CHAPTER 150: CHAPTER 149: NIGHTFALL AND A FIREWORK KISS

Velvet Manor Gardens, Midnight.

Rei never thought he’d live to see the clock strike twelve.

The dinner-that-wasn’t had ended in frosting casualties, soup casualties, and the spiritual death of at least three servants, but somehow, miraculously, he was still breathing. The System, though sarcastic as always, confirmed it.

[Quest Update: Dinner Survival – COMPLETE.]

[Reward: You still exist.]

[Bonus Reward: A lifelong fear of cake.]

Rei slumped against a marble fountain, hair dripping with frosting, sanity dripping faster. He should have felt victorious. Instead, he felt like a man dragged through five weddings, three funerals, and one Michelin-starred exorcism.

"I did it," Rei croaked. "I actually lived."

Drakana was perched on a treetop nearby, licking stray whipped cream off her claws like it was a delicacy. Rosette was polishing silverware that had somehow turned into scalpels. Seraphina’s nuns were still chanting ominous hymns about ’purifying the feast,’ and Emilia sat perfectly prim, parasol folded neatly, as though the last few hours hadn’t been a demonic sitcom.

But the air had shifted.

The mania quieted. The obsessions simmered instead of boiled. For once—for once—the yandere energy was muted.

Above them, the night sky thundered. Not with storms, but with fireworks.

Velvet Manor’s annual Founding Festival had reached its climax. Brilliant bursts of crimson, emerald, and gold painted the heavens. Dragons of flame spiraled into glowing hearts. Starlight cascaded down like diamonds raining from a careless god’s pocket.

Despite everything, Rei couldn’t help it. His jaw loosened and eyes widened.

It was... beautiful.

Emilia stood slowly, her parasol glowing in the firework light. She walked toward Rei, each step perfectly measured, her dress whispering against the grass. For once, she didn’t smile with mischief or tilt her head with coy menace. She looked—soft, ’Human’.

"Rei." Her voice barely reached above the crackle of the sky.

Rei blinked at her. "What? No death threats? No tranquilizers hidden in the dessert forks?"

Emilia stopped in front of him. The fireworks’ glow painted her eyes in shifting colors—red, then green, then soft silver.

"No threats tonight." She folded her parasol. "Only... a truth."

Rei’s danger instincts screamed. Truths were usually worse than lies in this household. But for once, she didn’t lean in with predatory sweetness. She knelt in front of him, level with his eyes, and her voice shook in a way he had never heard before.

"I’ve known you far longer than the others realize."

Rei blinked. "Uh... what?"

Emilia’s lashes trembled as another firework bloomed overhead. "When we were children. Before your accident. Before your coma. I was there too."

"...What do you mean you were ’there’?" Rei asked slowly.

"I was the quiet one. Always watching you from the garden gates. Always following a step behind the others. Always wanting to claim you, but..." She paused. Her lip quivered, just a fraction. "...I wasn’t enough."

Rei’s brain short-circuited. "Enough?!"

Emilia’s fingers tightened against her folded parasol. "I wasn’t fiery like Drakana. I wasn’t devout like Seraphina. I wasn’t meticulous like Rosette. I wasn’t bold like Lilia. I was just... Emilia. The one who smiled and pretended not to want you. Because I thought—if I showed my true heart—you’d never choose me."

The fireworks thundered again, painting the garden crimson.

Rei sat frozen. This was wrong. This was terrifying. This was—weirdly genuine.

"Wait. Hold up. Are you saying you’ve been... normal this whole time?!" Rei sputtered.

Emilia chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Not normal. Just... repressed."

[System Alert: Heart Rate Spike Detected.]

[Analysis: She is entering "Confession Mode."]

[Warning: Confession Mode is DEADLIER than Berserk Mode.]

Rei smacked his forehead. "Thanks, System. Really helpful."

Emilia reached out, her gloved hand hovering near his cheek. "I thought I wasn’t yandere enough to stand beside you."

The words hit him like an arrow straight through his disbelief.

It’s not yandere enough. In this insane, obsessive harem of dragon nukes, holy zealots, and trap-obsessed maids—Emilia had been holding herself back because she thought she didn’t measure up.

"...That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard," Rei whispered.

Emilia flinched.

"I mean, look at you!" Rei said, waving at her like a lunatic. "You’re already terrifying without trying! You gaslight me into picnics! You make tea that smells like chloroform! You smiled through a cake explosion like it was a musical! How are you not yandere enough?!"

Emilia stared at him. Then—just barely—she laughed.

Her smile was soft and light. A laugh without knives in it.

"...Maybe you’re right," she whispered. "Maybe I was always yandere enough. But I wanted to prove it. To myself. And to you."

Another firework burst, silver light showering the garden. Emilia leaned closer. Rei felt her breath against his ear.

"So let me prove it, Rei."

And before his panic brain could activate, before the System could scream [DANGER: KISS IMMINENT], Emilia pressed her lips to his.

