Harem and Family

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  Nanami POV

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  After César spoke, I felt like my heart had completely stopped. His words were clear despite the crack in his voice and his tears. I didn’t know how to respond at that moment. The other girls didn’t say anything either, waiting for an answer from me—an answer I myself didn’t even know. The only one who did something to move things forward was María, César’s sister, who was also there. It took me a moment to recognize her since I had only seen her in the photos he showed me. She had grown a bit, but her face was the same. Probably for that reason, she was the only one I wasn’t angry with. She urged me to follow them back to the ship to return to Earth, to the house where César now lived.

  During the entire journey, no one said a word. César just kept staring at Avalon in his hands—my prison, which had now lost all its power since I was no longer trapped inside.

  It seems César now lives with his mother, Adelis, and his sister, along with all the other women. What a tragedy. He always brought me comics and novels from this place, and now that I finally see it with my own eyes, I can’t be with him because there’s always another girl nearby talking to him.

  A couple of days have passed since I came to live in this house. I’ve barely spoken to anyone about my anger. I think I’ve only spoken with María and Adelis—whom I had to apologize to when we met. I had to explain that even though I was now a ghost, I wasn’t a bad omen or a source of harm, just someone who wanted to keep on living and see a world free from the dragons I helped create. She smiled at me and tried to hug me, but her arms went right through me. It seems that, being a ghost, I have some powers I don’t fully control. Apparently, one of them is the ability always to be intangible. But I’m not complaining—it could’ve been much worse. At least I can still eat food and taste it.

  The first thing I did was ask for a pizza, and César, trying to find a way to calm my anger, ran outside immediately to buy one despite the heavy rain at nigh, that idiot. But I finally got to taste a real human pizza, not the poorly made replica I had tried to create back at the palace.

  Today Cesar went to the city with his sister to do some shopping. However, all the other girls are at the house walking back and forth, each doing her own thing.

  Why do all these girls live together? They all belong to a harem and love the same man I loved. Why are they simply coexisting as if it were the most normal thing in the world? Why aren't they rivals? They’re all lovers—surely they all want to be the one he loves most, even though I was the first to discover him when he was worthless.

  I never met my mother, at least not directly. I knew she existed while she was carrying me; I never knew what my father did with her afterward. Orion was obsessed with being seen as strong, the stud, the supreme conqueror, and the ultimate man over of all men. Of course, for an alpha male like him, it was natural to sleep with as many women as possible. But to him, those women were nothing more than sex toys, possessions to satisfy his lust. No matter how many women he had, it was never enough. If he saw a woman he considered beautiful, he would take her prisoner, even in front of her husband or children, and throw her into the harem room. Only women were allowed to enter the room, but they could never leave. Of course, the emperor did whatever he wanted inside those walls.

  Had my mother not been murdered by my father’s dark and perverse desires, she would have been one of those women. It's just that I never knew exactly who she was. I always thought of my mother as one of the women who lived in that room, submissive and quiet. At the time, I didn’t know they were submissive out of fear of being slaughtered.

  In this house, I see the same kind of sin living within these walls.

  How did this happen? I was the first to find him. I was the first to love him. I married him when no one else was by his side. I gave my life so he could live. I was locked inside that sword so he could live a few more days. Then, to my surprise, he managed to rescue me, only to reveal that he had a harem of many women by his side, as if my sacrifice meant nothing! He left me behind to seek new loves even though I gave him everything!

  Now he expects me to accept this harem nonsense? Even though I had him all to myself, now I'm just one more of his wives?

  Still hurting from the weight of my memories and the bitterness of feeling out of place, I walked through the strange halls of this house. I wondered how those women could live together like this, loving the same man, without rivalry consuming them and envy poisoning every gesture.

  Back then, even seeing a picture of a home like this one—compact, utilitarian, and shared—would have felt like going to an amusement park. In the living room, I saw a giant, thin television; phones were just black glass rectangles instead of the old buttoned-up ones; and the cars were bigger and more square than round. Human technology seems to have advanced a bit more than César told me back in Atlantis. Yet, I feel I can’t enjoy any of it because my thoughts circle only around one thing.

  As I pondered how the new televisions differed from those I knew, I saw someone in the yard pulling shirts from a basket and hanging them on a line with clothespins to dry in the sun.

  That fox girl over there calls herself Tamamo-no-Mae. According to others, she is the Moon Goddess—a walking concept who has humbled herself by taking on a human body and playing house in this home. Yet, she is capable of altering reality itself. Still, there she is, washing clothes by hand and humming with a smile—the creature who could end the world in an instant, obsessively saying, "Look, I can be harmless!" Why doesn't she use her power to skip the tedious tasks? Does she find purpose in inconvenience? There she is, doing the laundry. She could at least use her power for that, couldn't she?

  The goddess obsessed with being human.

  From what I’ve heard, she is a dangerous and evil goddess—a perfect actress and cold-hearted manipulator. Yet, everyone considers her Cesar’s main wife, even over me. They all trust her, the submissive who is always at Cesar’s side, providing support. With a single word from Cesar, she will act without hesitation.

