Chapter 3: ④ Politics Move at Night, It Seems, But the Palace’s Heartbeat Was “Love”

Yuuri went pale and frantically waved both hands.

“Wait, wait, wait!? Is the harem really that life-threatening!? What do you mean killed by the wife you raised—what is this, a horror story!?”

Kokuyou sighed and shrugged at the panicking Yuuri.

“That’s why I’ve been telling you from the start. Be careful how you ‘raise your wives.'”

“No, you never said that!? This is the first I’m hearing of it!?”

A chilling future flashed through Yuuri’s trembling mind.

‘That night, I endured it…’
‘Because of you, I lost everything.’
‘Now—prepare yourself.’ Stab.

(S-shit…! What the hell is this wife-raising-to-assassination route!? This is a complete dead end…!)

“Th-then… what if I just don’t get close to anyone…?”

“That is… impossible.”

“Really? I’m pretty good at being a shut-in, you know?”

(What the hell, it’s game over!? You mean this is an unavoidable event!?)

“The harem consorts are not mere decorations. They are symbols of their respective factions—their very pride. If not a single one is chosen, that faction will interpret it as ‘the royal family has forsaken us.’ Can you imagine the resentment and backlash that would create?”

Celine’s voice trembled slightly. But there was no hesitation in her words.

(…Crap. This isn’t about personal feelings—it’s about the balance between factions…)

“Moreover… they came to this harem with a mission. If they are not chosen… even their reason for existing would be denied.”

With those words, the atmosphere grew slightly heavier.

(If you’re not chosen, it’s like you ‘never existed’…?)

(That’s not just rejecting romance—it’s rejecting their entire life…)

Celine’s eyes trembled. Not with anger or hatred. What dwelled there was—sorrow.

“If that happens, the dissatisfaction will shake the factions… and eventually collapse the balance of the entire nation. That is the fate of a ‘harem consort who was not loved.'”

A soundless gravity descended upon the space. No one could immediately speak.

(…’Not being loved’ carries that much weight…?)

He’d thought this was some ridiculous world. But now—little by little, he was starting to see it differently.

Eventually, Celine quietly opened her mouth.

“Once, there was a king who failed to protect that balance… and plunged the harem into chaos.”

“…The previous king. You mean my father.”

Lieselotte gently lowered her eyes.

“After losing his queen, the previous king welcomed me as his official consort—not from the harem, but from the Empire.”

Celine’s tone was calm. But the weight hidden beneath it pressed heavily against Yuuri’s chest.

“As part of the marriage treaty, I was required to adopt Liese, the late queen’s daughter, as my own. To establish her as the heir to the throne.”

A breath. As if tracing a distant memory, she continued.

“However… when the lower consort most beloved by the previous king bore a son, it became the spark for all the chaos.”

A faint tremor mixed into her voice.

“One of the higher-ranking consorts who had not been favored quietly fell ill in her heart… and then, together with the previous king—… she passed away.”

A silence fell that no one could break with words. Its weight was not mere silence, but something closer to a moment of prayer.

Celine’s voice remained calm, but a faint shadow bled through beneath it.

“The king’s brother, who had been unable to claim the throne after his elder brother’s death, began to move. With the backing of the old nobility faction, he argued that ‘only one who inherits the legitimate blood of the harem is fit to be king,’ and elevated the favored concubine and her child.”

As if recalling a voice in the wind, Celine’s words paused for a moment, her eyelashes trembling faintly.

“The four great ducal houses that sided with the king’s brother turned against the royal family one after another, declaring their independence. The flames of war spread across the entire kingdom, and the nation—was driven to the brink of collapse.”

It was no longer a tale, but the sound of fingers tracing an unhealed wound.

“In the end, we bowed our heads to the remaining nobles and received support from the Empire… finally achieving victory. But the price—was far too great.”

At that time, the one who had been leading the harem was—Celine, the previous king’s queen. That place, transformed into a quiet battlefield, still had embers smoldering. Waiting for the day when those flames that nearly burned the kingdom once before—would flare up again.

And now, the one being placed at that center was—Yuuri.

(…This is the reality of the world I’ve gotten involved in.)

The thought that the future of a nation rested on him, a guy who just had some lame perverted skill—it sounded like a joke. But it was reality.

(Too heavy. Not funny. Honestly, I want to run away.)

But.

The warmth of Celine’s hand when she reached out to him that time—it still lingered. The desperate shouting of Lieselotte now hit home painfully clear.

(I know. It might be impossible for someone like me to change this world. But—)

He didn’t want to see anyone cry because he ran away anymore.

“That is precisely why… I will not allow mistakes this time.”

(Ah, she’s serious…)

Celine’s eyes looked straight at him. Unwavering resolve dwelled in that gaze.

(…This really isn’t just some harem game world, is it?)

To love becomes a responsibility. To be loved becomes a trial.

Before he knew it, he’d become the “key” that would open not just the hearts and bodies of the harem consorts—but the future of this nation itself.

“I’m with you too, so it’ll be fine. There are things Master can do.”

(—Then I’ve got no choice but to open them all.)

This harem, this nation’s future, the women’s hearts—everything.