It wasn’t the brutal, possessive kiss Rei had braced for.

It was... soft. Gentle. Sweet.

The world seemed to pause. The firework’s boom muffled. The screaming hymn-nuns in the background blurred away. The dragon in the tree forgot to breathe fire. The maid in the shadows momentarily forgot to pull detonators.

It was just Emilia and Rei.

His mind screamed. His heart rebelled. But a treacherous part of him—long-buried beneath sarcasm, panic, and trauma—shuddered at the warmth.

[System Notification: Main Girl Buff Activated.]

[Passive Effect: Scene is now Maximum Romantic.]

[Side Effect: All other wives’ jealousy levels are skyrocketing.]

Indeed, behind them—

Seraphina’s halo cracked like glass.

Drakana’s tail speared into the ground like a javelin.

Rosette’s pen snapped in half, ink dripping like blood.

Somewhere in the mansion, Lilia sneezed and instinctively sharpened her wedding knives.

But none of that mattered to Emilia in this moment. She drew back slowly, eyes glimmering with something that wasn’t just obsession—it was longing.

"I’ve always loved you, Rei," she whispered. "Even when I was too afraid to show it."

Rei’s mouth opened and closed like a drowning man. His brain had no script for this.

"Buh—wha—no—stop—WHY?!"

[System Observation: Smooth. Very smooth.]

[Achievement Unlocked: "Firework Kiss."]

[Reward: PTSD With Glitter.]

Emilia leaned back just enough to smile at him. "Because you’re worth everything. Worth waiting for. Worth fighting for. Worth... breaking myself for."

Rei’s soul left his body. "Yep. This is it. This is how I die, not in battle, nor in bed but in romantic character development."

The fireworks crackled one last time, bursting into a heart-shaped finale that lit up the entire kingdom. Nobles cheered from afar, peasants clapped in awe, and somewhere, the Pope probably spat out his holy wine.

But in the Velvet Manor gardens, silence hung thick after the final boom.

Four sets of eyes bored into Rei and Emilia.

Seraphina’s hymn faltered. Drakana’s wings twitched. Rosette’s glasses glowed with something unholy.

Emilia held Rei’s hand, calm as the apocalypse brewed around them.

"Tomorrow," she whispered. "The real battle begins. But tonight... this kiss is mine."

Rei groaned, face falling into his frosting-covered palms. "System, tell me this didn’t just happen."

[System Comment: Oh, it happened.]

[System Note: And tomorrow’s fallout will be catastrophic.]

[System Warning: All Yandere Threats Escalating to Level 999.]

The garden seemed to thrum with murderous energy. The dragon growled. The nun chanted. The maid reloaded her notebook.

And Rei realized—

He had survived dinner.

He had survived the cake.

But no man survives a kiss.

Especially not in this harem. The garden did not breathe.

The silence was not peace, but the pause before an executioner’s swing.

Rei peeked through his frosting-coated fingers. Emilia was still serene, holding his hand like she’d already signed the marriage contract in blood. The other three? Their expressions could curdle milk, crack glass, and ignite kingdoms.

Drakana’s tail lashed like a whip. "You kissed him."

Seraphina’s voice quivered with divine fury. "You defiled him with mortal lips."

Rosette’s notebook pages fluttered in the wind. "This... was not scheduled. You violated my timetable."

Rei shot to his feet, hands flailing. "Wait, WAIT! It was fireworks! It was the mood! It was—"

[System Pop-Up: Liar Detected.]

[System Note: You enjoyed at least 0.3 seconds of it.]

[System Side-Comment: Gross.]

"Traitor," Rei hissed at the air.

Drakana slammed her fist into the ground, flames bursting out like fireworks’ jealous little siblings. "If anyone was supposed to kiss him under the fireworks, it was ME!"

Seraphina raised her hymnal. "No, it was meant to be sacred. The first holy kiss after marriage vows!"

Rosette adjusted her glasses, eyes glowing with menace. "Incorrect. It was scheduled for 6:43 p.m. on the third Thursday of next month. You’ve disrupted everything."

Emilia only leaned closer to Rei, as calm as a winter snowfall. "Then you should have acted sooner."

The other three froze—just long enough for Rei to make the dumbest decision of his short second life. He bolted.

Like, full sprint bolted.

Shoes squelching in frosting, shirt clinging with soup stains, hair trailing the faint scent of barbecue from earlier fire accidents—he ran like survival depended on it. Because it did.

Behind him, the night exploded with shrieks.

"REIIIIIII!" four voices roared in murderous harmony.

[System Notification: New Quest Generated.]

[Quest: Survive Until Dawn.]

[Failure Penalty: Death by one (or all four) wives.]

[Success Reward: Still breathing, but barely.]

Rei screamed louder than the fireworks had. "WHY DOES IT KEEP GETTING WORSE?!"

The manor shook with the chase. The festival below watched fireworks in awe, unaware the real explosions were happening in the duke’s back garden.

And thus—midnight passed into chaos.

To be continued...