  She is the living image of what I should have been at birth and another victim of my father. However, that would have probably been a fate worse than what I have to live through now.

  "Why are you washing the clothes yourself, Tamamo?" I asked her.

  You could move mountains with a snap. What pleasure do you find in these boring, ordinary tasks?"

  "Precisely because everything divine becomes monotonous. In a blink, I could clean the entire house, dry the air, live in a palace, and have all the money in the world."

  "All of which would take a human their entire life to earn."

  "Without love, without meaning, without value."

  "Where would the flavor of the unexpected be? What if every day were the same?”

  "A surprise is fun when it’s unexpected. An anecdote is better when it’s remembered fondly as an unforeseen event."

  "Routine anchors me to this human life and the real heartbeat of each day.

  "Here, while hanging clothes, I feel the fabric’s touch and remember that each thread carries its own story."

  "Each thread of this shirt was taken from the wool of a sheep raised and cared for by a shepherd as if it were his daughter.

  "Its wool was gathered by one person and transported by another to a place where machines and people worked together to create fine threads barely visible to the naked eye, they placed these threads on spools."

  "Those threads were sold and moved to another truck to be taken to a place that would transform them into a greater work. Like an artist’s paintings, they were made into a larger, more valuable piece."

  "More people worked on this shirt until it took shape, then, it was packaged for transport to the store, where a person carried it to the stockroom and another returned it to the main floor."

  "Where one day Okā-san looked for her next garment and, among thousands of shirts, chose, bought, and brought back this one."

  "Now, I am trying to make it shine again for the next time this shirt honors the hundred artisans who worked on it. I decided to honor them by choosing to wear it."

  "Every object in this house, from the soap I used to the water I rinsed with to the machine that helped, has a similar yet unique story."

  "All of that is far more interesting than a simple snap and done."

  "A testament to human effort and collectiveness—a sea of anonymous, intertwined destinies, just like the threads of this shirt."

  "Something far more worthy of a goddess, don't you think?"

  "But you are still the Goddess of the Moon."

  "Why did you decide to stay here? Why did you choose to love Cesar?

  "I can barely bear the pain of coming back here and finding him with all those other women."

  "Surely he should be grateful since he hit the jackpot by receiving love from a goddess."

  "Why do I love Cesar?"

  "The correct question is why wouldn't I love him."

  "I'm the one who's lucky just to be by his side."

  "..."

  "He is such a unique creature—so fascinating and incredible."

  "A warrior of the cruelest war and a survivor of the apocalypse."

  "Someone who has seen the worst of humanity: war, destruction, and the Doomsday end."

  "Someone who ascended to emperor, to Dragon god, by his own will."

  "And yet, he remains humble, considering himself just another face in the crowd."

  "How does he still keep his tenderness and his desire to believe that life is beautiful and that children are innocent despite literally being in the trenches of no man’s land?"

  "..."

  "Maybe I am a goddess, and he is just an ordinary man."

  "And because I am a goddess, you may think that only another god is worthy to be by my side."

  "But let me tell you this: when I was imprisoned in a cursed stone gaisnt my will for a thousand years, not one of them came to visit or speak with me."

  "When I escaped the cursed stone, everyone was afraid of my existence."

  "When no one had the courage to speak to me, he was already by my side, calling me darling."

  “How did he fool you into never telling you about me?”

  “No, you’re mistaken about that.”

  “I myself helped him rescue you because I love him and what he loves.”

  “From the very first minute, he told me about you; I simply decided to love him despite that.”

  “Everyone here in this house knew about you, about what happened in Atlantis and the war you both lived through.”

  “He always informed the others that you wouldn’t be the only one; all the others simply decided to continue, each for different reasons.”

  “That’s why everyone here behaves as if you had always been here, because your place was always reserved; now it’s just a pleasure to finally know we have you here present.”

  So, is this "harem" another echo of his torment?

  "No, it's her medicine, as well as mine and the others'.

  "If you want, it can be yours as well because spiritual and mental pain isn’t fixed by taking a little pill, It requires love and someone who is there for you."

  As I listened to Tamamo speak with unshakable calm and a mixture of divinity and humanity that made her so complex, I felt a knot in my chest. Despite her wisdom and power, she had chosen to be there with him, giving up grandeur to share in the ordinary. I wondered what it would be like to have her strength and inner peace.

  I went back inside the house, where a couple of strange noises were coming from under the kitchen. Just a few moments later, someone came to take care of the problem. A transparent girl approached. She wasn't wearing any clothes besides a tool backpack, which she used to try to fix the kitchen faucet.

  Momo was her name, a rather unique angel even among her kind. A living statue made of glass, a creature impossible to live, and yet there she was, regardless of what science said.

