Gabrielle felt a jolt travel down her spine as Alex stormed into the bakery, his breathing heavy, his cheeks flushed, and his eyes blazing with a fire in them. Gabrielle was shocked. However, she was also overjoyed to see him. What was he doing here? She didn’t care. He was here. That was what mattered. She placed a hand against her chest as her heart beat a furious staccato rhythm inside of her.
What is this feeling?
Arty frowned. “What are you doing here, Alexander S. Ryker? Have you come to try and ruin our date?”
“I’m not here to ruin anything,” Alex said. “I don’t even care about you.”
“W-what was that?!”
“Gabrielle.”
Alex turned to her, and Gabrielle felt her entire spine stiffen as a strange warmth seeped into her chest. His eyes were so… so… huh, what was the word? They were fiery. They reminded her of a blazing fire burning everything, and it was making her feel weird. Her knees were going weak.
“What is it?” she asked.
“First things first.” Alex bowed to her, a deep bow from the waist down. “I’m sorry for disappointing you. I knew that you wanted me to stop you from going on this date, but I was so caught up in my own issues that I let you down. I’m sorry.”
“What does that mean?” Arty frowned at them.
“Oh! No. You don’t have to apologize!” Gabrielle said quickly. “I mean, I was really sad that you didn’t tell me how you feel about me, but I also never took how you were feeling into consideration. I’m sorry for not being a better fiancée.”
“Would someone please explain what is going on here?” asked Arty.
“That’s not true at all!” Alex argued. “You’re an amazing fiancée! I just let my hang-ups get the better of me!”
“Really?” Gabrielle asked with wide eyes.
“Yes.” Alex looked into her eyes with so much fervor that Gabrielle felt herself becoming entranced. “I always thought you were amazing, I love spending time with you, and I even like it when… um, well, anyway, what I’m trying to say is that, I mean…” Alex paused, took a deep breath, straightened his back, and squared his shoulders. “Gabrielle, what I’m trying to say is that I love you.”
Gabrielle froze. Her mind, her heart, her body, it was all frozen. However, she wasn’t cold. She simply couldn’t move.
Alex said he loves me…
She had been waiting for him to say that for what felt like a really long time, even though it truthfully hadn’t been that long since they had met.
He said it. He said that he loves me…
Something wet stung her eyes.
“G-Gabrielle?!” Alex shouted; his voice squeaky. “W-why are you crying?!”
“I… I don’t know…” Gabrielle wiped at her eyes as she tried to rid herself of the tears that had suddenly appeared and refused to be stopped. “I have no idea why I’m crying. I’m so happy, but I… I just can’t stop for some reason…”
Gabrielle could barely contain her emotions. When wiping away her tears did nothing, she lunged at Alex, knocking him to the ground, and burying her face into his chest.
“I’m just so happy! Alex! You should have said this to me sooner!”
A pair of arms came around her back. They were warm and strong and comforting. Thinking on it, this was probably the first time Alex had really hugged her.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I love you, Alex.”
“I… I love you, too.”
“Excuse me!” Arty shouted. “What is going on here? Princess Gabrielle, explain what this is all about?!”
Gabrielle had actually forgotten all about Arty in the wake of Alex’s confession, but it would be rude of her not to explain what was happening. She climbed off Alex and stood up. Her tears had mostly dried, though she wiped away the last remnants of them with the back of her hands.
“I’m sorry, Arty,” Gabrielle began.
“Seriously, why are you still calling me ‘Arty’? We aren’t kids anymore.”
“The truth is: I never wanted to go on this date with you,” Gabrielle continued. “I agreed to go on a date with you because Michelle said it would make Alex jealous and confess his feelings to me.”
Arty ran a hand down his face, and then swept his hair back. “I see. Yes, I understand now. That explains why you didn’t show any interest in me this entire time. Well, I suppose there is nothing for me to do here. You have made your decision, and I am not the kind of man who would deny a woman what she wants. If this is your choice, I have no choice but to agree with it.”
