“It was just like any other morning. I woke up when the sun rose, stretched, and hopped out of bed to get ready for the busy day ahead.

However, on this particular morning, I noticed something very strange. 

Instead of being greeted by the countless pieces of ornate furniture and the beautiful sight of the morning sun when I arose, I instead found myself staring at a translucent blue rectangle that hovered in the air.

‘W-What...?’ I frowned and pinched my cheeks, thinking that I must’ve still been dreaming. Nope. Not dreaming.

I turned my head to the side, hoping that the rectangle would disappear, but it followed my vision instead. 

This strange phenomenon was worrying, but I couldn’t really say that I wasn’t interested. 

Words and numbers were littered all over the rectangle, and as I began to peer closer, a new, smaller rectangle suddenly popped up, displaying the following words:

[Welcome to your Dreamy Knight System. Would you like to experience the tutorial?]

Right underneath that smaller rectangle were the words ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. 

Of course, I wanted to know all about what this so-called ‘Dreamy Knight System’ was, so I tapped my finger on ‘Yes.’

Suddenly, a disembodied voice echoed in my head, startling me quite a bit.

‘Host confirmed and registered. Welcome to your Dreamy Knight System where you can make all your steamy dreams about your dreamy knights come true.’

‘W-What!? Who’s there!?’ I looked around, but saw no one else in the room.

At that moment, a sudden knock echoed from the door. 

‘I’m coming in, princess.’ It was my head maid, Zenaida. 

She had taken care of me ever since I was a child, so we were pretty close to one another. 

She was almost like a second mother to me.

‘W-Wait!’ I scrambled to hide the strange rectangles that were still floating in front of me, but my hands just phased through them no matter what I tried to do.

Not only that, but I couldn’t even move in front of them because they moved when I did, maintaining a constant distance in front of me.

The door swung open as I scrambled around hopelessly in a disheveled state, causing Zenaida to stare at me with a look of surprise before hastily closing the door behind herself.

‘Your Imperial Highness, just what are you doing so early in the morning!?’

‘T-This isn’t what it looks like, Zenaida! I’m not a witch!’ I had to explain the blue rectangles before she got any funny ideas.

‘...A witch?’ Zenaida frowned. ‘Why would I ever think that? Come now, let us get you tidied up and dressed.’

H-Huh...!? Could it be that she can’t see the rectangles!? The only way to know for certain was to test it out.

I let Zenaida approach me and fix my hair as I looked at the blue rectangles. 

A new rectangle had popped up in front of me and was displaying what looked to be a list of tasks.

Before I began reading them though, I craned my head slightly backward to look at Zenaida.

‘Um... Do you notice anything different about me today, Zenaida?’

She inspected me for a brief while before smiling. ‘You... You look much more radiant today than usual, princess.’

‘O-Of course! Thank you, Zenaida!’ I giggled, enjoying the compliment. That settles it! She can’t see the blue rectangles at all!

With that catastrophe averted, I devoted my attention to reading the list of tasks on one of the rectangles while Zenaida took care of combing my hair and dressing me.

[Dreamy Knight Tutorial Quests]

1. Select a capture target.
2. Increase your stats to 10.
3. Go on your first date.
4. Obtain your first capture target!

[Completed Tasks: 0/4]

Select a capture target...? I frowned, not even understanding the term. Well, whatever. I think this rectangle closes if I touch this little X on the top right corner.

I tapped the X and the rectangle disappeared, allowing me to view the original large rectangle that had all sorts of stuff written on it.

However, the moment I did that, the disembodied voice returned!

‘Congratulations, Host. You have just received your first set of quests that will help you become the ultimate master of your dreamy knights. Now that you have received your quests, let me explain how your system works. On the left, you can see your four statistics: charm, stamina, wit, and appearance. You can raise your statistics by interacting with your capture targets. The more your capture targets like you, the more capable you will become at capturing the knight of your dreams! This concludes the Dreamy Knight System explanation. Now the navigation tutorial will begin.’

