She wears a white dress, she sees the light and it's sayin' "come back"

“Carly… what are you wearing?” Nick couldn’t believe his eyes.

The dark-haired girl looked gorgeous in white. The alluring wedding dress clung to her curvaceous figure, emphasizing the swell of her breasts while showing off copious amounts of her cleavage. Such a revealing outfit seemed rather comical when paired with her veil, which was meant to emphasize how pure and virginal Carly was. Quite a joke.

“So pretty…” Kim’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the elegant dress, and Rose bit her lip enviously. She’d only worn a wedding dress once… and when she did, no one fawned over her like this!

“Ah…” Of all people, Gina blushed. She couldn’t believe how nice the dress looked. For a brief moment, she forgot who she was, and wished that she could look that pretty. That thought lasted for a couple of seconds. No! You’re a punk girl, remember? Not someone who wears frilly dresses and white lace, you fucking dork!

“Carly, you look… amazing.” Dawn’s response was also a surprise. She was always a pragmatic person who didn’t really have a penchant for stuff like this. Nobody expected her to be moved by the sight of someone in a wedding dress.

Before coming here, Nick would have thought that she was the sort of woman who approached the idea of marriage with the same cold detachment as she did everything else in her life.

But there were actual tears in her eyes.

“You’re pretty,” Dawn breathed, taking a cautious step towards Carly. She knew that she should be more tactful in the current situation, given Carly’s feelings about weddings and marriage. She probably didn’t want to hear it. But she couldn’t help herself. Carly looked so lovely!

Carly did seem a little put-off by Dawn’s approach, but she didn’t say anything. She just looked uncomfortable.

“I want a wedding dress just like that one…” Dawn admitted. She wasn’t even thinking in the context of her feelings for Nick, even though he would probably be the man she ended up marrying. She was just expressing thoughts from her childhood dream of being a bride.

“Sis…”

There was one woman who had a stronger reaction than anyone else here. And that woman was Carly’s sister, Marley. While Carly might not have been interested in settling down and getting married, the same could not be said of her sister. Marley DID want to get married someday; and just like Dawn, it was looking increasingly likely that Nick would be her groom. So seeing a woman who was a near-perfect replica of her, even down to having longer hair than usual… it moved her.

But she also knew that what she wanted was not the same as her sister.

Dakota just smirked.

“This is quite something,” she mused. “And here I thought that you said you were marrying Mary, Nick. So why is Carly the one in a wedding dress? This is all very confusing…”

“What?!” Nick sputtered, turning red. “I didn’t have anything to do with this!”

“He’s right,” Carly spat, approaching the girls. Luckily she had enough experience with bulky cosplay to move decently well in a ruffled dress like this. “This is my… ‘cosplay’ for today.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Dawn mused. “If you can be a generic cat maid, I guess that means you can be a generic bride, too…”

That comment earned her a scowl.

“Hey! Why are you getting upset with me?!” Dawn demanded. “I just made an observation!”

“Leave her alone,” Marley said, stepping between the two. “Dawn, you know how my sister feels about weddings. She’s obviously not comfortable wearing an outfit like this.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Dawn admitted. “Sorry, Carly, I wasn’t really thinking…”

That was a shocking admission. It felt weird just saying the words. But Dawn didn’t let it drag her down, she pushed forward and continued. “For what it’s worth, even if you don’t like that dress very much, I think you look very pretty in it.”

Carly’s face softened. “Um… thanks, I guess,” she said. “And sorry for getting upset and glaring like before. It’s really not that big of a deal.”

Compared to the transformations some of the girls had to deal with, Carly being **** to wear a wedding dress was more of a minor inconvenience. Recognizing that, it would be rather silly to get too upset about it.

Yet, she still was. She just wouldn’t show it.

“And hey, it isn’t so bad.” Carly did a little twirl, trying her best to keep her feelings suppressed. Her entire atmosphere changed. “You’re right that it DOES look lovely. Don’t you think so, Nick?”

Nick’s mouth fell open. His eyes swept up Carly’s body, taking in every last inch of her in that dress all over again.

“Yeah,” he stammered. “You look… well…”

“Sorry,” Carly interrupted him. She winked and pressed a finger to her lips. “But I’m not the right girl to be your blushing bride.”

She glanced over her shoulder and her eyes met her sister’s. Marley felt a chill roll down her spine.

