• Action
  
  
• Comedy
  
  
• Ecchi
  
  
• Harem
  
  
• Romance
  
  
• Science Fiction
  
  
• School Life
  
  
• Slice of Life
  
  
• Space Opera
  
  
• Light Novel

• Alien Princess
  
  
• Alien Technology
  
  
• Harem Shenanigans
  
  
• Accidental Pervert
  
  
• Fake Relationship
  
  
• Fake Couple Becomes Real
  
  
• Tsundere Love Interest
  
  
• Kuudere Love Interest
  
  
• Yandere Elements
  
  
• Overprotective Protagonist
  
  
• Jealous Love Interests
  
  
• Exploding Inventions
  
  
• Slapstick Comedy
  
  
• Royalty in Disguise
  
  
• Inventor Protagonist
  
  
• Found Family
  
  
• Love Triangle
  
  
• Multiple Love Interests
  
  
• Weak to Strong (Emotional Growth)
  
  
• Wannabe Hero
  
  
• Hero Complex
  
  
• Misunderstandings
  
  
• Dense but Kind Male Lead
  
  
• Personal Growth
  
  
• Media Manipulation
  
  
• Relationship Drama
  
  
• Advanced Civilization
  
  
• Intergalactic Politics
  
  
• School on Another Planet
  
  
• Sister Complex
  
  
• Sibling Rivalry
  
  
• Enemies to Allies
  
  
• Ecchi Situations with Heart
  
  
• Rescues the Girl
  
  
• Secret Identity
  
  
• Space Travel
  
  
• Arranged Marriage
  
  
• Coming-of-Age
  
  
• Emotional Conflict
  
  
• Social Status Disparity
  
  
• Romantic Rivalry
  
  
• Galactic Conspiracy
  
  
• Comedy Through Chaos
  
  
• Power Imbalance (Romantic/Political)
  
  
• Protective Love Interest
  
  
• Outrageous Situations
  
  
• Unwanted Attention
  
  
• Hero’s Journey (Subverted)
  
  
• “Not a Real Couple” Trope
  
  
• High-Tech Hijinks
  
  
• Disguised Nobility
  
  
• Domestic Chaos
  
  
• Assassin Love Interest
  
  
• Over-the-Top Antics
  
  
• School Terrorist Incident
  
  
• Soft Sci-Fi Worldbuilding
  
  
• Cross-Cultural Romance
  
  
• One Guy Surrounded by Girls
  
  

Ethical Dilemma in Romance

Alex Ryker and Nyx took a shuttle back to the Outer District, then walked to Atreyu Academy at a clipped pace. It didn’t take more than ten minutes to reach the academy grounds. However, to Alex, time felt like it was crawling by at an agonizingly slow pace, so what was in reality just ten minutes felt more like two hours, almost like time was being warped by one of Gabrielle’s inventions.

But soon, they arrived.

Atreyu Academy was a massive building with a streamlined design. While it was shaped like a rectangle, numerous moving walkways trailed around the outer walls, along with elevators and jump points. Since the academy was so large, nearly two hundred square acres in fact, these transportation methods were necessary for students to reach their classes on time. Alex couldn’t even imagine walking to classes in such a massive structure. As the principle school of learning for people before their higher education, this academy boasted a massive student body of roughly 1.5 million students. The academy was practically a city unto itself.

If one were to look at the academy from a bird’s-eye view, they would have also noticed the many gardens that dotted the interior through sunroofs and rooftops. Alex had done just that once while testing out an anti-gravity invention. He’d almost been expelled, which might have been because he’d destroyed part of the roof when his invention malfunctioned, but that was neither here nor there.

The grounds outside of Atreyu Academy were empty. Of course they were. It was barely noon. Students were still in class. Alex and Nyx passed through the gate, entered the school, and walked down the wide hallways.

They used the walkways on either side to move faster, reaching one of the warp pads and using it to reach the hallway dedicated to the principal’s office. Nyx kept up with Alex as he rushed down the hall with long strides despite being much shorter than him. As her long hair, blacker than the void of space, billowed behind her, she cast a worried glance at him with her crimson eyes.

Alex was barely paying attention.

While the doorway to Mrs. Caridna Tepes’s office appeared nondescript, like any other door, Alex felt a strong sense of foreboding as he pressed a button to alert those inside of his and Nyx’s presence. The door slid open barely a second after he pushed the button. He and Nyx stepped through.

