My Taboo Harem!

Sierra did not even pretend ignorance. Her smile was soft and wicked. "A super gift and two days of sleeping without anyone bothering her."

Melissa stared for half a second then laughed.

Roxanne too covered her mouth, shoulders trembling, Patricia only sighed like a teacher hearing that a student had negotiated academic leave through emotional terrorism.

"That sounds like Sienna," Melissa said.

"The sleeping part," Maddie added from nearby. "The super gift is obviously Phei’s bargaining chip. She added the two days herself. That’s the only gift she needs."

Victoria crossed her arms. "That is exactly what she would do."

Delilah smiled up at her sister, eyes still emotional. "My baby sister looks beautiful."

Victoria’s expression softened.

"Yes," she said. "She does."

Phei led Sienna down the steps.

She moved with reluctant grace, the gown shimmering around her body with every step. The crystals caught the silver-violet light and scattered it across her skin, while the fitted waist and smooth fall over her hips made the entire hall painfully aware that Sienna was no longer the ghostly little thing who used to vanish after two minutes. The dress transformed her stillness into presence.

Her coldness into royalty.

Her beauty into something impossible to dismiss.

She looked like a winter star given flesh; a princess dragged from a dead heaven like a goddess forced to attend her own ceremony and quietly deciding which witnesses deserved punishment.

She glared murderlously at him.

Phei leaned closer as they descended. "If looks could kill, Cousin, I would be ash."

"You talk too much."

"You look too good. My mouth is defending itself."

Her glare sharpened, Phei lowered his voice, warm and shameless enough that only she could hear clearly. "That dress is fighting for its life on you. Even the stars above look unemployed."

Sienna’s steps faltered by the smallest fraction and the faintest color touched her ears.

Then she looked at him with murderous calm. "I will break your teeth later."

Phei smiled. "You are blushing."

"I am calculating."

"Your ears are calculating?"

"I said later."

He laughed again.

The greetings began as soon as Sienna reached the floor, offering gifts, compliments, smiles and teasing in measured doses, as one might approach a beautiful frost dragon with a cake knife in hand.

Victoria came first.

She stood before Sienna for a moment, looking at her youngest sister with an expression that tried to remain composed and failed around the edges. "You look good, little sister."

Sienna stared at her. "That is the entire sentence?"

Victoria’s mouth twitched. "You look very good."

"Better."

Delilah stepped in next and hugged her before Sienna could escape. The movement made the glittering train shift around them like spilled starlight.

Sienna froze as Delilah held tighter.

"Happy birthday," Delilah whispered.

Sienna’s face remained flat. "You are wrinkling my dress, dummy."

"You do not care about the dress."

"I care about excuses."

Delilah laughed softly and pulled back, eyes shining and held Sienna’s face in her hands with her eyes going teary. "You are beautiful."

Sienna looked away. "Unfortunate. Please make sure that liquid doesn’t spill on me."

Delilah laughed and held her tears back.

Maddie arrived like a catastrophe in heels. "Ice Robot is officially a princess. I knew this day would come."

Sienna looked at her. "No one invited you to speak, demoness."

"I invited myself. It’s a talent."

"It is a disease."

"Same thing in Paradise. And I know you’d never admit but you like because of it."

Gianna and Yuki stepped beside Maddie, Gianna’s grin sharpened: "So how does it feel to survive three whole minutes at your own birthday?"

Sienna’s eyes slid to her. "Loud people age faster."

Yuki blinked.

Then pointed at her. "That was a threat."

"It was a health warning."

Natasha, amused despite herself, added, "The dress is a surprise."

Sienna looked at her without blinking. "The entire room has made that clear."

Jade approached with a gift and a smile she was barely containing. "Seriously, who convinced you?"

Sienna’s gaze moved instantly to Phei, everyone followed it; Phei lifted his hands in innocence.

Sienna’s glare sharpened further, and Phei accepted it with the peace of a criminal who had already enjoyed the reward.

