The air got tense—and his temporary office was all crowded again.
Lily, Gabrielle, Eyna—his de facto harem—with Stella and Maple all poured in, leaving him as the only male near or far. What was even happening? It was like an intervention, but for what?
"Seems like we need some ground rules," the archangel started, her voice low, measured.
"Yeah. Rule number one: me first," Lily offered with a smirk, taking a step closer.
Eyna was still blushing ever since they got caught earlier, avoiding everyone's gazes. The dragon rubbed her hands as if expecting juicy things to happen soon, and Stella—
No, well, she appeared as confused as Konrad had felt.
"What's happening?" he asked, one eyebrow on the rise. "Weren't you at Stella's manor?"
Gabrielle's arrival was too convenient, after all, but so were her powers.
Someone who could stop time was never late.
"She's jealous 'cuz even Puppy-Girl made a move on ya before she did," Lily chuckled.
Okay, if that was the case, she was late after all—
But—wait, what?
"I can't follow." Konrad shook his head, feeling the blood rush into his face.
"Do you even know what a harem is, kid?" Maple asked, imitating the way Vargas usually talked him down for some reason. "It's not like a flower bouquet you look at when you feel like it—"
"Who even let the dragon inside?" Gabrielle snapped, shooting her a murderous glance.
Absolute chaos.
From his existential crisis to a tense council of hot women, things escalated fast.
"Did I ever call you my harem in the first place?" Konrad asked, confused.
Sure, he must've thought about them as such, but—oh.
Yeah, well, that must've done the trick.
"Indeed, three of us can read your dirty meow-nd, Konny boy," Lily said, stepping even closer.
"And it's frustrating to feel this lust and desire, but nothing ever happens," Maple sighed.
Wait, the dragon did? Gabrielle was ready to snap at her.
"You shut up, you're not even part of the harem yet."
"Yet?" Konrad was trying his damnedest to grasp at straws, but—
"Y-you didn't have the same connection I felt with him." Maple shivered, like an orgasm was about to crash over her. "We all but merged in our essence—"
"H-he did that to me, too," Stella added, her voice a mere whisper in this intense cacophony.
But now the executioner, too?!
"See, you're quite the irresponsible lover, darling," Lily smirked. Her freckles danced on her mischievous face, enjoying the chaos. Konrad was less so—he wanted to disappear. Again.
For a different reason, this time.
"C-could we all calm down?" he pleaded, backing into a corner. "I still don't understand."
"Master is quite dense, but he is still the only Master," Eyna noted with a blush.
It didn't help.
"And this is why we need those ground rules," Gabrielle repeated her earlier statement.
As if that made sense.
"All right, enough, every-nyan." Lily stepped in front of his personal little crowd, raising her voice. "You're scaring my boyfriend, and that wasn't the goal of this gathering."
He could see that Maple was about to protest against the title, but must have changed her mind.
There was a clear difference in the strength of each girl, and by far, the demoness was the most powerful one. So how did Gabrielle appear in his arms without him ever noticing her move?
"Hey," the ginger snapped, shooting a glance behind her back. "No time stopping."
But the duke's daughter, in her usual frilly blue dress, was already in kissing distance.
Which was a new term, Konrad had to coin after Eyna's earlier surprise attack.
"You call him your boyfriend, but who's the only one who proposed to him prim and proper?"
That—did happen. And it's been a month now.
Konrad almost forgot about it, brushing it aside as part of the angel's plan, but—
Even if it was for political maneuvering, wasn't it more relevant than ever now? He was a duke in all but name himself. What would a marriage like that even look like?
Rather than understanding the situation, he fell deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole.
One with questions he never had the time to dwell on, because his second life was so busy.
"I was there first, Gabby, you're an entire life too late to claim him," Lily argued in the meantime. "And we already had sex in this life as well, so you're the only one who—"
"Hey, could you not?" Konrad protested, his face now burning with intensity.
Not only was he surrounded by all these—eager?—women, one was even hugging him.
And they were talking about his sexual life now?
"Is he as good with his cock as he is with his mana?" Maple asked, as if it were the most mundane conversation opener. "Because man, if he saves me, I'd get sealed away again."
"I can arrange that, you dirty dragon," Lily shot back, but—was she enjoying this?
Konrad, too, noticed something alarming.
He had no idea how much blood he had in his body, expecting most of it to burn his face already. But then, enough found its way to his cock, too—as mentioned by Maple right now.
He was getting hard in this weird situation, and it would have taken only a little more to—
"That's indeed unfair," Gabrielle pouted—something he never saw her do.
But what was worse—she pushed closer, right against his forming erection.
Her clothes were thick and fluffy, but for a moment there, he could feel the heat of her skin underneath. The situation wouldn't stop escalating, and he still had no idea what was going on.
He might as well have passed out at this point, only to escape it, and let them find a solution—
"Oh, feel free," the dragon smirked. Because, of course, they didn't stop reading his mind. "I'm sure nobody would take advantage of you being out of it among us."
The way she said that, he was sure they'd somehow violate him if he did.
And the thought only made that unwanted erection stiffer.
"Fuck, I can't even think," he groaned, trying to push Gabrielle away, but not trying too hard.
He needed space, time to think—but also, wasn't this the most arousing situation he had ever been in? In any life, or even in movies, five eager and beautiful women arguing about him—
"Fuck, you say?" Lily asked with a smirk. "Yeah, we could do that, too. But it might be too early."
"I'm ready whenever," Maple claimed, her already revealing clothing starting to loosen.
This had to be a dream. It couldn't have been real after all.
But was it a nightmare, or a wet one?
It all came out of nowhere—but at least he forgot about all his earlier worries for now.
He had more pressing matters at hand, and between his legs, too. And all the eyes on him made him extra nervous. What was this sudden harmony between the girls, anyway?
Didn't they hate each other? Fight all the time?
Argue about overarching plans, and even ignoring him—
But not today. They all seemed to have wanted a piece of him.
And they all accepted that they can't have him all for themselves.
So it wasn't a question of whether he had a harem or not anymore. It was how to deal with it?