Reincarnated in an Otome game as the ugly character in the background

Chapter 28: Dukes and Trouble

Once we left our belongings in the rooms, Eli told me. "Let's go shopping!"

It was our first date after becoming a couple.

Lily heard her and wanted to go too, Eli said it was obvious she would go too.

After we changed clothes and were ready to leave, Celia and Evelyn came along to join us.

I forgot that they were also my concubines, but we don't have a strong or close relationship to want to be around all the time.

I have no problem with them coming, they are my future wives without inheritance, but it's not like I'm a popular or charismatic guy to say. "Come my little ones, there's room for all of them."

Phrases like that are what anime and light novels showed me and I was very surprised.

Well, a harem is something I wished for so no problem.

Damn those anime and light novels, those bastards had me fooled!

They said a harem was a wonderful thing and something every man desires.

But...

This...

It's the opposite!

"Lily-chan you should try this one on, I'm sure it'll fit you."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure! You have a nice figure, so it would look perfect on you."

Eli was pawing Lily's butt to check if some pants would fit her.

"Oh, I want this one! And this one... this one is good too!"

Celia was taking in everything in sight.

As we walked through the Duchy shopping district, we found a long line leading to a branch called the Valentine Company.

We were going to go in, but the line was so long that the wait time was three hours minimum.

No way was I going to wait in a line that long.

We went to another store.

We went into a jewelry store first.

Lily looked at the prices with fear.

Eli was a little bit the same way since he hasn't bought things from rich people for a long time.

Celia looked with the eyes of a child at an amusement park.

Evelyn grabbed my shirt sleeve and asked. "Is it okay to come here?"

She wanted to prove her future husband wasn't a cheapskate. I held out my hands and said, "Go ahead. You can take whatever you want."

Am I not a good boyfriend?

But that was my worst mistake.

Stupid.

Stupid me.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

If only I'd shut my big mouth. I wouldn't be clutching my head while my sweat gets icy and my eyes don't want to see what they buy.

When I went to the guild to report what happened to Xerxes since I was the only adventurer present, they gave me a reward.

One million gold coins.

It was the first time in my two lives that I had seen that much money.

That's why I wanted to show off in front of my girlfriends.

Now I was terrified observing that anime and light novels are a vile lie!

They make women look like they're just NPCs with no needs! Kind of like a virtual pet.

But they have needs.

Food, clothes, bath, more expensive clothes, healthy food, more clothes. Didn't anyone tell me that having so many women was a lot of responsibility!

And even more so since I'm the boyfriend, I have to pay for their expenses.

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Who the fuck would want a harem knowing all that?!

I take it back!

I want to go back to the past!

Amy help me!

I listened as the bell on the cash register rang every time the minimum value was broken.

It's been ten times now.

I'm afraid the money will run out.

God please make them stop now!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Once we finished shopping, we went to eat at a fancy restaurant.

I ordered just a glass of water, but even water was expensive.

Eli and Lily ordered salad.

Evelyn a shrimp dish.

And Celia...

"Yay~! I love you so much honey!"

She would order lots of meat and desserts.

I would be so mad if it weren't for all that fat and sugar going to those breasts to make them grow bigger.

But, still.

I'm asking you!

Don't order anymore!!!

...That amount of money didn't last me a single day.

Aah~ I want to go back to the past.

"Mr. Customer, do you want to order the bill now or later?"

I looked at Celia who was still ordering another plate, the waiter seems to understand that he will still continue to eat.

Please demon king... kill me already.

"Hey waiter, another one please. "

Please stoooooooooooop!

After paying a large sum of money for dishes I didn't touch. We rented a limo to return home.

I officially declare bankruptcy.

I no longer have a single copper coin, let alone a single crystalia in my pockets.

Because of my ugly face, no one can observe my terrified expression of fear because I have no money.

I swear you'll pay me back Celia. I'll squeeze those breasts and that ass all I want for emptying my purse.

Now that we were outside the mansion, the huge-breasted maid was waiting for us outside.

As she bowed to greet us, her breasts dropped due to the force of gravity and returned to their original position with a slight bounce.

Thank you so much girls, my aching heart pulled itself together a little.

"Elize ojou-sama, Baron Razel-sama, you have visitors."

"Visitors?" Eli said curiously.

The gentlemen nearby went to see our belongings, or rather, what the girls bought.

On entering, we went to the visiting room, myself and Eli. Lily accompanied us as she wanted to be with us, only Celia and Evelyn went to their rooms.

The head maid opened the door and inside, I found unexpected people.

Sitting to the right of my position was Cid with a complicated face.

