Business and play are both necessary in order for one to accomplish tasks.

Business keeps the target in sight, and play keeps the mind sharp.

Sometimes the lines between business and play becomes blurred.

This was one of those times.

A whole day had gone by since the girl pushed herself onto me in the shower.

Precious time that I should had been using to gather information about this world instead of fooling around.

Rising up from the damp silk bedsheets, I cursed myself for making the same mistake twice.

First with Lia, and now with this girl whose name I didn’t even know but whom I assumed was my third wife.

“Your Highness…”

I glanced to my side at the emerald haired girl in the nude next to me, her beautiful violet eyes gazing up at me.

“Your Highness looks… different,” She said, “Has something happened to Your Highness?”

“Your intuition is correct. I’ve lost my memories.”

“…!”

“So, who are you?”

“…Is Your Highness being serious right now…?”

“Does it look like I am speaking in jest?”

Seeing the serious look on my face, the girl sat up from the bed and faced me.

“Sephiel de Tzuya… I’m your wife, Your Highness…”

So, there it was.

The third wife.

This was the other crucial mistake I had made last time, but I wasn’t about to repeat it again.

“How many wives do I have, Sephiel?”

“Um… three, Your Highness…”

“Name me the three.”

“…There’s Alice, your youngest wife, Lia, the second eldest, and then me, being the eldest… But our age only differs by a few months…”

Finally, it was confirmed now that there were only three wives and this girl must be the last one.

I sighed to myself, feeling relieved at settling that.

The information about the ages of the wives provided by Sephiel was also interesting.

So that’s why Alice referred to Lia as big sis and Lia to Alice as lil sis.

However, it didn’t really seem like there was a hierarchy of power between the wives.

Good.

That’s the way I had wanted it.

Power over the others would lead to an imbalanced relationship.

“One more question, what race do you belong to Sephiel?”

“I’m an angel, Your Highness…”

I figured out as much.

Sephiel’s story was most certainly the same as Lia’s and Alice’s.

“Thank you, Sephiel. That was very informative.”

“Your Highness, you do not need to thank me… It is my duty as Your Highness’ wife to serve Your Highness…”

I pulled myself out of the bed and headed over to the wardrobe, looking for an outfit that I can wear outdoors.

“Your Highness, are you going out today?” Sephiel called out to me, surprise in her voice.

“Yes, it’s a beautiful day outside, Sephiel. It would be a shame to spend the whole day indoors, would it not?”

“U, um…” Sephiel blinked at me unsurely, “Yes, of course, Your Highness…”

The truth was that I needed go outside to see this empire for myself with my own two eyes.

Charging into battle without knowing the strength of one’s own troops is simply glorified suicide.

To win a war, one must be able to ascertain the strength of his own troops against the strength of his opponents’.

And at the moment, I knew neither.

Eventually, I managed to find something normal within one of the many closets that would allow me to travel outdoors in secret.

The clothes were still quite fancy and expensive looking, but I also found a traveller’s cloak to cover it up.

I stared at myself in the mirror, wearing the outfit that I had picked out.

This will do.

“You know what, Your Highness…!” Sephiel called out to me as she hurriedly threw on a robe, “I think I would really love to go out today too…! In fact, I’m certain the girls would love to be out in the sun with Your Highness on such a beautiful day as well…! Let me grab Lia and Alice…!”

Bam.

The door slammed shut as she raced off.

Interesting.

Waiting for several seconds, I quietly opened the bedroom door, following the direction where the sound of Sephiel’s footsteps had disappeared to.

I found myself in another hallway just around the corner where I assumed was where the wives had their own bedrooms.

Standing at the corner, I watched Sephiel speaking to someone through the opened doorway of one of the bedrooms.

“—Hah? Are you retarded? You disturb this one’s sleep to ask if this one wants to go outdoors?”

Clearly, that was Lia’s voice.

“No, the thing is, it’s Your Highness…!” Sephiel said.

“Ah, are you talking about Your Highness’ new fetish?”

“Huh—wha? No! Your Highness wants to go outside and…”

“Let this one get dressed.”

Bam.

The door slammed shut.

Then, Sephiel scuttled off to the next door, knocking hard on it and waiting.

I stepped back from the corner of the hallway, musing over what I heard as I returned to my bedroom.

~x~

It only took five minutes for the three wives to be all dressed up and ready to go out, waiting by the door at the bottom of the grand staircase.

It was impressive how fast Sephiel had managed to gather them.

I walked down the grand staircase, dressed in my traveller’s cloak, stopping for a second to admire the view.

All three wives looked as breathtakingly beautiful as the other like a scene from a dream.

