"That's right. But to make this plan a reality, there's one crucial thing."
After taking a slightly dramatic pause, Yuri spoke at last.
"A-and what... might that be?"
Though bewildered by Yuri's words, Ophelia still swallowed hard.
"It's this: a stable supply of crops is absolutely essential. Delicious sweets, bread, food of every kind—it all begins with farmers. Without them, none of it can even start!"
Yuri spoke as though impressing the point upon her.
"T-that is true... but... the Reberk Barony is losing farmers..."
Looking as though she had just been confronted with an impossible reality, Ophelia sank into her chair.
Beside her, Lieselotte looked on with cool exasperation.
"Honestly, what are you two even doing? Wouldn't we also need new artisans, and that building you called the Passage Arcade?"
"You're no fun, Lotte."
When Yuri dropped into a seat with a grumble, Ophelia leaned forward and asked,
"And then, and then—you do have a concrete plan for increasing the number of farmers and building this land of dreams, do you not?"
After a moment's thought, Yuri nodded and began counting off points on his fingers.
"First, abolish the three-tenths tax and have the lord's office buy up the harvest in bulk. Next, have the lord purchase the supplies needed for farm work and loan them out. And finally, provide training and education in agricultural techniques."
Remembering the agricultural cooperatives from his previous life, Yuri began listing ideas one after another.
"Then we'd have the Harem hire women from across the territory and train them as new artisans and shop attendants. We can get recipes and seasonings through my Merchant Gift, and while we're at it, we might as well buy the storefronts through it too."
At those words, Ophelia and Lieselotte's eyes widened in unison.
"You can even purchase such things?"
"You can even purchase such things?"
"My Merchant Gift can buy anything—as long as there's money for it. ...As long as there's money, that is."
Pleased with their reaction, Yuri answered with his nose held slightly high.
Smiling wryly, Ophelia murmured,
"I wonder whether the jewels we received as gifts will be enough..."
Lieselotte, too, stared off a little distantly, imagining the scale of the changes ahead.
"With sweeping reforms to the guilds, improvements to the market, the construction of new shops, and even the Luna-Noir Trading Company to consider... it seems we are going to be very busy indeed..."
Hearing that, Yuri turned to Chloe.
"Chloe, I heard you're good with numbers. Would you help Lotte?"
"Yes. I will make certain to live up to your expectations."
Chloe smiled modestly and nodded.
"Then let us begin drafting the guild reform proposal at once."
Lieselotte spoke to Chloe with reassuring confidence, and Chloe answered with a serious look, "Yes, understood."
Nodding, Yuri rose and turned to Ophelia.
"Then, even if it's a little late, shall we go have a look at the market?"
Just as Ophelia started to rise as well, she froze in place.
"Hm? What is it?"
At that moment, a voice came from behind them.
"So my lord husband is having such an enjoyable conversation while leaving me out of it."
When he turned around, there stood Celine, pouting ever so slightly, with Aina at her side.
"I-I was going to talk it over with you properly afterward!"
As Yuri rushed to explain, Celine smiled, lightly pressed a finger to his lips, then leaned against his chest and whispered sweetly,
"Hehe, I'm quite curious what my lord husband is trying to do as well... Would it be all right if you told me all about it slowly, in bed, starting now?"
At the velvet-smooth sound of Celine's voice, Yuri's thoughts were blown away in an instant, and he lost even the presence of mind to answer.
Margaret quietly slid the door open, and Celine took Yuri by the arm, leading him just like that toward the Chamber of Dream Blossoms.
Halfway there, she suddenly stopped, turned back toward Ophelia, and called to her invitingly.
"Fee, you're coming too, of course, aren't you? Tonight, let's do our best—and consider it part of your practical instruction as well."
At those words, a faint flush rose to Ophelia's pale cheeks, and her gaze dropped shyly toward the floor.
Yuri saw the way her downcast eyes, shadowed by her long lashes, held both shock and embarrassment, and how the fingertips clutching her skirt trembled ever so slightly.
"...Lady Celine, a-am I to... do that as well?"
At Ophelia's hesitant manner, Celine gave her an easy smile and whispered gently,
"Fee, I taught you properly the other day how to please my lord husband, did I not?"
At those words, Ophelia drew a small, trembling breath and answered in a thin voice,
"...Yes."
"W-wait, Celia—we have so much to do from here on, so I really don't think we have time for that sort of thing..."
Yuri turned desperately toward Celine as though searching for even the smallest avenue of escape, but the softness pressing against his arm made the words catch in his throat.