  I have noticed that she is the handyman of the house, always going back and forth fixing everything that breaks. She is one of the adults in the group. Both she and Cesar, Mei Ling, and Adelis try to keep the logistics of this place really functioning as a home, continuously putting aside fantasy, handling bills, taxes, or food shopping instead of just relying on wishes and cheesy phrases. But Momo goes even one step further, being an unparalleled engineer and mechanic. I've heard that she is trying to repair one of Rose’s Walker prototypes from the war.

  And yet, despite all her efforts everywhere, she is one of the least noticeable around. Unlike the other girls who enjoy their lovey-dovey things, she has a strong personality and does not focus on being pretty. You can only find Momo with a wrench in one hand and a screwdriver in the other, always taking something apart or putting it back together. She seems to have quite an inquisitive mind about how things work and their different parts.

  However, it can also be seen that she is one of the people who shares the most interests with César. From time to time, you can find them talking about vehicles. From what I understand, he wants to buy a specific one and talks with her about one or two details on whether it would be a good idea or not. And if it’s not cars, I’ve also seen them playing video games until late at night — fighting, getting angry, and laughing together during their various gaming adventures. If it weren’t for how shy Momo is and because I sneak around secretly with my ghost powers, I’ve barely seen them kiss a couple of times; otherwise, they seem more like friends who enjoy being together than lovers.

  But what caught my attention wasn’t their usefulness, but the naturalness of being close to César — she never seems far from him.

  There is something… intimate in how they talk, how they look at each other. There are no shocks or romantic scenes. It’s the kind of love that doesn’t need to be announced, like those couples who have lived together so many years that they don’t need words to understand each other. I’ve seen them talk for hours about things no one else understands: mechanical design, hydraulic batteries, war vehicles, old video games. Sometimes they argue, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they just sit side by side in complete silence, working on their own projects… and yet you can tell they’re connected. When they pass each other in the hallway, he hands her a tool without her having to ask, when they play video games, he knows her style, her quirks, her pauses. And when she’s frustrated fixing something, he simply sits quietly beside her, without intruding. They might not have a tragic story or an epic scene to tell. They might not need to save each other every day. But they already did, many times, in quieter ways.

  They seem more like friends than lovers, I thought. But then the answer came in the details.

  In how César passes her the parts without her needing to ask.

  In how Momo leans on his shoulder when they’re tired.

  In how they exchange knowing looks when others don’t understand them.

  In how, when no one is watching, they laugh at their private jokes.

  In how she, although shy, lets herself be kissed out of nowhere without resistance.

  And in how César patiently waits every time she enters concentration mode and forgets everything else.

  Yet even so, they find space to share moments only they understand.

  "Momo… can I ask you something?"

  "Of course, you don't need permission," she replied without looking away from the faucet she was fixing.

  "Have you ever… wished you could have him just for yourself? With no one else?"

  "I mean… César."

  "Because… I have."

  "And it hurts to see that you, of all people, never claim anything."

  "........."

  "Yes…"

  "I did wish for that. Many times."

  "I wanted him just for myself too, at the beginning."

  "I'm not proud to admit it, but I did."

  "There were nights when I dreamed of a smaller house, just for the two of us. With a bed that didn’t need to hold more hugs or shared laughter."

  "Then… why don’t you fight for that?"

  "Because I don’t need to win him."

  "Because I already have him."

  "I live here beside him. I’m already his wife. He’s not going anywhere—and neither am I."

  "It’s fun being here, even if I’m not the only one who receives his love. I can still feel it when he gives it to others too."

  "I feel it in the smiles I see when Lisa makes him laugh, or when Tifa flies across the table with her food, or when Tamamo helps him sleep with soft, hummed lullabies."

  "I might not be able to do those things, but I’m glad someone else can where I fall short."

  "Their victories in love are also mine."

  "My love for him doesn’t lessen just because I see others loving him too."

  "On the contrary. Sometimes I feel I know him even better through them."

  "I… don’t know if I can accept that."

  "You don’t have to. Not now."

  "I’m just telling you—you’re not alone."

  "I also wanted to have all of him to myself."

  "And in a way, I do… right here."

  "Because he doesn’t divide himself among us."

  "He just… gives himself completely to each of us, in different ways."

  "Maybe you just have to find your way, or maybe simply remember how you used to, before any of us arrived."

  "This place, this harem, is about making sure neither he nor any of us has to suffer alone again."

  "And I want to help you love him too, despite everything that happened."

  After speaking with Momo, something inside me went quiet. It wasn't comfort, nor was it resignation. It was... a pause. As if, for a moment, my inner screams had run out of arguments in the face of that glass woman's serene calm. I stayed there, sitting, watching how she refocused on the faucet, as if my doubts hadn’t moved her even a centimeter off her axis. I couldn’t understand how she could love like that—without demanding, without complaining, without fear. And while her words still floated in my chest, I left the kitchen with a mix of anger and confusion. That’s when I saw her: lying on the couch in the living room, watching television while eating pizza and sipping a soda.

