Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 207: Building Bonds

Damien nodded his head, starting to understand. Building a separate mansion for Damien would mean that Caius could visit Damien instead, and Theo could conveniently stop by without raising any eyebrows.

"So," Theo concluded with a cheerful tone, "this is your fault, Damien, so just give up and let us build your mansion, okay?"

Damien sighed. He had suspected as much when Theo started pinning the blame on him—it was all to lead up to this request. Still, he couldn’t exactly refuse now, could he?

"We’re aiming to finalize the design soon and complete construction in about one or two weeks," Sebas added.

"Isn’t that way too fast?!" Damien exclaimed. Even for a small one-room house, that seemed impossible.

"With My Teacher’s full cooperation and an unlimited budget, it’s quite feasible," Sebas replied calmly.

So that plan’s still alive, Damien thought. He wished they’d reconsider the "unlimited budget" part.

"To be fair, there will be compromises to expedite the process," Theo explained. "We’ll construct a more elaborate and proper mansion later, sparing no expense."

Theo seemed unusually enthusiastic, and even Sebas and Elyon were nodding along in agreement.

"One mansion is more than enough," Damien protested.

"Come on, let’s build it," Theo countered. "It can be Damien’s mansion—a home for all Damien’s lovers. A Damien Harem!"

"Wait, what are you planning to make here?" Damien demanded.

"Your mansion, of course," Theo replied, grinning mischievously. "Also known as the Damien Harem."

Theo spoke with a cheerful tone. "We’ll build a mansion twice the size of this one, and Damien will live there with all of his lovers. It’ll be so much fun!"

Well, Damien couldn’t deny it sounded fun.

But a mansion twice the size of this one Even this current estate housed dozens of people. How many lovers did Theo think Damien planned to have?

...Theo, Leonide, Lysander, Lucian, Lorenzo, Elyon, Elyric, Zima, Ithnan, and Thalatha.

...Should he include Arba’a? Yeah, probably.

Sitta and little Tis’a were on the fence... for now.

Even counting just the confirmed ones, that made 11 people.

Damien had always known he wasn’t exactly restrained, but seeing the numbers laid out like this made it painfully clear.

Still, they were all so cool and adorable. How could he choose just one?

Yeah, Damien thought bitterly. I really am the worst.

"Why do you look so down when we’re talking about a fun future?" Theo asked, smiling wryly as he noticed Damien’s expression.

Oops. Was it showing on his face?

"Well," Damien began, "I was just thinking about how amazing it is that everyone’s okay with me being so, uh, unfaithful."

That was the gist of their conversation, so he wasn’t lying.

"Ah, about that," Theo said, "everyone shares a common understanding about being part of this community."

"Community?" Damien asked, puzzled.

A community of people tolerant of infidelity That didn’t sound like some of them—Ithnan, for instance, seemed so earnest.

Not that the others weren’t serious, of course.

"Yes," Theo explained. "A community of people who are fine with not having Damien all to themselves, as long as they can stay by your side."

"Um..." Damien still didn’t quite get it.

"For instance, there’s me. This started as a regular romantic relationship," Theo said casually.

Yeah, Damien thought, their relationship had begun in a somewhat gradual and natural way. Come to think of it, he’d never properly confessed to Theo.

"Damien, I love you," Theo suddenly said, his expression serious. "Please be with me."

Lately, Theo seemed to have developed a knack for reading Damien’s thoughts just from his expression. It was both endearing and a little embarrassing.

"Um... I... uh... I’d be delighted," Damien stammered, his face growing hot.

They’d exchanged declarations of affection plenty of times before, but hearing it so directly still made him blush.

Meanwhile, Theo simply smiled warmly, clearly pleased, without a trace of embarrassment.

One day, Damien thought, I’ll make him blush like this.

"So, initially, it was just me and Damien in a romantic relationship," Theo continued. "But the real complication came with Leonide and the others."

Well, Damien couldn’t argue with that. Those four had been quite the handful.

"At first, Leonide was the only one who was serious about it. The other three weren’t as invested," Theo explained.

Now that Theo mentioned it, Damien recalled that had been the case. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Leonide was... well, cute.

But now that Damien thought about it, aside from Leonide, he didn’t have any particularly special, flag-raising moments with the others.

Somehow, he had simply grown close to them—so close, in fact, that their relationships had escalated straight to physical intimacy.

"At that time, Damien was just too seductive for them to handle," Theo said casually.

"What do you mean by that?!" Damien exclaimed.

Up until Leonide and the others started asking him to teach them various things, their relationship had been strictly one of master and servants, hadn’t it?

Ignoring Damien’s protest, Theo continued.

"As a result, those four are now completely obsessed with you. They’ve become... well, let’s say they can’t live without you anymore."

Theo’s words carried a somewhat sinister tone, making Damien wince.

"With four people suddenly fine with the idea of sharing you with me, the direction was pretty much set," Theo added. "Besides, my Teacher and his brother joined in at some point, and they don’t seem to care about having other lovers in the mix."

Damien’s relationship with Elyon, the elf, had been kept secret at Elyon’s request. It was his first true act of infidelity, but Elyon had been so clingy that Theo eventually found out anyway.

Theo admitted that he had been suspicious for a while but had assumed their closeness was just platonic. After all, elves were famously disinterested in physical intimacy.

When Damien and Elyon finally confessed, Theo and Sebas had both doubted them, thinking it was some kind of elaborate joke.

In the same conversation, Damien had also revealed his relationship with Elyric, which no longer needed to be kept secret.

"And then, of all things, came those slaves who can’t possibly defy you," Theo said with a sigh.