The old butler, Glenn, was behind him.

While at the other end were some very, very unexpected individuals.

One of them, the one closest to the review hands, was a tall man, thin build, pale skin, short neatly combed hair, wore glasses that only librarians would wear.

His eyes were the same color as his hair, light blue. His face appeared to be that of an antisocial person as his eyes looked at us in a very disinterested manner.

The other man next to him was sitting as if he owned the place, with both arms outstretched and legs crossed on the glass table.

Unlike the blue-haired man who was dressed like a banker, this man looked like a pirate from that action movie.

His hair was short, combed to one side and bright red. His eyes were blue with a sharp look, like those of a criminal.

A thin mustache cut to appreciate a lightning bolt like his eyebrows seemed to be his pride, with one hand he was touching it as if he was showing it off.

And, beside him were two people he thought he would never see again.

"..."

One of them saw us and averted his gaze immediately.

The other was simply ignoring us, but his discomfort sweat was evident.

Starting with the one sweating, he was a handsome boy with pink hair with white locks, his eyes were indigo, but only one of them was visible as the hair covered the right side.

He was one of the otome game capture targets, Oscar von Pleven.

The one averting his eyes from us was another capture target. Another stud who would make women go crazy.

Both his eyes and hair were identical to the man on his side. It was Jake von Fitzclarence.

What on earth are these boys doing here?

"The duchess hasn't arrived yet?"

The sharp-eyed man asked.

His tone of voice was very gruff and hostile, he seemed to want to fight Glenn by the way he was looking at him.

I'm very sorry, but the lady is still in a business meeting. I don't know what time she'll be back.

"Tch."

Clicked his tongue the sharp-eyed man.

In that case we must make arrangements with the heiress. We mustn't waste any time."

Commented the blue-haired man, his tone was very subdued, as if he felt no interest in being here, despite his response.

"Understood."

Glenn pointed to the men to introduce us, although I already knew or deduced who they were.

"Let me introduce you to these people."

The blue-haired man stood up and showed us a bow as Glenn introduced him.

"He is one of the seven dukes, Duke Myat von Luinberg."

"I am Myat von Luinberg, a pleasure to meet you."

His tone remained the same, but he was very polite.

Now it was the sharp-eyed man's turn, but he stopped Glenn as he preferred to do it alone.

In a very haughty and presumptuous manner, he stood up as his cape fluttered as if he were a great personage making his introduction.

Since he was, since this man is....

"Be marveled at the presence of not only a duke, but also the head of a principality. I am the one and only Fahren von Fitzclarence! Remember that well."

Jake's villainous dad.

Two of the seven dukes were present here.

"Next to me are these pieces of shit."

Fahren said... his name is weird and hard for me to pronounce. So I'll just call him Jake's dad.

Jake and Oscar seeing what they were called groaned.

"Duke I'm sorry, but that was rude."

"Oyaji! That was too much!"

Jake's dad looked at them in a very cold way and then....

"Paternal smack!"

He smacked them both in the head leaving them on the ground with a bump.

Hey, I hate these guys, but it's true what they say. You've gone too far, man.

But I still don't understand what they're doing here?

Eli had a complicated face about having two of the five idiots making fun of her, Lily was showing an angry face, still, she looked cute.

"Nice to have you in our home, Duke Luinberg, Duke Fitzclarence and... mates. Do you have any business with us?"

Jake and Oscar stood and saluted with bowed heads.

Duke Luinberg answered us.

"Yes, you see, we came as we wanted to talk to the Duchess about something personal, but she is not present."

"I understand. Okaa-sama said she would be delayed all day and perhaps arrive until evening."

"That's bad no doubt." Commented the duke.

"Myat, in that case tell these brats as the legal representatives in the absence of the lord of this house, sorry, lady is. The butler is of no use to us let alone the prince."

Jake's dad spoke as if he didn't care about the presence of others, but when referring to Duke Luinberg, he sounded very respectful.

"Well. The reason we're here is because we've come to request the Rosenbergs cooperation for an operation."

"Operation?"

Lily said as we sat down near Cid.

"Yes. The operation is a big one and we need help, we and Randy- Duke Wimlet need more hands."

"I understand. But what is the operation about?"

Before the duke could answer, he was overtaken by Jake's dad.

"We're going rat hunting, or rather, crow hunting."

My eyes widened as I heard something unexpected.

By crows you mean black crows, right? Those same crows, right?

Why?

"Excuse me." Lily held up her hand curiously. "Yes?" Duke Luinberg replied.

"What do you mean you're going crow hunting? Is it some sort of party or nobleman's thing?"

