Victoria sniffed and dashed out of the room while crying.
“Wait, Victoria!” Zach called out to her, but she had already run away.
Zach frowned his face at Aurora and said, “You had to do it, huh?!”
Zach left the house and rushed after Victoria. After searching for her for a while, Zach saw a flying carriage coming to the surface.
Zach knew the carriage had to be for Victoria, so he rushed in the direction of the carriage and found Victoria waiting for it to come down.
“Victoria!” Zach yelled.
Victoria looked back and started running after seeing Zach.
“Argh! Come on!” Zach groaned and chased after Victoria.
The carriage landed on the surface, and Victoria opened the carriage’s door. However, Zach caught up to her and pinned her down on the ground.
Luckily, they were in the garden where no one was around.
Victoria tried to push Zach away, but she didn’t have any courage. Her heart was broken after what happened back in the house.
“Get off me!” Victoria yelled.
“I won’t.”
“Let me go!”
“First listen to me,” Zach asserted.
“I don’t want to. It’s my fault for—”
“I still love you!” Zach blurted out in the heat of the moment.
“…”
As expected, Victoria stopped resisting, but she was still crying.
“But you did it with that girl!” Victoria said in a loud voice.
“She was talking about a lullaby,” Zach explained in a calm voice. “I sing her lullaby every night, and she was referring to that.”
“But… she placed her hand below her stomach and that look on her face…”
“Yeah, I know. She was just… she did that on purpose to exert her dominance…”
Zach let go of Victoria and stood up.
Victoria wiped her tears and got up before saying, “You better not be lying.”
“You know I never lie.”
Zach and Victoria stared at each other for a while and got lost in their eyes.
“Do you truly still love me?” Victoria asked in a gentle voice.
“What, do I need to prove it to you?” Zach replied with a scoff.
“Yes…” Victoria responded in a low voice.
“..!” Zach was taken aback by that. He was simply joking to tease her, but he never expected Victoria to take it seriously.
However, now it was too late to take that back.
Zach gulped down and pulled Victoria close to her. Then, he caressed her cheek and moved his face closer to her.
Victoria was surprised, but she let Zach do whatever he wanted. She closed her eyes, and a second later, she felt something soft on her lips.
She opened her eyes to see Zach was kissing her juicy lips. No, he was sucking them off.
After the kiss, Zach looked into Victoria’s eyes and said, “If this does not convince you, then I am ready to do something else.”
Zach still hadn’t learned his lesson, although he was ready to go all the way. It was a win-win situation for him.
“No, that’s enough,” Victoria replied with a flushed face. She covered her mouth and said, “That was my first kiss, by the way.”
“I have always wanted to kiss you, you know?”
Victoria raised her brows and asked, “What about you? Was this your first kiss?”
Zach averted his gaze and replied, “Well… no.”
Victoria furrowed her brows and asked, “So it was with Aurora?”
“Uhh… no.”
Victoria frowned her face and asked, “Then who was it?”
“It was… well, it was when I was seven years old. It was more of a farewell kiss rather than a romantic kiss,” Zach replied with a distant smile on his face.
Zach sighed and said, “Listen, there are so many things I have to tell you about me. But I need time.”
“I know.” After a brief pause, Victoria squirmed as she said, “I am sorry for saying all those mean things to you when we broke up.”
“I am not offended by that.” Zach shrugged his shoulders and said, “You were telling the truth. I am arrogant, and everyone knows that. Self-centered? A little bit.
“Uhh… selfish? Well, selfishness is the main thrive to live. But a narcissist?” Zach shook his head and said, “I don’t think so. I do think I am better, but I don’t think I am the best.”
“And ass for the asshole…” Zach laughed out loud and said with a grin on his face: “Everyone knows I am a first-class asshole.”
Victoria laughed out loud after seeing Zach describing himself. She hugged him and said, “I love you.”
Zach hugged her back and said, “Hey..”
“Hmm?”
“How about you leave the guild and join my party?” Zach asked in a calm voice.
“…” Victoria didn’t say anything and kept hugging Zach.
“I know I am asking a bit too much. You are the vice-captain, and you have a major role in the guild, but…” Zach hugged Victoria tightly and said, “I want you here, with me.”
After a brief silence, Victoria made a little distance between her and Zach. She looked him into the eyes and said, “Okay. I will leave the guild after we are done with the dungeon expedition. Then, I will join your party and ascend together.”
Zach smiled and said, “You have no idea how happy I am after hearing that.”
Victoria waved at Zach and turned around after saying, “I will message you later.”
“Yeah— wait.” Zach placed his hands on Victoria’s shoulders and tried to kiss her again, but she stopped him.
