Chapter 38 - A Step In My Mother's Direction.

Lilith was Raymond's concubine disguised as his servant. That was one of the many rumors that were going around the castle and it honestly made Lilith angry to her core. How far were people willing to go just to make themselves feel better? Lilith wanted to be selfish and tell Raymond about all the rumors and have him use his kingly powers to make it stop. But it probably would not. And most importantly, she did not want to upset him with these matters. He had better things to do than worry about the jealousy of others.

Since she was now getting used to the castle, Lilith was unaware of how much gossip went on. It was obvious. But she had better things to be thinking about and so the thought never occurred to her. But all it took was for her to hear it once and it was like the flood gates opened. All her senses sharpened and she felt like she could what every breath of every person in the castle.

Now that Raymond was King, the race to see who would be become his wife only grew. The population of the castle was larger than expected and the number of people that passed through was even larger. Relatives of nobles, concubines of the nobles that worked there (but in those times, concubines were quite rare), and sometimes the nobles themselves. It seemed like there was no limitation to who could try to get the attention of Raymond.

Although the circle of concubines was small, it was a vicious one. Every time Raymond was around they would all try to show off their assets to him. It was subtle of course, who would dare be promiscuous in front of the King? But they would always lean down just a little too much or press their arms together so that their busts would pop more than they already did.

"How is your day going Your Majesty?" The woman wore a cherry red dress with rich red lacing and a neckline that plunged deep. Her hair was curled to perfection and her makeup was a little too good for it to be the 1800s. Lilith actually did a doubletake when she saw her. She was simply gorgeous.

The King had a couple of papers in his hands and he continued walking as if the woman was not even there. She was accompanied by a few others behind her and they all looked like they were waiting their turn to take a crack at Raymond.

Lilith felt bad for the poor woman and she wished she had a sign that said, 'Don't waste your breath' to try and detour women away. It probably would not work though.

"I see that you are quite busy. I admire that you can always stay so strong Your Majesty. Simply admirable." she walked noticeably close to Raymond but it was still far enough where he could not be bothered to give her a gram of his attention. She knew that things would look very different if she got too close to him.

Sometimes Lilith wished she was a bodyguard instead of a servant. Which also brought to light the fact that Raymond never had any guards with him. If it came to it, Lilith was his only defense. A poor choice really.

The woman kept trying and her friends behind her were also trying to get a couple of words in but at the end of the hallway, Raymond paused and looked at them. Disdain.

"Move."

And with that one word, they were scrambling like rats. In seconds Raymond and Lilith were alone. He let out a silent sigh and continued on his way down the hallway. He would always run into these kinds of situations and he really needed to do something about it. People were simply too ignorant to get the clue that he was not interested. Either that or they simply did not care and tried anyway.

"She was really pretty."

Raymond paused for a moment and Lilith's voice. "Was she?" He asked as if he really wanted to know that that was what she thought and not because he was at all curious.

Lilith nodded even though he could not see her. "Certainly. Very beautiful."

"Annoying," he added.

Lilith smiled a bit. "And bit annoying. But still, she was good-looking, Your Majesty. Maybe if you looked up a bit more you could finally see someone that might catch your attention."

"And why is that any concern of yours Lilith?"

Lilith let out a little laugh. "I am curious to see the type of woman that will be able to steal your heart. Nobody is impenetrable."

Raymond did not want to think about her words. Hearing it once was enough and now he wanted to get back into the mindset of work. He had the papers in his hands and so it was not that hard. And then his mother showed up.

Later in the day, Nora burst into Raymond's office, wanting to talk to him about the only thing she cared about. His marriage. Or lack thereof. And then it all went downhill from there. She told him that she wanted him to get married as soon as possible so that he could have children. Nora wanted him to secure his blood in line for the throne and since it seemed that Landon still had some people doing his bidding, he could be killed at any moment.

Raymond fired back telling her that even if he already had a child it would be too young to do anything and it would fall onto his brothers if he died. The Queen Mother then told him that she wanted it to come back around to Raymond's direct descendants. Raymond said that Landon could just have him and his children killed. And Nora said that he could have a child in secret and hide it away just in case.

"You're insane."

His mother glared at him for his words and scoffed. "At least I'm trying to do something. And on me actually doing something, I have set up times with numerous women where you will meet them and try to connect with them."