Isaac opened his mouth, ready to speak, but Celia cut him off before the words could come out.
"Be honest with me, Isaac. I don’t mind if you like more women. I really don’t. But don’t lie to me. That’s the one thing I would hate. Please."
There was no accusation in her tone, no sharp edge meant to corner him. Just sincerity. It sat between them, heavy and impossible to ignore.
Isaac closed his mouth again.
He had half-formed denials, and things he could say that would keep the situation vague and safe. But the moment she spoke like that, all of it felt pointless. Lying now—to herself and himself—would feel worse than anything.
He stayed silent.
Celia didn’t rush him. She didn’t press further or repeat herself. She simply waited, her tail swaying slowly behind her as if she already knew he would speak eventually.
The silence stretched.
Finally, Isaac let out a breath and spoke.
"Yes. I want to make Selene mine."
Celia’s eyes shifted slightly, and her lips parted.
"Then—"
"But I don’t know if I like her."
The words came out more awkwardly than he expected. He frowned slightly as soon as he said them, as if realizing how strange they sounded only after they were already in the air.
Being honest like this felt uncomfortable. Isaac realized he rarely spoke about things this close to his heart. Strategy, plans, power, enemies. Those were easy. This wasn’t.
"I feel... a sense of possessiveness toward Selene. I don’t want her to belong to anyone else. When Chairman Lucius talked about marrying her off, my first thought was to warn him that him she is mine."
He rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze drifting away.
"But then I stopped myself and started wondering why I felt that way in the first place."
A quiet sigh escaped him.
"Can I really call that feeling mine? Does it mean I like her? Or is it just possessiveness coming from my dragon instincts?"
Celia listened without interrupting.
"For example," Isaac said, gathering his thoughts, "if someone attacks a citizen of my city, I get angry. Not because I love that person personally, but because this city is mine. The people in it are mine. No one has the right to touch what belongs to me."
He looked back at her.
"So when I feel the same way about Selene... I don’t know if it’s different. And I don’t want to confuse the two."
That uncertainty was the real problem.
It was the reason he had been hesitating to approach Selene properly. The reason he always stopped himself before taking that extra step.
Technically, there was an easy solution.
If he kissed Selene, the bond would either form or it wouldn’t. If it did, it meant he loved her. If it didn’t, it meant his feelings were nothing more than possessiveness.
Simple, and efficient method to find out his feelings.
But the thought left a bad taste in his mouth.
He didn’t want to do something intimate like that just to test his feelings, and relying on the System to tell him how he felt instead of figuring it out himself... it felt cheap, and cowardly.
He wanted to understand his feelings on his own.
Celia stared at him for a moment before letting out a soft, wry smile.
’Was he this conflicted when he proposed to me?’
He must’ve been.
He always had been sincere to a fault.
Seeing that sincerity made her heart fuzzy.
Heat rushed up to her cheeks.
For a moment, she just stared at his mouth. At the tip of the tongue that appeared while he spoke. It looked red, soft, tasty—
Celia cleared her thoughts. That was dangerous. She had come here for work, not this.
She took a deep breath before speaking,
"You don’t need to rush. Think about it over time. Until then, ask her to become your accountant for the city’s spending. It will give you a proper excuse to spend time with her without making things awkward."
"That’s..." Isaac paused. "Actually reasonable."
"And when we go to the Florathi Kingdom. take her with us."
"What—"
"You need to spend time with her to understand how you feel. There’s no shortcut for that."
Isaac closed his mouth and mulled over her words. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made.
He nodded slowly.
A tired smile appeared on his face a moment later.
"When did our Celia get so smart that she’s teaching me what to do?" he asked.
"Hmph! I’ve always been smart," she replied, lifting her chin.
Despite the words, both of them laughed.
Celia’s tail wrapped around his arm, and she leaned closer, her bosom pressing lightly against his chest.
"Anyway," she said, her voice lowering slightly, "don’t propose to Selene until you sort out your feelings."
"What?" Isaac blinked.
"Wait for Alice to approach you and tell you to bed Selene. Until she does that, do not. I repeat, do not ask Selene anything or tell her you like her."
Isaac stared at her.
"...What?"
"Given how Alice is, she might just kill you if you bring home two or three more wives on your own."
Isaac thought about it for half a second, then nodded.
That sounded accurate.
If he brought in two more wives, the total would become six. Six wives in just two months. Even Isaac would look at someone like that as if they were trash. He couldn’t really blame Alice if her anger exploded.
"If Alice comes to you by herself for Selene. It will lower her psychological barrier to bringing home more wives. Since she will bring her own sister to you..."
While Celia kept talking Isaac was staring suspiciously at her.
"So, did Professor tell you to say all this?"
Celia flinched.
Then, realizing how obvious that reaction was, she quickly tried to recover.
"W-what might you mean?" she said, her words tripping slightly.
Isaac’s lips twitched.
’I knew it.’
The entire plan reeked of Professor Catherine’s involvement.
He reached out and pinched Celia’s cheeks, squishing them gently as he spoke.
"It’s fine with Selene this time. But you better not try something like this with a random woman," he said.
"Hmph!" Celia swatted his hand away, cheeks still slightly squished. "Why would I want to bring a random woman into the family? They need to be beautiful, smart, and strong. If anything is lacking, they’re rejected."
Isaac became speechless.
So, it was okay if the woman was beautiful, smart and strong?
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This girl really feel nothing about more women coming to family.
The thought was strange, but also... oddly funny.
Emily never said anything when he brought in more girls.
Alice would absolutely kill him.
Celia actively encouraged it if she thought it would help.
And Professor Catherine would manipulate the situation and the girl until somehow, inevitably, she ended up in his household.
Isaac sighed internally.
’No, shouldn’t I be the one most eager to expand the family? Why are these two more enthusiastic than I am?’
Professor Catherine, he could understand. She likely wanted him strong enough to protect himself, and numbers mattered.
But Celia...
He glanced at her again, watching the faint curve of her smile.
He had a sneaking suspicion that she was split down the middle. Half of her wanted Isaac to stay true to his inner desires instead of suppressing them. The other half simply enjoyed watching him struggle, break his own moral lines, and slowly become more "corrupt."
And maybe—just maybe—she found it entertaining when Alice got angry at him.