My Taboo Harem!

Chapter 971: Harem of Hundreds?

Even Phei looked at Valentina with wounded disbelief, and Maddie pressed her lips together, visibly fighting laughter in the way one fought a losing battle against weather.

Noor eventually lifted her brows and said:

"That is it? That is the best explanation you could come up with?"

Even her as the newest woman in the harem could’ve crafted up something better!

Valentina’s face shifted instantly into a pout, soft and offended and deeply unconvincing. "I was making it simple and direct, alright?" she defended, only for Phei to sigh and say:

"You made me sound like I collect basketball cards."

Sierra, who had no loyalty when comedy offered itself so beautifully, added, "Just otherworldly beautiful basketball cards," and the car broke into laughter while Valentina crossed her arms, muttering that people hated efficiency when it came wrapped in truth.

Noor leaned forward, still smiling, but her eyes were sharper now. "I have known almost nothing about Phei, and even I could probably explain that better," she said, which made Soraya laugh into her hand and Maddie point toward Noor as though nominating her for a governmental position.

"See? She has been here minutes and already understands presentation."

Phei gave Maddie a dry look. "Please do not create a committee around explaining my romantic life."

Maddie’s eyes glittered. "Too late. We have minutes, women and curiosity. That is how institutions are born."

Nastya, meanwhile, had gone quiet again, not because she lacked questions, but because the words all led somewhere dangerous, and eventually she asked the one that made the entire limousine sharpen. "At this rate," she said, watching Phei carefully, "will you not end up with a harem of hundreds?"

"Harem?" Noor and Soraya repeated almost at the same time, and both women turned toward Phei with the attention that stripped comedy down to its bones.

That was the real moment, then. Not the teasing, not the jealousy, not the pretty explanations thrown around like silk scarves in a room full of knives.

In this world, having more than three partners was not some unheard-of scandal, especially among the wealthy, powerful and long-lived where relationships often formed around affection, alliance, desire, protection and emotional disasters dressed in designer clothing.

Society could accept it, at least in theory. Families could tolerate it, at least when power made their objections expensive.

But whether the women themselves accepted it was another matter entirely, and no amount of charm could make that decision for them.

Granted, Noor and Soraya had already crossed a very intimate line with him earlier, but intimacy was not the same as consent to a future, and only fools, poets and bad men confused a heated night with a signed destiny.

Phei looked at the two women, then around at the others, and for once he did not answer immediately.

The humor softened from his face, not vanishing, but sinking beneath something more honest. "I do not collect people," he said at last, his voice calm enough that the teasing inside the car settled. "I do not wake up searching for another woman to add to some ridiculous list. I meet someone, I feel something, or they feel something, and if it is real enough to survive honesty about me, my family and what I am, then I do not treat it like a passing amusement."

His gaze touched Maddie, Sierra, Valentina, Victoria, Nastya, then returned to Noor and Soraya. "I want the women in my life close because I am selfish, yes, but not careless. I want them protected, wanted, seen and part of my life, not visited like rooms in a hotel."

For a moment, no one joked.

Soraya’s expression softened first, though caution remained there because she was not foolish enough to melt from one pretty answer. Noor studied him a little longer, her mouth curved faintly as if she respected the answer but wanted to test the man behind it later when he had fewer witnesses and less moonlight helping his face commit fraud.

Then Maddie, who had apparently decided sincerity had lived long enough, said, "That was actually good. Who prepared it for you?"

Phei turned his head slowly toward her. "My suffering."

Sierra smiled. "Very poetic. Still avoiding the number, though."

Nastya lifted one brow, quietly victorious. "Yes. Hundreds?"

Phei stared at her, then looked at the full limousine, then back again with genuine horror. "Do you know how exhausting hundreds sounds?" he asked, and the laughter returned so hard even Victoria failed to keep her composed mask untouched, a small laugh escaping her before she looked away as if dignity could be recovered by staring at passing darkness.

"Finally," Victoria said, her voice smooth again but softer than before, "a sensible answer."

Phei placed a hand over his chest. "Thank you. I may be shameless, but I am not suicidal." Noor laughed. "So there is a limit?"

Phei smiled. "Yes."

Soraya asked, "What is it?" and he answered with solemn sincerity:

"The number of women willing to tolerate me without forming a formal union against my emotional survival."

"That union already exists," Maddie said.

"It has members," Sierra added.

"Funding," Valentina said.

"And minutes," Victoria murmured, which made everyone look at her before Maddie burst out laughing and pointed triumphantly.

"See? She is learning."

The limousine rolled on through the amber-lit darkness, carrying their laughter toward the dealership while Phei’s earlier unease remained beneath it, not gone but softened by the warmth pressing around him.

He still needed to grow stronger. He still needed to understand the hidden powerhouses of the world. He still had too many questions, too many women, too many enemies and too many futures gathering around him like elegant storms.

But for now, Noor and Soraya were here, Nastya and Victoria were pretending not to be jealous with decreasing success, Maddie and Sierra were enjoying themselves far too much, Valentina was still pouting over the attack on her explanation, and ahead of them waited the biggest dealership on the island.

His first real car waited somewhere under those lights.

And perhaps, because fate had never known moderation around him, another piece of the future waited with it.

****

A/N: There’s something from his parents awaiting him!