I yelped inadvertently as the voice started speaking, but Zenaida didn’t seem to notice it at all which meant that only I could hear it.

I breathed out a sigh of relief as the voice continued its explanation of the Dreamy Knight System. 

Apparently, I could touch the little labels on the top of the main rectangle to switch between what the voice called ‘tabs.’ 

Each tab had different information.

For example, the first tab contained my name and my statistics which were all currently set at 1 while the second tab had information on my capture targets who were all knights.

Obviously, that was what I was interested in.

I immediately touched the second tab to look at my list of capture targets and it was obvious that a capture target was basically a romantic partner that I had to court.

On the list were several knights that I found attractive, but I didn’t care about them since the most important knight was also there.

Of course, I’m talking about my soulmate Medrauta.

Although we had a childhood promise to get married and have a whole battalion of children, she seemed to have forgotten it which was quite unfortunate, but thanks to this stroke of luck given to me by my new Dreamy Knight System, I would be able to fix that!

There was an image of her next to her name, and just looking at it made me swoon, but I held in my passionate desires and touched the rectangle that contained her name, causing a new rectangle to pop up.

This rectangle displayed a bunch of new information and had a cute looking heart icon with the number 0 inside.

I guessed that probably represented how close I was to successfully courting her, and though the number made me slightly disappointed I was sure that it would change soon!

What was even more interesting was that there was a section which said ‘Add to harem’ but the letters were gray instead of white like all the other text, so I assumed that it wouldn’t work even if I touched it.

Not that I would, of course.

Medrauta was the only one I needed, and I definitely wouldn’t commit any sort of lecherous debauchery by starting a steamy harem of dreamy knights, ohohoho!

In any case, I touched the section that said ‘Select capture target’ and a new rectangle popped up again.

This time, it showed me Medrauta’s current location, her likes and dislikes, as well as any rivals I would need to watch out for.

For Medrauta, there was only one and I was very familiar with her.

The evil Lady Viviane who stole her from me!

I would never forgive her, so now that I was given this system, it was time to strike!

The moment Zenaida finished dressing me, I dashed out of the room and made a beeline to where Medrauta was.

I was hoping to catch her alone so that I could use some of the skills in my skills tab that had come with the system, but Viviane was walking next to her.

Damn it! I cursed in my head.

Instead of giving up though, I simply charged straight ahead and approached the two of them.

‘Ohohoho, darling, how about we go up to my room now? I have a lot of things to show you~” Viviane winked at Medrauta seductively.

“What kind of things?” Medrauta asked cautiously despite the obvious seduction attempt.

“Well, why don’t we hop in bed and find out?” Viviane smirked, tugging Medrauta’s arm against her chest in a lewd and unbecoming manner.

I had enough of watching this.

It was just too obvious that Medrauta was being forced to listen to this vixen, and I wouldn’t allow my silver-haired goddess to be deflowered before my eyes!

“W-Wait!” I shouted. “You aren’t going anywhere with her, Viviane!”

“If it isn’t the stupid Gwenhwyfar! You can’t stop us! I’m gonna have my way with her like I did with all the other knights I’ve slept with! Mwahahaha!” Viviane cackled evilly.

N-No...! I looked at Medrauta, but it seemed as though the knight was powerless to resist even though Viviane had just admitted to involving herself in countless affairs!

However, I noticed that there was something strange around Medrauta’s neck.

“Wahaha! That’s right! She’s bound by my slave collar of subordination! You’ll never save her!” Viviane jabbed a pointed finger at me as if declaring victory.

I slumped my shoulders in defeat.

It was obvious that I couldn’t do anything against her since she could just order Medrauta to attack me if I tried anything and there was no way I could get that collar off Medrauta’s neck either.

At that very moment, a new rectangle popped up in front of me.

[Congratulations on approaching your first capture target! As a welcome bonus, we have awarded you with 100 Dreamcoins!]

My eyes widened as I noticed a new tab on the main rectangle now: Shop.

