Chapter 74: Meeting Father-in-law (1)
Later, during the Array Creation and Manipulation class, Mikael was once again reminded of the importance of arrays. He resolved that once he finished his current mage training and addressed his weakness against larger enemies, he would dedicate time to mastering arrays.
After the class, he met up with Lyra. The two of them found a secluded bench in a quiet park on the Academy grounds and began talking. At first, there was a faint tension in the air, but as their conversation shifted to magic and related topics, the tension melted away. Lyra, ever the bookworm, quickly became engrossed in their discussion.
After a while, their conversation naturally drifted to more casual topics. At one point, Lyra "casually" asked, "Oh, now that I think about it, I've often seen you with Amelia. Is she your friend or...?"
After a brief pause to gather his thoughts, Mikael responded with a calm smile. "Amelia is someone I'm close to. We've spent a lot of time together, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility of something more happening in the future. For now, though, we're just friends." He met Lyra's gaze, his tone steady. "As for relationships, I am currently with someone—Kiara. She's very important to me, and we've talked about the future. While she's open to me having multiple women, it's something we're navigating carefully."
Hearing the first part about Amelia, Lyra inwardly bristled. However, when Mikael mentioned Kiara and explained the arrangement they had, her mood improved, and she became lost in her thoughts.
"Surprisingly" for a princess, Lyra seemed to take the mention of a harem better than Amelia. But when one considered their backgrounds, it wasn't all that surprising. While Lyra was a princess, she was one of many in the Mystoria family and held little real power. She was twelfth in line for the throne and not a serious contender, as she had no interest in politics or succession, preferring to focus on her learning new knowledge. Meanwhile, Amelia was the only daughter of a duke and was deeply cherished by her father, giving her a much higher status.
This difference in their backgrounds explained why Lyra's reaction was far milder than Amelia's, who was still grappling with the concept of a harem.
Though their conversation continued, Mikael noticed Lyra's answers became distracted, her mind clearly elsewhere. Eventually, they decided to part ways. Both left with plenty to think about—Lyra with thoughts of Mikael, and Mikael with thoughts of Lyra and his harem.
Back in his dormitory, Mikael reflected on his situation. Each time he needed to explain the harem to a potential partner, it carried the risk of backfiring. The only reason it hadn't been a disaster yet was that this world was far more accepting of harems than Earth. 'If I tried this back on Earth, it would fail 99.99% of the time,' he thought wryly.
He pondered for a solution. 'In the future, when I'm pursuing someone, I should probably make it clear from the start that I have a harem. It would be less scummy and easier to accept if they knew from the beginning. That way, if they're interested, they'll already know what to expect. But how should I do this?' he wondered
He considered it further. 'The simplest solution would be to spend more time with my women in public so anyone I'm pursuing sees it and understands what they're getting into.'