Hostage negotiations are usually tense affairs but when the hostages are a single traumatized young duke and the negotiators are five rival yandere brides with elental magic, ancient grudges, and mood-swing-triggered weaponry...
Well things tend to escalate.
"DRAGONS DON’T SHARE!" Drakana bellowed, slamming a molten claw into the marble floor of the duchy war room, instantly vaporizing an ancient carpet worth more than Rei’s soul.
"Sharing is literally the point of the treaty!" Seraphina snapped back, summoning a holy spear that shimred with divine flas. "Also, you singed the upholstery. Again."
"I claim Wednesday, Friday, and all full moons!" Lucivella declared from her throne of floating shadow petals.
"You don’t own celestial phenona!" Lilia snarled, brandishing a notepad titled My Future Husband’s Legally Binding Schedule.
anwhile, Rosette stood silently in the corner, polishing a blade nad Affection Reinforcent Tool #12, smiling like a shark in a bridal veil.
And in the middle of it all sat Rei, cross-legged, wearing seven layers of protective charms, a steel cologne diffuser, and a large sign taped to his chest that read:
"Please negotiate peacefully. Also, I am not edible."
[System Warning: Hostage Stability at 4%. Psychological Integrity... Error: Not Found.]
He had made the mistake of blinking three tis, which sohow translated into a bidding war between "You blinked in my direction first!" and "Your pupils dilated at my na!"
He tried to crawl under the table. The table was already claid by Rosette, who whispered, "Shared spaces are intimacy opportunities," and handed him a pillow with his own face embroidered on it.
Just as Drakana began to lt a second chandelier in righteous romantic rage, the air shimred.
A ripple passed through reality and then...
BOOM!
A vortex of sparkling pink fog, gold glitter, and off-key kazoos exploded in the center of the war room.
Standing atop a floating heart-shaped platform, dressed in a tuxedo gown hybrid, and wielding a clipboard forged of cosmic irony—
Goddess Eris had arrived.
"Hellooooo~ mortals!" Eris trilled, flinging a bouquet of knives into the air. "Guess who brought party favors and divine-grade chaos! That’s right! !"
Rei instinctively tried to crawl into a teacup. The teacup broke from stress.
"Welco to Operation Eternal Matrimony!" Eris said, pointing dramatically at a flaming banner that read: "Let’s Get Traumatized Together!"
[System Alert: Goddess-Level Interference Detected. Sanity dampeners deployed.]
"Why are you here?" Seraphina asked warily, adjusting her crown as the air started to sll like cinnamon heartbreak.
"Why not?" Eris said. "Look, you’re all clearly devoted wives-to-be, yet no one has actually sealed the deal! That’s just wasted drama!"
Lucivella narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?"
"I created a Magical Wedding Lottery™!" Eris bead. "Whoever wins gets to marry Rei first! Isn’t that exciting?"
"No," Rei croaked.
"Yes!" said literally everyone else.
With a clap of her hands, a massive wheel appeared. It glittered ominously. Instead of numbers, it had symbols: a broken heart, a ring, a question mark, a coffin, and sothing that looked suspiciously like Rei’s horrified face.
"Spin the wheel, ladies!" Eris grinned. "Let fate decide your future—and Rei’s inevitable breakdown!"
Rosette stepped forward first, face serene She spun. The wheel ticked and It landed on the broken heart.
"Oh, how romantic," she whispered, unsheathing her blade with a soft sigh. "Symbolic divorce from solitude..."
Then Lilia spun. Hers landed on the ring.
She tackled Rei imdiately. "It’s legally binding now!"
"It’s not!" Rei scread.
Next ca Drakana. Her spin burst into flas and set the wheel on fire. The Goddess clapped anyway.
"Classic Drakana! You win a tiara made from the bones of your enemies!"
"I already have five," she muttered, but looked pleased.
Then Seraphina. Her spin stopped on the question mark.
"Ha!" she said. "Mystery bonus. Clearly divine favor!"
The wheel spun itself. It landed on Coffin.
"Why is that even an option!?" Rei wailed.
"It’s symbolic," Eris said solemnly. "Of eternal commitnt. To love. Or to sleep. Forever. With soone."
[System Notice: Ceremony outco probability reduced to ’Telenovela finale.’]
Finally, Lucivella approached the wheel. It glowed black.
"I don’t spin wheels," she said, and snapped her fingers.
The wheel stopped on Rei’s face.
Eris blinked. "Oh. That’s a new one."
With a divine beep, the system projected a glowing declaration in the air.
[Magical Wedding Lottery Result: Match confird. Rei Velmont is legally wed to...]
The room tensed. Drakana sharpened a claw. Lucivella prepared a dark rose bouquet bomb. Seraphina was already halfway into her sacred vows.
[...Rei Velmont is legally wed to: His Bed.]
Silence.
Rei’s mouth dropped open. Lilia looked ready to strangle the laws of physics.
"...What?" Rosette asked, tilting her head.
