The air was heavy.
Not with fear.
Not with tension.
But with pure, concentrated madness.
Kael stood at the epicenter, blood still dried on his lips from Luna's love bite and the scent of wild perfume lingering around him like a toxic haze. The girls were frozen. Aria's eyes twitched. Luna was panting. Iris was cracking her knuckles. Eva looked ready to set the world on fire. All of them were trembling—not with fear, but with territorial rage.
And then—
The doors boomed open.
A figure stepped in with the grace of royalty and the aura of a final boss. Raven-black heels clicked on the marble floor. A tight corset hugged a figure too sinful to be allowed in a school. The woman's long, wavy obsidian hair flowed behind her like a shadowy river.
Lady Selene Ravynne.
Kael's stepmother.
"Kael~♥" Her voice was velvet dipped in honey and wrapped in sin. "I heard my precious boy has been a little... overwhelmed."
"...Stepmom?" Kael's throat dried. "What are you doing here?!"
Lady Ravynne smiled. "My little darling, do you really think I could ignore a Blood Moon Awakening? You've grown into such a delicious young man. And now… you've awakened my obsession."
A pink heart-shaped sigil burned into her chest.
[⚠ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Sixth Obsession Triggered — "The Forbidden Ravynne." Bond Level: SSS+]
The other girls screamed.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Iris threw a chair. "She's your stepmother!"
"That makes it hotter," Selene purred.
"YOU'RE LITERALLY MARRIED TO HIS FATHER!" Eva shrieked.
"Ex-husband, dear. He died mysteriously." Ravynne winked.
Kael paled. "Wait—what?!"
She ignored him and slinked closer, bending slightly to stare directly into his eyes. "Now that I've returned, my sweet Kael... shall we revisit the nights you spent sleeping beside me after those awful nightmares? Do you remember how you'd cling to me, trembling in my arms~?"
Kael's brain blue-screened.
Aria stepped forward, shaking. "You can't be serious…! You're the reason Kael had such a broken upbringing—!"
"Correction," Lady Ravynne interrupted, "I'm the reason he's so beautifully broken. A masterpiece forged by pain... molded by cruelty... and now, desired by all."
The System crackled.
[⚠ SYSTEM WARNING: Harem Overload Threshold Approaching]
[Emergency Protocols Armed. If Subject Kael attempts escape, punishment level: CATACLYSMIC.]
Kael looked around at the six obsessed girls surrounding him. Six. And every single one of them was dead serious about claiming him.
Eva: "He's mine, witch."
Iris: "Over my dead body."
Luna: "I will tear out your hearts and serve them to him as cupcakes~"
Aria: "...Let's talk. Rationally. Before someone dies. Probably Kael."
Lady Ravynne, meanwhile, simply sat on a throne-like chair that appeared out of nowhere, crossing her long legs.
"Let me make this simple." Her red eyes sparkled. "You children can squabble all you want. But Kael belongs to me. He always has."
Kael: "I'm gonna die."
Aria: "Not before you explain what's inside your soul."
Kael blinked. "Huh?"
Aria's hand glowed with runes as she activated a hidden spell—one that pierced through dimensional veils.
"The System has been hiding something. You… your soul isn't just from this world or the last. It's something ancient. Primordial."
The ground trembled.
[⚠ SYSTEM ALERT: SOUL ORIGIN DETECTED. UNAUTHORIZED KNOWLEDGE. LOCKING MEMORIES.]
But it was too late.
Aria's voice cracked. "You're… not just a chosen one. You were designed. Made to suffer. Built to be loved and destroyed. You're not human."
Kael took a step back. "What… am I?"
Before anyone could respond—
A seventh figure stirred in the shadows.
A cold voice whispered from the corner:
"Mine."
Everyone turned. The room dropped 20 degrees.
A girl stood there. Unmoving. Unblinking.
Kael gasped. "...No."
It was the maid.
The quiet girl who had always served Kael tea… who never spoke… who always stood just at the edge of his vision.
But now… her eyes glowed. Her maid outfit melted into shadows. Her obsession erupted like a storm of knives.
[⚠ SYSTEM ALERT: Seventh Obsession Awakened — "The Silent Blade of Love"]
Kael fell to his knees.
"WHY?! Why is everyone obsessed with me?!"
Lady Ravynne giggled, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
"Because, my love," she whispered into his ear, "you were never meant to be free."