“Thank you, Arty.” Gabrielle beamed at him. “You’re just as nice as I remember!”
“Erm…” Arty looked away and scratched his cheek with an index finger. “You are… welcome. A-anyway, I suppose this means I’ve lost. You have won Princess Gabrielle’s heart, Alexander S. Ryker. Well played.”
“I don’t think I won anything,” Alex said. “It was always Gabrielle’s choice.”
“Indeed.”
Gabrielle was happy that everything had been solved so easily. Not only that, but Alex had finally confessed his love to her. She was so happy she thought she might cry again.
Before she could, however, the doors opened once more and Gwenn walked in, wearing an expression so serious that even Gabrielle felt a thrill run down her spine.
“My prince, we have a problem,” she began.
“What is it?” asked Arty, his expression now serious.
Gwenn looked like she had aged ten decades as she said, “It seems that while we were here on Mars, your eldest brother and his immediate sister have taken over Winchester and are attempting a coup d’état.”
EPILOGUE
THE PRICE OF BEING A PRINCE
They were in Alex’s house, in the living room, him, Gabrielle, Nyx, Alice, Gwenn, and Arthur. The proclamation that Gwenn had made was a serious issue. Arthur had first ordered Gwenn to start up his ship and get them out of there, but that wasn’t feasible since it would take time to get the ship ready and go through all the docking procedures. Alex and Gabrielle also weren’t having any of that. They wanted to know what was happening, too.
While the ship was being prepared by Arthur’s staff, the prince in question was sitting on a chair, sipping a cup of cafa, which he seemed to like despite his initial complaints that it was a peasant’s drink. Standing beside him was Gwenn, ever silent, holding a tablet to her chest as though waiting to use it.
Alex sat on the couch, which spanned about a meter in length. Gabrielle sat on his left, hugging his arm with a happy smile, which she’d been wearing ever since his confession at Metronomes’ Sweet Shop. Nyx sat on his right. She wasn’t as close as Gabrielle, but their thighs were touching. He wondered if she, perhaps, also liked him the way Gabrielle did. Then he dismissed the thought. Nyx was an assassin. What were the chances of that happening?
They were not alone. Alice, Ariel, and Michelle were also present. Alice sat beside Nyx, and Michelle and Ariel were sitting by Gabrielle. Alex noticed, almost absently, that Michelle was staring at them with a strangely consternated frown. He didn’t think she had any reason for it, but she looked disappointed by something.
“I suppose I should start from the beginning,” Arthur said, setting the cup of tea down on the coffee table. He folded his hands and looked at everyone there. “I do not remember if I have already mentioned this, but I am the youngest of twelve children. In order from oldest to youngest there’s Lancelot, Gawain, Bedivere, Tristan, Urien, Segwarides, Morrigan, Percival, Dinadan, Hectar, Cador, and myself. Most of us are half-siblings. In fact, Lancelot and Morrigan are the only siblings who share the same mother.”
“How does that work?” Alice asked suddenly. “Is your dad a player or something?”
Arthur tilted his head. “I do not know what a ‘player’ is. My father does not play anything. He’s a king.”
“That’s what not I meant…” Alice mumbled.
“Arty’s papa has a lot o
f wives!” Gabrielle announced. “I remember! He has eleven wives!”
“That’s eight more than our father has,” Michelle mused before giggling. “Sounds like this King Pendragon must be quite the male specimen. Hue hue hue hue…”
Ariel gave her sister an odd look. “The frack kind of laugh is that?”
Alex had been informed that polygamy was legal in the rest of the galaxy—Gabrielle’s father had multiple wives—but hearing that someone else had 11 wives was shocking. He really wasn’t sure what to think of that. Still, that explained why Gabrielle seemed so sure that it could work. She had plenty of real-life examples.
“It sounds like this Lancelot and Morrigan are the problem,” Alex said.
“Yes.” Arthur sighed. “While most of my siblings disliked my sudden rise to crown prince and expressed their dissatisfaction, Lancelot was the most vocal about it. He was next in line to become king, after all. My being named crown prince means he can no longer ascend the throne. Of course, his immediate blood sister, Morrigan, is completely in his pocket, so she’s sided with him as well.”
