Extra's Harem: Invincibility Starts with Marriage and lots of Children-Chapter 165- Aleriana’s move against Orion

The hall of the royal palace was deathly quiet, the kind of silence that creeps into your bones and stays there. The flames in the hearth flickered low, casting long shadows along the marble floor.

High-arched windows let in the cold light of morning, but nothing warmed the space between father and son.

The King of the Azure Flame Kingdom sat upon his throne, unmoving, carved from obsidian and steel, as unyielding as the man himself.

His gaze was fixed on Prince Orion, who stood before him, shoulders drawn tight, face unreadable.

"Seven," the king said, his voice even but heavy. "Seven high-ranking nobles, Orion. Dead. In one night. At a banquet you hosted."

There was no response.

The prince stood still, hands at his sides, his jaw clenched tight. He didn't look away, but he didn't speak either.

'How did he survive?' Instead, anger flared within his mind over something else. Given the events of last night, after thinking about how before losing consciousness, he at least had gotten rid of Kyle Arcutus by using favors from the Roharian family.

But somehow, that man not only survived and ran away; he returned to the same place and clearly ran around the banquet area from where the dead bodies of nobles had been gathered, all while Orion could only watch through the window of his palace at the monkey jumping around on the ground.

A monkey who, even though it was jumping around the garden, had clearly killed a major portion of his whole support. Years of effort went in vain because of that single idiot.

The king's fingers drummed once against the armrest. "Do you have any explanation?"

Still nothing. Not a word. Not a flicker of movement.

The king leaned ever so slightly forward. "Do you understand what you've done? These were not petty lords or irrelevant courtiers. These were the spine of this kingdom—old blood, old power. They held lands, legions, leverage. And you, in your reckless arrogance, thought it wise to butcher them in the heart of our own halls."

SWOOSH

The burst of Qi filling the room, clearly hurled toward Prince Orion, made him flinch. The energy was not just dense, but it was so precisely controlled that instead of filling the whole room, it felt like an energy blast aimed at his body, making his muscles tremble.

Even though he wanted to activate his ability, if he did, he would die.

The king would not even blink before killing his own son, which he knew, making Orion swallow those words while realizing how he had been destroyed completely overnight for underestimating Kyle Arcutus.

The fire snapped. The heat did nothing to melt the frost in the king's tone.

The king studied him, eyes hard as iron. "Was it pride? Spite? Or did you just want to feel what it was like to see others crawl under your feet?" His voice lowered. "You don't get to rule by spilling blood without reason. That's not power, Orion. That's stupidity."

"Ugh... I know, Your Majesty," Orion gritted his teeth as he felt the sparks clearly aimed at him, as if the king were telling him that he could see through him and exactly knew why he had even tried to host that banquet in the first place.

Bam

The heavy doors of the throne room slammed open, rattling the obsidian walls.

Princess Aleriana swept in, the cold morning light catching the silver embroidery on her deep navy cloak.

She bowed her head briefly to the throne. While slowly retreating her head, she glanced towards Prince Orion, who was looking at her in shock at her hasty arrival.

It was clearly an offense to royal etiquette, but as Prince Orion turned to look towards the king, thinking he might reprimand her, he saw nothing but a simple glare from the king directed at Aleriana.

"Forgive the intrusion, Your Majesty," she said, stepping forward. Her voice was smooth and measured, knowing that even though Kyle was busy with his own task, she should handle her own and utilize what happened last night to gain some favor, as she was aware Prince Orion, due to not wanting to look inferior to Kyle, would never tell the king that the one behind the events last night was him.

"But perhaps now is the time to speak of how we might stabilize the capital after last night's... misfortune."

"Y-you—" Orion's eyes flickered at her, clearly seeing the sarcasm laced in her words as she was trying to use the situation to make him completely cornered after what happened last night.

However, this was not going to happen.