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Surprisingly, now that I was looking at Lia and Sephiel standing side by side, Lia’s body wasn’t too far behind from Sephiel.

It was just that marginal difference that separated incredible from perfection.

And although Alice was far behind the other two in terms of proportion, she certainly wasn’t flat like Lia like to say she was.

Well, I guess if you were to put Alice next to Lia and Sephiel, then the competition was unfair.

Reaching the wives by the grand door, they bowed their head courteously as I approached, then that was when I realised that this might be a terrible idea.

The three of them swarmed over to me.

“H, hey, this is my side!”

“You’re stepping on this one’s feet!”

“If you touch me again, I’ll rip your fingers off!”

When the dust was settled, Lia was grabbing onto my left arm, while Sephiel was hooked around my right arm.

Alice was left standing there by her lonesome, her icy blue eyes glaring up at Lia and Sephiel angrily.

“That’s not fair!” Alice said, then she pointed a finger at Sephiel, “Last time you said it would be my turn holding hands with Your Highness next!”

“Ara, did I say that? I have no recollection of such a thing.”

“Y, you…!”

"Besides, lil sis, who is going to carry our bags if not you?"

"You're a liar, big sis!"

“I’m afraid your terrible memory is failing you as always, lil sis." Sephiel said. "Hmm, now that I’m thinking about it, perhaps it was you whom had infected Your Highness with his amnesia."

“The possibility is quite high,” Lia nodded, “It is not uncommon knowledge that bats are predisposed to spread diseases and plagues after all.”

“I’m not a fuckin’ bat, I’m a vampire!”

“Bat, vampire, rodents, they’re all the same thing,” Sephiel laughed lightheartedly, “It's always best to kill them off early before they spawn babies.”

There used to be a glimmer of hope in my mind that Sephiel, being an angel, would be less hostile towards the other wives, or at least better than what I had seen from the interactions so far between Lia and Alice.

That glimmer of hope had just shattered before my eyes.

At least, Lia and Sephiel seemed to have a good relationship with one another, right...?

"Ah, lil sis Lia," Sephiel glanced over at Lia, her violet eyes blinking, "Is that a new outfit you're wearing today?"

"Yes it is, big sis."

"Wow," Sephiel smiled warmly, "It's hideous, but it suits you completely, lil sis!"

"Your flattery is too much for this one, big sis," Lia bowed her head, "Similarly, this one did not know that wearing a bag over oneself was considered fashion until seeing you today."

"Oh you joke!" Sephiel laughed, "That's why I hate you so much, Lia."

"Please, the feelings are only even stronger for this one."

If one was to listen to their conversation in the background without paying much attention to their words, one would think that it was a perfectly normal conversation between two loving sisters.

Their tone of voice and the words they spoke did not match at all.

So now it was confirmed that all three wives hated one another.

Perhaps gathering all three of them together in one place like this was not such a good idea after all.

I felt like I was standing in the midst of a battlefield just having all three wives gathered in one place like this.

"Hey Sephiel..." I glanced to my right at Sephiel, "maybe the three of you should just stay home and rest. I am fine to go out on my own."

The three wives glanced at me cautiously.

"I, it's okay, Your Highness...!" Alice said, "Please, allow us to go out with you today, Your Highness...!"

"Yes, Your Highness," Sephiel said, "I really insist that Your Highness should allow the three of us to accompany you outside the kingdom. Given Your Highness' status as Emperor, venturing outside the kingdom and around the capital might be rather dangerous..."

"In that case, wouldn't it be better for me to simply call some guards from the castle to accompany me?"

"Um... Your Highness, we may not look like it, but the three of us are actually rather capable of protecting Your Highness..." Sephiel said, "I am an angel, Lia is a demon, and Alice is a vampire. All three of these races are much more stronger than any human guard in this castle."

"Interesting... So who is the strongest out of the three of you?"

I expected three contradicting answers.

"Alice." Sephiel said.

Lia nodded her head, affirming Sephiel's answer, whilst Alice stayed quiet.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by their answer.

That was unexpected.

So Alice was the strongest out of the three wives?

The way in which Sephiel and Lia had responded seemed to show that there wasn't even a question on the matter too.

And yet their treatment of Alice didn't seem to show this at all.

I would have to investigate this matter at a later time.

For today, the plan is to go out and see the empire with my own two eyes.

"Very well, I entrust the three of you to be my guards for today."

"It is an honour, Your Highness."

"Also, it is rather difficult to walk with the two of you holding both my arms like this..."

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Your Highness!"

With the three wives trailing behind me, I walked over to the grand door, pushing it open.