I quickly touched the new tab and searched through its contents desperately to find something that could help me.

Viviane was ruthlessly leading Medrauta further and further away from me as precious seconds slipped through my fingers, but I found it at last.

[Would you like to purchase Slave Collar of Subordination Remover for 100 Dreamcoins?]

Wow! I had just enough Dreamcoins to purchase the extremely specific item I needed! What luck! I thought to myself as I instantly touched ‘Yes’.

The item that materialized in my hand looked something like a wand, so I figured it must be used in the same way.

I pointed it at the collar around Medrauta’s neck, causing it to snap.

Now that she was freed from the slave collar, Medrauta sent the EVIL Viviane flying with a single blow and then ran over to me, tears in her eyes.

‘Oh my, Lady Gwenhwyfar! I was so weak, but you saved me! I love you!’ She said as she cried tears of joy in my buxom bosom.

I stroked her beautiful hair gently, planting a brief kiss on the crown on her perfect head. ‘No need for such formalities, my beloved. Just ‘Gwen’ is alright.’

‘O-Of course, Gwen! Thanks to the slave collar disappearing, I finally remembered our promise! Shall we get married this evening?’

Although I yearned for her, even I was surprised at her sudden eagerness, especially when she leaned forward to kiss my lips and pressed her ample breasts against my own.

I gently laid a finger on her rosy lips, my other hand resting gently on her abdominal muscles that were chiseled enough to substitute even a cheese grater. ‘Let us save our first kiss for our wedding tonight, then.’

Tears of love brimmed in my beautiful knight’s eyes. ‘Yes... Of course, my darling Gwen!’

As we hugged each other tightly while thinking of the wonderful wedding we would have this evening, a sudden portal opened up beneath our feet and—”

That was more than enough. I slammed the thick, leather-bound tome shut with a heavy thud of finality.

“So? So? What do you think, Dame Brigitte?” The princess—No. The pink-haired creature who sat across from me leaned toward me eagerly, her face brimming with joy. I don’t know what she was expecting, but I sure wasn’t going to fucking give it to her.

“With all due respect, Your Imperial Highness, I can’t believe you wrote six-hundred pages of this utter garbage.”

The princess blinked, staring at me with shock for a couple seconds before she finally recovered, her features twisting into an amalgamation of rage and embarrassment.

“Garbage!?” Gwenhwyfar shouted indignantly. “Garbage!?!? I’ll have you tried for high treason and lèse-majesté for that insult! You’ll be executed!”

“As unfortunate as my death may be, it still won’t fix the absolute heap of trash that is this ‘novel’ you’ve written, Your Imperial Highness.”

“W-What did you say!? How dare you!”

I simply shrugged. “You asked me for an honest opinion. I am now giving you one. I’ve genuinely never read anything worse than what you just showed me. Lady Viviane would never speak in such a perverted fashion, nor would she have placed a collar on Medrauta. Also, Medrauta’s breasts aren’t ‘ample’ as you fantasized.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know!?”

“...I’m a knight, Your Imperial Highness. We do not have the luxury of separated bathing facilities. All female knights bathe together.”

“O-Oh... What about the, um... Her abdominal muscles...?”

I sighed. “You mean the ‘cheese-grater abs’ that you were so proud of describing? Yeah, her abs are pretty defined, but just what in the name of Aluvsha were you thinking when you wrote that description!?”

“S-Silence, fool! You have no idea how poetic it sounds!”

“Sure, sure.” I shook my head in disbelief. I’d thought that the princess was a rather cultured noblewoman based on how she acted in public, but I never could’ve imagined the utter depravity that she devolved into during private settings. “Also, I don’t understand half the terms here. What’s this ‘system’ crap? A magic see-through board that only you can see appears and you put in coins that the board consumes?”

“That’s right. And I can exchange those coins for items that the system offers and whenever I spend time with my capture target, I can improve my stats. Eventually, this lets me seduce an entire harem of knights. That’s why it’s called the ‘Dreamy Knight System’.” Gwenhwyfar explained.