"Congratulations!" Eris shouted, throwing rose petals and handcuffs into the air. "You may now kiss the pillow!"
"Wait—what pillow—"
FOOSH!
A giant plush bed slamd into the room like a teor, embroidered with the words "Til Death Do You Nap" and covered in silk sheets bearing Rei’s crest.
The System chid cheerfully.
[System Update: Marital binding complete. You are now officially Mr. Rei Velmont-Bed. May your union be full of dreams and insomnia.]
Rei stared at the bed. The bed stared back.
"Does this an... I don’t have to choose?" he asked weakly.
Eris leaned close and whispered, "No, it ans you’re now cheating on all of them. With furniture."
[System Warning: Infidelity Triggered. Five possessive kill-aura spikes detected.]
"Oh no," Rei whispered.
"Oh yes," Eris sang.
Drakana ignited her wings. Lucivella summoned her shadow scythe. Seraphina raised her sacred cannon.
Rosette removed her gloves.
Lilia pulled out... a wedding registry form with "Rei’s Tombstone Design" sketched in the margins.
"YOU MARRIED A BED?!" they all scread.
Rei threw himself onto the mattress and shouted, "TAKE , WIFE!"
[System Notification: Initiating ergency nap mode.]
The bed swallowed him, literally and all the girls lunged.
The room exploded into sparkles, wrath, and confusion.
Eris, watching the chaos unfold with popcorn made from divine grain, bead proudly.
"Best. Wedding. Ever."
Before the chaos could truly finish combusting the war room (and the duchy’s entire third floor), a divine klaxon blared in the air.
[Ergency Goddess Sanctions Activated: Threat Level—Full Dostic ltdown!]
A pink barrier snapped into place just as Drakana’s molten wing collided with Seraphina’s cannon-blessed lance. The shockwave turned four windows, two unfortunate guards, and half the family portrait gallery into confetti.
"Calm yourselves, mortals!" Eris bood, spinning midair in her tuxedo-gown like a very sparkly tornado. "There’s plenty of Rei to go around—eventually."
"Explain. Now," Lucivella hissed, her voice the kind of smooth that usually preceded a national assassination.
Eris twirled a parasol made of contractual loopholes. "The Marriage Lottery was a trial run! Technically speaking, Rei is currently soul-bound to the concept of rest. That gives him... let’s see..." She snapped her fingers, and a scroll unrolled all the way to the floor. "...approximately 72 hours of emotional immunity!"
"What the hell is emotional immunity?" Rei croaked from inside the mattress, where only his eyes and one sock peeked out.
"It ans," Eris said with a grin, "for three days, no one can legally seduce, propose, abduct, or kill you in the na of love. It’s a divine cooldown period."
"You just invented that," Seraphina growled.
Eris shrugged. "I invent reality, sweetheart."
Lilia scribbled furiously on her notepad. "Then I reserve the exact mont his immunity ends. For... intensive affection planning."
Rosette held up a stitched heart with the words "His Last Breath Belongs to ♥" and said nothing.
Drakana exhaled a blast of smoke. "If this is a truce, I demand cuddle visitation rights."
Lucivella’s eyes flickered. "And I demand full surveillance access during said visits."
"Nope!" Rei shouted, muffled by pillow stuffing. "I demand a lawyer! A priest! A pillow exorcist!"
"Oh hush, Mr. Velmont-Bed," Eris chirped, conjuring a wedding ring made of mory foam and slapping it on his finger. "You’re the first mortal to be soul-wed to a comfort item. History will rember you fondly."
[System Notice: World Title Acquired – "The Nap Lord"]
[Passive Skill Unlocked: Emotional Evasion – Chance to feign sleep to dodge romantic confrontations.]
[Warning: This skill has a cooldown of 2 hours. Abuse may trigger Divine Annulnt.]
The war room now resembled the inside of a honeymoon suite detonated by TNT and flower petals.
Sowhere in the ruins, a confused butler coughed up confetti.
Eris clapped her hands. "Welp! My job here is done!"
"Your job was chaos!" Rei yelled.
"And I nailed it," Eris winked. "Don’t worry, darling. Just survive the next 72 hours without dying, proposing, or sleep-talking your true feelings, and maybe—maybe—you’ll only have one legally recognized wife next ti."
"That’s a maybe?" Rei gasped.
"I’m generous like that. Ciao~!"
With a final sparkly explosion and an illegal number of kazoo fanfares, Goddess Eris vanished.
The dust settled. The brides turned toward Rei, who was now firmly wedged inside the mattress like a terrified ravioli.
The silence was heavy.
Then—
Lilia coughed politely. "Should we... at least pick out bed sheets for their anniversary?"
"I call pillowcase custody," Lucivella said.
"I’m burning the bed," muttered Drakana.
"You’ll do no such thing!" Rosette snapped, wrapping the bed in protective ribbons. "It is our only hostage now."
Rei groaned softly. He had one prayer left.
"Please let this be a dream..."
[System Response: Dream Mode Activated.]
[But it’s still your life. Good luck.]
To be continued...
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