[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining":3,"chapter-qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-chapter-107":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","QT: I hijacked a harem system and now I'm ruining every plot(GL)",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1854945,2462,"Chapter 107: Alone","qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-chapter-107",107,"\u003Cp>Chapter 107 – Cedric POV\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s been a month since the duchess left, and I’m getting a headache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It turns out, she was the one putting the ladies in order.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They are insane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Absolutely, utterly insane.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to order house—well, room arrest—for all three of them before they killed themselves or each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Clarissa tried to have Lady Miriam’s maid fired over some absurd slight about who received the freshest fruit at breakfast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Viola accused Clarissa of using \"black magic\" to steal the favor of the household.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miriam cried every other day, setting the entire east wing into chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of them are pregnant, yet somehow, they find the energy to wage psychological warfare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I sit at the center of it all like a king with a crumbling court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The steward resigns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The head maid petitions for early retirement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the vassals begin to send carefully worded letters asking if I require assistance managing internal affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which is polite noble-speak for: You are losing control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I lean my head back against the leather of my office chair, massaging my temples.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How did she do it?\" I mutter under my breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No screaming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No violence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No endless meetings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Evelyn had held it all together with little more than sharp glances and cutting smiles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And somehow made it look easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I miss her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I grit my teeth at the thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, not her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I miss the order she brought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The efficiency.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The competence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without her, I’m trying to steer a ship that’s already half-sunken and leaking from a hundred unseen holes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the worst part?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The estate is bleeding money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The market contracts she painstakingly built are crumbling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merchants delay shipments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The local council eyes me with thinly veiled disdain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They don’t say it aloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one dares.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the message hangs in every bow, every empty smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You are not her.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I slam a fist against the arm of the chair, making the tea tray on my desk rattle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gods damn it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was supposed to be my story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My chance to rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, it feels like every success I thought was mine was only borrowed—from her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shove back from the desk and stand, pacing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could send envoys to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Demand she return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But some bitter, stubborn pride in me recoils at the thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I would rather choke than crawl back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The practical part of me—the one that grew in this world of power and manipulation—knows I can’t survive like this for long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without Evelyn, I will fall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s only a matter of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A knock interrupts my spiraling thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I turn sharply. \"What?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A nervous maid peeks in. \"Your Grace, Lady Miriam is crying again. She says she saw Lady Viola putting something strange into her tea.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I close my eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gods give me strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’ll handle it,\" I say, my voice cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because if I don’t...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I don’t regain some form of control—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The estate, the vassals, the entire title of Duke Callum—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’ll all slip away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I will have no one to blame but myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>***\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dammit!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The goblet flies from my hand, shattering against the stone wall with a sharp, brittle crack. Red wine splashes across the floor, staining the gray stone like blood. I stand there, breathing hard, my fists clenching and unclenching at my sides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where is she?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where did she go?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought... I thought she would linger near the capital, or perhaps throw a tantrum and retreat to her family’s estate. I thought she would be angry, prideful, but reachable. That I could send a letter, offer some apology, some excuse—and she would return to her place, because it was hers by right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But she’s gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vanished without a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And it’s not just her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Daphne disappeared too, like a shadow whisked away by the wind. Not that I care about her disappearance—but she was part of the duchess’s strange little world, and now both of them have slipped through my fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The town criers know nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ports have no record of her passage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The estates whisper but offer no real leads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s as if they’ve been swallowed whole by the earth itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I slam my fist onto the heavy oak desk, sending papers scattering across the surface. The maps, the missives, the estate accounts—all of them feel pointless now. A cruel joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All my work, all my careful rebuilding of this place, undone because I let the only person holding the foundation steady walk away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The worst part?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The staff look at me differently now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vassals whisper behind their hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The concubines, heavy with pregnancy, give me pitying looks when they think I don’t notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Duke Callum who couldn’t keep his duchess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I pace the office, each heavy footstep echoing against the walls. Anger burns in my gut, but beneath it—worse still—is the shame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This life was supposed to be my second chance. My rise. My redemption. I was supposed to win—power, respect, a legacy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I drop into the chair behind the desk, the leather creaking under my weight. I rake my hands through my hair, breathing hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I should have controlled her better. I should have punished her pride when I had the chance. I should have... something. Anything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I close my eyes, pressing the heels of my palms into them until stars bloom behind my lids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where are you, Evelyne?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What bastard stole you away from me?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I will kill him when I find him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glance around the hollow, opulent office—the polished wood, the crystal decanters, the carved stone—and feel nothing but a heavy, aching emptiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The duchy is mine. The titles are mine. The wealth is mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But nothing feels like mine anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not really.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I lean back, staring up at the heavy beams of the ceiling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wood is old, darkened with age, and polished by generations who came before me—dukes, rulers, men who held their power tightly in their fists and were remembered for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wonder if they ever sat like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At some point, Merin knocks softly on the door, slipping inside with a tray of tea and reports. She moves quietly, like she always does now—afraid to draw\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>too much attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I barely glance at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leave it,\" I mutter. My voice sounds rough, unused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She sets the tray down carefully and retreats without another word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I’m alone again.\u003C\u002Fp>",1074,"2026-06-09T07:29:29.584Z",1,"novelbin.me","4b8578e877a3d53db9c0d42bd4358281342383a5cc7ede51cea90e4014d481e7","qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-chapter-108","qt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-chapter-106",399,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fqt-i-hijacked-a-harem-system-and-now-i-m-ruining-cover.jpg"]