"And that's five." I bitterly muttered as Control projected a video they recorded of Marie being kissed by Greg. I already saw her and Chris cozying up the other day as well. "I guess she wins the any-percent reverse-harem speedrun."

I don't know what any of those words mean together, but I can sense annoyance and begrudging respect.

Marie played her part as the pseudo-protagonist perfectly as far as raising flags with the love interests went. Even if I had continued my original plan of introducing Olivia to Chris or Greg, it would have been too late anyway.

Will this affect events negatively moving forward?

"Hopefully, the endgame won't trigger just because of all the flags." I still had to consciously keep myself from treating everything as a series of flags and events, but Control was there to call me out whenever I would relapse back into that way of thinking. However, we could still use the more major world events as references.

There were a number of different endings available in the game depending on which love interest the player chose. However, the final third of the game would always be about dealing with the same ultimate threat.

The Principality of Fanoss

A former territory of the Holfort Kingdom that had gained independence a long time ago. They developed a deep seated hatred towards the Kingdom due to multiple attempts to militarily reabsorb the Principality.

They would eventually end up attacking Holfort in ever escalating capacity and it would be up to the player and their love interest to help deal with them. Mainly through the manifestation of Olivia's power as a Saint, something I currently had no idea how to resolve yet.

I had educated Control about the Principality and they suggested against trying to deal with the threat prematurely. They reasoned that we didn't know any possible consequences in being the aggressor of the conflict. I agreed as I honestly didn't want to kill anyone anyway.

"What I'm worried about is Angelica." I brought up something I've only recently considered. Angelica wasn't just an obstacle or Boss that Olivia or Marie had to overcome. She was an actual person like me.

Prince Julius' betrothed as well the primary antagonist of the game.

I nodded and thought back at all the events Marie had managed to trigger so far. With what Angelica had already gone through and what her personality was like. "She must be losing her mind with how fast Marie managed to seduce Prince Julius away from her."

You believe that she will try to do something drastic.

I closed my eyes and ran through the events of the game. They weren't as reliable as I wanted anymore, but there would still be things that would probably stay the same. All the events Marie had triggered lent credence to that. "There will be an event where she would have challenged Olivia to an Armor duel. It would end up being between champions of their choice. The event should be months away to let the player bulk up in power and get used to the Armor combat mechanic with their chosen love interest."

The timetable for that may end up being moved up then, should we intervene?

That was the big question. Based on the information that Control had gathered about Angelica, her reputation was at an all-time low. Multiple public displays of disdain by Prince Julius and the other love interests made associating with her political kryptonite. Even if she challenged Marie and her reverse-harem to a duel, I didn't know who she'd even have on her side.

The thought made me more irritated than I expected, that Marie could just do that to someone.

"I don't really have any good reason to get involved in their affairs. I doubt I can just arrange a meeting with her." I lamented to Control.

Actually, you may have a means to meet her privately.

"Well, I'm open to any suggestions." It was so great to have someone to bounce ideas off of and give reasonable ideas–

Invite her to a Tea Party.

–nevermind. "Control, you understand the purpose of Tea Parties, right?"

I have done research on the activity and made independent observations on other Tea Parties that have been held.

Right. That was part of their personal initiative to learn more about the current culture that humanity ended up with.

Though their primary purpose is for young bachelors to attract prospective spouses, there does not seem to be any rules to prevent anyone who is already engaged from hosting or attending a Tea Party.

The frustrating thing about it was that Control was completely right. The five love interests have all hosted Tea Parties to great success even though a few of them were already slated to marry someone else.

"Would she even entertain an invitation from someone like me?" I voiced my doubts based on the disparity between the status of me and Angelica. To say nothing about how hyperfocused she seemed to be about Prince Julius.

Angelica was the one who recommended you for that expedition through a dungeon some time ago. We can at least assume that she has an awareness of you, perhaps even having a positive opinion of you. It may be enough for her to accept an invitation.

Okay, those were actually pretty good points. Then again, "I'd rather not have any rumors developing around the two of us though."

Then I suggest inviting Oliva along as well. That would assuage possible concerns as most of the first-year student body are already of the impression that you and Olivia are romantically involved.

"What?! Since when?!" I asked in complete panic.

No brain! Shut up! Stop imagining Olivia in romantic situations.! You're supposed to be on my side!

There have been minor whispers but the rumors gained more traction after the previously mentioned dungeon expedition.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?!"

I had thought that you were aware of it with how much time the two of you have been spending with each other. It would not be a leap of logic from an outsider's perspective as to the nature of your relationship.

