Liliana's eyes widened in shock.
Then she chuckled and became extremely bitter.
He made her an offer that was excessively foolish to refuse.
"I'll do it under those terms. Burn the letter after."
Helix nodded with a serious expression.
"That's a given. Also, to increase chances with Marie—"
—
"You risked your life for this? That's…." Marie commented with trembling eyes.
Charlotte was shocked and speechless.
Riley looked mildly concerned.
Helix shook his head. "The contents of the pact were reasonable, so the only real downside is that I have to burn the letter."
His partners were sad when they heard that.
"However." Helix announced with a charming smile.
"Isn't it much better to have the Queen formally admit Eliza would be joining our harem?"
Giggles exploded in the room.
"When you put it like that…." Marie whispered with trembling eyes.
Charlotte started freaking out.
"Marie. Marie. You're an otaku. You have a duty to our cultured people to accept." She cried.
"It's a political marriage. You don't have to share, so there's no reason to hate.
This is the perfect just cuzziez. Seriously, there's a zero thousand percent chance this is a bad development."
Marie took a deep breath with a wry smile. She officially understood Liliana's pain and chuckled bitterly.
It was through her marriage proposal that she obtained the opportunity.
"His Majesty Helix Hellsgate Margrave has advised me to say the following." Helix continued dramatically.
Charlotte's ears perked up with an evil smile.
Marie's heart started beating.
Helix constantly reminded her that he wouldn't allow her joyous occasion to be overruled by politics.
Perhaps the emotional rollercoaster increased the power of his words.
"While we're not running a farm, having a princess at our side is still valuable to our story."
Marie and Charlotte's mouths instantly gawked at the declaration.
Riley cracked and started giggling in a frenzy.
"He has pledged that this is a sign of respect to princesses and partners when addressing polygamist marriages."
Charlotte burst into laughter and tears.
Marie started laughing, and real tears ran down her cheeks.
Riley hugged her with all of her might.
—
"Farming?" Liliana asked with dead eyes.
Helix sighed and gave her a hopeless smile.
"This seems extremely counterintuitive, but…."
He sighed, triggering a bewildered gaze from the queen.
"The statement says that we would not accept Princess Eliza as part of our relationship for a cultural reason tied to a harem."
Liliana's expression crumbled completely.
"Sir Helix Margrave. Please allow me to be frank." She growled with a neutral expression.
The queen wouldn't show the guards her disdain.
"Please, go ahead." Helix replied with an apologetic voice.
"Do you mean to tell me that you'd have me write something so humiliating, only to turn around and announce it was pointless?" Liliana asked with a contemptuous gaze.
Helix sighed and gave her a dismissive sigh.
"Queen Liliana. I cannot explain how our culture works to 99% of the Earthian population, let alone Myriadians."
Liliana's rage melted when confusion overpowered it.
"But I can tell you how it will play out." Helix chuckled with madness in his eyes.
"First, Charlotte will beg Marie and tell her it's a duty to our cultured people.
I know this because our relationship formed out of duty to our cultured people.
Our relationship is proof that I'm telling the truth."
Liliana was perplexed by the strange admission.
"Second, Marie will feel like you do—bitter that the opportunity is so good that she doesn't have a choice." Helix chuckled in shame.
"Please remember she's a young adult in love and already sharing someone who offered exclusivity out of that duty."
The queen gave him a mocking smile, but he cut it down with a mocking scoff.
She frowned at his behavior but listened.
"It's a joke to you, but we're not Royalty with cultural expectations of forced relationships." Helix reminded her sternly.
"We're normal people who have never thought of such a duty.
She already feels her shared relationship is as much a duty as a political marriage.
So pushing more on her arbitrarily isn't fair."
Liliana gave him a wry smile, and he matched it with an equally powerful one.
"I see." She replied curtly.
Helix nodded, sighed, and continued.
"Then she'll read this line, and half the impact with disappear, and half the humiliation will disappear for Princess Eliza."
The queen's eyes glided to the left to contemplate the situation.
"Then what about Charlotte?" She asked after giving up.
It was clear that she wasn't getting anywhere worrying about the strange culture. She was at the mercy of something neither she nor anyone else in the kingdom understood.