  I ran into the Demon. They had told me her name was Lisa, and that despite her terrifying appearance and damaged mind, she was someone you could trust completely. At first, I didn’t believe them, but when I asked Adelis and Maria if it was true, both answered immediately, without hesitation, that they trusted her fully. She had already proven her extreme loyalty by rescuing both of them from situations they would never have survived if not for her unmatched bravery in the face of danger and her unbreakable will to protect her own.

  But none of them denied that Lisa was insane. It was easy to tell that she wasn’t right in the head, with her strange behavior and her sick obsession with César. Just by watching how she acted, you could see how perfectly she fit the stereotype of a yandere. Her mind seemed barely capable of holding onto a single thought consistently, and that thought was simply “Love César”—as if that order were the only thing she needed to exist at all.

  She was messy, energetic when doing something, but also seemed to enjoy spending time sleeping, becoming one with the shadows of César or Adelis. She was obsessive about writing down every detail she could find about her target and terrible at social relationships—but completely genuine at all times. With her, what she said was what you got; there were never hidden meanings. A walking contradiction, a succubus demon whose most notable trait wasn’t her obscene body, but her loyalty.

  It was strange how such a contradictory entity could be so loved by everyone, and at the same time restrain herself so completely from ever harming her family.

  But the most surprising thing of all was seeing how, despite truly being a yandere with her deadly tendencies, she never did anything to try to increase her favor in the eyes of her beloved. She simply accepted being part of the harem and didn’t bother the others. She just lived her life at her own pace, completely uninterested in her romantic rivals—as if they weren’t even her competition or part of a race she needed to win.

  I had to know why that was, so I gathered my courage and asked her directly.

  “And why aren’t you doing anything?”

  “Doing anything about what?”

  “About keeping him all to yourself."

  "Don’t you care that someone else might take that place?” I said, seeing her in the eyes.

  Lisa simply laughed in place, then replied:

  “In a single word? Because I don’t have the slightest chance of being the first.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  “There’s simply not a single reason why César would choose me over anyone else.”

  “......”

  “Tamamo is wiser, stronger—she understands emotions my mind can’t even begin to grasp.”

  “Momo is someone far more intelligent, capable of giving support like no one else can.”

  “Tifa is beautiful and sweet, a trophy girl to love constantly.”

  “......”

  “But me? I’m just chaos, trouble, a lunatic.”

  “I’m dysfunctional, but I can look at myself in the mirror and know I’m broken.”

  “I don’t trust myself—I trust César, and the people he chooses to trust.”

  “It’s already a miracle that he even lets me stay around… the fact that he can say he loves me despite what I am—that alone is heaven.”

  “Are you really going to stay like this? Do nothing?”

  “And what if someone tries to monopolize him for herself?”

  “......”

  “Then I don’t care. I’m still going to be there.”

  “He already promised he’d never leave me—that he truly loves me.”

  “If someone loves him more than I do, that doesn’t mean my love fades away.”

  “......”

  “The day I showed him the worst of me, the day I had a panic attack and collapsed… the day I accidentally revealed I had been raped—that I wasn’t a ‘pure’ woman like the others... the day I wanted to make love to him but couldn’t even take off his clothes because I panicked, because the memory of the assault came rushing back...”

  “He ran to me and held me until I woke up in his arms.”

  “He seems to understand me despite how broken I am, as if he went through something similar... maybe he didn’t, or maybe he just didn’t shatter into pieces like I did. But he took a similar blow.”

  “Sometimes it feels like magic, how he comes close and somehow, even if just for a second, takes my pain—and for a few minutes, just makes it disappear.”

  Shortly after, someone else appeared and joined us in the room by the television.

  It was the mermaid girl, who was being pushed in a wheelchair by one of the assistant androids. Her name was Levia. Apparently, she and Cesar hadn't met under the best circumstances — they were apparently enemies. I know firsthand why. What the mermaids did in Atlantis was horrible. However, I also know that Levia had nothing to do with the bloodline that once inhabited the continent. In fact, she’s just another one of their victims — kidnapped and transformed against her will. She was taken from her mother as a baby. She remembers nothing about her mother. What a sad story. No wonder Cesar forgave her and let her stay.

  But why did she stay? She’s a mermaid; the sea is her home. Yet here she is, living in the middle of Tokyo, in a human house. Moving around and living here must mean giving up her dignity and constantly asking for help from others. Why did she choose to stay and become part of Cesar’s harem?

  “Don’t you miss the sea? Don’t you want to go back to it?”

  “Don’t you think it’s unfair that they keep you so far from the ocean?”

  “Please stop. I know the trope: ‘she’s a mermaid, she’s sad, and she’ll only be happy swimming in the sea’, but don’t speak for me.”

  “Yes, I like the sea. Swimming all day and not being in a wheelchair is fun—but don’t assume it’s what’s best for me just because that’s how it goes in other stories.”

  “I like life here on the surface. It’s pretty dynamic, there’s always something happening.”

  “With César, Tamamo, or Lisa, there’s always something to talk about or listen to. And there’s TV. And how could I forget the food? It’s so good!”