“Of course… there’s another woman who resembles me completely… and she looks just lovely wearing white!”

Marley blushed as she felt Nick’s eyes upon her, and shied away. Why was her sister teasing her like this?!

“See, Carly? I told you it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.”

Carly glanced back at the door with a relieved smile on her face and saw Dani enter the banquet hall with Morgana at her side. The tomboy wore a grin.

“Dani, Morgana, hey,” Nick said, happy to take the subject off of Carly’s wedding dress. He was substituting Marley for her now, and he knew that the plant enthusiast had a bit of a sore spot when it came to being compared to her sister, after all.

“Hey, Nick,” Dani said, greeting him with a wave. “’Sorry about the drama with Carly’s costume… somebody thought it would be funny to shove her into it.”

She didn’t need to say who that somebody was. They all knew Sylvia was to blame for this, as usual.

Marley frowned. She loved Sylvia, she really did, even though she knew she probably shouldn’t, but when her mother did things like this, it reminded her of the kind of person she was.

“Haaah… family really is complicated,” she sighed. Her sister came first; she would have to have a long talk with her sort-of mom later.

“Come on, Dani, don’t be like that!” Sylvia appeared in the center of the room with a smile on her face. “Can you blame me? All this talk about weddings and stuff, and I just couldn’t help myself!”

She cradled her cheeks in her hands and squealed, squirming from side to side. “My cute little Marley… oh, she’ll look just DARLING in that wedding dress!”

Carly’s eye twitched. “…Are you kidding me?! I thought this was punishment for staying in Dani’s room last night! Are you telling me you put me in this thing on a whim?!”

“Oh, mom…” Marley blushed, feeling touched. “You were thinking of me this whole time…?”

“Marley! Focus! We’re mad about this!” Carly snapped.

“O-oh, right…” Marley nodded, embarrassed. “Mom, you can’t just troll my sister like that, it’s not okay!”

“O-oh…” Sylvia reflected her daughter’s response, and shrunk back as Marley chewed her out. She nodded obediently, to everyone’s incredulous surprise.

“Excuse me.” Rose cleared her throat and inserted herself into the middle of the situation. “This family drama is nice and all… but are we really going to overlook what Carly said just now about staying overnight in Dani’s room?”

“Ohoho…” Gina giggled, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “That’s quite something! And what did you two get up to all night, all by your lonesome?”

“Nothing!” Dani protested, stepping into the conversation. “We didn’t do anything! Morgana was with us the whole night!”

That didn’t stop Gina or Rose for a second.

“Even better,” Rose tittered.

“So it was the three of you then? Quite intimate,” Gina cackled.

Dani just turned redder and redder as the situation got more awkward for everyone involved. Nick sighed, wishing Sylvia hadn’t thrown them all into this mess.

“Carly, can I ask you something?” Kim asked, approaching Carly. “You were teasing Nick about your sister wearing a dress like this, right? But how do you really feel about it?”

She could recognize a fake smile when she saw one, and Carly was doing a great job. But when the topic changed back to Carly and marriage, and her sister, the smile slowly slid away, and she could express her real thoughts.

She wasn’t happy.

“I don’t even get what the big focus is on weddings, anyway,” Carly grumbled, shaking her head. “This is a little insensitive, don’t you think, Nick?”

“Huh?” Nick blinked, confused. “Insensitive? What do you mean?”

Carly crossed her arms over her chest. Maybe it was because being **** into a wedding dress had put her in a bad mood, but she was more willing to air her frustrations than under regular circumstances. “I’m talking about Mary, obviously! That girl… she came to me crying yesterday, did you know that? She was upset because she knew that getting married to you was impossible. And now I come here, dressed in a wedding gown? Do you expect me to be happy?!”

She’d been trying to hold it in for Mary’s sake, and because she didn’t like expressing herself this way. But it was all too much.

Everyone stared at her, stunned. She looked confused. They seemed to have no idea what she was talking about.

“What, do you guys think it’s fine or something?” She asked, scowling. “It’s not! Mary’s feelings are important too!”

“Carly… you don’t know, do you?” Marley gasped. She couldn’t believe she had been so careless! Her sister had no idea what was going on!

“Oh, that’s right!” Dawn’s eyes widened. “If she and Dani were together all day yesterday, so they wouldn’t have heard!”

“What?” Dani asked. “Heard what?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Carly looked back at Morgana, who gasped as well.

