Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse

Inside a large hall, filled with many nobles from the kingdom dressed both luxurious and professionally, Ruby was sat upon her throne covered by a golden robe.

Beneath the robe, she wore a black traditional Kimono with golden designs and patterns inscribe on it.

An old Grey-haired horned noble could be seen approaching her with the crown on her hand, the entire room watched in silence.

Among the crowd, Gray and the group gazed silently and watched everything unfold.

Even the Queen Dowager watched with a proud expression on her face.

Upon reaching her, the noble raised the golden crown above her head, before placing it down on it.

At that moment, all the nobles in the room kneeled once more as the old noble announced. "Presenting her Imperial Majesty... Ruby Von Starhert... The new Empress of Khouria!"

Cheers resounded across the room as the nobles clapped their hands in union.

Instruments and musicians played a classical tone which no one from the group seemed to recognise.

Ruby's expression was solid and calm, she stood up with the crown and her head raised up high.

"My people! As the new empress of our Kingdom, I will do everything in my power to make sure that we reign victorious and reach success!"

Her words echoed throughout the room.

"All hail the empress!"

They cheered.

"ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!"

"ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!"

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Shortly after the coronation, Ruby left the hall and made her way over to a different location in the Kingdom, north-east of the shore.

In said location countless families of commoners could be seen waiting for the public announcement.

With the crown on her head and the robe on her shoulders, Ruby made the appearance before the audience as she stood upon the balcony of another castle.

This was the castle which they used for making announcement, countless hundreds of horned ones could be seen at their respective spots.

They all looked up to her.

"I present to you all...! Our new Impress Ruby Von Starhert...! All hail the empress!!"

Many got on their knees while the others stood up and cheered.

"ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS!!!"

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"What a long evening..." Gray muttered.

*Snap* *Snap* *Snap*

Grey strands of hair could be seen falling onto the floor.

The sounds of scissors snapping at the air, resounded around the room.

"Young master... Please stand still." Said the maid behind him as she adjusted his Kimono.

'Is this really necessary...?'

"Done." She said as she rubbed her forehead.

He looked over at his reflection in the mirror ahead of him before letting out a sigh.

Currently, he wore a Grey kimono placed on him by the maid beside him.

His hair had been cut, it looked a lot less messy, his bangs lowered and his facial structure made a lot more definitive as a result.

His golden eyes had become a lot more visible thus giving strength to his gaze. It came out a lot better than he had expected.

The maid was definitely skilled.

She wore a black and white maid outfit which matched her black hair. The top half of the horns on her head were a crimson red which matched her eyes.

After cutting his hair, she moved onto tying the obi, the belt part of his Kimono.

*Swish*

And just like that, in a swift motion, it was tied.

"There... turn around." She said with sparkling eyes.

Gray did as told and turned around.

"Oh...!" She gasped.

"Does it look good?" Gray asked.

She hastily nodded, before looking at him right in the eyes.

"Umu." She nodded. "The young master looks handsome!" She continued, her eyes sparkling as they stared at him.

Seeing her being so straight-forward was unexpected. He thought every horned one would have hated him by now, but to think that there were still people like her...

He rubbed the back of his head, before looking away. He was flustered.

"Is that so..." He muttered.

This girl ahead of him was a noble. Her family ran a generation of servants trained to serve the Royal family. In other words, she was one of Ruby's personal maids.

On top of being extremely skilled, she was someone Ruby could trust and someone who had grown alongside her.

Why was someone like him currently dressing him up? She was preparing him, for the festival.

Whenever there was a coronation, the Kingdom would always hold a festival after. Gray was currently on his way to go enjoy said festival with everyone else who was also getting ready.

After the festival, they planned to return back to Earth

"What's your name?" Gray asked the maid.

"Hm? Ah, I'm Yumeko... Yumeko Mei." She replied with a smile.

'The Mei family huh... ' Gray thought to himself.

"That's a nice name. Thanks for the help." Gray added before suddenly patting her head.

It felt soft just like the feeling he'd get from patting the others.

"T-Thank you..." She muttered with reddened cheeks

"Aren't you going to get ready too? The festival's started."

She placed her hand over her chest with a proud look. "Don't worry about me, It won't take long for me to get ready, and I'll be keeping watch over Ruby."

"Only keeping watch? It's a festival, why not enjoy it?"

"Hehe, Gray you're a nice person, but don't worry about me, I'll be enjoying it while I watch over Ruby."

She had a proud look on her face and didn't seem to hate the fact either.

Gray leaned in quite closely to her face before staring her in the eyes to make sure she wasn't just acting.

Gray nodded in response.

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After leaving the room, Gray met up with the others, when he did, his jaw dropped for a moment.

Ahead of him stood seven beauties in traditional Kimonos with flower patterns on them.

Aurora wore a light pink one matching the colour of her hair. She had a different hairstyle as her hair was tied up in a bun with a golden hair stick keeping it tied up.

It wasn't just her but all of them, they all had their hair tied up in buns. Aurora's cheeks were flushed red as they stared at Gray waiting for his reaction.

Beside her was Violet with a purple Kimono matching her short, dark pink, borderline purple hair. Not only did it highlight her curves and figure, but also portrayed perfectly that calm yet fierce energy she exhibited.

Next to them Was Ria and Lara, Ria with a Green Kimono matching the colour of one of her eyes, while Lara wore a yellow one, matching her blonde hair which too was also up in a bun.

Lara's skin appeared quite exposed from the Kimono which she wore, especially around the chest and waist areas because of how large they were.

It wasn't that she was fat, it was just that her proportions were... Huge. Her unease showed that she was aware of this fact.

Delta stood at the back of the Group. Her silver hair matched her silver Kimono perfectly. She was the quietest out of them all and didn't seem overjoyed by the festival in the slightest.

Still, she glanced at Gray as if asking what he thought of it.

The tribes girl wore a red Kimono, which didn't match her appearance in the slightest but somehow went perfectly well with her black hair and red eyes.

She was definitely a beauty, and her proportions were second only to Lara.

A hidden beauty with an intense Aura to her.

Last but not least was Ruby.

Her Kimono was dark, with golden patterns flowing through it. Since they were inside a public lodging in the Kingdom and she wanted to avoid being noticed, she wore a mask with a fox design covering her face.

Despite that, she had temporarily taken it off so he could see her beauty for what it truly was. She no longer had her twin tails intact, she gave off a different kind of beautiful with this new look.

For starters, he couldn't help but stare into her scarlet eyes as they gazed at him.

After a while, she quickly put the mask, back on to cover her face.

"W-Why aren't you saying anything?" Violet asked, flustered.

"D-Don't tell me we don't look good...?" Aurora asked worriedly.

Gray looked around and could feel gazes coming from all directions as people walked past the open lodging.

"D-Don't look good? That's far from it... You're all..." He placed his palm on his face to cover his flustered expression. "Beautiful." He added.

'Ah fuck... That sounded so corny...'

After hearing that, they mostly blushed for a moment before smiling.

"Fufu~" Ruby laughed from beneath her mask.

"Damn right we are... Strangely enough Brother also look a lot more handsome now." Ria added

"Mn... You looked handsome before but you look a lot cooler after cutting your hair" Said Aurora after nodding.

"I-Is it..." Gray muttered covering his mouth as he looked away.

He was weak to complements.

Violet took this opportunity and wrapped her arms around his elbows before pulling him towards the outside of the lodging.

"Well, what are we all waiting for? Let's go and enjoy the festival!" She smiled brightly.

"Hey Violet! Don't go hogging Gray for yourself!"