Three people were already present.

The one Alex recognized first was Jasmine, with her signature drill-like twin-tails, vibrant blue eyes, and somewhat short stature. She barely came up to his chest. On the other hand, she was sporting a rather prominent bust, though they looked bigger than they really were because she was so short. He believed there was a word to describe people with her physical appearance, but it eluded him at the moment.

Of course, he also recognized the other two people.

Caridna Tepes, the principal of Atreyu Academy, sat behind her desk. While he couldn’t see all of her, he knew that her feet wouldn’t be touching the ground. She was too short. With her blonde hair tied into two ponytails and a youthful face, she looked more like a child than the principal of a school. The business suit that she wore created a strong dichotomy with her childlike features, though they perfectly matched the mature look in her eyes.

The last person in the room was an older woman, whose elegant bearing as she stood in place made him think of royalty. Her hair had some gray in it. There were wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Despite this, she possessed a vitality that made her seem much younger. The only problem he could see with the woman was her outfit.

A maid outfit with kitty ears and a tail.

“Oh ho ho ho ho! Alexander! Nyx! So good of you to join us! Oh ho! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!”

The first one to greet them was Jasmine. Nothing seemed different about her. She stood in her traditional rich girl stance, feet spread apart, one hand on her hips, and the other near her mouth as she thrust out her chest and laughed. However, Alex could see the little signs of stress. The tightness around her eyes. How her shoulders were drawn taught. The cold sweat that had broken out on her skin, which had grown paler as though the blood had been drained from her face.

Alex ignored the other two for the moment, though he felt their eyes on him as he reached Jasmine and pulled her into a hug. The blonde girl stiffened at first. It was like a shock had coursed through her. But then she relaxed into his embrace, tucking her head underneath his chin as she wrapped her arms around his torso.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing he asked.

“Oh ho. I am… a little worried.”

Alex had a feeling she’d been about to say “fine” but changed it at the very end. One of the things he had requested of her and the other girls he was in a relationship with was that they always be honest with him. He told them it was not only their job but their responsibility to burden him with their problems, that he wouldn’t feel like they were in a relationship if they weren’t willing to share their worries and woes with him.

It was his firm belief that for relationships to be genuine and meaningful, all parties involved needed to share their thoughts, feelings, concerns, and problems with each other. This belief was rooted in the idea that emotional vulnerability and mutual support were foundational to building and maintaining a healthy relationship.

Communication was key. It involved not just talking but also listening, understanding, and responding appropriately. Sharing worries, concerns, and joys allowed partners to connect on a deeper emotional level, fostering intimacy and trust. When Alex requested honesty and the sharing of burdens, he was advocating for a partnership where support and understanding flowed freely in order to build trust and prevent misunderstandings before they could happen.

Of course, he did not one-sidedly demand they share their problems with him. Alex always came to them when he had a problem or something he was worried about. If he was going to ask this of them, then he needed to lead by example.

“Don’t worry too much. I don’t care about what’s going on. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“I know.”

“Look at you,” the older woman said with a twinkle in her eyes. Mrs. Tepes was grinning at him. “I don’t see you for a few weeks and you’re already causing young women to swoon as though it were as natural as breathing for you. When did you become such a smooth talker? Should I be worried you’re going to steal away all the girls at my café too?”

Alex looked at the woman and frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I steal the girls at your café? What do you mean, Auntie Morella?”

Morella Ryker was Alex’s step-grandmother and Alice’s blood relative. While she was not his real grandmother, she had spent so much time with him when he was younger, before his father and mother had died, that he’d come to think of her as his real grandmother.

As he looked at her in confusion, Auntie Morella’s expression slowly went from amused to flat.

“You don’t even know what you’re doing, do you?” When Alex just tilted his head, she sighed and waved a hand as though to ward off a bug. “Never mind. You know, for a guy who now has a harem, you are way too pure.”

Alex had no idea what she meant by that, but he wasn’t about to let that bother him, not when there were more important things to discuss.

“By the way, what are you doing here?” he asked.

Auntie Morella raised an eyebrow. “Is that anyway to speak to your aunt?”

Technically, she was his grandmother, but he wasn’t going to say that.

“Sorry. I’m a little stressed.”

