“So tell me again as to why you’re in Fenrir?” Mark asked Gray who was casually chatting with Miriam that lunch break, the entire day had nothing but exciting as she was quickly bombarded with questions asking her about her status as the Princess of the Nation.

“No reason,” Gray lied, she had received a call from Miriam a few days ago explaining how Mark was ‘cheating’ on her with Alice and thus she begged for her parents to transfer to FDCA so that she can keep an eye on Mark and make sure she won’t get her hands on him. She was confident that Mark wouldn’t cheat on her but Mark is still an ordinary young man with hormones, and she knows of Alice’s reputation around people so she was making sure that Mark wouldn’t succumb to the temptation that is Alice.

“Right sure,” Mark answered unconvinced that she was telling the truth and decided to just walk away.

As soon as Mark was out of earshot, Gray stood up and walked out of the room while shooting a look at Alice who was busy tinkering with her phone and then followed after her. Eventually the two girls made their way towards the hallway and into a secluded spot where nobody can overhear their conversation, as soon as they were alone Alice gave Gray a smug and somewhat teasing look on her face all the while Gray crossed her arms and gave her a glare.

“Alright I’m gonna make things clear,” Gray said giving her a hard look. “Stay away from Mark, he’s mine.”

“Are you done?” Alice replied in a low voice causing Gray to give her a confused look.

“As far as I know you two aren’t in a relationship or engaged whatsoever.” Alice replied with a calm look on her voice. Gray winced from her response as she was right in a way, the two are just friends and cousins on paper, they weren’t in a relationship. Satisfied with this, Alice walked away and began to make her way back to the classroom.

"So that's how it's gonna be huh?" Gray said clenching her fists with determination. It helped that she had been reading novels and consuming other forms of media coming from the Sakuramori Shogunate where the Childhood friend had become the winner in a love triangle.

And so she was determined to achieve such an ending.

Meanwhile back at Mark, he was having difficulty in holding things recently. This had been a reoccurring problem for him since the Siege had ended, his fingers would get numb, thus providing difficulty in handling things and sometimes he'd have this stabbing sensation in the fingers. This leads to a check-up to a nearby doctor informing him of what was his current condition.

"It's Carpal tunnel." The Doctor told Mark as he was accompanied with Joshua who also noticed the strange symptoms that Mark had been showcasing. Turns out the prolonged use of Arthur had caused this due his constant switches between modes.

"But don't worry," The Doctor said with a smile. "It's still minor and very much treatable."

"That's a relief." Joshua said with a sigh of relief as he clenched Mark's shoulder as Mark smiled as well.

"Just wear splints and take some medicine and you'll be good in no time." The Doctor said as she started writing the prescription for the medicine that Mark will be taking. "Oh and you need to cease whatever is the cause of your Carpal tunnels."

"So no training for now." Mark said disappointedly with a dry laugh. It had been a common habit for the father and son to spar, sometimes with Miriam but she was busy trying to befriend Alice instead.

"Oh don't worry I'm sure you have other ways to kill time," Joshua said with a chuckle as Mark was now wearing the hand splints for both of his hands. It was a pain to deal with but it had to be done so that Mark is able to use Arthur with extreme efficiency once more.

“Well I’ve been reading to read some books in Grandfather’s study, now is a good time for that.” Mark said in a low voice as they walked through the halls of the hospital. Eventually the father and son duo went home and to his surprise, Gray was there alongside Alice in the who was in the middle of an intense tea party with Miriam.

“So uh, want to talk about that?” Joshua said in a low voice in a concerned manner. Mark pursed his lips, he knew that Gray was interested in him which itself was an endgame goal due to the power and influence that her family has which had grown in the years. But Alice is a whole different matter, he knows that she’s just fooling around with him over that misunderstanding and so Mark is gonna play her game.

“It’s complicated.” Mark replied with a sigh on his face as he rubbed his face. “I’ll go talk to them.”

“My son, all I can advise you is that you can’t ride two motorcyles at the same time.” Joshua said in a low voice shaking his head as he walked away. Mark took a deep breath as he walked towards the trio, the two girls smiled but then gave each other a hard look as he drew nearer.

“What are you up to Miriam?” Mark said with a deep sigh.

“Oh just having a little tea party.” Miriam said but her cheeky smile tells a different story.