“With all due respect, and pardon my language, but this is by far the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard, Your Imperial Highness. In fact, I don’t think even Mel or Esme could top this.”

“Y-You—!”

I wasn’t finished with absolutely scorching this hunk of trash that the princess had forced me to read. ”Also, just what have you been doing in your spare time? What does this even mean? ‘Statistics’? There was no mention of economics or logistics in the novel, and if there were, then I doubt even the greatest imperial scholar would’ve been able to catch on to whatever horrific symbolism was going on there.”

“They’re not those kinds of statistics! Come on, haven’t you ever played make-believe during your childhood!?”

I squinted at the princess, unsure of whether she was simply screwing with me or not. She knew I was a knight, yet she still had the gall to ask a stupid question like that?

I shook my head in disbelief as I realized that she wasn’t just pretending not to know. Seriously...? How can the future heiress of the throne be unaware of the most simple things regarding a knight’s journey?

“No. I was too busy training as a page and then as a squire.” I answered flatly. Hopefully, she would remember this the next time she spoke to another knight.

“O-Oh...” Gwenhwyfar looked apologetic, and rightly so. Chances were, she was probably mentally berating herself for not remembering something so obvious. “Well, um... They govern your attributes. Every game has different attributes, but the most common ones are strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma! It’s a pencil-paper roleplaying game concept placed in literature and combined with a system and reincarnation and being transported to a different world!”

“...Again, I simply do not think this is a novel that requires any brain cells to write. Also, the formatting is atrocious.”

“I have perfectly fine formatting, Dame Brigitte.”

“Then why do you start a new line after every sentence? This is how children write.”

“That’s what all the popular authors are doing, fool! You have to copy their style to get popular!” Gwenhwyfar puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

“You are beyond hope, Your Imperial Highness.”

“Hmph! You can’t even appreciate the concept of fine literature!”

I heaved yet another sigh as the princess crossed her arms, turning her head away from me in an expression of anger. I could tell that my comments had wounded her pride greatly, but I wasn’t quite finished with her just yet.

“Leaving the debatable definition of ‘literature’ aside, what the hell is this other scandalous book you’ve given me? ‘Hey! My Sexy Knight Harem Is Dominating Me Again Even Though I Just Can’t Stop Falling In Love With Every Pretty Knight I See And Aluvsha Save Me! Is That Another Beautiful Knight Over Yonder!? Marry Me!: My Journey To Gather 100 Knights Into My Own Personal Harem Of Shining Armor! Hold On, I Won’t Cheat On You Anymore! - An Isekai LitRPG System Novel!’? This is the most idiotic title I’ve ever read.”

“Silence! That is the greatest book in all of the empire’s history! It has over ten million copies sold and the author makes ten thousand gold a month! That’s nearly half my allowance, and I’m the imperial princess!”

“First of all, ‘isekai’ and ‘litrpg’ aren’t even words—”

“Yes they are!” Gwenhwyfar protested vehemently. “‘Isekai’ is a word from Higashi, and ‘litrpg’ is the name of a genre! It means literary role-playing game! You know, like the make-believe games I was talking about! My favorite one is called Knights & Witches and—”

Princess or not, I wasn’t about to let her go on a massive tangent about her favorite make-believe games. Although rude, I quickly interrupted her.

“Secondly, those earnings and sales are disgusting. We need to mobilize the imperial inquisitors and purge this accursed content from our borders immediately.”

“N-No! Never! You’ll never take my beloved stories away from me! E-Even if they’re objectively horrible, I still love them with all my heart and soul!” Gwenhwyfar proclaimed as she grasped the objectively horrible novel in question and held it tightly against her chest.

“...I fear for the empire’s future.” I really did. Of course, there was still a feeling of hope in me that wanted to believe this was nothing more than a mere phase that the princess was going through, but my rational mind told me that she was going to be like this for life.