“It’s okay. Anyway, I’m here because I have some connections that might be able to help us with the current situation.”

Nodding as he unwrapped his arms from around Jasmine, Alex looked at Mrs. Tepes. Nyx and Jasmine took up a position on either side of him. He could tell who was on which side without even looking by the size of the breasts pushing into his arms. The ones on his left were smaller.

“I think it’s time you explained what’s happening,” Alex said.

Mrs. Tepes nodded, the amused grin leaving as a grave frown marred her otherwise cute face. “You’re right. Let’s take this over to the couch, though. This explanation is going to take awhile.”

There was a sitting area in the principal’s office. Smack dab in the middle of the office, it was just two couches situated on either side of a coffee table. Of course, the coffee table also served as a holographic computer. As Mrs. Tepes sat down, she pressed a button on the side, activating a three-dimensional holographic screen. It was showing the latest news. This time there was sound to go along with the visuals.

“And in the latest case of justice gone wrong, or perhaps I should say injustice, Jefferson de Truante, the head of the de Truante family and owner of the solar system’s most used spacelanes, was recently blackmailed into giving away his daughter by the police to this boy, Alexander Sachiel Ryker.”

The profiles of three people appeared on the holographic display. The first was of an imposing man with slicked back gray hair and bone-chilling dark eyes. His face was set in a permanent frown. Since it only showed up to his shoulders, Alex could only just make out the beginnings of his tuxedo. The other two profiles were, of course, Alex and Jasmine.

“While Jefferson de Truante is not accepting any interviews, he has stated privately that he is currently doing everything in his power to reclaim his daughter. While it is unknown what sort of blackmail the police used to force this man into giving away his only daughter, I can say that we at the Mars Interstellar News Department are appalled by the police force’s actions in regards to this matter. The police are meant to protect our citizens, and yet here, it appears they are doing everything in their power to harm them.”

Alex tried to ignore the shiver that ran down his spine as he watched the holographic image. Jasmine and Nyx sat on either side of him. While Nyx’s expression remained mostly impassive, her eyes had narrowed as she glared at the screen. Meanwhile, Jasmine had grabbed his hand and was holding it tightly enough that he felt his bones creak. He gripped her hand back.

“I’m surprised he did something like this,” Alex said at last. “Isn’t he afraid of the police leaking his illicit activities to the news?”

Mrs. Tepes shook her head. “That’s become a non-issue. The other day, someone managed to hack into the Mars Police’s database. They pulled all of the information regarding Jefferson de Truante’s illicit activities. Sometime yesterday evening or perhaps early this morning, he pulled out of all the illegal operations we had information on. Even if the police used that information, it wouldn’t stick in a court of law anymore.”

“I see. So the blackmail is no longer valid.” Alex would have pinched his nose if his arms had been free.

“Oh ho. What about how Father used mind altering drugs to try and force me into an arranged marriage?” asked Jasmine. “Surely that would be incriminating enough to ruin his reputation, would it not?”

“It would be, and we’re definitely planning to leak that knowledge to the media.” Mrs. Tepes paused. “The problem is that we have no idea how he’ll retaliate. We should assume that he has a plan in place for when we go public with this. Perhaps he’ll try to spin it around by stating that we created falsified information, or maybe he’ll state the police manipulated the video that shows you locked in a room and being fed drugged food for the purpose of trying to discredit him. There’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“The problem is that he has the initiative,” Auntie Morella stated as she sat next to Mrs. Tepes. “Since he made the first move, the initiative is on his side. Any move the police make is going to seem like they’re trying to discredit a good man who just wants his daughter back.” She sighed. “I have to admit, that man knows how to use the media to his advantage. The police can’t afford to make any overt moves right now, but they’ll have to do something soon. Not saying anything is just as incriminating as going public with Jefferson’s wrongdoings.”

Alex didn’t want to admit it, but he had no idea what he should do in this situation. He’d never dealt with the media before. When he had first rescued Jasmine, Alex had let Karen handle everything. Now it looked like that had been a mistake. He should have handled this himself.

“What are the police doing about this?” asked Nyx.

Mrs. Tepes blinked as the unobtrusive girl spoke for the first time. She’d probably forgotten the quiet assassin was even there. Nyx had a strange power to mask her presence, or maybe it was a passive ability she had picked up from being an assassin.

