I Became The Extra King With Seven Wives

I found myself smirking slightly as I peered down into the yawning abyss of the hidden staircase.

It had actually worked.

I had seen this precise sequence play out in the Game. It was only briefly mentioned in the story, and while I had managed to remember the details, I was never entirely certain if it would translate perfectly to reality.

Of course, it would have been nonsense for the Game to lie about such a crucial hidden location, but a lingering seed of doubt had still wormed its way into my mind. I hadn’t been completely sure it would truly work out if I followed the exact steps described.

Well, I needed to calm down.

Even though the passage had opened, I still did not know for certainty that I would find the Amber Heart resting below.

It would be an utter and bitter disappointment if the vault was empty. Putting aside the irritating journey just to reach Helianth, I needed that necklace.

Helios needed that necklace.

I began my slow descent down the ancient, dust-covered stairs, silently praying that the artifact would be waiting for me at the bottom.

As I ventured deeper, the suffocating darkness quickly swallowed me whole. Raising my palm, I summoned a sphere of golden flame, allowing its brilliant light to cut through the gloom and illuminate the narrow stone tunnel stretching out ahead of me.

I paused for a brief moment before taking another step.

Suddenly, a phantom breeze swept past me from the depths. Golden runes, deeply engraved into the stone walls on either side of the narrow tunnel, flared to life, flickering with a subtle, pulsing rhythm.

The resonance was nearly blinding. I immediately felt my core body temperature spike as the dormant runes scarred across my chest and arms began to burn in sympathetic response.

"I see..." I mumbled.

The ancient mspellagic of the passage was directly testing my worth, forcefully resonating with the royal blood surging through my veins.

A few seconds later, the runes along the walls stopped their aggressive flickering, settling into a steady, unbroken golden glow.

"I suppose I passed the blood check?" I muttered with a satisfied smile, continuing my march down the corridor.

With the walls now radiating such a powerful, ambient light, I no longer needed my own fire, so I extinguished the golden flame dancing in my palm.

Narrowing my eyes as I walked, I eventually managed to spot a solitary structure resting at the very end of the tunnel. It was a white marble pedestal rising from the dusty floor.

When I reached it, I observed the dense network of golden runes flowing like glowing veins across the marble, all converging at the flat, square summit of the pedestal. I knew exactly what was required of me.

Without hesitation, I pressed my bare right palm flat against the glowing stone.

The moment my skin made contact, a searing wave of heat shot directly up my arm and coursed through my entire body, though to my constitution, it felt more like a sharp tickle than pain.

In response to my touch, the seemingly solid, dead-end wall directly in front of me groaned. The heavy stone slowly ground sideways, revealing a hidden, expansive chamber beyond.

My eyes widened in amazement at the sight.

Lifting my hand from the pedestal, I stepped through the threshold without a second thought.

This was not a glittering vault overflowing with royal treasures or hoarded gold. It was a square-shaped tomb, surprisingly modest in its dimensions. Resting dead in the center of the gloomy, eerie chamber was a massive, rectangular stone sarcophagus.

I slowly approached the tomb and rested my hand atop the heavy lid.

Carved into the cold stone was the stern, bearded visage of a man. It could have been any forgotten lord of the past, but I already had a very strong suspicion regarding exactly who rested here.

Engraved deeply into the side of the sarcophagus was a single sentence:

"Here lies the King who thought himself a god. Let him stay buried."

I smiled faintly at the warning. Bracing myself against the stone, I slowly pushed against the impossibly heavy lid. It resisted for a moment before groaning in protest, grinding slowly to the side.

A thick cloud of dust rose into the air, but I managed to shift the stone just enough to peer inside the dark interior.

"Exactly as expected..." I muttered, my gaze falling upon the pale, brittle skeleton resting within.

And there, draped casually around the dead king’s bony neck, was a breathtaking masterpiece: the Amber Heart.

