I still trying to understand motives about Demon (Cherry) and Lileva , Lileva kinda want lust and control MC to gain it and seems like if you want harem path you chose Lileva , but i still didn't understand Cherry tho she try to help but seems like a bad one and the Mind control thing realy annoying as you mentioned like MC is a puppet between Cherry and Lileva...
It's the fight between pure lust and love. Lileva is a demon(queen?) of lust, and just want more power. While Cherry was made with love, and want the mc to love the people he is with rather they simply crave their bodies.
As it stands both of them can influence the events, some people like Selina love the mc so much she is willing to do anything for him. Which is why she is a key to the harem path, while Lileva takes the people who are still unsure and try to use them to make the mc fall deeper and deeper into lust filled orgies.
"harem" path, isn't Livela exclusive, as Cherry keep saying that because of Selina the people the mc is with can turn "pure lust" into something else. Like she did the first time Cherry and the mc had sex, or the threesome you get with kylie/Riley.
Beyond that the game has limited choices, and the one you do have influence things for a while it seems.
There might be even more behind the scenes, but that's the gist from what I can tell.