“The police currently have their hands full not only trying to quell the media, but also discover how the information was leaked and who did it,” Mrs. Tepes said. “If they can find out who leaked that information, they could capture him and force him to make a public confession… but even that comes with its own problems.”

Alex didn’t know what problems that would cause, so he decided to focus on something else.

“Do the police have any leads?”

“Not exactly.” Mrs. Tepes leaned back. Her tights squeaked as she crossed her left leg over her right leg. “They know where the information was stolen and when. It happened after Kazekiri had passed out. Someone had come into the file maintenance office, downloaded the information when it was being transferred to the backup storage, and then left before Kazekiri was found by a coworker. The problem is that the holo-cams in the file maintenance office all shorted at the exact moment our hacker entered the room.”

Alex winced as he realized how Kazekiri would take this when she found out. She had a heavy sense of responsibility and this was going to make her feel awful. He didn’t think of keeping this from her, however, since that wouldn’t help their situation. For now, he focused on the current matter at hand, and that was acquiring as much information as possible.

“He broke the holo-cams?” asked Alex.

“No. They just shorted for five minutes. They went back online immediately after the hacker left.”

“So it wasn’t EMP then…”

Alex tilted his head and digested this information, closing his eyes as he ran through the possibilities. There were only so many ways someone could make holo-cams go offline for a certain period of time, and then go back online once said person was done with whatever they wanted to accomplish. The question was: did they manually turn the holo-cams off and back on when they were done, or did they use a device that automatically shut it off for a set period of time?

He posed this question to Mrs. Tepes, who grimaced and said, “Neither. When I say ‘shorted,’ I mean the holo-cams went into a loop. It took the sixty seconds before the Kazekiri fainted and replayed it over and over again for five minutes. It was also done in such a way that it didn’t affect the clock. This is why no one knew about what happened to Kazekiri until after the hacker had already left.”

Alex felt a cold chill race down his spine. He didn’t think Mrs. Tepes realized what her words had done to him because she had gone off into her own little world, but both Jasmine and Nyx stared at him in concern when his arms went stiff. Slowly turning his neck toward Auntie Morella, he stared into her eyes as the blood drained from his face.

“Auntie Morella…”

“Yes.” Auntie Morella nodded. Her expression was quite grave. “It seems whoever hacked the holo-cams did so using that device you invented when you were younger, or something very similar to it.”

For the first time in his life, Alex truly felt regret over something he had created.

Step-by-Step Guide to Sideload EPUB Files Purchased from Shopify onto Kindle

Amazon now supports EPUB files on Kindle, but you need to send them through Send to Kindle or convert them. Follow these steps to get your EPUB books on your Kindle.

Method 1: Send to Kindle (Recommended)

Amazon now allows you to send EPUB files directly to your Kindle via email or the Send to Kindle app.

Step 1: Find Your Kindle Email Address

Go to Amazon → Manage Your Content & Devices (Link).

Click the Devices tab.

Select your Kindle device and note the "Send-to-Kindle Email" (e.g., yourname@kindle.com).

Step 2: Send EPUB to Kindle via Email

Open your email client (Gmail, Outlook, etc.).

Compose a new email to your Send-to-Kindle Email.

Attach the EPUB file you purchased.

Send the email. Amazon will convert it and deliver it to your Kindle.

Alternative: Use the "Send to Kindle" App

Download the Send to Kindle App (PC, Mac).

Drag and drop the EPUB file into the app.

Select your Kindle and send it.

Method 2: USB Transfer (For Advanced Users)

This method requires converting the EPUB to Kindle’s MOBI or AZW3 format.

Step 1: Convert EPUB to MOBI or AZW3

Download Calibre (Link).

Open Calibre and add your EPUB file.

Click Convert books → Choose MOBI or AZW3 as the output format.

Click OK to convert.

Step 2: Transfer to Kindle via USB

Connect your Kindle to your PC/Mac using a USB cable.

Open the Kindle folder in File Explorer (Windows) / Finder (Mac).

Drag and drop the converted file into the Documents folder.

Eject your Kindle, and your book will appear in your library.

Bonus: Use a Third-Party App

Apps like Send to Kindle for Android/iOS or Readwise Reader can also sync EPUBs to Kindle.

Now, enjoy your book on Kindle! 📖🔥