"That wasn't my intention at all! That was mostly Olivia tracking me down and asking me to do stuff with her!" I yelled and was about to complain some more when Control's next words made my thoughts freeze up.

Then will you start distancing yourself from Olivia as previously suggested by your two friends?

I opened my mouth but couldn't bring myself to say 'yes'.

"Shit." I settled instead.

Since this is already the current perception, we may as well take advantage of it.

I grumbled some more but couldn't fault the AI's reasoning. "Fine. We'll figure out a way to sort out the whole Olivia thing later."

As I mentioned earlier, Angelica seems to see you in a favorable light. Additionally, she seems to also see Olivia positively. She even let her keep the weapon she lent, did she not?

Control was talking about the magic handgun that Olivia said Angelica lent her for the dungeon when the other girl found out that she didn't have any weapons at all. It all lined up pretty well, all in all. "I can't believe I'm actually starting to think that this will be a good idea."

Any further discussion on the matter was interrupted when someone started banging on my door.

"Leon! Open this door! We need to talk! Now!" I blinked at Jenna's pissed off voice. I glanced at Control, the Stealth Probe they were using immediately went invisible. I gave it a few more seconds before opening the door. Jenna stormed inside, followed by her catboy slave, even before I could get a word out.

"Nice to see you too, Jenna." I sarcastically greeted my older sister while closing the door.

"Cute, now start talking." I furrowed my brow at her.

"Jenna, I have no idea what you even want me to talk about."

"Of course you don't." She muttered, quite more high strung than she usually was. "Tell me about what the hell is going on in the first-year department!"

I sighed and shook my head."Still not specific enough, sorry."

"There are crazy rumors going around everywhere and I don't know who to believe. You have to know something." Ah, so all the nonsense going on had started filtering up to our seniors. Well, there's only one big topic recently.

"Let me guess, Marie Fou Lafan?" Jenna perked up immediately and pointed at me.

"So you do know something! Talk!" Jeez, you could turn it down a few notches, sis.

"From what I can tell, she's managed to get pretty close to Prince Julius and the rest of his friends." I gave her an abridged count of what a student would likely know. I sure wasn't going to tell her what I really knew.

"That matches up with some of what I learned. What about the Duke's daughter that's in your year?" Angelica? They even know about the incidents with her? "The Prince has gotten pretty upset at her a few times in public."

I thought about it and realized that it was a good opportunity to get a fresh perspective. If Jenna was going to grill me for information, I might as well get something out of it. "Actually, have you heard anything about that on your end? People have been saying that she was the one who ordered the bullying on Marie."

"Of course they'd say that." Jenna sighed, like she was just told something particularly stupid. "Someone at her rank wouldn't need to make the order, the people below her would have done it on their own. Think about it, she's the daughter of a Duke. If she really wanted Marie gone, then she'd be gone. Permanently."

I blinked from what she just said. "So she had nothing to do with it?"

"It doesn't matter. If her minions were doing it, then she still needs to take responsibility." My sister scoffed. What? That's bullshit!

"That's not fair. Shouldn't the culprits themselves take the fall?" I asked and Jenna suddenly looked really tired.

"That's how these things go."

Then Angelica really didn't bully Marie at all? But that was how it went in the game with the player. Or was I actually misremembering it and just forgot the specifics?

"The other years are going all in a panic over all this. Even my plans have been messed up! Argh! Do you have any idea what this means?!" I blinked at the sudden resurgence of emotion.

"I'm sorry you've been having a hard time at school?" I tried and failed to guess what Jenna meant. She looked up at the ceiling as if the answers to life were stuck up there.

"You're in the same year as the future King! If you can get in his favor then you're set for life. If you piss him off, then it's over for you!." She explained before she suddenly stopped and walked up to me. "You're not involved in this mess, right?"

"I promise that I am not presently involved with any of the nonsense that has been going on around the prince. Honestly, I've had my hands full with my own problems like you said." I said, referencing her own words from the time she gave Olivia some advice. She narrowed her eyes at me for a few seconds but eventually nodded.

"Each of the grades have separate end-of-term parties. Don't do anything stupid during yours." She reminded me before walking up to my door. "And make sure you find a suitable bride!"

Well, if she was going to act like that. "I will as soon as you find a husband."

"Go jump out a window!" She yelled before walking out of my room with her slave and slamming my door closed.

Just like old times.

She will be very disappointed in you once she finds out where you actually stand on the matter.

I snorted at Control's comment. "What she doesn't know can't hurt me."

I went over to my bed and sat down, thinking over the situation with the info tha Jenna just added. Marie was really stirring things up everywhere. I wondered if that also went on in the background during the game but was just never given any focus?