Celine smiled sweetly and fixed him with eyes that looked as though they had no intention of letting their prey escape.
"Well, well. First let us talk slowly in bed. You'll be able to make a proper plan after you've let off a little of that heat, won't you? Besides... my lord husband's stamina is bottomless. Four women should be well within your capacity, should it not?"
"...Four?"
Yuri looked up in confusion, but at that very moment Celine added with a bright smile,
"Aina—and Lily, you come as well."
When Celine called to Aina and Lily, Aina nodded calmly, as though she had expected this all along.
"M-me too?"
Lily answered in a sweet, bell-like voice, her eyes going round with surprise.
The sound made Yuri's heart leap, and the desires he had thought he'd suppressed slowly began swelling again.
Could that fantasy of mine... really be about to become reality...?
A faint hope welled up inside him, and he could feel his reason beginning to waver.
Damn it, I hate how little self-control I have...
Even as he tried to restrain himself with sheer will, the defenses of his mind were thin against his libido, and Yuri's heart shook.
Perhaps sensing his quickening pulse, Celine narrowed her eyes and whispered teasingly,
"Hehe... my lord husband really does like girls such as Lily—quiet, sweet, and lovely... and with a generous figure as well."
Lily's face turned bright red, and in the mingled force of embarrassment and happiness she lowered her head, clearly at a loss for what to do.
She clutched the hem of her skirt tightly in both hands and shifted bashfully in place, making her look all the more adorable.
When she finally raised her face, her eyes met Chloe's.
Chloe was staring at her in a way that clearly said she expected a full report later, and it looked as though steam might start rising from the top of Lily's head at any moment.
"Mother, I do not think we should pressure Lily into coming."
When Lieselotte said that in an exasperated tone, Celine only shrugged and smiled.
"Oh, Lily doesn't seem entirely unwilling. If you can't even see that, Liese, you still have a ways to go."
A moment later, Lieselotte turned to Lily and spoke to her gently.
"Lady Lily, if you dislike the idea, you may refuse without hesitation."
Still blushing fiercely, Lily answered in a voice so faint it sounded ready to disappear.
"Um, well, er... I don't... dislike it. If my ladies would permit it, I would be grateful if I, too, might be allowed the humblest place among you..."
The instant she finished speaking, Lily hurriedly hid her face in both hands, looking utterly flustered.
Seeing that, Celine smiled in triumph and cast a "See?" glance toward Lieselotte.
As Lieselotte shot back an aggrieved look, Celine gracefully delivered her next command.
"Since I appear to have won, Liese and Chloe, do finish the draft by first bell tomorrow. I'm very much looking forward to making that obstinate Chancellor eat his words tomorrow."
At Celine's playful wink, both Lieselotte and Chloe went pale.
Then Celine lowered her voice into something even more alluring.
"Or else... shall we try it with six and my lord husband? There's still room in the bed."
At that invitation, Lieselotte went even paler and hurriedly shook her head.
"We'll finish the draft by tomorrow morning! Chloe and I..."
To that answer, Chloe muttered under her breath with a hint of loneliness,
"I would have liked to be allowed even the humblest place at my lord husband's side as well..."
Lieselotte looked at her in shock.
"What? You too?"
But Celine smiled at Chloe in a reassuring way and said,
"It's all right. You and Fiona are already included in the count."
At that, Chloe visibly relaxed and bowed her head.
"Lady Celine, thank you very much."
Watching this exchange, Yuri found himself caught in very complicated emotions.
Ah... my harem is swelling in places I know nothing about. They really are charging straight ahead with this...
Delighted and mortified in equal measure, Yuri wanted to bury his head in his hands.
Still, unless something was done about the heat inside him now, it was not going to settle at all.
Margaret, who had been watching the whole time, bowed discreetly.
"I'll have the bath prepared."
With that, she quietly left the room.
Margaret, are you psychic!?
Even as he gaped inwardly, Yuri found himself thinking, Right. Of course. We have to bathe first.
After Margaret departed, Lieselotte and Chloe began preparing to draft the proposal, while Ophelia and Lily exchanged shy, embarrassed glances.
Seeing the two of them, Celine smiled gently and said,
"Come now, you two. The night is long, so let us have my lord husband enjoy us to his heart's content."
Yuri shrank back at that smile and looked around with slumped shoulders, but he had no allies anywhere.
His reason was no help at all, and in the end Celine led him quietly—almost dragging him—toward the Chamber of Dream Blossoms.
Just a little past midnight—.