Guess Who
The Emperor, blond, handsome to the point it was painful, with the arrogance of born nobility AND those born with perfect looks combined, ventured into the harem to find his only son and heir.
Why the infant was in the harem rather than with his nursemaid was a little concerning but he rarely interfered with what his women did outside of entertaining himself with them or punishing them if they disrespected his empress or endangered his legitimate children.
It may be that they were simply doting on his Heir as most of them would never have a child of their own. The harem palace had long ago been modified to keep the women from baring or their guards from indulging…
Only his Empress and a few carefully chosen concubines would bare his children and only the children of an Empress could inherent the throne.
The concubine's children were raised as the legitimate heirs’ permanent body servants and attendants.
The royal couple usually tried for three at the least. The heir, the spare and the mare. One to rule, the second to support and the third to buy alliances through marriage. The gender and birth order mattered little. It depended on which child suited which role best. Any extras were marriage bait.
(His current child was only heir presumptive due to being his only child. Once his siblings were born he'd need to prove himself worthy. The Emperor, unless assassinated, could live for over a century. Fifteen to twenty years to wait for his off spring to manifest an ability was nothing. )
He knew it was custom to let the child chose the mothers of his or her attendants (from pre screened candidates of course but the DID get to choose.
Each child was permitted to pick between three and ten women. Less chosen meant each woman had to bare more children but the Heirs were permitted to add a new candidate until they were six.
The choosing started in their first year of life as soon as the Heir/ess was mobile, even if that was only crawling.
The initial pick was between one and three with one or two more being added every year. They had an hour to pick and it was the first two to three women approached that counted as chosen.) but he'd thought the child needed to be old enough to crawl properly or toddle.
His infant he was some what sure was under six months...
The women knew better than to try and harm him of course.
It wasn't just their lives riding on royal favour after all. It was their families, villages and anyone close to them and they would be forced to witness each death which usually involved torture, before they were given to the mages for their experiments.
He wanted anyone so foolish to genuinely suffer before they died after all.
At any rate, he had a gift for his small son.
The son of the head of the latest kingdom conquered, some holy paladin who had given him a decent fight, was pretty enough to suit his taste and so might also suit his sons. The child was four or five and hadn't cried even when he'd tossed the sire's head at his feet. He'd even tried to protect the other brats. None of the others had been up to the Emperor's standards, so they would go through the usual mind purge and retraining to become useful subjects of the Empire, but he admired this kids fortitude and guts.
The little red head, with his clear skin and red brown eyes would likely grow up to be a stunner too.
Their royal family may have to marry an Empress for breeding purposes but there was no reason why they couldn't indulge themselves with males as well.
Non concubine born childhood attendants were often given with that purpose in mind. So the younger royal had someone completely safe to experiment with while being completely disposable.
If his boy accepted his sire's gift, he could do whatever he wished with the red head. While war prizes were often kept for display purposes, few childhood attendants survived their young royals teen years.
They were a fiery, passionate bloodline and could be very capricious. Childhood attendants gave a young royal someone to vent on who wouldn't matter while still teaching important things like actions having consequences.
(The Emperor was quite proud of himself as he had one or two of his still living and they served him still. He was even thinking of breeding them with a few of the older war prizes to see what resulted. He'd have to be involved of course. His pets were trained to the point where they couldn't cum without his involvement...)
He yanked the still bound child to the centre of the cleared space and dropped the lead rope.
The red head dropped to his knees and stayed there.
(His forehead should be on the floor but the emperor let that go for now. At least his head was bowed and his eyes were properly lowered. )
The woman currently holding the baby set him down when the child indicated he wanted to go down.
The child sat for a moment and then scrabble/crawled past the flashy blond who sired him, much to the man's chagrin, and straight to the kneeling red head and clutching his clothes, pulled himself to his feet.
He tries for a pat and accidentally smacks the other in the face and winces. A baby's control of their body is pitiful. He wavers and totters before losing his balance and falling to slump over the wide eyed red heads lap.
The child cuddled into it and falls asleep there.
Once he can speak properly, they'll talk later.
The frozen red head doesn't dare move.
Unnoticed, his sire's who is still pouting over being ignored, nods his head. Present successful and accepted.
The boy will begin his training immediately.
Meantime, the infant naps for about ten minutes before waking up abruptly, using the boy to stand and pulling on him determinedly.
The frozen red head glanced in agonized indecision between babe and the man who captured him, before rising at the child's more forceful tug.
Supporting the other child, the red head stood, staying a step behind.
Well, until the little blond stopped and carefully used the other to balance as he moved behind the red head.
"Ah BAH!" The infant proclaimed, pushing on the ragged shirt/smock the other wore.
It took the red head a minute to catch on but then he knelt and helped the baby crawl onto his back.
The little blond babbled and kicked until the red head stumbled to his feet.
Now mounted, the blond held onto the other boys hair, tugging on the side he wanted his two legged mount to turn and kicking to get him to move forward.
The Emperor watched in amusement as the infant directed his 'mount' through the throng to three women... and a girl child who was barely old enough to be an attendant who had been out in the hall.
The infant had her by the hair so it was follow or have it pulled.
Attendant number two chosen along with the three women his personal attendants would come from.
The Emperor was well pleased.