Chapter 234: Are You an Idiot?
"Harem Online?"
Martin said nothing.
Players still lingered along the nearby path. They were close enough to watch Alexandra leaning over the bench, but the overlapping voices from the quest boards and the Light Tree had swallowed the quieter parts of their conversation. That would no longer be enough once Martin said what was on his mind.
"Open a private voice channel."
Some of the amusement left Alexandra’s face, but she obeyed. A confirmation icon appeared at the edge of Martin’s vision, and their voices became inaudible to everyone outside the channel. The surrounding chatter remained, but every word passing between them now belonged only to the two of them.
Only then did he take hold of her forearms and pull them away from his shoulders. Martin rose on his side of the bench and turned, leaving the low backrest between them.
"Are you an idiot?"
Alexandra blinked. "What?"
"I just told you I’m scared of ruining everything between us." His voice came out louder than he intended, but the private channel kept it between them, and he was too angry to pull it back. "I told you I finally have friends I don’t want to lose, and your answer is some stupid joke?"
Her lips parted, but Martin continued before she could respond.
"Harem Online? Seriously?"
"It wasn’t meant to be a joke."
"You’re so deep into Chaosgraphy that you think every conversation needs a dramatic closing line."
Alexandra went still, but Martin’s frustration had already broken loose.
"This isn’t one of your movies. You can’t toss out something ridiculous after I tell you all that, grin while I squirm, and expect me to play along because it sounds exciting."
Instead of snapping back, Alexandra simply stopped smiling. The quiet change hit Martin harder than anger would have.
She came around the end of the bench and stopped directly in front of him. "That was cruel."
Martin’s jaw tightened.
"But I made it sound like a joke, so I’ll let that one pass."
"I didn’t mean all of it."
"You did for at least a few seconds."
He looked away. "Yeah."
Alexandra watched him before continuing. "I wasn’t smiling at your fear."
"Then what were you smiling at?"
"The idea. It excites me."
"That still doesn’t sound much better."
"It might after you stop shouting and let me explain."
Martin exhaled through his nose. Some of the anger remained, but regret had already started cutting into it.
The mention of Chaosgraphy had done more than wipe the smile from her face. He could see it in the tension around her mouth and the stiffness in her shoulders. She had worried about the same thing before, and he had hit the sore spot without knowing it.
Rubbing his forehead, Martin muttered, "Fine."
"No." Alexandra raised one finger. "Look at me first."
He lowered his hand.
"Alexandra," she said. "Not Chaosgraphy. Not the villainess."
Martin met her eyes. "Sometimes I’m not sure where one ends and the other begins."
Her expression tightened. A few seconds passed before she answered.
"Sometimes I’m not sure either."
Most of Martin’s anger died before he could hold on to it.
Alexandra folded her arms beneath her chest. "I enjoy being Chaosgraphy. I like saying things I’d normally have to soften, and I like being shameless and competitive. I also enjoy being cruel when someone deserves it."
"And when they don’t?"
"I’m working on that."
Martin gave her a flat look.
"At least I admitted it."
"Barely."
"The villainess is part of me, Martin, but she isn’t all of me. Chaosgraphy may have made me bold enough to say it that way, but the idea is mine."
He glanced toward the bench. "You’re saying Alexandra came up with Harem Online?"
"Yes."
"That might be worse."
"It might."
Her immediate agreement caught him off guard. Alexandra sat on the edge of the bench, crossed one leg over the other, and motioned toward the open space beside her.
Martin hesitated before sitting down.
She didn’t press against him this time. A narrow gap remained between their bodies, and he felt the distance more sharply after the way she had been holding him earlier.
"Rangar put the word harem into my head," Alexandra said.
"Of course he did."
"At first, it sounded shameless, excessive, and exciting. Naturally, I kept thinking about it."
"That sounds dangerous."
"It was interesting."
"Same thing, in your case."
Alexandra ignored him. "You already understand why our real lives make this complicated. One famous actress dating an ordinary man would be enough to create a scandal."
Martin leaned back. "Don’t remind me."
"Several famous women choosing the same ordinary man would be much worse." Her eyes brightened despite the conversation. "The media would lose its mind. Fans would start wars, managers would have heart attacks, and sponsors would pretend to be offended while calculating how much money they could make from the attention."
"And that excites you."
"Extremely."
"There you go smiling again."
"This time you know why."
Martin laughed under his breath. "At least you’re honest."
"Tell me something is forbidden and impossible, and naturally I want to know whether it can be done."
"That explains your entire career."
"It explains more than that."
Alexandra glanced toward the Light Tree. "In the real world, everything around us is managed. Interviews, schedules, public appearances, even rumors. If I went on one normal date, strangers would decide whether I looked happy enough."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is. Here, I can decide for myself. I can be reckless because I want to be. No script is telling me the scene needs more tension."
Martin looked at her. "You’re not making this sound safer."
"I never promised safe."
"No. You promised interesting."
"And I was right."
Her smile returned, smaller now and less theatrical.
The idea still sounded absurd, but Alexandra clearly hadn’t thrown it at him for a cheap reaction. She had been thinking about it long before this conversation.
Martin studied her for any hint that she was exaggerating and found none. She had actually gone home, investigated the idea, and returned ready to propose it to his face. Somehow, that was more alarming than the joke.
"So you researched harems."
Alexandra met his eyes without the slightest embarrassment.
"I did."