“That’s not happening.”
“Why not?” Zach asked with a confused look on his face. “We are dating again, right?”
“Umm…” Victoria averted her gaze and said, “I may have caused a little bit of misunderstanding.”
Zach squinted his eyes and said, “Please elaborate.”
“I want to start our relationship as friends,” Victoria uttered in a monotonous tone.
Zach face-palmed himself and said, “I never expected to get friend-zoned after getting a kiss.”
“I am not—! I… I still love you,” Victoria declared. “But… let’s start as friends, okay?”
Zach knitted his brows and glanced at Victoria from the corner of his eyes.
“You do realize that if we stay as friends, I can make moves on other girls, right?” Zach asked with a knowing look on his face.
“I know, and I don’t mind.”
“You don’t mind?” Zach asked with a confused look on his face, “Remind me, who was the girl who ran away after a small misunderstanding.”
“That’s because I thought you didn’t love me anymore. I thought you hated me. But now I know you don’t hate me, and you still love me.” Victoria replied with a shrug.
“Even if you date another girl when we are friends, I am confident enough that I can make you cheat on her with me,” Victoria declared with a proud face.
“You have changed, Victoria,” Zach said in a calm voice.
Victoria looked past Zach’s shoulder and smirked before saying, “So have you.”
Then, she moved her face close to Zach and kissed him on the lips. She opened the carriage door and asserted before waving to him: “See you soon.”
—
–
.
When Zach returned home, Kayden and Misha were talking about buying the house. Aurora told them she would inform them when they ascended.
Meanwhile, Aria was making breakfast.
After talking for a while, Kayden and Misha left.
“Breakfast is ready~” Aria groaned. “Get your asses on the chair.”
“…” Aurora glanced at Zach with a confused look on her face after hearing that. “Did she just say…?”
“Let’s go.” Zach glared at Aria and thought, ‘She is getting too comfortable that she is letting her true personality show off.’
When they were eating breakfast, Aurora glanced back and forth at Zach and Aria as though she was waiting for the right moment to say something.
Aurora was sitting in the middle chair, while Zach and Aria were seated opposite each other at the end of the table.
Zach grabbed the bowl of the soup and began drinking it directly without using a spoon.
“So…” Aurora took a bite from her dish and said, “How does kissing in the game feel?”
Zach choked on his soup and ended up spilling some back in the bowl.
Aria also started coughing after hearing that.
Zach wiped his mouth and looked at Aurora with a confused look on his face. But then he realized something.
“You… saw?” Zach asked while stuttering.
“I chased after you because I felt bad for saying that, and I wanted to apologize to Victoria. But when I reach the park, what do I see? I see you kissing her passionately on the lips,” Aurora asserted in a disdainful tone and shook her head in disbelief.
“In my defense, if you hadn’t said anything to cause that misunderstanding, Victoria wouldn’t have run away, and I wouldn’t have to kiss her to calm her down,” Zach stated.
“Oh, don’t worry. You don’t have to defend or explain yourself,” Aurora uttered. “I am not angry or anything.”
“…”
“But I am pissed on Victoria.” Aurora frowned her face and said, “When she noticed I was watching you two, she smirked and declared that she would steal you from me.”
‘So that’s why Victoria said that in a loud voice…’ Zach sighed.
“That was a declaration of the war!” Aurora pulled Zach close to her and kissed him on the lips.
Both Zach and Aria were surprised. However, Zach kissed her back by playing with Aurora’s tongue.
After the kiss, Aurora continued, “And I, Aurora Edens, the first of my name, the sole heir of Edens Dynasty, the next to be the Queen and the Ruler, accept her challenge!”
Zach was left speechless, but he had already expected such an outcome.
‘It was going to happen one day. This was inevitable,’ Zach thought to himself.
Zach continued eating breakfast, and so did Aurora and Aria. However, Aria was eating hastily with a frowned face, as though she was angry about something.
Zach sighed while eating and uttered inwardly: ‘Now I understand what father meant by ‘Be careful with the ladies. For once, they can be damsels, and in the next instance, you can be in distress’.’
‘But father, you forgot to tell me what I should do when I get in such a situation.’
Zach had yet to experience the pain and the pleasure of loving multiple girls at once.
***
Total players in the game 405321.
0 new players logged in.
48 players died.
===
Author’s Note- I wasn’t going to advance the harem this sooner, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided to go with this.
Also, if you are worried that the novel might suffer because of the harem, then I assure you, you don’t have to worry about it. I have said this before, and I will say it again, I am more than confident in my harem execution skill. And this is just a start.