I Hate This Kind Of Reverse Harem - Chapter 1
Translator and Editor: Hue and Tea
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Chapter 1
[0. Prologue]
Tick-tock.
“Lady Ailsden!”
As soon as she entered the ballroom, a crowd of people, both men and women, rushed toward her.
Nathalie walked to the center of the hall still maintaining the slightly lifted posture of her chin. The swarm of people eagerly bombarded her with a barrage of questions.
“Rumors have spread throughout the empire that you are getting married!”
“Is it true you are seeking a husband?”
“Yes.”
With that confident response, those surrounding her lit up in anticipation.
“Haha! Indeed, you are merciful. Bestowing a fair opportunity to everyone!”
“To become the husband of the elusive Lady Ailsden, the envy of all has already begun!”
Lady Ailsden of the Ailsden Duchy.
A formidable figure with immense wealth and talents that stood out in the empire.
Currently, the most famous person in both social and political circles.
The most beautiful yet dangerous woman adorned with thorns.
That was none other than Nathalie.
‘Until recently, they treated me like a poisonous mushroom or a crow, and now…’
Nathalie raised a champagne glass and flashed a proud smile. However, those blind to her radiance shouted loud enough to dry their mouths instead of reproaching her.
“You look even more beautiful today, Lady! Just one dance with me….”
“I have seven keys to the private property warehouse! Give me a chance, too!”
“Lady, do you know my brother? He recently graduated as the youngest top scholar in the academy, even receiving commendation from the Emperor. Moreover, these days, younger men are in vogue…”
“Candidate applications start tomorrow. You can make your appeal at that time.”
Nathalie swirled the sparkling liquid in her glass, teasingly starting with arrogance.
Chaos ensued immediately with requests to prepare documents at once and the uproar of demands for hints for passing the document screening.
Through the commotion, another noble lady from Ailsden approached.
“Nathalie, your father and brother haven’t given their approval yet. It seems too hasty…”
Sharon Ailsden, the adopted daughter of the Duke’s family.
With an innocent face, Nathalie calmly whispered to her worried sister.
“Sharon, aren’t you mistaken?”
“Huh?”
“I don’t need permission. He’s my husband, not my brother or father’s husband.”
Sharon’s uplifted mouth awkwardly trembled. Nathalie graciously smiled at her fake sister.
At that moment, three men approached.
Their arrival changed the atmosphere, making the onlookers subconsciously distance themselves.
“Hello, you three.”
Sharon, smiling innocently, tried to stay in place, but…
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“I-I was about to.”
Chased by Nathalie’s urging, she left.
Soon, three men with strikingly vibrant hair—blond, black, and red—encircled Nathalie.
“We heard you posted a notice about choosing a husband.”
The blond prince sweetly spoke as if confirming. Nathalie responded confidently.
“Yes. I also want to experience marriage.”
Before the conversation even concluded, the gazes of the three men fixed on Nathalie. Sensing danger, Nathalie emphasized forcefully,
“It’s a pure marriage recruitment announcement. There are no other intentions.”
However, her effort was in vain.
Oddly enough, the three men, who had already interpreted things their own way, spoke as they pleased.
“As expected.”
“Just as I thought.”
“I knew it.”
Driven by their infatuation with her, they assumed she was employing a jealousy strategy to attract proposals!
“I always found it strange.”
The ‘perfect’ playboy prince chuckled amusingly.
“I’m a playboy, yet you’re the only woman actively approaching me. Did you discourage all the others?”
The dazzling blonde sparkled as much as his hair. Nathalie tried to deny the accusation with her expression.
“I noticed.”
However, the rugged baritone of the black-haired Duke’s sternness blocked her.
“I thought you had some purpose in talking about vitality and such to me.”
The brutally cold Northern Duke, showing self-disgust, glared at Nathalie as if he would devour her.
“That’s right!”
Nathalie was about to respond with a furrowed brow when the rebellious and childish voice of the red-haired Duke diverted their attention.
“If you tame me this much, you should take responsibility, Sis.”
His hair color suddenly changed to blue and the ‘crybaby’ psycho Marquis began to sob pitifully.
“Sis… if you cry and cling to me, I can learn to have a woman’s heart, you taught me. But why are you looking at other men?”
The glittering numbers engraved on the three men, visible only to Nathalie, exuded a sense of existence.
[100%]
[100%]
[100%]
*Sigh.*
Nathalie rubbed her temples.
Clearly, although perfect in the base game, the settings for the three male leads were gradually distorting. Then, an unprecedented error occurred–the affection level, even when completely filled, did not trigger an ending.
‘To escape from here, I have no choice but to marry.’
This world was the 19+ full version of a reverse harem game where the male leads were simultaneously conquered.
The essential strategy conditions of the game were as follows:
You had to fill the affection levels of the three male leads to a predetermined value to log out. Among them, when the affection level of the male lead reached 100% the ending would be triggered.
However, Nathalie, for a long time now, had surpassed the full version log-out condition of achieving 90% affection from the three male leads. Despite having now achieved 100% for all, no ending was triggered, and, of course, she couldn’t log out.
‘Not even a special ending where we all live together in harmony has popped up!’
Clearly, a serious bug had occurred.
Nathalie did her best to somehow fix the game.
But, whether it was due to the overflowing affection levels that reached the limit, the male leads began to exhibit an extraordinary possessiveness toward Nathalie.
‘Maybe the excessive affection levels are the problem.’
The full version was still an unstable new update version, so it was a plausible speculation.
Nathalie remembered from her basic playthrough that the affection levels of the male leads dropped whenever they misunderstood or felt jealous.
‘Especially when it came to the issue of other men, the affection level took a significant hit.’
Finally, Nathalie found a way to forcibly decrease the affection levels that were intensifying the three male leads’ obsession with her.
‘Marriage.’
Not with the three male leads but with someone else. So, she announced that she would accept husband candidates from the entire empire, choose one, and get married.
“I’m engaged to her.”
The Crown Prince gently kissed Nathalie’s left hand and smiled brightly.
“She’s my partner.”
The Northern Duke firmly held Nathalie’s right hand, entwining each of his fingers with hers.
“She’s my sister!”
Head Magician, with a mix of red and green hair, sobbed awkwardly and patted Nathalie’s shoulder from behind like a spoiled child.
Eventually, the three male leads shouted simultaneously at Nathalie.
“I’m the husband?!”
Wait, why are you guys fighting each other? I clearly said I’m marrying someone else!
“Get lost, all three of you.”
Nathalie turned around, expressing her annoyance.
“Young lady!”
“Lady.”
“Sis!”
The three men followed, but their path was blocked by two silver-haired men who appeared suddenly.
Escorting her like knights, Nathalie’s father on the left, and on the right, her brother Anatol, headed toward a carriage.
“Why do you suddenly want to get married? You’re too naïve to not know anything and yet stubbornly want to get married already!”
Her hot-tempered brother Anatol glared at the three men.
“I hope you quickly sort out this mess. It’s supposed to fulfill your wish, so why are you like this?”
When she retorted sharply, Anatol flinched. Then, the stoic father, the Duke of Ailsden, stopped walking.
“Nathalie.”
As Nathalie turned to look, her father met her gaze with a determined expression.
“Yes?”
“Instead of getting married, let’s live together forever at home. Spend my fortune however you want until the day I die.”
Nathalie’s mouth dropped open.
From the twisted male leads to her usually quarrelsome brother and even her father, no one had any intention of letting Nathalie go.
‘Why is everyone doing this?’
In addition to the endless obsession of the male leads, an unwanted family regret was added.
How far was this game going to malfunction?
‘I hate these reverse harems!’
Nathalie started to think about why and how she ended up trapped in such a reverse harem game.
[1. A Woman Carrying Good Luck]
It all started with something quite trivial.
Nathalie stared intently at the hat she had just picked up.
‘Something seems off.’
The canary yellow hat exuded an elegant charm.
Nathalie had waited a long time to purchase this limited edition hat adorned with the finest silk ribbon and Valentinian lace, putting her name on a waiting list.
Finally, after three years, the limited edition sale opened. She barely managed to get in on the first come, first served basis and rushed to the store.
“Nathalie Ailsden?”
As if urging her to hurry up and pick, Nathalie’s friend, a fellow young lady, whispered slyly.
Nathalie had maintained her name on the waiting list for three years at an enormous cost and hastily ran to the store as soon as she received a message that she had finally made it through to the first come, first served elite.
“Ah, yes.”
Nathalie suddenly came to her senses and tried to pick up the hat in front of her.
But for some reason, it didn’t feel right. It was a hat she had been dreaming of for a whopping three years, but she felt a sense of aversion instead.
Oddly enough, Nathalie immediately turned her gaze toward the display case right next to her.
‘For some reason I can’t fathom, I want to buy that.’
It was a small silk hat.
Unlike the flashy canary yellow hat, it wasn’t particularly elegant, and it wasn’t very pretty with its funeral-like black color.
Moreover, compared to the latest trend that considered wider brims more elegant, the small-sized hat, like something used at a corsage, looked strangely peculiar.
“Lady Ailsden, shall I wrap this one for you?”
The shop assistant politely pointed to the small silk hat.
Lady Ailsden had already embraced an identical design but in a different color and was waiting next to her.
Nathalie had a momentary stare-off with the two hats.
But whenever she resolved to buy the canary yellow hat she had been dreaming of, her gaze involuntarily returned to the black one.
In the end, Nathalie wrinkled her forehead and mumbled.
“…No. Give me that one.”
“What? But that one is a sample made by Madame Dupré herself?!”
“It doesn’t matter. Wrap that one.”
“What? Lady Ailsden, are you sure?”
The shop of Madame Dupré, an exclusive boutique where reservations were required, allowed purchase of just one hat per person. There were no exceptions.
Despite the astonishment of the shop assistant and even Lady Ailsden, Nathalie defiantly bought the sample hat.
And she paid the expensive price for the originally intended canary yellow hat.
“Why did you do that? After waiting for three years for the pretty one, how could you buy that strange one…”
Lady Ailsden, riding in the carriage with Nathalie, mumbled in confusion.
Nathalie had spent a fortune on the bizarre sample hat and couldn’t understand why she did it, either.
‘Somehow, it kept drawing my attention. As if it was telling me not to buy the yellow one, but to choose itself!’
However, saying something like that would make her look like a stubborn tantrum-throwing fool.
Now, with her name removed from the waiting list, any chance to purchase another hat had flown away.
“It’s my heart.”
In the end, Nathalie could only respond sharply.
Lady Ailsden had quickly flattered without being a friend and now pursed her lips in silence, having obtained the expensive limited-edition hat.
However, two days later.
“Lady Ailsden! Ailsden!”
“What is it?”
Lady Ailsden rushed to her and blurted out her news.
“Well, you see, the Dupré Hat Shop caught fire early this morning! Madame Dupré had hurriedly gone to the Nuyuta Kingdom because her father passed away, came back late in the morning and discovered it!”
Sipping her tea absentmindedly, Nathalie spat it out at the news.
“The shop assistant made a mistake! Apparently, the hat you, Lady Ailsden, bought the day before yesterday is a genuine limited edition!”
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