Helix laughed with a strange expression.
Liliana's eyes narrowed, and she waited with a serious expression.
"As for Charlotte—"
—
"Marie!" Charlotte cried while doubling over, hyperventilating.
"This… hahaha… this is… haha.. the most cliche… hahaha… ultra-not cliche… haha… thing in existence!"
Marie's eyes widened with tumultuous emotions.
Riley looked at Helix with a strange expression.
She wasn't worried about the situation and didn't know how people felt.
So she was tactfully waiting with a gentle expression.
It was an important point in their relationship.
"Think!" Charlotte cried between gasping breaths.
"A necessary forced development… that lands a princess… haha… in a harem… hahahaha… where the haremites are exclusive… married… haha… strictly human… hahaha… and actively non-farming!"
Marie burst into bewildered laughter. She understood the irony, but she didn't particularly care.
The redhead was laughing because Charlotte's laughter was so extreme.
It was horrifyingly contagious!
Riley burst into giggles next, and Helix followed.
The group was falling like dominoes; it was nearly a tragedy.
As for Helix, he was doubling over understanding the bewildering turn of events.
He was glad that one cliche entered his life that was both rational and situationally necessary.
Systems, evil gods, and a forced Hero's Journey life were ridiculous.
He had a harem, was now overpowered, and was forced to save a kingdom.
With so many forced cliches and natural corresponding elements and coincidences, he was glad [one] was original.
"Please, Marie!" Charlotte cried.
"My sides! Hahaha… my sides require this development… hahahaha!"
—
"You mean that implying Eliza join a harem would make her beg." Liliana began with a baffled expression.
"But then explicitly stating she wouldn't be joining a harem make her beg more?"
"As I said, it's completely insane, irrational, and inexcusable." Helix chuckled breathlessly with a wry expression.
"But that's true about… everything in our culture."
Liliana's eyes widened because she could tell Helix wasn't just being self-deprecating.
"Trust me, Queen Liliana. We're the cultured subset of our people." He laughed with minor sadness in his eyes.
"Otakus… get worse. So… so… so much worse."
"Worse!? Don't tell me things will get more extreme." Liliana cried.
She had broken her composure.
"Don't worry." Helix said reassuringly with a long sigh.
"People in Myriad don't live thousands of years; they age normally, there are no shape shifters, beast people are extinct, and vending machines don't exist."
Liliana's confusion only grew.
"People can't get more powerful through sex, animals don't transform into innocent children, and women like exclusivity."
Helix gave her a breathless chuckle and a strong smile.
"So, luckily, you'll never see the full depravity of some of the Earthians you summoned."
—
[A/N: On a scale of one to emotional damaging, how was the roast sesh? ;)
Also, did you like the hyper-rational and natural 4th wall troll?
-
Trash of Thrones Commentary:
In case anyone's wondering—
Yes. Making Helix a King is politically realistic.
It would create an [international economic meltdown] if the most powerful kingdom on a continent married their Crown Princess to a nameless, eighteen-year-old Knight.
Yes, meltdown.
Relationships with allied nations—and trade deals—rely upon the expectation of mutual security.
Say Kozen gets its food imports from Alzeria, and it comes out that Alzeria is on the verge of collapse. (i.e. reliant upon an 18-year-old to survive).
Kozen will panic and cut the food trade to prevent Alzeria's destruction from causing famine.
Humiliation in politics isn't so simple, folks.
However, there's a [golden opportunity] to spin with the Earthians.
Helix comes from a different race of people, and Liliana can claim she summoned a King.
Simple as that.
After acquiring territory, Helix becomes a legitimate kingdom, and the political issue of marriage disappears.
Monarchs might laugh, but they'll be interested, not panicking.
As a reminder, [Nightmare] examines what would happen if a cliche became a reality.
Casually declaring people kings in a few days has never been a historical option.
Neither has to let four young adults crush half a monster horde to save a major nation from ruin.
However, if four adults can crush half a monster horde, taking them up on it is realistic.
The same is true of rushing a political marriage to prevent political breakdown and total annihilation.
… lol.
I provide the commentary for anyone that likes it.
Thank you for reading Trash of Thrones, fellow otakus!]
—
Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)