Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities

Chapter 182: Bomb

Katherine did not even look at her. "You are not the person I trust for damage control." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

"The situation has been defused thanks to Rias’s clear understanding," Cassandra replied.

She spoke evenly, but her eyes shifted to Rias with open acknowledgment.

"You have my thanks," Katherine said to Rias, and Alexandra nodded as well.

Rias gave a small, polite nod back. Getting thanked by those two should have felt flattering, but instead, it felt like surviving a battlefield and receiving a medal while the land mines were still active.

Somehow, Elisebeth stuck out her chest and arched her head back like that had been her feat. Rias glanced down at her, and Elisebeth looked away.

Cassandra continued. "What we need is to make sure this never happens again. Things cannot remain the same. We can’t let Martin stay in the dark. Don’t you agree, Katherine?"

"Obviously." Katherine placed her mug down with a little too much force. "You guys can’t even put yourselves in Martin’s shoes. Victoria drops a $100,000 deal on Martin, and you’re acting like it’s nothing."

Her eyes cut to Alexandra.

"And you even elbowed me away from him!"

Alexandra harrumphed and looked away, her white shirt sliding slightly down one arm while she remained too proud to admit Katherine had a point.

Cassandra watched their exchange with the patience of a woman used to meetings where people argued over money, contracts, and corporate disasters. Somehow, this was messier than those meetings, far more personal, and much harder to control.

"We should mix our worlds," Katherine said.

The words landed differently from the jokes before. Elisebeth stopped reaching for her snacks, Alexandra’s gaze returned to the screen, and even Cassandra became still.

For all their money, fame, and confidence, they had kept Martin outside the truth. They entered his world whenever they logged into the game, but he had never truly entered theirs.

He knew fragments, hints, and pieces, not enough to understand what kind of women were reaching for him.

No wonder he had no idea where he stood.

No one joked over that.

Then Elisebeth’s eyes brightened.

Rias smiled warmly and leaned closer to her. "How about we send him a ticket to your concert? With plane tickets and a paid hotel?"

Elisebeth turned her head so fast it looked animated. "Really?!"

"You have been wanting him to see you on stage, haven’t you?"

Elisebeth’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again. Her cheeks flushed slightly, but she lifted her chin, trying to beat embarrassment through glamour alone.

"I mean, obviously. If Martin sees me on stage, he’ll finally understand that I’m not only adorable, talented, and charming, but also the brightest star in the world."

Katherine stared at her. Alexandra stared at her. Cassandra said nothing.

Rias placed a hand on Elisebeth’s shoulder. "Elise, you are planning a concert invitation, not writing your wedding vows."

Elisebeth froze.

For one dangerous second, her eyes went distant, as if a white dress had already appeared in her imagination. Then her cheeks flushed, and she grabbed her drink with both hands.

"I was not thinking about that."

Rias looked down at her. "You absolutely were."

Elisebeth took a loud sip and refused to answer.

Alexandra seemed to have guessed what Rias had told her, so she chimed in before Elisebeth could recover.

"I could take him to a movie premiere as my partner. He’s already getting famous as a player, and people are saying a new wave of celebrities is brewing in Monster Hunter Academy Online. It would make total sense for me to bring him there for some spotlight."

Alexandra leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other. The movement looked natural, but the framing was too perfect to be accidental, and even in a casual call, she understood exactly how to hold attention.

Her smile turned sharp. "Besides, a premiere is easy. If Martin freezes, I can smile beside him and let the cameras do the rest."

Then her gaze slid to Elisebeth. "If the diva takes him, she’ll lose her composure and hold a solo concert. Maybe she’ll even miss a few notes like she misses her fireballs in the game."

Elisebeth’s eyes widened, and Rias slowly closed her eyes, already tired.

"Oh, nah! Alexandra! Now you went overboard!" Elisebeth slapped both hands on her desk, making her snacks jump. "You’re telling me I would lose sight of myself on my own stage? Me? You do realize that I can enter FLOW consistently on stage, right? Once I start my show, it’s over. Everything belongs to me. Even you would be my puppy on my stage."

"Hoh?" Alexandra’s lips curved into a sneer. "Sounds like a daring challenge. Let me in on that stage of yours. I’ll steal it."

"You? Steal my stage?"

"I steal scenes for a living."

"I own arenas!"

"And yet you miss fireballs."

"That has nothing to do with singing!"

"It has everything to do with composure."

Elisebeth grabbed a pillow from beside her and hugged it against her chest, glaring at the screen with the wounded pride of a diva whose kingdom had been insulted.

The pillow was probably the only thing keeping her from trying to climb through the camera, and Alexandra smiled with pure satisfaction when she noticed.

Katherine shook her head, then looked over at Cassandra, who also shook her head in response.

Katherine knew her younger sister and the diva were shaped by their personalities and their jobs. Alexandra competed with every spotlight in the room, while Elisebeth turned every room into a stage, so it made sense that they would start bickering now, trying to prove each other wrong.

Not even their affection toward Martin could make them give that up.

Rias, still standing behind Elisebeth, looked between them and quietly wondered if Martin realized that two women famous enough to fill theaters and arenas were now arguing over which world would impress him more.

He probably did not, and that was exactly the problem.

Katherine wrapped both hands around her coffee cup, raised it to her lips, and took a sip while Cassandra stayed quiet through the entire argument.

Cassandra did not interrupt Elisebeth, challenge Alexandra, or tease Katherine. She simply watched them with composed eyes, fingers resting lightly against the side of her cup, her silk blouse catching the soft light of her room while her faint smile faded into something more serious.

Then she placed her cup down, and the small sound drew Katherine’s attention.

Cassandra looked into the camera, her voice as calm as if she were reading quarterly projections.

"I’ll confess to Martin and make him my boyfriend."

Katherine instantly spat coffee all over her laptop.

Alexandra and Elisebeth froze, their argument dying on the spot, and for a second, even the screens seemed silent.

Elisebeth’s pillow slid from her arms. Alexandra’s perfect posture cracked as she leaned toward the camera. Katherine stared at her soaked laptop, then at Cassandra, then back at her laptop, unable to decide which disaster mattered more.

Cassandra only sat there, calm and elegant, wearing the expression of a woman who had finished saying something perfectly reasonable.

Behind Elisebeth, Rias whistled aloud this time.