"Obviously not that, child." Jake's dad was talking to Lily as if she were a child ignorant of the world.

"We're going to go exterminate pests that are hiding in the capital. Thanks to the incident at the academy, we managed to discover some bases, we're preparing our forces to launch simultaneous attacks."

"Oh, that's amazing!" Lily looked really surprised.

It's amazing that the palace investigated and approved something like that so quickly."

"...Approved."

"...Investigated."

The dukes made strange comments at Eli's statement, but from Duke Luinberg's expression, there seemed to be something wrong here.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Jake's dad laughed very loudly.

We didn't understand what was going on.

"Do you really think those palace rats would support that?"

"Alvin's daughter, you really are funny."

Hearing her father's name, Eli's face distorted for a second.

It returned to normal when I took her hand, she saw me and smiled.

"May I know the reason for the laugh?"

Jake's dad was still laughing, but after a brief moment, he stopped.

"Well... it's impossible what you say, that place is full of their allies, if they ordered that it would be after they had emptied all the evidence and made us look like idiots."

"Come to think of it, Minister Olgren ordered the evidence obtained from those who survived to be sent to him so he could take action."

"That old fox is trying to profit by getting the prestige of the information no doubt."

"Olgren..." I muttered because of what Professor Lloyd's impostor told me.

Minister Olgren, Prince Blake's main benefactor is the right hand of the leader of the Black Crows, this is really annoying.

"They are going to carry out a massive attack, aren't they?"

"It's like you say cat's eyes."

Jake's daddy called me by a strange nickname, what the hell is wrong with these guys to call me that?

"We want the newly restored Rosenberg Household to give us their support on this."

With all due respect, but why should we?"

Eli was replying to Jake's dad in an annoyed tone.

"Hoh, they want to refuse?"

"I see no reason to help in something that won't bring us benefits and even more so now that we have no allies or vassals."

"And the knights out there?"

"They're new, fresh out of the palace knight academy. They're not exactly strong enough to be sent out to die on their own."

"You make a good point, child."

"Thank you. I got that from my mother."

Jake's dad smiled as he watched Eli refute everything he said.

"You're right in what you say, but the main reason we came here is not for your cooperation."

"So?"

A wicked grin appeared on his face.

"We want to know if the Rosenbergs aren't our enemies?"

Our hands went icy cold at that remark.

Duke Luinberg was saying nothing, so it was a general opinion of theirs.

If one duke made an enemy of a household, it was trouble for that household. If two dukes made enemies, it meant danger.

But, three dukes wanted our participation to find out if we were not a danger. That's not fair.

But who says life is fair?

I stood up and spoke to them.

"As the future head of this household, it is my responsibility that bad rumors are eliminated. I don't want the Rosenbergs name to be sullied."

The girls looked at me with moist eyes when I stated that. They seem to have fallen more in love with me.

Such a harem is not bad.

"Cat's eyes is the future boss? I thought he was just some weird servant?"

I want to punch Jake's dad without a doubt!

I think I understand why his dad was a pain in the ass. My hatred for Jake went down just a notch.

"Sounds good to me. And you, Prince Cidfert?"

"He's not-"

"I'll go."

I watched Cid who declared to also go to something that wasn't his goal.

"After what happened at the academy. I want to get rid of them too."

"Hey, the reason I accept isn't just so I won't spoil the name of my future household, it's also because it's a game event way ahead of its time.

Fine. We'll come get you when everything is." Jake's dad declared as they stood up.

The others also stood up ready to go.

"By the way, Alvin's daughter."

Once again Eli showed a pouty face.

"Yes?"

"The apology letter did you read it?"

Yes. But it's not like I'm interested in his apology."

"I see..."

Jake and Oscar had their heads down when they heard that. It seems they really had a hard time with their families over that problem.

"They finally left..." Eli said as the four of them walked out of the mansion.

Once he could no longer see them out the window, he lunged towards me.

"Razel! What do you mean you're going on a dangerous operation?"

Lily also hugged me out of concern.

"Please don't go!"

They were both very worried about me.

Their large breasts were pressing down on me.

This is why harems are wonderful.

I reassured them.

"Sorry, but it's like I said. I don't want the household of which I will be your future head to be full of bad comments."

"But!"

I took both of their chins and gave them a kiss on their cheeks.

"If you fear for me, remember that I was the one who truly dealt the coup de grace to that thing."

"Also a certain sword."

I turned to look at Cid who was saying things he shouldn't.

He doesn't seem to believe me about it being a pile of dirt that left Lambert in that state.