“Then I’ll join you.” Mark said grabbing the chair but he had a difficult time grabbing it causing the three to look at him with concern. “You alright?” Gray asked worriedly as she stood up to help Mark move the chair and moved the chair for him but Mark stopped her all the while Alice had a blank look on her face.

“It’s fine I’m just having carpal tunnels," Mark said in a low voice as he finally managed to pull a chair and sit down causing him to let out a sigh of relief.

“That explains why you’re having a bad time in writing homework,” Miriam said taking a sip of her tea. “But that being said I think you should leave.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s a ladies thing.” Miriam, Alice and Gray all told Mark at the same time. He stood up with a grunt and then walked away leaving the trio on their own.

He was curious and concerned as to what Miriam was up to, truth be told he had underestimated Miriam and didn’t expect her to make such a move. Worse case scenario she might even put a wrench on his future plans. Mark let out a deep sigh as he sat by the library of the mansion watching the tea party and while he can’t read their lips, he can tell that the situation is complicated. He sensed movement and turned to find his mother walking towards him with a phone on her hand as though she had just finished answering a call.

“Your father told you about the motorcycle metaphor?” She told him as she sat down next to him and gave him a smile.

“I’m fairly certain father thinks I’m courting two girls,” Mark said in a low voice as he looked at his hand splints, causing Mary to let out a giggle as she ran a hand through his hair.

“Then why don’t you tell me everything on your end, maybe I can intervene.” Mark furrowed his brows as he contemplated what lie to tell her. After all how would she react to the idea that Mark was using both girls as means to gather political and social strength?

Mark decided to make a gamble.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m just not sure what I feel towards them.” Mark said deciding to use the confused card on her. The idea is that he’ll pretend this is his first time feeling such emotions. Truth be told this is not the first time he emotionally manipulated people that, in other people’s point of view, are his lovers. He was a pragmatist and was willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goal regardless on the moral ramifications.

“Well truth be told you don’t have to choose between the two of them,” Mary said with a smile on her face as she gave him a thumbs up. Mark knows that, Archiman is one of the few nations that practice polygamy so long as they can provide for their spouses. But he was fairly certain that won’t satisfy Gray or Alice considering you would need consent into the mix.

“Maybe if they consent,” Mark said voicing his concern.

“Well that’s something you would need to work on,” Mary giggled as she stood up and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “I have to go, I still have duties as the Settlement Master.”

“Yeah sure.” Mark said with a low voice.

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[Rise of the Dark Hound]

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Gray and Alice glared at one another as they both stayed in Miriam’s room, who insisted that she share the room with the two of them. Not to make sure they don’t end up committing a Crime of Passion in the evening, but so she can watch what happens if two people who are after the same person are placed in the same room together.

Night had fallen and as per the agreement with Gray staying in Fenrir is to stay with the Diruses, prior to this she had been staying at a hotel but she told her parents that she can save a lot more money if she moved in with the Diruses, plus she can use this to close the gap between her and Mark.

And so there they were, Miriam in pajamas, Alice with nothing more than a sleeveless shirt and shorts, and Gray in a wolf themed onesie pajama in the same room together.

“So who wants to play games?” She said pulling out her laptop and placing it on the coffee table for all three girls to play in. “I have tons of mods for Skyrim to be honest and I want to show it off to you two.”

“Oh really that’s awesome.” Gray and Alice gave each other a disgusted look on their faces as though they detest the idea of having the same interest. But this was Miriam’s plan, to get them to get along so they can consent on the idea of sharing Mark. Which is a daunting task as Gray already has a head start while Alice is several steps backwards given her hidden animosity towards Mark.

“Let’s try for something else,” The two once again said something in sync causing both of them to give each other a glare causing the two to sit down as they just elected to watch a movie instead, a romance no less. But by the time they were watching the climax of the movie, Miriam had already fallen asleep sleeping on Gray’s shoulders while the two rivals kept watching wondering who would the protagonist would choose.

“Alice,” Gray spoke in a soft voice making sure that Miriam won’t wake up from her attempt to make small talk to her rival. “What do you like about Mark?”

Alice was quiet, after all Alice was only doing this to play with him. She wasn’t serious about him whatsoever, but if she chose to say that now then there’s a chance Gray would further interfere. Alice glanced at Gray who was staring at her intently, there was no hidden jealousy behind it and it was filled with genuine curiosity.

“His kindness,” Alice lied as she currently holds no feelings to the Dark Hound. “He had every right to condemn me and my family to a fate worse than death and yet he gave us a way out of it for a small price of pride.”

