I Became The Extra King With Seven Wives-Chapter 26: Regina Clay

Through the cramped, winding streets of the capital’s outskirts, a beautiful girl made her way home, holding bags full of vegetables bought freshly from the market and other miscellaneous items.

She didn’t wear especially eye-catching clothes, just a simple gray cloak over a worn linen dress but everybody in the area knew her. They recognized the copper-brown hair that caught the light like polished bronze, and the delicate features that seemed too fine for this part of town.

It was Regina.

Noticing how she was gathering unwanted stares from men loitering near tavern doorways, Regina quickly raised the hood of her cloak to hide her face.

Like any capital city, Helios had its divisions. The gleaming center, where marble estates housed the greatest nobles, and then... the outskirts. The forgotten edge. The place where people scraped by on hope and stubbornness.

Regina had been living here since she was seven.

Before that, she’d lived in a remote manor outside the capital, land belonging to her father, Baron Clay. It had been a small estate, modest by noble standards, but comfortable. She’d had a room with real windows, meals at regular hours, and a future that looked secure.

Until her father, drowning in debts he couldn’t repay, lost everything. The lands, the title, the dignity. And when the creditors came to strip the last of it away, her father had chosen the coward’s exit. He’d hung himself in the stable, leaving Regina and her mother Ada to face the wreckage alone.

They’d moved to the capital shortly after, relying on the charity of an old maid who had once worked in their household. That maid’s younger sister, Rona, owned a cramped house in the slums and grudgingly allowed them to rent a corner of it.

Since then, Regina and her mother had survived through sheer, grinding labor. They worked for Rona, who ran a small laundry business servicing minor nobles. Clothes would arrive stained and torn, and Regina and Ada would scrub, mend, and press them until they looked respectable again. It was exhausting, backbreaking work that left their hands raw and their bodies aching.

But they endured. They had no choice.

Then, six months ago, Regina caught the attention of a certain noble who visited Rona’s shop. He was the one to secure her a position as a servant in the royal castle.

It changed her life. The pay was better. The work, though demanding, was less physically brutal. But it left her mother working alone, and Ada had never been strong. She tired quickly, and her health began to crumble.

Regina turned down the narrow alley and approached the small house made of crumbling brick. The door was barely wide enough for one person. She pushed it open and stepped inside.

The interior was depressingly sparse. No furniture except for a rickety table. No beds. Regina and her mother slept on the floor of the single room, huddled together on a straw-stuffed carpet that smelled of mildew.

As soon as she entered, Regina’s eyes fell on her mother, lying on that same carpet with a pale, pained expression twisting her features.

The last month had been brutal. Ada’s condition had worsened. She could no longer work, which had enraged Rona until Regina reminded her landlady that she worked in the royal castle now. That silver-edged threat had been enough to buy them time.

"Mother, I’m back," Regina said softly, lowering down her bags, and kneeling beside her.

A pang of guilt twisted in her chest. She’d spent the night in the castle without telling her mother anything. But how could she have passed up that golden opportunity of laying on the King’s bed? How could she have walked away from the chance to secure their future?

Ada’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of her daughter’s voice.

"Regina..."

Upon seeing her, Ada tried to sit up immediately, panic flickering across her gaunt face.

"Slowly, Mother," Regina said gently, supporting her mother’s frail shoulders.

Ada coughed a wet, rattling sound but looked at Regina with relief flooding her tired eyes.

"Where have you been? I was awake all night, worried sick..."

"I’m sorry, Mother... I was working late at the royal castle," Regina said, brushing a strand of graying hair from her mother’s fevered forehead. "They needed extra hands for a banquet. I couldn’t leave but now I have all day off."

Ada nodded weakly, accepting the explanation without question. She always did. She trusted her daughter implicitly.

Regina swallowed the bitter taste of the lie and forced a smile.

"A banquet? Hah... Prince Lumiel has finally been crowned as our new King?" Ada asked, the memory resurfacing.

"Yes," Regina nodded.

There had been a troubling rumor that Lumiel had vanished and Regina believed it since she hadn’t seen him around but he suddenly returned all changed much to her shock.

"And I shall be working as his personal attendant now, Mother," Regina added with a gentle smile.