“I knew I forgot something…” Morgana groaned, smacking her forehead. “It didn’t even cross my mind! I thought you guys already knew, because nobody tells me these things!”

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?!” Dani groaned. She didn’t like being left in the dark like this.

Dawn took a deep breath and exhaled. She needed to explain this carefully and rationally-

“Nick and Mary are getting married!” Gina squealed with glee.

…And fuck Gina right to hell.

Dawn sighed in defeat and shook her head. Why did she even try? Sometimes she didn’t even know herself.

Carly’s jaw dropped. “Wait… what?”

“You’re kidding!” Dani’s eyes widened. “Come on, this is a joke, right? I know she was going around talking about the possibility of marriage, but come on! There’s no way Nick’s really getting married, right?”

She looked at her friend, searching for any sign that this was bullshit, but he just blushed and averted his eyes.

“…Seriously?” Dani’s jaw dropped in shock.

“It’s the truth,” Rose said. “I saw it with my own eyes. Heck, I’m the one who invited Mary up to the Master’s Suite on my night with him so that she could propose. If you don’t believe me, ask your own sister!”

She nodded at Marley, who blushed and nodded.

“Yeah, she’s right,” Marley admitted. “I was there the whole time, and it… it was really romantic.”

“…Huh.” Carly blinked, completely taken aback. She honestly thought that after her conversation with Mary, there was no way the redhead would ever end up marrying Nick. Especially given how intense her feelings on the subject were.

“Mary said that she would be okay with me marrying multiple women,” Nick said, looking Carly dead in the eye. He appreciated the other girls standing up for him, but this was something he needed to say with his head held high. “I know she isn’t really okay with it… but this is something that she’ll accept, so we can be happy together. And I promised her that no matter what, I was going to make her happy. That’s all there is to it.”

“…I see,” Carly said, still rather ambivalent in tone. Nick wasn’t sure if he’d gotten out of this or not. Then the brunette gave him a big smile.

“Well in that case, I’m all for it! If Mary accepted it, then I don’t have anything to say one way or the other! Congratulations, Nick!”

Her grin lit up the entire banquet hall. But Carly’s reaction couldn’t be compared to Dani’s.

“Nick!” Dani cried, leaping forward and throwing her arms around him. “I’m so happy for you! This is so amazing!”

Nick was surprised by the sudden gesture of affection. But then, Dani was always a physical kind of girl, so it made sense.

“Thanks, Dani…” He managed to get out. “Please don’t break my ribs…”

“Don’t worry, I can control my strength!” Dani chortled. “I’m just so happy for you, Nick! I knew the day would come someday! You’re actually getting married! That’s so great! We totally need to celebrate!” Dani knew how much Nick had been through; and she felt guilty for her own hand in it. But this was different. She was so happy for him! Finally, he’d found someone who loved him for who he was, and someone that he could love in turn!

“So where is Mary?” Carly asked, looking around. The redhead was the only girl absent. “Is she not down yet?”

“She’s sleeping in,” Nick informed her. “She had a pretty intense night last night, so I wanted to let her rest.”

Carly nodded. Made perfect sense.

“Well… you raise a good point though, Carly!” Sylvia tapped her chin thoughtfully. They’d almost forgotten she was here! “Today is Mary’s special moment! Our Pretty Mary Sunlight won’t be a shy little virgin for much longer, she’s got a fiancé now!”

A wicked smirked crossed Sylvia’s lips and she twirled her cane in her hands.

Marley sighed and shook her head. She loved her mom, but Sylvia was Sylvia.

With a tap of her cane, Mary popped into being right in the center of the room. She had just woken up and her hair was a mess, and for a second she thought she was still dreaming.

“Huh… what?” She looked around and rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. Then she saw everyone around and she froze. Her eyes shot down to make sure she was still dressed, and thankfully she was.

How long that would remain the case, though, was another matter altogether.

“Mary, is it true?” Kim was the first one to rush to her friend’s side. “Did you really-”

Morgana pushed her out of the way before she could get a word in edgewise. Her red eyes were shining behind her bangs. “You proposed?! Oh, perfect, just perfect! I knew you could do it!” She threw her arms around Mary and smashed her breasts into the other girl’s face, leaving Mary to flounder helplessly in her arms.

“…Yay.” Kim stared bitterly at Morgana. She could get along with the other girl okay, but somehow the goth still found ways to be annoying.