His eyes look at me in a very cold way.

Hey, bad things will happen to me if they know I defeated a candidate of the sword saint.

"If that's what my future husband says, as your future wife it's my duty to abide by your wishes. Just be careful, okay? You still have an obligation to leave an heir."

Eli said as he hugged me in a very loving way, Lily also said lovely words.

"I don't want to lose you, but I also don't want to lose the opportunity to have a child."

These girls were saying improper things in front of people they shouldn't.

Hey, your perspiration is very heavy.

Are you guys in the mood?

Well, I'm tired too, so I don't see any harm in having a little fun before I get blood all over me.

"Th-this, Cid..."

"You don't have to tell me."

Both Cid and Glenn went their separate ways, while I walked with my girlfriends who kept squeezing me.

Hey, that hand is touching something that shouldn't be touched in public.

By all this, Barbara where will she be?

"I thank you for taking a little of her time."

Barbara was in a merchant company.

It was one of the largest and most honest in the empire.

They made deals with anyone as long as it was legal.

It was the Reinfort Company.

"Don't worry, I wanted to meet with you anyway."

A well-dressed man, short in stature, frizzy orange hair, round glasses showing his brown eyes was sitting across from her.

The man was overweight, so he wore a handkerchief to wipe his face.

His name was Rean Reinfort. A supporting character in the game.

The protagonist could access paid items with him.

At the end of the game, he appears giving the protagonist a discount gift.

Rean was a man who, despite his appearance, was someone you could trust, for that reason he had many enemies.

He always had bodyguards with him to look after him.

The former head of the Rosenbergs had dealings with him, but he was also in debt.

Barbara came begging to extend his debt until he could pay it off. Rean agreed as he was also a man without a partner.

His wife left him as she turned down a job offer of dubious provenance.

It hurt him a lot, but he recovered.

For that reason, he gave Barbara the necessary amount of time to pay her off.

Now that it was paid off, she could show her face again.

"It's been a long time, but you don't change."

"Ohoho, no way, I've gained a few pounds."

Quite the opposite, I think you've dropped a little since we last saw each other."

"Really?"

"I'm a woman who shows her sincerity with her actions, that's why I brought you a gift for your trouble."

Barbara handed him a box of chocolates from the Valentine Company.

Rean took them and devoured them one by one.

"They are delicious. So, what business do you have with me?"

"I would like your company to be one of our benefactors."

Rean's hand paused.

"That's a very big proposition ma'am."

"I know. I understand that, in your position, being a benefactor to a poor or debt-ridden household is very bad, but I'd like to show you otherwise."

"And how would that be?"

"With this."

Barbara pulled out a contract.

This contract is signed by myself, the current head of Rosenberg Household. If I ever breach this contract, my property will become yours."

Rean began to sweat profusely.

"Doesn't this seem a bit rash to you?"

"I know, but the Reinfort Company is the only one that can help us with supplies and sales of products from our territory, I want to raise our prestige before I cede my position to my son-in-law."

"I see you are very desperate for it."

"I want to hand over to my grandchildren a house and territory like it used to be."

"I understand, in that case..."

Rean took a pen shaped like a quill and started writing things down.

When he finished, he showed Barbara and she was surprised.

"This is..."

"It's an enhancement to this contract. If you default on the payment, we will take 1% of your territory."

The contract said it was 100% of the duchy, but the zeros were crossed out, she wanted to cry.

"Are you an angel?"

"No, I'm not, I'm a merchant. I also went through hunger and poverty. I have a surname despite being a commoner and the most important thing in my business is to know my client, if he is a trustworthy person, I can wait for him for twenty years and he would still pay me. You have earned that trust by your determination."

Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks.

I thank you, I have no words to express how grateful I am to you."

You can thank me by having some tea with these chocolates. The food tastes better with it."

"Thank you."

Barbara wiped away her tears with a handkerchief as a maid came in with tea and another with a box.

The tea was placed on the table and the box near her.

"Is this it?"

"It's a gift for your daughter from me."

Barbara opened the box and her eyes looked like saucers.

"Something like this!"

"They're young, so maybe they're out wanting to try new things."

Barbara smiled.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

But it wasn't a good smile.

"Since she's a very naughty girl."

It was an obscene smile of a lustful woman.

(I'll leave you surprised tonight Darling )

She lightly nibbled her lips as her cheeks reddened at the thought that a certain man would be happy.

Her ass was wiggling a lot despite being seated.

Rean asked her if she was okay and she mentioned that she was just feeling very cheerful because of the gifts.

That's right, the gifts she was looking at very intently.