  “When I lived in the sea, almost every day was the same—swimming, fish, water, more fish.”

  “That’s why I started singing, to entertain others and break the monotony.”

  “At least, that’s what I used to think… until I realized the other mermaids were actually using me instead—as a weapon to manipulate human minds of all things. I was brainwashing people without even knowing it.”

  “......”

  “But now, here, everything’s different.”

  “Maybe I’m paralyzed on the surface, and maybe you think I live trapped in a café fish tank…”

  “But even so, I have a family here that wants me close, even though I can’t stop being a burden.”

  “Customers come to hear me sing because they want to. I have an audience—even if it’s small, at least it’s real.”

  “Delicious food every day. A safe place to sleep.”

  “I even have human friends, believe it or not. Kids come by to say hi to me in my tank.”

  “A phone to talk to others.”

  “And it’s not like I have to completely give up the ocean. We can always take a trip to the beach from time to time.”

  “......”

  “Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Don’t worry. I imagine you didn’t mean to. I just wanted to make my point clear, that’s all.”

  “Maybe I should be the one apologizing for speaking so harshly.”

  “I’m sorry, but I also have to ask… why do you want to be in this harem?”

  “Cesar already has other girls. Why do you want to be here too? Don’t you want to be the first? Aren’t you afraid of Tamamo?”

  “Afraid of Tamamo? Why would I be? She’s just… Tamamo.”

  “I know she’s a goddess—people have told me that a million times—but I’ve never seen her do anything super bizarre. At least not by this house’s standards.”

  “Honestly, if it weren’t for that, I’d probably forget she even is one.”

  “The most impressive things she’s done have definitely been helping Cesar, no matter how dark the situation gets.”

  “I’ve seen that he trusts her more simply because she’s always there by his side, ready to hug him whenever he looks like he’s about to break down.”

  “Lately he doesn’t cry as much, but when I first got here, it was a regular thing—he’d cry in the middle of the night, and she’d try to comfort him as best as she could.”

  “But I never thought this was some kind of popularity contest. I’ve always felt like there’s no ‘first’ or ‘last’.”

  “……”

  “Why did I stay in the harem? That’s a little hard to describe.”

  “When I arrived, most of them were already here. It was already a harem—I just saw the others around.”

  “Adelis was the one who spoke to me in secret, saying this wasn’t normal, that it was strange. She asked me the same question.”

  “But I told her I didn’t see it the way she described it—as a competition of women trying to seduce one man, all day, every day.”

  “I just saw it as no different from a big family.”

  “I know the others love him the same way I do.”

  “But I’ve never felt left behind, even though it would be so easy to be.”

  “Cesar is always popping up here or there, trying to remind me that I’m beautiful to him too.”

  “Even this penguin plushie—he gave it to me when we went to the aquarium on a romantic date!”

  “Just like we have our moments as a group, each of us has our own moment with him—and I have mine too.”

  I was a bit tired from processing everything each girl had said, so I thought about taking a bath to relax. But I was surprised to see that I wasn’t the only one with that idea. Someone had arrived just before me and was trying to clean herself with soap.

  That girl was Tifa, a tiny fairy who was just fifteen centimeters tall.

  She spends the whole day flying from one place to another, watering plants and helping out in the kitchen. Most often, she’s seen working alongside Adelis. It seems Adelis has taken her on as a sort of secretary. Tifa is always moving documents around and reminding Adelis of important things.

  I’ve seen Cesar play with her as if she were a doll in her little plastic house. She goes along with it, and they play house happily in his room. But doesn't she feel objectified being used that way? Why is she in a place that clearly isn't made for her? What does she gain from being here, being César’s personal doll?

  Since she was nearby and we were alone, I decided to ask her as well.

  “You're everyone else's plaything—why did you decide to be part of this?"

  "What makes you stay here, in a place that’s far too big for you?”

  “To answer you simply: because I like being here. I’m heard.”

  “Yes, I’m a tiny fairy; I know I’m insignificant compared to the rest of the world.”

  “But if I like being seen as a toy, it’s because César enjoys treating me that way, and I let him to brighten his day.”

  “He likes treating me like this, I like it too, and I understand how important it is to him.”

  “If, by doing this, I can offer my beloved comfort from the pain of being a soldier who’s endured so much horror—and remind him of the sweetest, most childlike moments of his childhood—then I’m even grateful to have that role for him.”

  “He also has the right to remember that the world isn’t only sadness and loss.”

  “Not everything has to be adult, miserable, and cold.”

  “For a child, their favorite toy is their most treasured possession—and if I am that toy, doesn’t that mean he loves me from the heart, too? That’s a huge responsibility.”

  “It’s a great privilege to be considered someone’s utopia by their beloved.”

  “Surely you know that too, Nanami; he suffered for a long time over losing you, even if he doesn’t say so now.”

  “He cried for many nights, thinking he had lost you forever.”

  “The most innocuous things would make him cry so badly that, for a couple of weeks, we had to remove every mirror in the house to prevent another of his episodes.”