Will we still move forward with my suggestion?

Inviting Angelica over for a tea party to give her a place to relax and be away from all the crap she was probably dealing with. If successful, we might be able to at least mitigate a bit of the emotional damage she was suffering from. Even better if she reacts positively to it and Olivia and I gain a new political ally. It really was a good idea.

In fact…

"Actually, since we're already going to do something I would have thought crazy anyway." I started, licking my lips. Was I really going to do this? Fight fire with fire, as it were? "What are the chances that the betrothed of other love interests would want to vent about the current situation with Marie over tea and snacks as well?"

Are you planning on taking their future brides for yourself?

Control's words made my brain stall for a second before I started laughing. "That sounds a bit too crazy, Control. No, I just want to see if I can get a few allies in case I get pushed into opposing Marie and her reverse-harem more directly."

I'll see what I can find out about them.

"You're the best, Control!" I said before opening up the window for them to fly out of.

I talked to Olivia about my intention to invite Angelica to a Tea Party when we had a chance to have lunch together again. She was about to bite into a piece of fruit when I brought up my plan.

"Miss Angelica? So you want to have a Tea Party with her?" Wow, Olivia. No need to say it in a tone that makes it sound like you think I was stupid and crazy.

"Actually," I quickly stated when I noted the way she asked that question. "I wanted to know if you would join us too."

"Me? Why? Wouldn't it be better if it was just the two of you?" She asked me, both looking and sounding frustrated at the request. Uh-oh, I better head this off.

"It would actually work out better if you were there." I began explaining. "I'm not inviting Angelica because of any romantic intention."

That seemed to calm her down but she still looked pretty confused. "Really? Then why?"

"You've heard about what's been happening between her, Prince Julius, and Marie?" Olivia nodded and looked pretty sad about it. What a nice girl. "Well, I decided that she probably needed a place to relax or even get some things off her chest."

"And you think a Tea Party would help?" She asked, face brightening as she probably saw where I was going with this.

"Yep, and having you there would keep her from thinking that I had more nefarious objectives." I continued and wiggled my fingers at Olivia when I said 'nefarious', making her giggle.

"Then you just want to help Miss Angelica." She placed a hand on her chest as she said that, sounding relieved. She seemed pretty concerned for Angelica's wellbeing.

"Why not? It's not like anyone else has been accepting my invitations." I flatly said while looking to the side, lamenting my current failure at attracting a bride. I looked back to Olivia and saw her staring at me in silence.

I was about to ask her if she was okay when she suddenly responded. "Okay, I'll do it."

Score! I clapped and suddenly felt a weight lift off my shoulders."That's great!"

"If you want, I can even deliver the invitation for you directly." She offered with a gentle smile and a surprising tone of confidence.

"Wait, are you sure?" I cautiously asked. The last thing we needed was Angelica and Olivia clashing because she tried to force an invitation. "You'd need to get past her followers to do that."

"I'll be fine! I promise!" I could only nod and accept the help. I guess I would just need to trust in Olivia's Otome protagonist charisma.

Control managed to identify Jilk as the only other love interest with a betrothed who was available. A third-year named Clarice Fia Atlee, the daughter of an Earl so her family was no joke. Control had been getting conflicting information about her though. They overheard some higher years talking about her as someone kind and friendly. However, when they actually went to see what she was like, Clarice had the look and attitude of a delinquent-type student instead. Even the people she surrounded herself with looked like trouble.

I still think it would be worth the attempt to invite her.

I agreed with Control and sent out an invitation to Clarice, scheduled a week after the Tea Party with Angelica. Worst thing that could happen was that she declines. Actually, no. The worst thing would be if both her and Angelica declined my invitations.

A few days later, I got everything ready for my new Tea Party and even dug a bit into my remaining treasure to make sure I had top of the line stuff. Unfortunately, due to some scheduling issues, I ended up hosting both Angelica and Clarice at the same time. The senior just up and barged into the room and declared that she only had today available.

I started serving tea after everyone was introduced, Olivia looked concerned while Angelica looked annoyed when Clarice showed up. The older girl didn't seem to care about either of them.

"Thank you for still attending even though our original schedule was not workable for you." I said to Clarice as she sampled my tea.

"Well, I was intrigued at the first-year who had the guts to actually invite me to a Tea Party. I got even more interested after I found out more about you, mister Provisional Baron." She responded with a cocky smirk.

In contrast to her attitude, Angelica and Olivia were completely silent and were just staring at their drinks. The tension in the air was palpable.

I was wrong.

This was the worst that could happen.

Why couldn't things just work out the way you planned it?! That's what planning is for!