Staring outside at the courtyard of the castle, two audible gasps came from the sides of the door.

At the sides of the door stood two guards, dressed in shining silver knight armour but without helmets.

"Y, your Highness...!"

The knights knelt down to greet me, both looking as though they had seen a ghost.

"Yes, it is I, why the faces?" I asked.

"It's just... you've not left the royal chambers for 3 months now..."

"I see."

"P, please...! Wait one minute, Your Highness...! Let me grab the Count...!"

The guard that had spoke ran off, leaving the other one standing there by himself, trembling inside his suit.

I glanced back towards my three wives, raising an eyebrow.

"Count...?"

"Count Caldwell," Lia said, "He is Your Highness' advisor and informally known to be Your Highness' right hand man. Your Highness had conferred much of the powers of the running of the empire to him. Thus, he is considered by many as the second most powerful man in the empire behind Your Highness."

Another interesting fact.

Despite my distaste of politics, it would be worthwhile to meet this Count Caldwell.

And so I decided to wait.

It only took a few minutes before a pompous looking man dressed in an extravagant robe came rushing across the courtyard towards us with the guard trailing behind him, alongside several other knights.

"Your Highness....!"

Upon reaching me, the man knelt down courteously and so too did the knights behind him. I observed his face -- grey stubble, thin greying hair, sharp nose, and sunken black eyes -- nothing to indicate that the man had seen a battlefield in his life.

"You may stand." I told him.

The man stood up from the ground and the knights followed suit.

"Is it really you...! Your Highness, I've not seen or heard from you since..."

The man paused, his eyes passing over my three wives standing behind me.

"Indeed, it's me. Let's skip over the pleasantries. I take it you are Count Caldwell?"

"W, why, of course, Your Highness...! What ques--"

"Listen, Count," I said, speaking over him, "I woke up yesterday with amnesia and I lost all my memories. I don't really feel like going over the details. Also, today is a beautiful day so I am planning to take my beautiful wives out to do some sight seeing, can you arrange for a horse carriage for us?"

Count Caldwell stared at me, his eye wide, waiting for a punchline. Once he realised there was none, he started speaking again.

"O, of course, Your Highness...! I will have the carriage and a coachman ready for you outside the castle right away...!"

Count Caldwell turned around to one of the knights behind him, then upon giving him some instructions, the knight took off as fast as he could in his armour.

Count Caldwell turned back to me, forcing an anxious fake smile.

"Your Highness... if I may have a word with you without your wives..."

"Hm? What can't you say to me here that my beautiful wives aren't allowed to hear?"

"That is... uh..."

Behind me, Alice and Lia was conversing with one another.

"...hey, don't you think that the Count's hair looks a lot thinner than the last time we saw him?" Alice whispered in Lia's ear.

"Ah, that is just a symptom of over-masturbation, lil sis. It happens to men who jerk themselves off too much."

"Poor Count, at this rate he is going to be completely bald by next month..."

"In that case, we might have to start calling him Count Baldwell instead."

Hearing that, Sephiel chuckled at Lia's comment, standing at the side of the two girls.

"Y, you filthy whores...!" Count Caldwell gritted his teeth, unamused.

Suddenly, the air was pierced with the sounds of swords being drawn as the knights behind Caldwell surrounded Alice, Lia and Sephiel.

"How dare you speak about Your Excellency like that!!"

What the hell was going on?

Did these buffoons not realise they were about to attack my wives?

The knights pointed their swords at Alice, Lia and Sephiel, and I stepped in between immediately, causing the knights to drop their swords.

"That is treason of the empire," I shouted, "Pointing weapons at my wives," then, I called out to the surrounding knights in the courtyard, "Guards!"

Straight away, all the 30 knights that were in the courtyard gathered around us, followed by the thundering sound of metal stomping against stone as more and more knights began to rush into the courtyard.

"Y, Your Highness...!" Count Caldwell's eyes darted around anxiously, "What are you doing...?! Those girls are just mere flesh offerrings provided by foreign empires...! They're not even human...!!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Count? Your men have drew their swords at my wives, the Empresses of the Tzuya empire. The only logical conclusion forward here can only be capital punishment for your men."

"That's only in name...! Th, this is not like you, Your Highness...! We had said the girls would be treated as Your Highness' mere play toys, slaves that were abandoned by their own empires as a sign of the Tzuya empire's might...!"

Now, I see the reason why the knights had acted the way they did.

I thought about what I should do for a moment.

Then, the path forward became clear to me.

"Hah? I said that? I don't recall such a thing."

"...!"

Then, I glanced up at my army of knights.

"Execute the knights that had raised their swords against the Empresses."