Primordial Villain with a Slave Harem

Chapter 1068: Royal Crashout

"..." For a moment, King Alexios was lost for words. His sharp intake of breath carried through the artifact. "... Felicity. I do not appreciate your tone."

"Oh, please! I don’t like plenty of things either!" Felicity shot back without hesitation. Her voice was dripping with pure sass. "And you better not think I suddenly turned bad today, because I’ve been thinking all this for a long time! I just didn’t say it out loud! But that stops now!"

On the other end of the call, Alexios let out a low, irritated grumble. His words were muttered under his breath. "... This change wouldn’t have started happening right when you began having calls with that man, would it?"

Felicity ignored him completely because she was not done with her new round of complaints.

She was crashing out.

"I hate being a princess! Always having to be careful what you show in front of the maids, because if you slip even once, oh no, the royal princess dared to speak in normal tones instead of her oh-so-perfect, porcelain-princess voice! Oh dear goddess, what a tragedy! The entire kingdom might collapse from such a scandal!"

She rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t pop out of her head.

"And then there’s the boys." Her lip curled in disgust. "The horny, drooling brats who stare at my chest or legs instead of my face. Their greedy fathers lining them up like pigs at the trough, shoving them at me during parties, whispering, ’Go on, make small talk, win her favor, maybe she’ll marry you and save our broke little house!’ Ugh! Shut up!!! I don’t want your sweaty palms or your half-baked compliments about my dress!"

She huffed, crossing her arms under her chest and glaring at the floor. But she wasn’t done. Not even close.

"You know what I especially hate?" She jabbed her finger at her necklace artifact as if it were somehow personally responsible. "Math! Pythagoras is the worst tutor known to man! And don’t even get me started on his breath, it stinks like an abandoned graveyard! Every lesson feels like a duel between my sanity and his lungs!"

She stomped her foot with all the royal authority of a pouting kitten.

"Do you know I cheated on the last exam?! Because that was the only way I would ever pass!"

The silence that followed was deafening. Quinlan tilted his head amusedly, content to only listen in for now. Kitsara was openly grinning like a fox who had just raided the chicken coop. Vex... Well, she was laughing, loud and clear for all to hear. But she had the presence of mind to go a short distance away so the artifact wouldn’t transmit it.

"... Haaah." Alexios finally exhaled after a long pause. "Morgana did indeed make this much harder than it had to be." His tone shifted, dry, edged with weary humor. "At the very least, she could have told me of her plan so I could make sure it succeeded. Then we might have captured this heinous criminal together."

"WHAT?!" Felicity practically shrieked, stomping her foot repeatedly so hard the sound echoed. "Father!!"

But instead of meeting her fury, Alexios chuckled. A deep, tired laugh that sounded almost foreign coming from him. "Relax, child. That was a joke. I do not like doing things this way. It’s not a coincidence that slaves are not present in the palace."

Felicity folded her arms and scoffed so hard it was practically a slap. "You are not funny. Stick to being stoic, Father. It suits you better."

"..." Alexios became quiet for a bit once again.

"... Moving on. Devil. What will it take for you to give me my daughter back?"

Quinlan didn’t like his tone. "You know, I might be a wanted criminal, but I still have nothing to do with your daughter’s kidnapping. Stop making it sound like I took your child away. In fact, I’d say I’m the victim in all of this. First, your wife attacks me, and now your daughter slips into my home uninvited..."

He released a dramatic sigh, sounding like a man who was carrying too big a burden on his shoulders.

"Who do you think will feed her? House her? Ensure she has an actually competent math tutor, as her ultra-rich parents couldn’t find a good candidate in their hundreds of millions of subjects? Poor little Devil, that’s who. You Valorians couldn’t physically ruin me, so now you’ve decided to attach a parasite to me who will drain my treasury." ℝАɴỔ𝔟Èş

"L-L-Lord Black?! What are you even saying?!" Felicity stammered and then cried with utmost outrage. She couldn’t believe what her ears were telling her.

She was being introduced to a whole new side of Quinlan just now... To the abyss where his endless shamelessness resided. Felicity’s eyes widened like saucers when she found one of his fingers placed against her lips, shutting her up. "The adults are speaking."

"MM!!!!"

"You have a colorful imagination, Devil," the king responded. "Have you thought about becoming a novelist?"

"You really should stick to being a stoic bastard. Listen to your daughter. I’m getting the feeling that she has the most common sense in your family."

"... Now I’m certain it was you who corrupted my daughter’s purity."

"I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"I have my doubts whether you’d pass a lie detection test. Anyhow. Your ’financial problems’ can be solved easily. Just give the parasite back, I’ll take care of her. She can leech as much as she wants from me."

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Felicity’s outrage grew to new heights. Her father literally never spoke like this. It was a whole new face of his that the girl was introduced to, brought out by the unique situation and the attitude of the man he was talking to.

And the girl did not like it one bit.

Especially when she heard the loud, very badly hidden snickering of Jiai.

"Of course she can leech as much as she wants, your wealth is near limitless. How about you tax your subjects less, you greedy bastard? You’re being far too gluttonous. You should give back to the common people instead of only taking."

"How much in taxes have you paid in the last fiscal year, Devil? Your personal income must be at least dozens of gold coins."

"Moving on." Quinlan instantly changed the topic, "How about you remove the bounty from my head? I’ll consider giving Felicity back to you then."

"Didn’t you just say you didn’t kidnap her? Now you use her as a bargaining chip to blackmail me... Well, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m speaking to a criminal, after all. How about the two of us sit down and have a talk in person?"

"You must think I was born yesterday or something. No way. The trust between us has been reduced to zero ever since your wife attacked me. It’s obvious she’s out of control, and you can’t contain the woman properly."

"... Fair. Then I offer you this," Alexios said at last, voice carrying that unshakable steadiness of a man laying down something absolute. "The hand of my third daughter, Princess Felicity Valorian. A noble title of Count, seated in the Central Lands, so no duke stands above you. A full pardon for every crime committed in the name of the Devil and also while wearing the mask of Black, such as impersonating nobility. All of this will be given to you in exchange for your service to the royal court as its mage, and your willingness to share your secrets with me."