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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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I woke up to a bright morning sky, sunlight streaming through the window, flaunting its presence.
Despite that the ordeal happened just yesterday, it felt like I had slept soundly for a week.
As I looked around, I saw Asirye asleep in the same room, having unfolded a cot.
I wondered if she was still asleep, but her long ears twitched, indicating she had woken to the sound of my stirring.
“Mmm. Eldi, you’re awake?”
“Yeah. I thought you’d wake me after you finished talking, but you left me alone.”
“I couldn’t wake a patient just to chat, even if their wounds are healed. It wasn’t anything important anyway.”
“…Really?”
“I don’t lie. Let’s wash up and get ready. Esmée and Lagnis were disappointed they couldn’t talk to you yesterday.”
Unlike yesterday’s tense atmosphere, her tone was gentle and reassuring.
However, I was also uneasy, having no idea what conversations had transpired while I slept.
Unfazed by my anxiety, Asirye rang the bell in the room.
A servant entered, and she asked them to inform Esmée and Lagnis that I was awake.
Then, she began the arduous process of fully waking up.
Since I couldn’t escape this situation anyway, I too started washing my face and brushing my teeth with the water another servant had prepared.
Asirye, usually a heavy sleeper, seemed to have been tense from worrying about me.
Unlike her usual habit of taking her time waking up, she quickly came to her senses and began washing her face.
Since it was clear she would take a little longer, starting with fixing her hair, I changed into clean clothes and decided to wait outside until she was ready.
The hallway outside was simple and undecorated, but the flags bearing what appeared to be a family crest hinted that this was a nobleman’s residence.
It only had a few windows, which made it feel more like a military barrack than a mansion.
Marveling at the unfamiliar style, I walked to a window and looked outside.
The city view was strangely reminiscent of Ogwen.
With mountains on one side and plains on the other, the city’s architecture prioritized sturdiness over the ornate style of the capital.
The landscape suggested this was a fortified border city like Ogwen, or one located near the national border.
Hmm, the princess came to a city like this? There must have been chaos.
“What are you looking at?” Asirye asked, her arms crossed, having finished her preparations.
“I was just imagining the chaos the lord of this provincial city must have experienced yesterday.”
“Hee hee. A lord running around with servants in the pouring rain isn’t a common sight.”
Speaking of the pouring rain… I offered a silent prayer for the unknown lord and followed Asirye to the mansion’s dining hall.
It was simple, just like the rest of the mansion, but not in a cheap way.
It felt more like a conscious effort towards frugality, and I rather liked the interior.
I sat down, and Asirye, sitting opposite me, tied her unbound hair into her usual braid and began to speak.
“The conversation I had with the two last night was simple. The main goal was to establish the premise that none of us should prioritize our personal feelings over Eldi’s goals, and everyone agreed. Of course, that included me.”
However, what she said next was quite different from what I had expected.
“Actually, before that conversation, we had a brief discussion to gauge each other’s intentions… Well, what else would it be? Honestly, I was most worried about Esmée, but contrary to my concerns, she was quite sensible. As expected of someone considered a candidate for the next emperor. At least I learned that her feelings for you aren’t just a fleeting fancy.”
Strange.
I clearly remember hearing Asirye say she loved me, and I replied that I loved her too.
Why did this conversation sound like they had spent time discussing other women?
“Uh, honestly, I didn’t expect this kind of conversation to come up now.”
I interrupted her, feeling uneasy that the conversation would continue without me understanding the context.
“Huh? Why?”
“It sounds like you had this conversation with the assumption that our relationship would continue.”
“That’s right.”
Her nonchalant, blank expression in response left me speechless.
Asirye shrugged and dropped a bombshell.
“You can support at least two or three wives, can’t you?”
“Sis, wait a minute…”
What did I just hear?
Two or three wives?
Aside from the fact that they were a princess and a margrave, this felt very different from my understanding.
“Aren’t you jumping into polygamy a bit too suddenly?”
“They’re all considering that much. The question was who would be the first.”
“Huh?”
Am I… the only one… different?
Huh?
That’s not right.