The large, perfectly oval-shaped amber stone was glowing with a warm, mesmerizing inner light. It was an artifact far too beautiful and potent to be left buried and forgotten in such a desolate, lonely place.

Honestly, I hadn’t expected this confirmation.

I mean, I had fully expected to find the Amber Heart hidden away down here. But I had never truly expected to uncover the long-lost, disgraced body of King Alexander II of Helios resting alongside it.

Well, perhaps ’disgraced’ was too strong a word.

Despite being universally considered the greatest tyrant to ever sit upon the throne since the foundation of Helios a thousand years ago, King Alexander II was still admired by a significant portion of our people.

That alone said a great deal about the complicated, bloody legacy he had left behind.

Following his sudden death, his body was notably excluded from the sacred royal crypts where all previous Kings had been laid to rest. For centuries, scholars and commoners alike wondered if his corpse had been entirely lost to time, or perhaps utterly destroyed by the Lunarian Empire out of vengeful hatred for the destruction he had caused them. In truth, it seemed his younger brother had simply taken his remains in secret and buried them here, far away from the eyes of history.

I cast another long look at the words deeply engraved into the stone side of the sarcophagus.

Here lies the King who thought himself a god. Let him stay buried.

They were cold words for a younger brother to carve into his older sibling’s final resting place. Yet, they were far from untrue.

Alexander II of Helios was a terrifying tyrant who might well have been the epitome of royal arrogance. He truly could have believed himself to be a god walking among mortals. But he was also definitely one of the strongest Kings in the history of Helios, if not the strongest, purely in terms of the paralyzing fear he had successfully instilled across the entire continent.

He had waged a solitary, brutal war against the mighty Radhamantian Empire, defeating their legions multiple times. He had crushed the Lunarian Empire’s forces, laid siege to Luminar itself until they broke, and even forced Gardenia into submission.

More importantly, he was the very first King to conceive the terrifying idea of weaponizing the sacred Flame of Helios. And to achieve that power, he had forged and utilized the very artifact resting before me: the Amber Heart.

I reached down carefully, slipping the glowing necklace from the fragile, brittle bones of the skeleton’s neck.

Alexander II had brought immense fear and widespread destruction to the world, but weaponizing the Flame was precisely how he had managed to keep Helios protected and universally feared by all its enemies.

However, it was also a dangerous artifact, which perfectly explained why his younger brother had gone to such lengths to bury it down here in the dark.

I had learned of this hidden location exclusively through the lore of the Game, but I found myself suddenly wondering: had my father known about this place as well?

Even if he had, my father was far too noble and restrained. He definitely was not the type of man who would ever resort to using such a dark, tyrannical power.

But I was not like my father.

I raised the necklace to the faint light, getting a much better look at the craftsmanship.

Originally, the necklace had been commissioned by Alexander II’s grandfather, King Neolios. It was crafted as a gift for his beloved sister, who also happened to be his lover, Queen Alexia. Yes, they had been quite the close brother and sister...

Regardless of its incestuous origins, the Amber Heart had initially been designed as a pure, protective ornament for his beloved sister. It was only generations later that their ruthless grandson had transformed its nature.

Despite its dark history, it remained a masterpiece of magical art.

I held the glowing stone for a moment longer before slowly lifting the chain and draping it around my own neck.

The very instant the warm amber settled against my collarbone, a strange, electric thrill surged through my veins. It was a intoxicating rush of raw power, but I forcefully pushed the sensation down, slipping the stone beneath my shirt to conceal it from prying eyes.

I quickly checked the interior of the dusty coffin once more, just to be certain, but there was nothing else hidden among the bones.

I placed my hand upon the heavy stone lid, staring down at the skeletal remains of the tyrant for one final, long moment.

"Well, my dear, tyrannical ancestor. Your necklace is finally in the right hands again," I said, a cold, confident smile pulling at my lips.

"And so is your Kingdom," I added.

With a sharp shove, I slid the stone lid back into place, sealing the King in darkness once more.