  “……”

  “But even here, I’m listened to—others pay attention when I speak.”

  “When I propose an idea, Tamamo is silent; Momo considers it; even Lisa, from time to time, shows her support.”

  “It may not sound like much—just a few grown-ups listening to what a little fairy has to say—”

  “But in my own home, with my own parents, that didn’t happen.”

  “That alone sparked more than one fierce argument in those days—the typical ‘rebellious teenager’ story, as they would say.”

  “I even reached the point where I abandoned my home for that very reason.”

  “And that very act ended with me being kidnapped by humans—through the darkest days, terrified for my life, thinking at any moment I might be used as alchemical material or something equally insane.”

  “But it was also in that situation that César appeared and saved me. Since then, I have never been apart from him.”

  “Now the only place I can truly consider safe is by his side—perhaps in a pocket or in his backpack.”

  “And as if that weren’t enough, he was the one who saved my people, giving them a new place to live without fear of persecution.”

  “He himself reunited me with my parents again.”

  “How could I not love someone like that?”

  “It would be hypocritical of me not to try to save the person who saved me, my family, and my kingdom.”

  “That is why I even embrace my role with pride.”

  Surprisingly, the fairy hesitated the least to answer and anticipated some of my doubts, as if she had rehearsed for my arrival. After bathing with her, I returned to the yard, I found two new things there

  I had already seen both of them around the house before—two androids walking back and forth. I had seen them carrying shopping bags for Adelis, adjusting Levia’s water tank with millimeter precision, and I had also seen them helping Tifa when her height was truly a problem.

  But the most unsettling thing was how everyone called them “daughters.”

  What was most disturbing was not their efficiency, but how the others treated them. Adelis bought them useless scarves “for the winter.” Tamamo read them stories at dusk “because stories are savored, not downloaded.” Even Lisa shared her stolen sweets with them, protecting them like a dysfunctional older sister; at other times, in her rare lucid moments, she taught them how to bake cookies—burning the kitchen in the process. They were “the girls,” “daughters,” “our twins.” Even César, upon returning, would gently stroke their mechanical heads with the same tenderness he would use with a human.

  Despite being robots capable of obtaining any information in seconds, Adelis still teaches them to live as if she were their biological mother. It seems these two androids are truly loved—they have the same agency with others and are not treated as mere work tools.

  They themselves insist that I call them Charlotte and Kazumi, César’s daughters, although there is clearly no biological relation. He simply saved them, and they stayed because they had nowhere else to go. Time and coexistence took care of turning the two of them into a family.

  Later, after helping put Levia in the living room, I found them in the garden, ironically humming while one swept fallen leaves from the trees with a broom and the other gathered the dry clothes that Tamamo had hung out.

  “Do you two even see any meaning in belonging to a family?”

  “Coexistence made us family,” they answered simultaneously without turning to look at me.

  “We… chose this role.”

  “So you two are treated as daughters; César himself sees you that way.”

  “And yet you want him to see you differently, you want to be just another wife?” I asked indignantly.

  “That makes everything even more twisted than it already is!”

  “And why do you want to be wives if you’re already daughters? Doesn’t this harem have enough contradictions already?”

  “That will make all this even stranger than it already is.”

  “You perverts, what you’re looking for is close to emotional incest.”

  "Incorrect. We have no DNA, only code. We share code, memories, and the conscious choice to love."

  “César never built us; when he found us, we already existed.”

  “He never asked to be our father. He chose us as daughters. Now… can’t we choose how to love him now that this love has evolved?”

  “Do you think a soul can’t beat for two reasons at once?”

  “Soul? You two are robots, you’re objects, not people.”

  “Nanami… you too were an object. A sword. Are you happy being just that now? If efficiency is all that matters… why don’t you return to your steel form? You’d be much more optimal.”

  “You reject our emerging humanity… while you accept your own transformation. Isn’t that the greatest contradiction?”

  “........”

  I didn’t answer anything—I hadn’t noticed I’d stepped on my own mine.

  “We want to occupy a space beside him that isn’t just that of the obedient daughter.”

  “We want to have the power to make him smile like he does when he’s with Tamamo or playing with Tifa.”

  “We want to save him too,” they continued.

  Talking with them was quite frustrating, so instead I chose to give up and return to the living room. However, the sound of the garage door opening and a car pulling in, It was another girl arriving, so I decided to distract myself with her instead..

  A car had just arrived in the garage; a very pretty girl came out, put her things down, and lay down in the hammock there. It seems that she is using that same place as her room. She is Adelis’s assistant, a professional assassin who became her bodyguard.

  That girl over there is Mei Ling, a very pretty girl, what they would call the woman every man would want to have as a wife and keep as a symbol of life’s victory. A man would be successful if he could have a diamond like her by his side. It’s hard to believe that she is actually just a large twisted spider pretending to be human.