“That reminds me,” Gabrielle suddenly chimed in, her thoughtful frown more adorable than inquisitive. “How did you become crown prince?”
“That’s—”
“It’s because he pulled me from the stone,” a voice spoke up suddenly. Everyone looked around for the source of the strangely metallic-sounded voice, but they couldn’t find it. “Over here, ya morons! I’m leaning against the chair!”
Everyone looked at the chair—more specifically, they looked at the sword. It was a mostly standard broadsword, about 106 centimeters from tip to hilt, double-bladed, and with a tapered end that sharpened into a point. It was resting in a golden sheath with blue designs decorating it.
“Wait a second…” Alex muttered.
“Did that blade just…” Alice began.
“Heya!” the sword said. “I’m Caliburn! Nice to meet ya!”
“Cal,” Arthur muttered, a large vein throbbing on his forehead. “I thought I told you not to talk while we were on Mars!”
“Ya did, but the situation’s different now, isn’t it?” Caliburn said.
“No, we’re still on Mars. You should keep your quillons shut!”
“But that’s so boring!”
“Cal…”
“Let’s ignore the talking sword for now,” Gwenn stated, adjusting her glasses and stepping forward. “We are now faced with a major crisis. While Arthur is the crown prince and will eventually become king, it is impossible for one man to rule an entire solar system on his own. He has many vassals and subordinates who take on much of the workload.”
Michelle nodded in agreement. “Father has a retinue of over ten thousand individuals who help him with his daily affairs. This isn’t including the people who he’s assigned to rule over certain quadrants of the galaxy. Our mothers also do their part. In fact, Ariel, Gabrielle, and I have not seen our mothers in over a year because they are so busy helping Father maintain peace in the galaxy.”
Gwenn nodded in acknowledgement of Michelle’s statement, adjusted her glasses again, and then continued. “While most of our solar system is ruled by our king and his wives, several planets have been given to Prince Arthur and his siblings. The original plan was that whoever was best at ruling their planet would become king. The best at this was Lancelot, who rules Tintagel. He created several new laws and policies that helped promote local businesses and brokered numerous deals with space traders to bring an influx of capital. He’s an acute businessman with a keen sense. He’s also very charismatic. You could say he’s a natural born leader.”
“What about his sister?” asked Alex.
“Morrigan does not have her brother’s business acumen or charisma,” Arthur said. “She doesn’t even seem to care about her planet. She ceded all rights to rule over Avalon to Lancelot, who did the same thing he did with Tintagel to her planet.”
Gwenn took over for Arthur here, speaking in a calm, mild-mannered voice. “That doesn’t mean Morrigan is someone who we can ignore. She might not care about bringing prosperity to her planet, but she has an unnatural and very unhealthy obsession with Lancelot. She’s also very dangerous.”
“Among all of Father’s children, Morrigan is the one who’s the most skilled in battle,” Arthur added. “She’s a powerful sorceress and has even been given the nickname The Witch of Avalon.”
“Sorceress?” Alex blinked.
Sorcery was the stuff of fantasy, something that had been exceedingly popular long ago on Earth but had eventually been disproved with science. No one believed in sorcery anymore. The idea that there were sorceresses in space was, well, it was ridiculous. Who the heck would believe that crap? Space sorceresses? What the heck?
“Morrigan is talented in multiple branches of energy manipulation.” Gwenn adjusted her glasses. Alex noticed she did that a lot. “Her greatest ability is in psychokinesis, but she’s also talented at pyrokinesis, aerokinesis, cryokinesis, and electrokinesis. There’s even a rumor, though it’s not confirmed, that she can manipulate time.”
Those sounded a lot like ESP powers. In the early 25th century, before the creation of the new calendar, there had been a number of scientists who’d created espers by manipulating the physical and genetic makeup of humans through experimentation. Many people died during these experiments, and only about 1 in every 1,000 people gained ESP powers. At the start of the new calendar, the United Coalition of Planets, along with the Galactic Defense Force, had outlawed the creation of espers.