“Nick…” Mary finally managed to free herself from the goth’s bosom and looked at her fiancé, her cheeks flushed. “It wasn’t a dream, right? It… it really happened…?”

“Yeah,” Nick nodded. “We’re really getting married.”

Mary’s eyes began to well up with tears. “Oh… thank goodness… when I woke up and you weren’t there, I was so worried-!”

“Well there’s nothing to worry about now!” Kim declared, slapping her friend on the back. “Mary, you’re getting married! And nobody’s gonna have anything to say about it, right?”

“R-really?” Mary looked around at the others. The worried and concerned expressions she expected weren’t there; everyone seemed happy for her.

It lightened the load on her heart, and she smiled.

“Thank you… everyone…” Mary wiped away her tears.

“I have one thing to say,” Dakota said, and everyone froze. She walked towards Mary and reached out a finger, tucking it under the redhead’s chin and tilting her head up.

“Y-yeah?” Mary whimpered.

“Dakota, don’t scare her,” Nick sighed, rolling his eyes.

Dakota clicked her tongue and shook her head, glancing back at him. “I’m not trying to scare her,” she assured her lover, though her tone was in no way reassuring. “I’m just trying to ask her something, that’s all.”

She turned back to Mary, her golden eyes sparkling. Mary gulped.

“So… what did you want to ask?” Mary had to remind herself that she was Nick’s fiancé. If there was a hierarchy here, she was unquestionably at the top of it, and Dakota would have to recognize that fact!

…Yeah, no. Still scared though. Mary would need to put in some effort into becoming a harem matron in the future.

“The question I want to ask is a simple one,” Dakota purred, stroking Mary’s cheek like a loving sister, even while she looked like she wanted to devour the redhead whole. “When exactly is the wedding, hmm?”

Mary blinked. That was certainly not what she expected Dakota to ask. But now that she had, Mary had to admit that, yeah… she really hadn’t given much thought into when exactly her wedding would be taking place, had she?

“You don’t have a ring on your finger, after all,” Dakota pointed out, lifting up Mary’s hand. “And those are quite vital, I hear.”

Mary gulped. That’s right. She still needed to do the ring exchange ceremony with Nick.

“I mean… I kinda just thought…” It wasn’t like the wedding had to be some big affair, right? She would like her family there, but they weren’t essential. As far as Mary was concerned, the only thing necessary was her and Nick.

…And Holly. And Kim. And the rest of their friends…

“Uweeh…” Her thoughts started to spiral as she got overwhelmed.

Sylvia cleared her throat, and drew everyone’s attention to her.

“Allow me to make a point of order,” she said, strolling up to Dakota and Mary. She ignored Dakota’s dismissive look, and focused solely on the redhead. “Mary, you haven’t purchased your rings, have you? Dakota is right.”

Mary shook her head.

“Rings?” Nick asked. It was the first time he was hearing about this.

“Oh, yes, rings,” Sylvia nodded. “A special item of Mary’s, one that costs a whopping 10000 BP! By hook or crook she managed to obtain that much, which is good, but there’s certainly an associated cost… oh, yes… should she get those rings, she’d be considered your official wife! And even if, Producers forbid, she was eliminated from this competition, she would still retain her rightful place in your harem.”

“That’s…” A wave of relief washed over Nick. Not that he was hoping she’d be eliminated, but the fact that she’d be safe even if she was reassured him.

“Of course, you need to agree to it,” Sylvia pointed out. “In fact, that moment of exchanging the rings? That’s when we would consider this marriage official here on Harem Hotel. So of course… we should punctuate that moment with a wedding, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes!” Mary’s eyes were shining. “Absolutely!”

Sylvia smiled. That meant she agreed with what Mary had to say.

And usually, that was a bad thing.

“Excellent,” she purred. “Just what I want to hear… yes, indeed, just to be safe… we should have the wedding before the next challenge!”

Mary blinked. The smile slipped from her face. That wasn’t what she meant at all!

“Yes, yes,” Sylvia continued, talking to herself and the audience more to anyone in the room. “After all, it wouldn’t do for the bride to get eliminated before her big day! No… no, the only way this will work is if we set the wedding for your night with the master! Yes, that would be just perfect!”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “But… that’s only a few days away!”

“I know!” Sylvia cooed, smiling at the loving couple. “And I hope it will be a night to remember…”