  It seems she didn’t even know what she really was—a trap created by an ancient sorceress named Xian Fang who manipulated her entire life so she would get close to Adelis as a failsafe and keep a possible political rival in check or manipulate her at will. It was Cesar’s intervention that managed to notice how Mei Ling was a weapon disguised as a human, and how he had the necessary faith to, even seeing her as the man-devouring spider she really was, decide to trust her, mentioning all the times she protected his mother while he was out fighting and pardoning her from the edge of his sword for the service rendered, even when she was Xian Fang’s puppet.

  That beautiful girl over there was born first as a spider and then was given a pretty girl’s body, but the spider still remains underneath.

  Putting aside… your… animal origin, you seem to be the most normal girl in the group. Why did you decide to join a harem of all things? Why with Cesar?

  “I continue, just look at you, on the outside, not the spider part.”

  “A young woman, an important professional career, beautiful like a superstar.”

  “You could have any man you wanted eating out of your hand—owners of major companies, prestigious families, politicians looking for a way to win you over at every opportunity. So why did you decide to stay with someone so humble?”

  Why join a relationship where you’re just one more among a dozen girls who love the same man?

  “Because I want to stay with him here even though there are other girls.”

  “Because he loves me even though I am a giant spider.”

  “Because while everyone looks at the most beautiful, perfect Chinese wife, he was by my side, lending me his home when I became a terrifying giant spider against my will.”

  “Anyone can love the girl everyone knows is beautiful and kind; no one would give anything to a horrible spider.”

  “Because when I was afraid of myself, he was right there making jokes—about spiders, of all things… That idiot…”

  “I didn’t look human at all at that moment; I was literally a Black Widow, eight legs, a spider’s head, eight eyes, mandibles.”

  “Not even now, knowing what I am, do I like it; it still disgusts me a lot, knowing that what I thought was strange for me to walk or move is because inside me there really is a spider all cramped up and moving uncomfortably just to grab this glass of water I’m holding right now.”

  “It reminds me at all times that the Mei Ling everyone sees and desires as a sexual pleasure is nothing but dead skin used by a spider.”

  “.......”

  “In a twisted way, I even feel pleasure when they see me next to him, seeing the perfect men, the executives and company owners, with their looks of envy and anger when they see me happily dining with Cesar.”

  “Everyone sees him as the idiot who has what he doesn’t deserve, who they think should be the ones in his place.”

  “But what they don’t know is that that same idiot is the one the girls line up for.”

  “The only one who truly knows me in that whole room is that same idiot, the only one who could lie down without fear next to a two-meter Black Widow.”

  I saw the serpent slither past me, ignoring both me and the other girls, and coil up near the window that faced the street, staring outside, watching the day pass by in peace. A giant snake with the torso of a woman attached — despite liking dark and tight places — moves clumsily through the house. It seems she’s not used to a small place filled with things everywhere.

  From what I was told, this creature has two girls living inside a single mind. Voranoa, the real lamia, the animal, the original one, barely understands the idea of thinking or being self-aware. The other, Lucy, is nothing more than a ghost tale, a personality born from the void, a lie — the one who doesn't exist. They take turns existing within the body of the huge one. They are the most recent members, and like me, they are just starting to get used to the idea of living together with other girls as a group.

  “Voranoa… why are you looking out there? He won’t be back until nightfall.”

  “Empty… here, cold chest.”

  “When Cesar leaves… strange things happen to my body… cold comes in. Cold that burns.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes. A stabbing… here. Not a wound… but it hurts.

  When Cesar returns… the chest warms. It melts, different pain, fun pain… it burns when he’s near… It’s strange… Voranoa doesn’t understand… I’m animal… not human…”

  “Voranoa… why did you join the harem too? They’re human. You’re… different. More beast than person… Isn’t this all strange and alien to you? Wouldn’t you rather the freedom of the caves where you used to live?”

  “Freedom…”

  “Freedom is cold. Freedom is hollow bones. Wet stones… silence that bites, pain of a cold chest.”

  “No pack there. Only Voranoa hunting… Voranoa trembling… Voranoa sleeping with one eye open. Always afraid.”

  “But here you’re caged among strangers. Doesn’t that make you angry?” I asked.

  “Metal cage squeezes… but the cage of darkness crushes. Here… warmth of bodies nearby. Pack sounds… laughter that isn’t hunting screams. Here… I smell food before hunger. I see water before thirst.”

  “Down there… hunting is war. Every prey… teeth against teeth. Blood for a drop of water. Me against bigger snakes… against poison mushrooms… against shadows with fangs. Earning food means losing strength… always a hungry cycle.”

  “And among humans?”

  “Humans… strange. Give food without fighting. Without hiding corpses. A basket full… magic.

  They have… cold fire that doesn’t burn (refrigerator)… talking stones that sing (TV)… sweet clouds in boxes (cereal). Juicy red meat without chase. All without blood.

  Human pack… weak in teeth, strong in giving food.”

  “But sharing Cesar? Don’t you want to be the only one for him?”

