"I've explained this to Lia before, but I'll tell this to you, Alice, I woke up this morning with amnesia."

"A, amnesia...?" Alice mouthed.

Lia leaned into Alice's ear and whispered, "It's Your Highness' latest fetish. Please play along."

We were back in the bedroom with Lia and Alice sitting side by side at the edge of the bed, watching as I paced back and forth in front of them, thinking about my next steps.

I stopped with a sigh, ignoring Lia's comment, and glanced over at Alice, "Anyways, that's why I could not remember you this morning, Alice. I apologise for my earlier impertinence."

"Your Highness, this one does not see why Your Highness needs to apologise to a stray parasite.” Lia said.

“Be quiet, Lia.” I said sharply, “I’m speaking seriously right now.”

Lia went quiet without another word obediently.

I turned my attention back to Alice.

She was staring at me quizzically, her icy blue eyes blinking.

Then, I knelt down in front of Alice, making the two girls jump up from their seat in shock.

“Your Highness…!”

“Alice, could you please find it in your gracious heart to forgive this pitiful fool of a husband of yours,” I said with my head bowed apologetically, “I have acted discourteously towards you, my beloved wife, and for that, I have felt no greater shame in my life.”

“Please…! Get up, Your Highness…!” Alice quickly stepped in front of me, trying to pull me up onto my feet.

“Your Highness should not be kneeling to anyone, not even to his own wives,” Lia said, looking alert for the first time since I met her.

“I will not get up until I’ve received your forgiveness.” I said to Alice, refusing to let her pull me up.

“Your Highness…!”

“For god’s sakes, lil sis, just say you forgive Your Highness!”

“I, I forgive you, Your Highness…!! Please get up…!!”

Hearing Alice’s words, I stood up from the ground.

The two girls exchanged anxious glances with one another, then stared at me worriedly.

It was exactly the reaction I had wanted to get out of them.

To rule an unknown empire, one needed sworn allies.

And what better sworn allies were there than your sworn partner in marriage?

Or in this case, sworn partners in marriage.

“T, that was too much, Your Highness…!” Alice said, using her hands to wipe at the robes of my knees where I knelt, “A lowly one such as myself am not deserving of Your Highness’ display of kindness…! What should Your Highness’ subjects think if they were to witness that scene…!”

“No, my cherished wife only deserves this much from me.”

Then, I glanced over at Lia.

Her face was as cool as usual, her dull ruby red eyes observing me.

“Of course, I would not hesitate at all to do the same for you, Lia. My wives are equally as cherished and beloved to me.”

“I thank Your Highness for Your Highness’ kind words,” Lia said with a courtly bow of her head, “Although this one here would not cause such a scene as to require Your Highness to kneel before this one.”

“Anyways,” I said as I walked Alice back to the bed, sitting her down at the edge next to Lia again, “As to my current poor state of memory, I have some questions I would like to ask the both of you.”

The two of them exchanged confused glances, before gazing back up at me.

“First,” I said, “Besides the Tzuya empire, how many empires are there in this world?”

“18.” Lia spoke.

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“Where does our empire rank amongst these 18 in terms of military strength?”

“Last, Your Highness. The Tzuya Empire is mainly a human empire situated in a poor military geographical location in the open plains of Valla.”

I knew my current predicament was too good to be true.

Then, something else hit me.

“When you say human empire, does that mean that some empires are comprised of all demons and vampires like yourselves?”

“Yes…” This time, Alice spoke, “There are empires with mixed populations, however, most empires have a dominant race.”

“I see… so that means Lia and you are not natural citizens of the Tzuya empire, is that correct?”

“Your Highness is correct, I am from the Valentine empire and Lia is from the Demonica empire.”

“Interesting… so why did a vampire and a demon from two different empires marry an Emperor from the weakest empire?”

“Your Highness…" Alice spoke slowly, "We were both offered to Your Highness 3 months ago to become your brides as a token of goodwill from our respective empires…”

Now I see what was going on.

“Both of you are to answer this next question, where do your loyalties lie in a conflict of interest between your empire and that of the Tzuya empire?”

“To you, of course, Your Highness…!!”

The two of them gave the same answer.

“Your Highness, we have been banished from our respective families and have cut all ties to our former empires in marrying into the Tzuya empire,” Lia said, “To us, the Tzuya empire is now our home.”

That was everything I needed to know for now.

“The two of you may leave now.”

They glanced at each other again, then rose up from the bed, bowing courteously before leaving the bedroom obediently.

Once the door to the bedroom closed, I walked over to the balcony overlooking the outside of the castle, pondering as I looked at the capital of the Tzuya empire beneath me, with smaller towns stretching out beyond the horizon.

A war was brewing.

And the Tzuya empire had been orchestrated to be the first to fall.

Unfortunately, for this world, I had no plans to give up my easygoing life as an Emperor.

“You want to take my empire? Then, try your best.”

I gazed up at the vast blue sky with two visible moons, the end of my lips turning up.

Then, I glanced down at the bed robes that I was still wearing.

I should probably get into some proper clothing if I was to play the role of an Emperor.

Now that I think about it, a shower would also be good to help me organise my thoughts.

~x~

Standing under the best shower that I had ever used in my life, I was still thinking about what my next moves should be.

Ideally, I had wanted to use Lia and Alice to help me navigate this unknown world.

But with the newfound information they shared, I know now that I needed to first put in some work into the two of them.

Sworn allies don’t just come from nowhere.

They are built on the foundations of human relationships.

Until I am absolutely sure that I can trust Lia and Alice, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down against the two of them.

Alice was unpredictable, guided by her spontaneous emotions.

And it was through those emotions that I would lay my plan of attack.

Lia was the more problematic one of the two.

She had been eyeing me the whole time ever since I first met her when I mentioned I lost my memories.

But there had been no way around it.

Pretending to have memories that I didn’t have would had been a foolhardy venture.

Behind those apathetic ruby red eyes, I could tell that Lia was an actor like me.

I would have to bide my time with that one.

Wait until she shows an opening, and then…

“Your Highness!”

I almost jumped out of my body.

Alice…? Lia…? No, that voice didn’t sound like them, but then who could it…

Spinning around, I found myself face to face with a naked girl in the shower with me.

Wet strands of emerald green hair stuck to the sides of an alluring face, falling down all the way to her slender back, and my eyes followed downwards to see a voluptuous body.

Once again what I thought had been impossible was shattered before my eyes.

This girl… had an even better body than Lia’s!

She was only slightly taller than Lia, but her chest and rear were noticeably larger with irresistible curves running down and enhancing every single part of her body’s perfect composition.

To top it off, the girl was blessed with impeccable skin that radiated with a heavenly glow making the simple act of watching the droplets of shower water trickle down her body felt like the most entertaining movie I had seen in my life.

“Did I surprise you?” The girl laughed, “Well, the door wasn’t locked so I thought I would invite myself in, Your Highness.”

The sound of her laughter was like hearing angels sing.

A sweet, mellow ring washed over me, emptying out all my negative thoughts and filling me only with her warmth.

The girl raised a graceful hand, pushing back her emerald green hair and I glanced up from her body and into her eyes.

Lustrous violet eyes bore into me, staring deep down and taking me to a place that transcended time and space.

“Your Highness…?”

Without me even realising, the girl was drawing her face and body gradually closer towards me, until her lips were right above mine and her naked body was now pushing into my skin.

This girl was dangerous.