I’d already witnessed firsthand what her selfish fantasies had wrought, and honestly, I still hadn’t forgiven her for putting Medrauta in the infirmary for two weeks. Perhaps that’s why I felt so motivated to lambast the horrific story that she’d written, not to mention the way Lady Viviane and Medrauta were characterized...

Gwenhwyfar cleared her throat rather uncharacteristically, drawing my attention. Normally, noblewomen would make an elegant remark to signal the return of conversation, but I suppose the princess had no need to put on airs right now since it was just the two of us in her room and I was a knight.

“W-Well... How should I improve my novel so that it isn’t as horrible as you say?” Gwenhwyfar asked shyly. For a second, I was stunned. All I’d seen was her arrogant personality that eschewed humility and boasted her superiority incessantly, so this meek side of her certainly caught me off guard.

“Uh... I suppose you could start writing in proper paragraphs and fixing the title of your novel. ‘My Silver-Haired Knight And Her Undying Love To Me: Our Marriage In Another World With An Unstoppable Seduction System! - A Fantastic Romance In Another World’ isn’t exactly the greatest of titles.”

Gwenhwyfar nodded, seemingly noting down my advice in her head. “Okay! And what else?”

“Uh... How should I know?” I asked evasively. “I’m not an author.”

“...Our Flower Garden.”

“...What?”

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the author, aren’t you?”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about nor what flower gardens have to do with anything.”

“Ginette Myra Misbi. The bestselling author who wrote Our Flower Garden suddenly burst onto the scene three months ago, selling a record-high amount of copies despite her book not fitting into any of the popular categories like ‘system’, ‘reincarnation’, or ‘litrpg.’”

“That’s, uh, very impressive. I don’t know how Miss Misbi is related to—”

“If you rearrange the letters in the proper order, it spells ‘My name is Brigitte.’ Not very subtle now, is it?”

...Shit. I didn’t actually think anyone would catch that. As I struggled to come up with a feasible explanation, Gwenhwyfar smirked triumphantly.

“Your silence is answer enough, Dame Brigitte. Though, I do wonder why you chose to publish anonymously. You could have been quite famous, you know?”

I shook my head. Although I had an urge to continue feigning ignorance, I knew when to take my losses. “There were multiple factors in play. As a knight, I cannot dedicate all my time to writing, nor did I wish for an achievement that overshadowed that of my lord’s, especially when I hadn’t expected to do so well as a novelist. My main goal was to offset the cost of my tuition, not become a bestselling author.”

“I see... So staying anonymous would benefit you, correct?”

I grimaced knowing where this was going. “...What is the price of your silence, Your Imperial Highness?”

“Teach me, Dame Brigitte.”

“H-Huh!?” I’d expected her to ask me for help, but not in this way. I thought she’d try and force me to use my popularity and promote her novel or ghost-write for her, but I never thought she’d actually want to put in the work herself.

“Please teach me, Dame Brigitte.” Gwenhwyfar said, a budding author’s resolve in her eyes. “I... I want to become a better writer. I want to become a writer who can pen a story that I can be proud of.”

I studied the princess, reevaluating her after hearing those words. I’d thought she merely wanted to somehow piggyback off my success and continue copying those atrocious novels in hopes of becoming popular, but that wasn’t the case at all. She wanted to improve and become better. To write original stories with original plots and tropes.

As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t just treat her like an idiot who just wanted to share their own idiotic fantasies anymore. I had always wanted to be a writer, but my destiny was that of a knight. Even so, if I could use my talents to guide the princess closer to her dream of writing something she loved, then I would do so with all my heart.

That way, even if the world had lost the talented writer in me, I could help give rise to a new one.

I placed a hand on my chest, lowering my head slightly.

“Princess Gwenhwyfar, if you will listen to my advice, then I swear that I will make you one of the best authors this empire has ever known.”

“...Not the best?” Gwenhwyfar asked coyly.

I smirked.

“No. That title belongs to me.”