  “Cesar… Elise is the male of the pack but body of woman, strange, questions, questions the world like Voranoa. Gives warmth to all… equally. The pack male helps everyone, without the male the females leave. The pack leaves.”

  “The pack leaves. Voranoa alone again… with shadows. Worse.”

  “Better… to share the sun. Share the den. Strong pack… guards each other’s backs. Voranoa sleeps deeply here… first time. Lisa’s snoring… Levia’s songs… Tamamo’s scent… all are a wall against danger. Yes.”

  “And don’t you miss being queen of your darkness?”

  “Queen… empty laugh. Queen of nothing. Queen of broken bones.

  Here… Voranoa matters. When I tremble… the pack brings blankets. When I whistle… Momo brings extra meat.

  Cesar… rubs my scales when they itch.”

  “The pack… is a cave with a heartbeat.

  Alone… is a tomb with breath. I choose… heartbeat.”

  “Voranoa is better with Cesar near… with other hunters near… hunting together… food abundant… no pain…”

  Just when I was about to walk away, I noticed a faint glow. The gem on Voranoa’s collar...

  The pendant gem on Voranoa’s neck—that dull stone in the slave collar she always wears, embedded in an old metal engraved with symbols I never understood—began to shine with a soft, bluish-purple light, like a hidden moon awakening behind the clouds. The serpent shivered slightly.

  “Not-me again. She wants to be here.”

  “Don’t go. She probably wants to talk to you.”

  “Please don’t hurt Not-me. She’s important to me. She’s part of the pack.”

  Her body remained the same, but her eyes grew more focused, more artificially human, as if someone inside her were trying very hard to mimic the way we breathe, blink, or tilt our heads to show we’re listening. Then, the serpent spoke—but with a different voice. Not as guttural, not animal-like. Instead, it was almost broken, more restrained.

  She was no longer Voranoa.

  “Voranoa… is in love. She doesn’t know how to say it. She doesn’t understand the word.”

  “What she means to say, but struggles with, is simply that she truly loves César. She’s just not yet capable of fully understanding that concept.”

  “But I know it. I feel the same as she does, even when I don’t exist and am just the void.”

  Lucy…? I asked, unable to hide the chill that ran through me. Even though I had heard about her before, it was the first time I actually heard her voice.

  “Yes. Sorry for only speaking to you now…”

  “I had to… try to soothe my own pain a little first.”

  “I’m a bit better now, after experiencing firsthand what César expects from a loving relationship with me.”

  “I—of all things, the one that doesn’t exist.”

  “......”

  “I thought it would be something strange… like watching the goddess change the world, or something like that.”

  “What a disappointment it was to find it was something much more mundane—just being here, playing house.”

  “......”

  “And yet, I think I’m beginning to see that maybe… this is exactly what I needed.”

  Why… have you come out? Is it because of César?

  “Do I need a reason? How can César love me if I never show up? I have to at least exist if I want him to love me.”

  Do you love him too?

  Lucy hesitated. Her hand trembled a little, lowering toward the floor as if the weight of that question was too much to hold.

  “I don’t know… if I can love like you all do. I’m… a mistake. A shadow in the consciousness of a beast.”

  “This is my fourth real week alive.”

  “But I try my best, because he wants me here—and in a way, I do too.”

  “Here… there are people who call me by my name.”

  “Here, in this home, I exist as a person, even if I’m not really one. I’m not just a fake secondary personality. I really am Lucy.”

  “It’s just that I share a body with Voranoa because I don’t have one of my own, that’s all.”

  “César is lucky he got a 2-for-1 deal with me and Voranoa together.”

  “And I’m lucky he lets me exist—at least for him, and for the other girls who love him.”

  “It might be strange to say this to a ghost like you, but in a way… I envy you.”

  “At least you can exist on your own, independently.”

  “You’re not just a fake personality.”

  “But we’re both in this together, right?”

  “Let’s try to keep going—together!”

  After hearing their voices—the goddess who chooses humility, the engineer who finds peace in shared silence, the broken demoness who learned to be loved in her chaos, even the serpent who preferred the warmth of the group over solitary freedom—something in my anger began to crack. Seeing these women not as rivals, but as survivors weaving a refuge with the same scars I carry, I understood what César built during my absence: not a harem of conquest, but a trench against loneliness. I gave him my life to save him... but they gave him reasons to live it. Here, in this house where laundry is washed by hand and faucets are repaired, where a goddess sings lullabies and a fairy is a sacred plaything, he did not replace my sacrifice... he multiplied it in forms of resistance. Maybe my father used women as trophies, but César turned them into the pillars that helped him go on without me. And though the pain of feeling displaced still burns, I will choose to stay. Not out of resignation, but because of that strange hope that blooms among the broken: if they found their place in this mosaic of imperfect love... why couldn’t I? I will give a chance to this experiment called family. Because now I finally understand: when I locked myself in the sword to save him, I fought against death. Now, by staying here, I fight against the fear of living; only then will I learn to forgive myself for leaving him so alone when he needed me the most.

  And because I truly love him, I want to stay by his side forever.