HKRH | Prologue

[Prologue]

Click, click.

“Lady Ailsden!”

As soon as she entered the party hall, a crowd of men and women rushed toward her.

Natalie lifted her chin slightly and walked gracefully to the center of the hall.

Like bees to honey, people swarmed around her, throwing out eager questions.

“Is it true you’re getting married?”

“We heard rumors all over the empire that you’re looking for a husband—is that true?!”

“Yes.”

Her proud, confident answer made everyone’s eyes sparkle.

“Haha! How generous you are, giving everyone a fair chance!”

“The lucky man who marries the famous Lady Ailsden—how enviable!”

She was the real daughter of the Ailsden Duke family, a woman with enormous wealth and talent, and the most talked-about person in both high society and politics.

Beautiful, powerful, and dangerous.

That was Natalie.

“Just a while ago, they called me a poisonous mushroom and a crow,”

she thought bitterly, smiling arrogantly as she lifted her champagne glass.

But now, blinded by her charm, everyone was desperate to flatter her.

“You’re even more beautiful tonight! May I have this dance?”

“I own seven private vaults! Please, just give me one chance!”

“My younger brother, you know him, right? The youngest in academy history to graduate top of his class—he even got an award from the emperor! And younger men are popular these days…”

“Applications start tomorrow. Self-promotion begins then.”

She twirled her glass with a cool smile.

Instantly, people started shouting for servants to bring papers and asking for hints on how to pass her “selection process.”

Through the noise, another woman approached—Sharon Ailsden, Natalie’s adopted sister.

“Natalie, Father and Brother haven’t approved yet. Isn’t this too sudden?”

Natalie leaned close, smiling lazily.

“Sharon, you’re mistaken.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t need their permission. It’s my husband, not theirs.”

Sharon’s forced smile twitched. Natalie gave her “sister” a dazzling, sharp grin.

Then three men walked in.

The entire hall went silent as the atmosphere shifted.

People who had been hovering around Natalie naturally stepped back, making space.

“Good evening, gentlemen.”

Sharon tried to stay by her side with an innocent smile—

“Not leaving?”

“I-I was just about to!”

Chased off by Natalie’s glare, she quickly retreated.

Soon, three striking men—one blond, one black-haired, one red-haired—surrounded Natalie.

“I heard you announced a search for a husband.”

The blond Crown Prince spoke sweetly, almost teasing.

“Yes. I decided I want to experience marriage,” Natalie answered coolly.

Before she even finished, something sharp flashed in all three men’s eyes.

“It’s just a pure, open recruitment for marriage,” she emphasized quickly. “Nothing more.”

But it was too late.

The three men—who always misunderstood everything about her—had already twisted her words in their favor.

“I knew it.”

“Just as I thought.”

“So that’s why.”

They were convinced she was in love with them—and that her “announcement” was a jealous way to make them propose!

“I always thought something was off,” said the blond Crown Prince with a charming smile.

“I’m a flirt, yet you’re the only woman who ever came close. You got rid of the rest, didn’t you?”

Natalie frowned.

“I already noticed it,” interrupted the black-haired Northern Duke, his deep, cold voice cutting through.

“You talked about ‘stamina’ and such… I knew you had an ulterior motive.”

“Wait, that’s not—”

Before she could explain, the red-haired Tower Master spoke up, his voice trembling.

“You’ve trained me this much, noona, so you have to take responsibility.”

His hair suddenly shimmered into a mix of red and blue as he looked at her with tearful eyes.
“Noona… you said crying wins a woman’s heart. So why are you looking at other men?”

Natalie could see glowing numbers above their heads:

[100%]
[100%]
[100%]

Sigh…

Something had gone terribly wrong.

In the normal version of the game, these three male leads were perfect, but in this 19+ “full edition,” their personalities were slightly twisted.

And now, even though all their affection meters were maxed out, no ending was triggered—and she couldn’t log out.

“If I can’t escape normally… maybe marriage is the only way out.”

This was the adult version of a reverse harem game, where she had to raise the love levels of all three male leads to a certain amount to log out.

Usually, she’d get an ending with the one who reached 100%.

But now, all three were at 100%, and still no ending had appeared.

“Not even the ‘special ending’ where I live with all of them? This has to be a serious bug!”

Natalie tried everything to fix it.

But with their affection locked at maximum, all three men became dangerously possessive of her.

“Maybe the problem is that their affection is too high…”

In the normal version, when the men got jealous or disappointed, their affection would drop.

Especially when it came to other men.

And so Natalie came up with a plan—to make their love decrease.

Marriage.

Not to one of them—but to someone else.

That’s why she publicly announced she would accept husband applications from all over the empire.

But before her plan could work—

“She’s my fiancée,” said the blond Crown Prince, kissing her left hand.

“She’s my partner,” said the cold Northern Duke, interlocking his fingers with hers.

“She’s my noona!” cried the Tower Master, rubbing his cheek against her shoulder.

Then all three shouted at once:

“I’m her husband!”

Why are you three fighting?! I said I’d marry someone else!

“Get lost, all of you.”

Natalie spun around, exasperated.

“Milady!”

“My Lady!”

“Noona!”

The three men started after her, but two silver-haired men blocked their way.

To her left stood her father, the Duke.

To her right, her older brother, Anatole.

“Why are you suddenly talking about marriage?” Anatole scolded, fuming.

“You’re still innocent and naïve! Why rush into something like this?”

“You said you wanted to get rid of me sooner. You should be happy your wish is coming true,” she replied flatly.

Anatole froze, and their father stopped walking.

“Natalie.”

“Yes, Father?”

With a serious face, the Duke looked straight at her.

“Don’t get married. Stay home forever with us. Spend my fortune however you want, for the rest of your life.”

Natalie’s jaw dropped.

Her suitors had become obsessive maniacs, her brother had turned hot-tempered, and even her father—who used to treat her like stone—was now strangely affectionate.

None of them seemed willing to let her go.

“Why is everyone acting like this?”

Not only were the male leads obsessed with her—now her own family was part of the madness.

Just what kind of broken game had she fallen into?

“I hate this kind of reverse harem!”

Natalie began to wonder how, why, and for what reason she had gotten trapped in this ridiculous world in the first place.