Ada’s eyes widened slightly hearing that. The position of the King’s personal maid was an honor far beyond what a common girl, or even many noblewomen, could ever hope to attain. And Regina had only joined the royal castle’s servant staff less than half a year ago. It was a remarkably swift and wondrous ascension.

"Is... everything alright?" Ada, perhaps sensing this sudden elevation was somewhat suspicious, reached out her hand. Regina quickly grasped it.

"Everything is fine, Mother," Regina reassured her with a warm smile. "Soon enough, we shall depart this place and live somewhere far better, just as we used to, and you will receive all the treatment you need."

"Regina... I only wish for you to be happy, my sweet daughter," Ada whispered, a tear tracing its way down her cheek.

"I am happy," Regina replied, a small grin touching her lips. "I think it has been a long time since I felt such joy..." She trailed off slightly, her mind drifting back to the passionate night she had shared with Lumiel.

Everyone else in the castle treated her as a pariah, the daughter of a fallen, cowardly noble who had taken his own life. She was shunned and scorned, but she paid them no mind.

Yet, the very first person to treat her with true gentleness, with a kindness that went beyond mere courtesy, handling her as carefully as if she were precious porcelain, was none other than Lumiel, the new King.

He was neither treating her as fallen noble’s daughters and nor was he treating her like a broken girl something also she didn’t like. He had treated her like a Princess the whole time...

She knew it already. Feeling her heart thumping strongly against her ribs, she realized it was love at first sight. She had never experienced such profound emotion before in her life, and she was not naive enough to misunderstand what it meant.

"Am I interrupting?"

A sudden voice shattered the quiet moment. Regina flinched, spinning around to see a cloaked man wearing a crooked smile.

She knew instantly who it was.

"Who is there?" Ada asked, her voice trembling slightly. Regina immediately eased her mother back onto the bed to rest.

"Just a friend from the castle. Please rest, Mother," she said, hastily standing up.

The man chuckled softly and stepped outside. Regina followed, closing the door behind her before looking up at the imposing figure.

"Lord Chancellor," she greeted him.

Roland Kestrel, the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Helios.

"Should you not be attending to your duties in the castle, Regina?" Roland asked, his tone deceptively mild.

Regina met his gaze. "I was dismissed from my work..." She replied cautiously.

"And for what reason?"

"I... I felt ill," she lied, her voice tight.

"I see that you truly do not care much for your mother’s health, Regina," Roland said, his eyes turning cold and hard as flint.

Regina flinched visibly.

"I have ears everywhere within the castle walls, and I am quite convinced you spent the night luxuriating on the bed of the new King," he said.

Regina bit her lower lip, unable to meet his eyes.

Roland chuckled, a harsh sound. "I secured this position for you at the royal castle and instructed you to get close to Lumiel for a specific purpose. In return, I promised your mother the finest healers and a new home, far away from these stinking slums. Yet here you are, lying to me, keeping secrets. Did we not have an agreement? What has changed?"

"I—I am merely afraid of the consequences..." Regina stuttered, lowering her head as her fingers clenched tightly in the fabric of her tunic.

"You should be far more afraid of what I can do to you and your mother," Roland said. "Regardless, I had considered disposing of you since you showed no progress these past months. But now, it seems you have swiftly maneuvered your way into his bed. That damned boy may have survived the Ritual and grown some backbone, but his mind appears rotted with lust. It is fortunate you took advantage of it. Now, you are closer to him than anyone else, are you not?" He asked.

Regina hesitated for a long moment before answering.

"His Majesty... chose me to become his personal attendant," she confessed softly.

Roland’s eyes narrowed in delight. "Perfect. You are performing an excellent job. Maintain the act, and use your body however many times necessary to keep him firmly wrapped around your finger," he ordered.

Regina fell silent, quietly biting her lip as dread pooled in her stomach.

"Did you hear me?" Roland asked, his tone turning dangerously cold. "You do care about your mother, do you not?"

He clearly did not appreciate this newfound hesitation. Months ago, she had been desperate, ready to do anything. Now, she was faltering, forcing him to employ threats.

"Yes... I will do whatever is required, My Lord," Regina finally conceded. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Good," Roland nodded, satisfied. "I shall inform you soon enough of what I expect from you. Once it is done, you may leave with enough gold to sustain you and your mother for the rest of your lives." With that promise, he turned and swept away into the shadows.