Peerless Perverted Actor Has a Celebrity Harem?!

After finishing the hefty meal Mick had handed him, Park finally had enough quiet to sit back and look at the spectacular mess his life had become.

He was not usually an overthinker. Thinking too much had never fixed an audition, paid rent, or stopped a director from casting his less talented nephew. Most problems were better handled when they actually arrived rather than being invited into his head early.

This one, though, deserved real attention as his body could spare.

Park took a deep breath and sank deeper into the orange leather seat and stared through the tinted window at the city flowing past.

The elevated road under them curved through the night in what looked like an endless loop. It rose above the ground before splitting into several different routes. Some lanes dropped toward the city below, while others climbed higher and crossed above them, carrying streams of vehicles through the skyline. Red taillights flowed one way, white headlights the other, both stretching so far into the distance that the roads looked less built and more like someone had woven them across the city out of pure stubbornness.

The noise was relentless even through the Alphard’s thick windows. Engines growled. Horns fought for attention. Tires hissed against the road while the entire city rumbled beneath them, restless and loud, as if silence had been banned within its borders.

His old Earth had developed cities and good roads. Park had seen towers, highways, luxury districts, and enough glass buildings to know people became embarrassingly fond of reflections once money entered the picture.

’None of them can compare to this.’

The buildings rising around the expressway were enormous. Even the shortest ones looked at least forty stories high, while the taller towers disappeared into the dark as if the city had simply kept building until the sky became someone else’s problem.

Their glass faces reflected traffic, advertisements, and thousands of illuminated windows — every floor holding homes, companies, secrets.

’And probably several affairs waiting to be discovered.’

Park saw the tallest structure; the name blazed across one of its lower sections in massive golden lettering.

IMPERIAL PARK ROYALE TOWERS

Park leaned slightly toward the window.

It was not one building, but three colossal towers standing close enough to look like parts of one impossible structure. High above the city, short glass bridges connected them at several levels — though "short" was an insult to bridges long enough to hold entire streets. From the road below, Park could barely make out where the highest connections began.

Their upper floors vanished into the night, crowned by lights that only looked small because the towers had forced distance to submit.

Park exhaled slowly.

"I could live here for ten years and still get lost."

He wasn’t even sure he could drive on this elevated road for five minutes without taking the wrong turn and ending up in another province. Mick followed the bends and lane changes without hesitation, which earned him the smallest amount of respect Park had managed to feel for the man all day.

The city buildings were not just covered in glass.

Nearly every one carried an enormous digital screen fitted across exterior, some several floors high. Advertisements shifted between luxury watches, films, cosmetics, cars, idols, and products so expensive their commercials no longer bothered explaining what they even did.

News broadcasts filled the rest of the screens.

Apparently, the city had decided its citizens should never be more than one glance away from the latest scandal, rumor, political disaster, or celebrity caught leaving the wrong hotel at the right hour. Even the buildings participated in the gossip here.

Most of them showed the same female news anchor speaking beneath a red banner.

Park’s interest sharpened when the words running under her changed.

[ROYAL SCANDAL DEEPENS: NEW FOOTAGE INVOLVING PRINCESS SERAPHINA]

The anchor’s voice reached the Alphard through the radio, slightly delayed from the giant screens outside.

{"Additional footage released tonight appears to show Her Royal Highness Princess Seraphina kissing acclaimed actor Julian Cross shortly after filming had concluded."}

Behind the anchor, shaky phone footage began playing.

A young woman stood close to a man near what looked like the rear entrance of a film studio. Their faces had been blurred, though the attempt at privacy was almost insulting when the woman’s dress, hair, jewelry, and royal security vehicle had already been identified by half the internet.

The man said something Park couldn’t hear.

The woman caught the front of his shirt.

Then they kissed.

Not a quick accident either. It was heated enough that the person recording jerked the phone closer; dignity tended to die the moment zoom became available.

The footage restarted from another angle.

Park’s brows rose.

The female anchor continued while images of the princess filled the screens across several buildings.

{"Princess Seraphina has dominated international coverage for the past two weeks after stepping away from a number of royal duties to pursue an acting career. Her decision was reportedly made without the full approval of the Royal Household and has divided both the kingdom and the wider public."}

A polished portrait of the princess appeared beside footage of competing demonstrations. Younger supporters held signs demanding the Crown allow her to choose her own life, while traditionalists gathered outside royal gates waving flags and acting as if a princess accepting an acting role had personally set fire to the constitution.

Park watched it all with quiet, dark amusement.

A princess abandoning royal duties for acting, then getting caught in a heated kiss with an actor right after filming...

’This world really does run on pure drama.’

{"The Princess’s supporters maintain that members of the Royal Family should be allowed to pursue independent careers. Traditionalists, however, argue that her conduct has damaged the dignity of the Crown and distracted from her constitutional responsibilities."}

Another clip appeared, this one containing only audio over a photograph of Princess Seraphina leaving a rehearsal studio in dark glasses.

A young woman’s furious voice rang through the broadcast.

{"’The Princess must improve the Crown’s public image’? That’s complete bull@#$. I am a person, not their national mascot."}

Park’s mouth twitched.

Well.

’She certainly has a spirit.’

The anchor returned, wearing the grave expression news presenters reserved for royal scandals, wars, and celebrity divorces likely to improve ratings: