QT: I hijacked a harem system and now I'm ruining every plot(GL)

Chapter 423: Larissa

I look at the unconscious sleeping prince.

I had to do this. He was struggling. Fighting. Screaming. The merfolk who brought him to me had to hold him down.

I reach out. I brush a strand of hair from his face. His skin is warm beneath my fingers. His breathing is steady. Slow.

He looks peaceful now.

He did not look peaceful before.

I sit beside him on the coral bed. The water is cool around us. The light filters down from the surface, soft and blue.

"I did not want it to be like this," I whisper.

But I love him. And when you love people—like the Devil said—you make decisions for them. Decisions they might not understand.

He will understand me, one day. This place will keep him safe. And happy. So unlike the human world and its dangers.

***

Daphne

[Host.]

I ignore the System and keep kissing my wife’s neck.

[Host.]

I continue kissing my wife’s neck.

[HOST.]

I pull back. I glare at the purple bird perched on the windowsill.

Surely I do not have to spell it out. Some privacy.

I respond mentally.

The stupid bird rolls its eyes, but does not make an effort to leave. I exhale.

I come up with some illogical excuse—something about checking the kitchen.Lorelei looks at me. Her brow furrows.

"Everything alright?"

"Fine. Just—" I gesture vaguely. "Something I need to check."

She does not look convinced.

But she does not argue.

She simply nods.

I leave.

Reluctantly.

Very reluctantly. I head outside the cabin.

I do not even get to say anything before the System starts.

[Harem Breakdown: 78% completion. This world’s mission: Success.]

I blink.

[Nancy EastWillard and Marina O’Malley are romantically involved. The prince has been missing from the kingdom. Unlike in the original timeline, the male lead is kept in the merfolk kingdom, preventing the original war.]

I lean against the railing.

[Penelope Ashworth, Caspian’s human fiancée, is pregnant. She is destined to rise to the throne as regent for her child.]

Well. I did wonder why there was not any active search for the missing prince. He has been gone for months. So this is why.

Well, good for her. I have never really met this member of the harem, but I like that she is like this—power hungry and pragmatic. I wish her all the best.

"Well, this is good news," I say and stretch, this world has felt unusually long.

The parrot tilts its head.

[The mermaid princess is now twisted, Host. Was this your original intention?]

"I do not know what you are talking about."

[You told the princess all those lies about the human world.]

"They were not exactly lies." I shrug. "How would I have known she would lock up the prince, forcefully give him gills, and make sure he can never escape the water?"

[You traded the male lead for the banishment upliftment on your lover. I find that hard to believe, Host.]

"404." I gasp exaggeratedly. "You hurt my feelings. Are you implying I manipulated the princess so that I could do this?"

I walk away.Well.

The System is not wrong.

My original intention was to use the prince as a bargaining chip to search the merfolk kingdom for my beloved. But then I found her. I thought I would not need to use it like that.

Until she was sad about being banished.

And I had to.

It is not even bad. Sure, the male lead being confined for the rest of his life is sad. But let us think of it as atonement. He literally caused an interspecies war because he was greedy with women.

So I really... do not care.

***

Smith

The chains are heavy. They itch against my wrists, the skin raw and irritated where the shackles have rubbed for months. I try to move—just a little, just enough to ease the ache—but to no avail.

I lean against the wall.

The stone is cold. Damp. The cell smells of moss and salt and something rotting in the corner.

I look at the small source of light coming from the tiny window. It is the only thing I can do in this prison cell.

I have been here for months.

Fortunate I was not executed for having His Highness missing under my care. The court wanted my head. The king—old, grieving, furious—demanded it.

But the Prince’ consort intervened.

She stood in front of the council, her belly swollen with the heir, her voice steady and cold.

"He will be kept alive," she said. "Until my husband returns."

And so I am kept alive.

Until the prince returns. But we all know that he may never be back.

I will spend the rest of my life in these chains.

Sometimes I wonder what I could have done differently.

Should I not have gone into the alley with her?

No. I should have protested the prince going to see them in the first place. I should have insisted on more guards. I should have listened to the voice in my head that told me something was wrong.

So many things.

And sometimes I wonder—maybe execution would have been the better option.

At least then it would be over.

At least then I would not have to sit here, in the dark, waiting for a future that will never come.

At least then I would not have to think about her.

How I hate her.

How I remember the taste of her skin.

She betrayed me. She used me. She left me in an alley to rot while she stole my prince and destroyed my life.

And yet—

I clench my fists.

The chains rattle.

I hate her.

The footsteps stop in front of my cell.

A key turns in the lock.

The door swings open.

Light floods in.

I squint.

A figure stands in the doorway.

"Smith."

Naia is standing there. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Beads clicking softly as she moves.

She looks the same.

How dare she look the same?

"Miss me, old man?" she asks.

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