The gifts continued.

Elena offered hers with clean grace, saying only, "Happy birthday, Sienna," but her eyes carried more respect than her voice allowed. Amber gave hers with warmth, Nastya presented her gift with a flourish and said, "For when you decide to become less allergic to attention."

Sienna replied, "Burning gifts is rude, yes?"

Gianna laughed. "Usually."

"Unfortunate."

Clara, Priya, Juliette, Zara, Natasha Paige and Brielle gave their greetings in turn, each handling Sienna differently. Some teased cautiously. Some smiled politely. Some simply offered their gifts and retreated before the Nether birthday girl could turn their confidence into a weather report.

Noor and Soraya approached together, nervous but sincere.

Sienna accepted their gifts with a small nod.

"Thank you," she said with a smiled on her face surprising many.

Soraya looked relieved but Noor looked faintly startled, as if she had expected to be mentally dissected.

Courtney, beside them, muttered, "That went better than expected given what others say about her."

Sienna heard her.

"Lower your expectations further," she said.

Courtney blinked, then laughed despite herself.

Phei watched all of it with a smile he did not bother hiding. Sienna kept sending him sharp looks every few moments, blaming him for each compliment, each gift, each tease, each second of public attention. He only laughed softly every time, utterly shameless.

Then the Vice Principal approached and the hall shifted without knowing why, he a small wrapped gift now.

Phei’s eyes narrowed faintly.

He had not seen him come with one.

The box was long, narrow and wrapped in dark paper that seemed too matte to reflect the room’s light. Silver thread bound it in a pattern that looked decorative until Phei’s senses brushed over it and quietly refused to call it harmless.

Interesting.

The Vice Principal stopped before Sienna.

Then bowed...

Deeply; a bow one did not give to a student or to a birthday girl while everyone else thought it was just him being funny.

"Goddess," he said.

The word cut through the room; for a heartbeat, suspicion flickered in the air.

Phei felt it in himself first, his gaze moved from the Vice Principal’s bowed head to Sienna’s face.

Sienna did not look surprised.

The crowd had not yet fully processed the word; some thought it exaggerated praise, some thought it academic eccentricity or maybe a joke. Some looked between them, uncertainty beginning to glow beneath polished manners.

Then a new voice entered the hall.

"A Goddess, indeed."

The tension broke.

Everyone turned.

A slim beauty walked through the entrance with a gift held lightly in both hands:

She had jade eyes, clear and bright, the kind of eyes that seemed to have grown from spring leaves sharpened into gemstones. Her figure was graceful and slender beneath a dark green dress that hugged her waist and skimmed over her hips with elegant restraint, the fabric moving around her like it had been tailored by someone who understood quiet sensuality rather than loud temptation.

Her hair fell smooth over one shoulder, and her smile carried enough charm to make the room accept her intrusion before anyone remembered to question it.

"She looks like she descended from a star and then threatened the star into silence," the jade-eyed woman continued, lifting her gift. "If that is not goddess behavior, what is?"

Laughter moved through the room, soft at first, then easier.

A dramatic greeting for a dramatic dress.

How convenient.

Phei did not laugh.

Not immediately.

Because while everyone’s attention had turned toward the entering woman, Sienna moved and her hand rose and ruffled the Vice Principal’s hair: the gesture was so brief that it might as well have been a glitch in reality.

No one saw it, no one except Phei.

His eyes sharpened.

The Vice Principal remained bowed, receiving the touch with a reverence so complete it unsettled even Phei; this man was not weak, Phei had felt that at the entrance.

And yet Sienna touched his head like one might indulge a child.

A child.

The Vice Principal lifted his head only after she lowered her hand.

His expression remained composed, but his eyes...

His eyes held worship.

Phei’s smile returned slowly, but it no longer reached the same places.

Sienna accepted the wrapped gift from him:

"Late," she said.

The Vice Principal’s mouth curved faintly. "Forgive me, Goddess."