The King's Beloved

While Rania was trapped in the Forbidden Chamber, and Zeid was still recuperating from his major injury, the candidates for queen were now also entering a new stage of their lives. It all started a few weeks after Rania's disappearance.

All the house leaders were gathered by Servus, the king's aid, in a meeting room. Once ready, they all sat down across a big round table and started discussing.

"House Leaders," he started. "By this time, I believe you're all done training and preparing your candidates."

"Yes, we are," the house leaders chorused.

"Then, it is time for the real competition to begin."

The house leaders nodded.

"As we have announced to you all on the night of their capture, we only need one queen since the king is not that pleased with the selections. That being said, we could still keep the remaining top ten as a consort in case our king gets bored with the queen."

"Ohh~, so we're keeping...eleven in total?" Malum asked.

"Yes, that's right," Servus answered.

"Then, what will happen to those not chosen?" Genus, the kind-hearted one, interrupted. "Will they be sent to their homes like we did in the beginning?"

Servus thought for a moment then answered, "No".

Genus was shocked. The other house leaders felt apathetic to this remark. It was like they have already long guessed what will happen to the remaining.

With her voice trembling a bit in worry, Genus continued, "T-then...are we...going to kill them?"

Prudens, the wise one, sighed heavily. "Genus," he called out to her.

Genus looked towards Prudens' direction. "Yes?"

"Why would you think that we would kill those perfect vessels?"

At this, Genus' face shined. "Really?! ….. Oh yeah, now that you think about it.."

"So…," Malum cut them off. He felt that their discussion would be longer if they continued, knowing Prudens who loves to point out the foolishness of others. "I'm guessing we're keeping them?"

Servus nodded. Genus felt relieved and everyone came looking back to Servus with full attention.

"Yes, we are keeping them. But they will be given as wives for the Mythics, Legends, Epics, and so on and so forth up to the noble families. The top-tiers will make their choice first, if they want the eliminated candidate, then the other follows. Though I doubt that they'll pick girls from the first batch of elimination. They'd probably start picking by the Grand Finals or so."

"Then that means, those who will be eliminated first might as well go with the noble families," Tritos finally spoke up.

"Yes, and there's barely anyone good from the noble families," Satis said with great disgust on her face. "They're mostly considered nobles because of their craftiness and wickedness, duh! Well, not that 'I' need to worry since my girls are the prettiest and I doubt that they'll fail in the first part."

"You can't be sure about that, Satis," Magna said with a snicker on her face.

Satis grew angry. Servus seeing a fight coming, immediately interrupted.

"Are we done with your bickering?," he asked in a serious tone.

The girls stopped their death glares and looked away from each other.

Sighing, he continued, "You're correct when you said that those that will be eliminated first will probably be picked by nobles and you all know how they are faring. So, if you don't want your candidates to be on that list, you better prepare them more and improve them.

Also, during this competition, they will be faced by many tests. There will be tests to prove loyalty to the king, or how good they will be as a wife to the king, or if they are fully healthy and will operate accordingly on giving birth to a proper son, and many other practical things.

Aside from that, their wisdom will be tested as well. We don't want a stupid queen do we? Even if all she's good at will be giving birth to a pureblooded offspring, we should still be careful with picking. If not, the king would be furious. If not the king, then his overly protective admirers will." Servus explained with a little to none hint of enthusiasm on his face.

"Wisdom huh? That's unfair, since Prudens got all the smartest ones," Magna argued.

"Then you should have picked better at the beginning," Prudens answered her.

" - When will I be able to finish what I'm saying?," Servus glared at them. "If I hear one more word….."

And finally, this silenced the bickering house leaders.

"Wisdom is nice, so as being talented to entertain the king, being beautiful too since our king only deserves the best, so as kindness and whatever you have picked your candidates to be. So to be fair, they will all be tested in all those things too. There will be a lot of tests actually, a lot of minor ones which you can all try to get ahead from. But aside from that, what matters most is the king's choice. No matter how good your candidate is, if the king doesn't like her that much then it's all useless. If I were you, I'd go do something about their relationship to the king - all within the rules, of course. NO ONE, again, is allowed to break the rules, is that clear?"

The house leaders nodded in unison.

"Good, especially you, Malum. The king himself, even noticed your… 'craftiness'.... I hope you play by the rules this time."

"Yes, I will," Malum answered.

"I will hold unto that then," Servus replied with malice on his face. "Now, you're all adjourned. Go and announce what we discussed to your candidates."

And so, they all dispersed and teleported back to their houses to do as told.

Upon hearing the news, all the candidates had different opinions on the matter. It varied from excitement, to worry, upto fear and many other feelings.

Azalea, for one, was really worried for anyone who will be eliminated early. If it would be her, then she thought that's fine but if it's others, she could only imagine the horrors they would be facing. Especially that, there was a notorious maniac family from the nobles who loved to abuse women, according to the rumors they heard from the maids before.

Selena on the other hand, who had been staying at Meracus with Rose, Lily, and Iris, ever since Rania's death, felt apathetic to the contest. She couldn't care less about pleasing the king now...not that she really cared since the beginning. All she ever wanted was to survive at first. But being changed by Rania, she felt that...instead of fighting for the king's favor, she'd best do nothing about it and just simply help others as much as she could.

"Yes, like Rania," she thought.

The once wicked trio also thought of the same thing. They don't care about the king anymore. To their reasoning, "Why should we care about a king who barely knows us?" And also, "Why should they all fight for the favor of a king who could just easily change his mind and know nothing about love?" So they decided to join Selena in helping others.

And so, the path had been laid for ladies.

All that's left was for them to walk on it…

and survive until the end.

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