CHAPTER 56
My thoughts halted for a moment. I hadn't expected Niobe to ask something like this.

"Why are you asking that?"

Having barely calmed my mind, I asked for the reason. Well, whether I asked or not, the reason was obvious.

"Then are you going to keep leaving them like that, My Liege?"

Niobe seriously asked the question that probably everyone who knew me had thought about at least once.

"If you leave them be, it will only get worse."

"I know that too, but it's not like they're going to stop and leave just because I say I don't like it. In fact, they'd probably do something even worse."

"What kind of thing?"

"I don't know? Kidnap me and cut the tendons in my legs so I can't run away anywhere?"

"Nonsense! Who would dare do such a thing?!"

Alios? Because Alios was the one who did that to the original Ceres.

She had been passionately courting Ceres, but felt a sense of crisis when Hames appeared, and completely lost her mind when Viol even confined him in the Imperial Palace. While she was trying to get him back somehow, Ares plotted treason and committed suicide, and Ceres, thinking his position as heir was threatened because of Nemeth, sought refuge in the Temple.

While staying at the Temple like that, he was suspected of being a fake Saint, and ended up locked in prison because Hames deliberately abandoned him. Then Sibylius rescued him. But that same Sibylius was actually in the middle of conducting biological experiments on Ceres.

After obtaining information on where Ceres went, Alios risked her life to barely rescue him from Sibylius, and she did that saying she wouldn't let him run away again.

...Looking back and organizing the events properly, even though the original Alios was a crazy bastard, maybe she had good reason to go crazy?

The female Alios wouldn't do this since the original events have completely changed, but you never know how things will turn out in this world.

"My Liege, you do not need to worry!"

Since I was making a serious expression while thinking about the original events, Niobe seemed to think I was scared.

"No matter who you choose, My Liege, we will protect you so the others cannot lay a single finger on you."

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Even if the enemy is Sibylius?"

"...I will risk my life!"

Even if it's a lie, she can't bring herself to say she'd safely protect me. Naturally. Aside from beings that only exist in the lore like the Heavenly God or the Demon King, Niobe must have also sensed that Sibylius was the strongest.

When I looked at her with a doubtful expression, Niobe answered hesitantly.

"If we join forces with Emperor Viol, wouldn't we manage somehow?"

"That sounds like you're telling me to choose Viol."

"No, it's not that..."

"You know. It feels like you're not just telling me to pick anyone, but you have a specific partner you want to pair me up with."

When I pressed her, Niobe reluctantly opened her mouth.

"I think it would be good if you chose the Emperor, My Liege, but that is merely my own thought, and I would not dare force it upon you!"

"Why Viol?"

"Because she arrived right on time when you were in danger, My Liege."

"Tell me the truth."

"I apologize. I thought that if you married that woman, the next generation of Whiperion would seize this Empire."

Having spoken honestly, Niobe gauged my reaction.

"Um, My Liege. Then is there someone else you have in mind?"

"No."

"No one? Out of those four. No, including that demon named Red who shows a strange attitude toward you, that makes five. Is there no one among them you are most drawn to?"

Yeah, that's right. There's no one I'm most drawn to. And even if you told me to pick one of them, I couldn't do it.

"I'd feel sorry."

"Pardon?"

"All five of them helped me, so if I pick one, I'd feel sorry for the other four."

At first, I couldn't choose because I just thought of the psychos from the original novel, but now I couldn't choose because I felt indebted to them for their help.

"Are you serious?"

Learning my true feelings for the first time, Niobe looked bewildered.

"To think you couldn't choose anyone because you were considering all of that."

"Well, it's not strictly just that. To begin with, I don't even have enough affection for any of them to call it love yet."

I spoke defensively, but...

"No. That is not true."

Niobe firmly refuted.

"You said you have no affection for anyone, My Liege, but from what I have seen, that is not the case at all. My Liege, ever since Emperor Viol brought you here that day, how have you treated her?"

"I just treated her like before? Keeping an appropriate distance and being blunt."

"To me and the others, it did not look that way. When Emperor Viol made advances, you laughed or responded playfully. As if you didn't actually hate it."