There were probably still people creating espers. Alex even heard rumors that one member of the Mars Police Force was an esper, but it was unconfirmed. When all was said and done, espers were rare enough that Alex had never met one himself, or if he had, he’d never suspected them of being an esper.
“So these two have staged a coup d’état?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Gwenn said. “They have taken over Winchester, the planet closest to Camelot. It’s controlled by Bedivere, or it was. I suspect they plan to use it as a staging ground to launch an attack and wrest control of Camelot from Prince Arthur while he is away.”
“What about their parents?” asked Ariel. “Shouldn’t they be doing something?”
Arthur shook his head. “Father is currently away. He was personally tasked with a quest of some kind from King Lucifer himself. I do not know what your father asked of him, but it has been over a year since he left, and we’ve heard no word from him since.”
“One year…” Michelle murmured; her brow furrowed. “That’s around the same time that our mothers all left as well.”
Alex wondered if there was a connection between the disappearance of Arthur’s father and Lucifer’s three wives. Could they all be on the same quest? Separate quests that were somehow related? Was he merely overthinking things? He didn’t know, and considering how no one else knew, he probably wouldn’t find the answer any time soon.
Whatever they were doing now wasn’t an immediate issue. The immediate problem that lay before them was Lancelot and what they should do. Arthur was going to leave soon, and he would no doubt confront his two half-siblings. This matter technically didn’t involve him, but…
“Okay!” Alex decided. “Take me with you!”
“Erm… what?” Arthur asked, looking stunned. Even Gwenn looked like she’d been sucker punched in the gut.
“I’m going with you.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?” asked Alex. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to help!”
“B-but this problem has nothing to do with you!” Arthur shouted, while Gwenn stared at Alex with bulging eyes hidden behind her rimless glasses.
“Of course it does!” Alex grinned. “I’m going to become Emperor of the Galaxy someday, which means any problem in this galaxy is my problem, too.” He looked at Gabrielle. “Isn’t that right?”
Gabrielle’s eyes were shining as she beamed at him. Her smile was so vibran
t it could have put stars to shame. He didn’t think she’d ever looked this joyful before.
“Right!” she stated.
While Gwenn looked like she was two seconds away from telling Alex that he was being absurd, Arthur started laughing. It was loud, rambunctious even. He threw his head back and laughed to the ceiling, a deep belly-aching laugh that reverberated around the room.
“I can see why Princess Gabrielle likes you so much,” he said, wiping a few errant tears from his eyes. “Very well. I’ll let you aid me.”
“Prince Arthur!” Gwenn shouted.
“It’s fine.” The prince waved her off. “This will be a good chance to see if Alexander has the necessary traits required to become Princess Gabrielle’s husband.”
“Then it’s settled.” Alex slammed his left fist into his right palm. “I’m gonna help you put that Lancelot in his place.”
Alex knew that what he was doing was stupid, knew that he was in over his head, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He had finally made up his mind. If he was going to marry Gabrielle and become Emperor of the Galaxy, then he’d eventually be dealing with this stuff anyway. Why not get his feet wet by starting now? And what better way to see if he truly had what it took to rule a galaxy than to help bring peace to a solar system on the verge of civil war?
Besides, wasn’t helping stop wars like this from breaking out exactly what heroes did?
AFTERWORD
Hello and welcome to the afterword. This is Brandon Varnell, the author of this weird sci-fi harem romantic parody… thing, and I have been thinking about a lot about harems in fiction lately.
One of the things I have always enjoyed about writing harems is finding legitimate and semi-believable ways of the protagonist accepting his harem.
In a lot of light novels and manga, the protagonist is always kind of this wishy washy dude whose only quality is that he’s nice. His indecisiveness often keeps the romance in a constant state of equilibrium. In western novels, the protagonist is usually banging women left, right, and center within the first two or three chapters.
A Most Unlikely Hero, Vol 6 Page 16