(Chastity Reversed) The Legitimate Wife War: How I, a Harem-Hater, Ended Up Creating an Ultra-Eccentric Harem with a Villainess, a Sadistic Beauty Teacher, a Scheming Classmate... etc.

“What am I going to do…?”

I sat on the unnecessarily large, canopy bed in my room, reflecting on everything that had just happened.

This morning, I struggled to wrap my head around how vast the new house was. By noon, I was blindsided by this bizarre “Fiancée Voting” event that Shiina-san had sprung on us.

And she had the audacity to call it the first event—as if there were more to come.

After stirring up chaos, Shiina-san made her gallant exit, leaving the rest of us stunned in her wake.

What the hell, seriously. What a disaster.

The rest of us retreated to our respective rooms, needing time to process everything, though we were supposed to reconvene at 3 o’clock to discuss the shared life ahead.

“Still… Fiancée Voting, huh?”

In essence, it was a system where everyone voted on the future of this fiancée arrangement.

Given the current societal conditions, it was understandable that most women wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to marry a man. This meant that even if a man were opposed, a vote of 3:2 would be enough to continue the arrangement.

The system likely gave men two votes to balance the fact that many of them these days had little interest in marriage. It was a way for the government to claim they were ‘favoring’ men.

Not that it really meant much in practice.

In theory, most Fiancée Voting events should pass smoothly.

Three votes for, two votes against, and everything proceeded as planned.

But this time, it was the opposite.

Because of my sister’s treatment costs, I was in the pro-marriage camp.

Meanwhile, for reasons I still didn’t fully understand, the women were opposed to this polygamous marriage system.

If things continued as they were, the vote could end up 2:3, rejecting the arrangement outright.

If that happened… the continuation of my sister’s treatment would be in jeopardy.

Maybe the government wouldn’t cut off support immediately, but I’d have to prepare for the worst.

“For my sister’s sake, I can’t let this system fail.”

That hadn’t changed.

Which meant—

“I need at least one of them to vote in favor of continuing this arrangement. If I can convince just one person, the vote will shift to 3:2 in my favor, and the system can continue.”

In other words, all I needed was one vote.

One out of three.

Easy. Simple.

Piece of cake.

…Wait, what?

Hold on. Let’s think this through.

What did Hosho-san say about me during the matchmaking meeting?

I was pretty sure it was something like…

[You’ll just end up breaking off the engagement anyway, right? If you’re going to do it, make it quick—I don’t want my time wasted.]

Oof.

Even remembering it hurt a little.

But I couldn’t afford to avoid this. I needed to reflect properly.

Let’s move on to Akitsuki-san.

[I prefer girls, so I’ll only interact with you when absolutely necessary.]

Ah… I see.

She liked girls.

In other words, men weren’t even in her romantic scope.

And then there was Tachibana-san.

[I don’t care. It’s a hassle.]

I had no idea what to make of that.

Did that mean she didn’t dislike me? Maybe?

But at the same time, wasn’t indifference harder to deal with than dislike?

As the saying went, the opposite of love wasn’t hate—it was apathy.

Hmm… They were all tricky to approach.

Still, looking at it this way, I think—

“Hmm…”

“What’s the matter, Kyo-sama? You look like you’re deep in thought.”

“Whoa!”

Kazari-san suddenly leaned in from the side, startling me.

“You seem to be troubled. Is it about what happened earlier?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

Apparently, my worry was written all over my face.

“Did you come up with a genius plan for winning the Fiancée Voting event?”

“Nope.”

“My, what a confident denial. Yet it feels like you might have something brewing.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly trying to gauge my intentions.

“Well, it’s not like I’m completely out of ideas.”

“Oh, that’s a sham—wonderful news!”

“Did you almost say “shame” just now?”

“I would never. The thought of comforting a crushed Kyo-sama hasn’t crossed my mind even a little.”

“You’re not even trying to hide it!”

I don’t think I’d shown her any kind of needy behavior to justify that!

“Well, if you ever need someone to spoil you, let me know.”

“I’m not sure about the ‘spoiling’ part, but I’ll definitely rely on you when the time comes.”

“Alright then, shall we head downstairs? It’s almost time.”

A glance at the clock showed that it was already 2:50 PM.

“Can you tell me your approach first?”

“For now, the priority is communication. We barely know anything about each other, and the matchmaking meeting was what it was. If we don’t talk, we’ll just remain biased against one another.”

Right now, they probably saw me as just another man from society.

The same way I’d pigeonholed them as a ‘villainous debutante’, a ‘black-hearted classmate’, and a ‘sadistic lesbian teacher’.

Before anything else, I had to break those preconceptions.

Descending to the first floor, I entered the living room.

Shortly after, Hosho-san arrived, followed by Tachibana-san, and finally Akitsuki-san.

“Oh, my apologies. Am I the last to arrive? I was taking a phone call,” Akitsuki-san said.

“No, you’re not late. Let’s talk about the next steps… though it’s just for one month,” Hosho-san commented curtly.

Tragic news: Hosho-san has already decided it was just for one month. What should I do?

“May I say something first?”

The flow of the conversation was clearly not in my favor.

Everyone turned their gazes toward me.

Suspicious gazes. Hostile gazes. Disinterested gazes.