I-I did?!

"It wasn't just with Emperor Viol. From what I observed, your reactions to the others were also favorable."

"...How so, specifically?"

"With Alios, even when you scold her, you never cross the line and treat her with goodwill, like a friend. With the priest named Hames, you always act docile. You look at her with trust in your eyes, and you haven't strongly reprimanded Sibylius either, have you?"

"Even granting the other two, what about Sibylius? Is not treating her harshly an act of goodwill too?"

"I heard everything. I heard that woman confessed her love to you on the street? Yet the fact that you did not immediately cast her away and let her be is proof that you have affection for her!"

The moment Niobe spoke so strongly, I felt a shock as if I had been hit in the head with a lump of iron.

Is that really true? I did consider Alios a friend, but did I harbor an affection for the other three that rivaled what I felt for her?

"...Then what about Red?"

"She is a woman who has targeted you several times already, yet you let her into the Imperial Palace just because she helped you once. That says it all. You may not have realized it yourself yet, My Liege, but you already feel affection for her."

"...I really do? I'm that easy that I'd feel affection for her just because she saved me once?"

"That is how it looks to my eyes."

I stared blankly, my mouth hanging open. Too shocked to even offer a rebuttal, I just stood there with my mouth agape as Niobe let out a sigh.

"It is a big problem that so many women are this obsessed with you, yet you harbor enough affection for all of them that you cannot choose just one."

"...I guess it is."

If this were a typical harem story, I could pretend to be crazy and say I'd date all of them, but this is a gender-reversed romantic fantasy. If you compared it to my original world, I was in the position of a noble young lady. If a noble lady said she was going to date every man she fancied, there would be an uproar, and she'd go down in history as a crazy bitch.

Furthermore, harems aren't exactly highly recommended behavior in this world. Even the women, who hold the traditional male positions, usually don't date multiple people. Maybe it's because they're the ones who get pregnant.

Even if I really went crazy and suggested it, it's not like the women would just sit still and accept it. Unless I became a god or something, a harem was impossible.

"...I want to get some rest."

When thinking about it didn't solve the problem, I rubbed my head.

"I know what you're saying, but telling me that isn't going to solve the problem right away."

"I apologize. It seems I spoke out of turn."

When I showed my irritation, Niobe flinched.

"I am sorry for disturbing your rest. Please, rest comfortably."

"You rest too."

Only after watching her apologize and leave could I finally rest on my bed.

A little while after Ceres fell asleep in his room.
The garden outside the Imperial Palace.

"You've completely lost your mind, haven't you?"

Viol stood with her arms crossed, glaring at the person in front of her. The person in front of her was Ares, but they weren't the only two there.

"I came because you called me. But considering what happened earlier today, why did you call us?"
—Alios.

"Something felt unusual, so I did as told for now, but I sincerely hope this isn't a major issue."
—Hames.

"...If you were not Ceres's mother, I wouldn't have come just because you called."
—Sibylius.

"Why me?"
—And even Red.

The very people Ceres and Niobe had just been worrying about were all gathered in full force. They had come out because Ares suddenly summoned them, but they all looked thoroughly displeased. Alios, who had an unpleasant incident with Ares earlier in the day, looked reluctant to be there, and Hames, who had watched it happen, was the same.

Sibylius, Red, and Viol reacted as if to say, 'How dare someone like you summon me?' Viol was especially severe.

"Strange. I clearly remember being the monarch and you being the subject?"

Viol was angry, acting like, 'How dare a subject summon their monarch?'

"Normally in this Empire, the only one who can summon me like this is the Emperor. And even then, if I say I don't want to, she can't force me. So you understand, right? I am showing you an immense amount of goodwill solely because you are Ceres's mother."

Sibylius, who had fought with Ares once before, did not view her favorably and emphasized that she only complied because of Ceres.

"It was so absurd how boldly you told us to follow you that I came out to see."

Among them, only Red looked on with a gaze that was an appropriate mix of displeasure and curiosity.

Receiving everyone's diverse and overbearing gazes all at once, Ares quietly opened her mouth.

"I will be blunt. I want all of you to give up on Ceres."