My parents were monogamous, and so were the villagers.
Is it because they’re nobles?
Do they accept it because they sometimes have concubines?
But that’s Esmée and Lagnis’s situation.
I don’t think Asirye would accept it so easily.
“Is polygamy common among elves?”
“No, we’re monogamous.”
“Then why do you accept it so naturally? I’m having trouble accepting it.”
“Because I love you?”
Her sudden, direct confession made me blush, but I had to finish what I was saying.
I couldn’t understand this, no matter how much I thought about it.
“That’s… a really nice thing to hear, but shouldn’t that make it harder to accept? Even though I love you, that doesn’t mean I’m okay with sharing this feeling with other women.”
“That’s why we need to have dinner together and discuss this.”
I turned to see Esmée and Lagnis entering the dining hall.
Esmée smiled faintly at me, while Lagnis pouted at Asirye.
They seemed strangely close.
“How can you start the conversation without us, Asirye?”
“Huh? I was just talking about what we discussed yesterday.”
Perhaps because of the sensitive nature of the conversation, they entered without any servants and sat down naturally, flanking Asirye.
“I’m relieved to see you’re healthy after yesterday’s ordeal. It was worth the trouble for me, Lagnis, and you too.”
“It couldn’t be helped, but my heart nearly stopped. I need to give you some kind of helpful magical tool.”
“Since the main cause of your injuries was magic, a protective magical tool would be good.”
Then, they started casually chatting about me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Three beautiful women conversing was a pleasant sight… but it was a situation beyond my comprehension, given my understanding of the world.
Lost in confusion, I simply stared at them.
Lagnis, noticing my bewilderment, offered an explanation.
“Um, Eldmia? This is like a temporary alliance.”
“Alliance…?”
“A temporary alliance to keep Eldmia alive until he achieves his goal.”
Stunned, I was at a loss for words.
Esmée continued Lagnis’s explanation, unfazed.
“It’s exactly as Lagnis said. Your goal… is not a trivial matter. We understand how important it is to you, so we can’t stop you. But we can’t just stand by and watch you face mortal danger either.”
Besides, fighting amongst ourselves to win your heart would be a waste of time.
Although I confessed my love to Asirye yesterday, Esmée argued that my inability to refuse her and Lagnis’s confessions meant I had feelings for them as well, thus establishing equal footing.
Therefore, they needed to have a more detailed and serious conversation after I achieved my goal of revenge, when the situation would be more relaxed and the primary threat to my well-being removed.
That was the conclusion the three women had reached while I slept.
“So you just need to focus on achieving your goal, as you’ve been doing. This love rivalry will begin afterward.”
With that declaration, Esmée rang the bell on the table to have the prepared food brought in.
“If I hadn’t been bothered by seeing Eldi with other women, would I have been jealous yesterday? I simply… agreed because their arguments were valid, and their concern for Eldi was genuine.”
Asirye smiled as she explained, and so did Esmée and Lagnis.
That much, their shared understanding, seemed to be beyond my grasp.
I was grateful for their consideration and love, but as I had thought earlier, this was no trivial matter.
Unable to find the words to express my feelings, I could only swallow the food the servants brought in.
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[Asirye is kinda cracked ngl also i just realized that the world relies on a couple of teenage girls in power to not kill eachother because of a boy]
Don’t really like this development: basically his harem just decided everything and he just goes with the flow. The story is still quite interesting but this kinda leaves a bad taste.
Also feels a bit weird how accepting Esmee is of being in a harem. The other 2 at least were in the same village for years, so they may have known that both of them liked Eldmia, but Esmee barely knows him and is just meeting Asiyre for the first time, yet is still surprisingly willing to be part of a harem.
All that they decided about is to stop fighting over him up to a specific moment. That’s just postponing the problem, not solving it for him. And women usually won’t fight to death over a man, they prefer to assassinate each other socially, undermining the opinion of each other in his eyes any way they could. That and creating fait accompli by getting pregnant first. There are other possible plots to undertake in secret, but usually without personally dirting their own hands, pretending to be innocent and unaware instead.
*dirtying
This entire sequence is WILD