Clenching his jaws, he added, "Now that I remember, this morning, I got the news that you signed the polygamy—"

"Seven families," Aleriana cut him off, not even giving him the chance to use her weakness directly against her, instantly interrupting his words that might threaten her position here.

In the end, it was true that she did allow her husband to marry other women, which would be seen as a disgrace on royalty and might not be accepted.

Though it depended on individual choices, so no one could force her, being the royal heir might be seen as a downgrade.

However, she could not convince her husband, so it was better to just suppress the voices mentioning it or trying to use this weakness.

"Your Majesty. Power has shifted too quickly, and such vacuums attract... undesirable forces. If we do not offer these houses a direct channel back into the fold, we may risk them seeking alliances elsewhere—including considering betrayal of the kingdom due to the actions of royalty." Aleriana, even though knowing the chances of nobles aligning themselves with other factions outside the kingdom were very low, as the likelihood of betrayal would eventually be higher, and all the legacy of this kingdom might be at stake. So, the nobles of this kingdom might not choose those sides.

However, she still mentioned this to make the situation appear more severe.

She gave a glance towards Orion before further adding, "But if we were to grant them limited access to the Crown's debt reserves—perhaps the minor tier of the Azure Vault—we could give them the illusion of control. Let them rebuild. Let them believe they are being heard."

Her eyes never once landed on Orion. But her voice curved ever so slightly. "After all, Your Majesty, it would be unjust to punish the entire capital city for the recklessness of one individual."

The jab was velvet-sharp. The king did not react, but his silence invited a response.

And Orion gave it.

He raised his head, and the tension in his jaw cracked like a fault line. "It's touching," he said, his voice low and cold, "to see such sudden concern for noble bloodlines from those who've spent years having not a single noble on their side."

Aleriana's brow arched—but only slightly. She said nothing.

Orion stepped forward, turning his head just enough to look past her without actually meeting her gaze. "A debt pool? A token of sympathy?" He gave a short, bitter laugh. "Let us not pretend this is about mending the kingdom. This is about collecting favors before the corpses are cold."

The air thickened. He turned now, directly addressing the throne. "Your Majesty, if we rush to hand out resources to untested heirs—most of whom have never governed a village, let alone a province—we will simply invite chaos cloaked in gratitude."

His tone was sharp, every word weighed. "Those seven families were strong because their patriarchs knew discipline. Not because they were coddled by the Crown."

A beat of silence.

"Let us grieve," Orion added, more quietly now. "And then vet thoroughly before we hand power to children with trembling hands and too many debts to repay."

The king's fingers tapped once more on the armrest as his eyes turned towards Aleriana, expecting her to provide an answer while also being aware that what Orion said was correct.

"That was my point, your majesty." Aleriana finally gave a smirk, her eyes looking towards Orion and meeting his as he formed a frown before turning towards the king. She added, "The children should not be handed power without restrictions; that's why I brought this small suggestion list to restrict royal heirs from endangering nobility..."

'!?!'

As Aleriana's words rang out, both Orion and the king seemed taken aback.

However, the king just folded his hands, a smile forming as he realized that the reason behind Aleriana's suggestion from the start was to make Orion say those words, which she thought was the best reply.

Little did she know that he was cornered into making that decision, suggesting something that was in favor of Aleriana.

'No...she had another plan from the start...' Orion realized that, unlike how he thought he was responding to corner Aleriana, she, on the other hand, had been one step ahead of him from the very beginning, leading him to make a mistake by suggesting something ridiculous and dangerous.

"I see, as per the suggestion from Prince Orion, I will pass the royal decree that heirs from this day forth will not be allowed to host banquets or have any direct interactions with nobility without my permission," the king declared as he looked back at Orion, whose eyes were clearly widened, trembling as he realized at that moment that he had been fooled by Aleriana into becoming the suggester of an idea that was going to bite him back.

As the king formed a smile, seeing his daughter starting to expand her wings, he looked towards Orion and added, "Isn't it right to not give power into children's hands? I definitely liked your suggestion, Orion."