic elemental control in the library, and now it takes two Martial Kings using their core techniques to break your defense.”

“We practiced every single day so we wouldn’t disappoint you, Young Master!” Ulriya said happily, leaning her cheek briefly against his hand.

As the two maids stepped back, Lyra and Cassandra walked up to him.

Because Griselda, Fiora, Iridelle, and Natasha were right there on the veranda—and Fiora was fully part of their shared secret while Griselda still remained innocently unaware of the deeper dynamic between Alaric and his mother and aunt—Lyra stepped forward with the graceful poise of the family Matriarch and embraced him warmly.

Yet as her arms wrapped around his shoulders in front of the others, Lyra deliberately pressed her massive, sweat-warmed breasts flush against his chest and brushed her lips against his ear where only he could hear her low, trembling whisper:

“Three months, Alaric… If you had stayed away another week, your aunt and I were going to step through that underground gate ourselves and drag you back to our bed.”

Right behind her, Cassandra stepped in to hug him next, sliding her hand subtly down the small of his back to squeeze his hip while biting her lower lip and looking into his ruby eyes with shameless heat.

“You saw my Garuda technique just now, nephew,” Cassandra murmured softly so only he and Lyra heard. “Mother and I both reached the Martial King rank just like you told us to. I expect a very thorough reward tonight.”

Alaric chuckled, kissing Cassandra’s cheek before walking up the veranda steps to wrap Griselda and Fiora in a gentle, loving embrace, resting his palm warmly over Fiora’s pregnant belly and kissing Griselda’s soft lips while greeting Iridelle and Natasha.

For the rest of that day and night, Alaric remained at Steele Manor to catch up on every detail of his Western domain.

In his study that afternoon, accompanied by Lyra, Cassandra, Iridelle, and via the Phone screen by Ondine Bellerose and Archmages Priscilla and Maelis, Alaric reviewed the state of the continent. With the Seventh Order barrier network and Iridelle’s mass-produced radiant cannons guarding the borders, both the unified Jorailia-Eloriath realm and Queen Kate’s Kingdom of Strathmore were completely stable. The demonic forces of Lord Ingranad had retreated into the deep northern wastelands after their failed siege months ago, regrouping around old dungeon seals while Noah and Kenneth remained scattered in hiding.

After spending a tender evening in the master suite with Griselda and Fiora until both women fell into a peaceful sleep in his arms, Alaric slipped out at midnight to the private, soundproofed wing where Lyra, Cassandra, Kara, and Ulriya were waiting for him with warm bathwater and wine.

Sitting on the wide velvet edge of the bed with Lyra and Cassandra curled naked against his left and right sides and Kara and Ulriya kneeling at his feet massaging his calves, Alaric laid out his plan for the morning.

“The Western Continent is secure for now under Ondine, Priscilla, Maelis, and Meng Yao,” Alaric said, his hands resting on the bare, curvy hips of his mother and aunt. “In the East, however, my territory now covers four entire provinces of the Celestial Dragon Empire, and five of Emperor Huang Long’s highest-ranking Martial King wives are serving in my estate. Tomorrow morning, the four of you are coming with me through the spatial gate to Azure Fall City.”

Lyra’s blue eyes widened slightly before gleaming with fierce, possessive pride. “You want us with you in the Eastern Empire?”

“I refuse to leave you four behind for months at a time when the next phase of my campaign against Emperor Huang Long will take place across the central plains,” Alaric said calmly. “More than that, both you and Cassandra are Martial Kings now, and Kara and Ulriya are Peak Grand Mages with Earth, Shadow, Water, and Ice magic. None of the Eastern spies or Emperor Huang Long’s palace informants have any record of your faces or your Western magic. Having the four of you beside me gives me four powerhouses I trust with my life—and keeps you in my bed every night where you belong.”

Cassandra’s purple eyes flashed with electric excitement as she straddled his thigh, pressing her heavy, bare breasts against his arm. “Imperial Consorts of an ancient eastern empire, hmm? Let’s see if those palace women know how to take care of you half as well as your mother and aunt do!”

—