That seemed to satisfy Gray as she had a small smile as though she was remembering a fond memory. This piqued Alice’s curiosity as to why she was determined to keep her away when Polygamy is a common thing in their nation. This reminded their earlier conversation with Miriam, how technically they can choose to share Mark as she reminded them of Polygamy law here but Gray put the kibosh on the whole affair.

What’s so great about that sly dog. I mean at face value he’s pretty creepy, tricking people into doing sorts of things. Alice thought to herself as she eyed Gray who was currently engrossed in the middle of the movie while Miriam snored in her sleep.

“What about you? What did you like about him?” Alice said reaching to the bag of chips and ate one.

“He’s brave,” Gray said with a wistful smile. “When we were younger, we used to live in a Smaller Settlement with my mother as the Settlement Master—”

Alice had heard of that tale, how a massive horned hound had been rampaging through the then small nation of Archiman, and the Stormtroopers were having a bad time taking it down. But what happened to it wasn’t mentioned save for the fact that the threat had been dealt with. However Gray seem to share some insight as to what happened, namely how Mark was the one who took it down. Alice was skeptical as at the time, Mark would have been just a child but somehow Gray pointed out that Mark did kill the beast by making a homemade explosive and tossing it into his mouth.

While the tale sound dubious, it was clear that it was the event that solidified Gray’s feelings for Mark and is determined to be by his side no matter what.

“You sure that’s not puppy love?” Alice said raising an eyebrow at her. She wanted to kick him in the crotch by trying to placing doubt in her feelings for Mark, while at the same time lead him on so she can reject him.

That way she can do two birds with one stone.

“I thought about that as well, but when he left for Samtara and sure I had other crushes with other boys when he was gone.” Gray said in a low voice with a wide smile on her face as she says that. “But I can tell it’s different, the way I see him is different compared to the other boys, he’s mature, heroic and smart.”

Alice was about to tell her that in her eyes, Mark was the opposite but she couldn’t have the heart to say that since she had such a cute expression when she talks about Mark. Something she noticed even from before. This cause guilt to swell inside her because in order to get Mark to fall for her, she would be stealing him from her.

All's fair in love and war I guess. Alice thought to herself. Truth be told she had stolen people's lovers in the past, this was no different but somehow this makes her feel guilty somehow.

“Well then how about we make an agreement?” Gray whispered in a low voice, as though she was embarrassed to mention it which made her uneasy fearing for the worse.

“What do you have in mind?”

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[Rise of the Dark Hound]

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Alice had a dilemma, she had made up her mind. Before she can get Mark to fall for her, she was gonna make sure that Gray Archiman would fall out of love. It was the least she can do to make sure that when Alice does end up seducing Mark, Gray won't be hurt.

"You're complicating things little sister," Clint said as she was visiting them again in their campsite, this time Gray and Miriam tagged along to watch Mark and Gaige test more keycards while Gray and Miriam observe more of the items being tested. “Just accept the fact that you’ll be hurting people for this. That’s how it is when you fall for the same person.”

“It’s not like that, and I just want to make sure I don't hurt unnecessary people?" Alice crossed her arms.

"You're too nice," Clint said with a sigh. "It's why Father considered you a disappointment."

Alice frowned as she thought about those words, unlike Clint who was beloved by their family for following the core tenants of the family which is domination through power and fear to the slaves, Alice was the black sheep as she was kinder to the slaves. This was made worse as she was the daughter of the first wife while Clint came from the Mistress later becoming the second wife.

And so to save face, their family made Clint the legitimate son while Alice the illegitimate one. It helped that Clint came first and then Alice later.

"Sorry that was too soon." Clint said twirling the pistol shaped Mass Driver that he made and then aimed it at the nearby cans and fired.

"It's fine, I never liked the old man anyways." It was a half lie, she wanted to please her father at least once as she wanted to prove herself that she is just as good as Clint. But at the same time she hated him for his favoritism.

It was a complicated thing.

"That being said, how's your progress on him?" Clint asked as he walked past her and towards a table to disassemble the pistol shaped Mass Driver to further modify it. Upon the change of topic, Alice smirked. Truth be told, Mark was a challenge as he constantly avoided her advances, likely due to Gray, but that did little to faze her.

In fact it even made the chase even more enticing.

"Still got a few ways to go but I assure you I'll get there." She said confidently to which Clint scoffed at that idea.