VILLAIN'S HAREM IN OTOME GAME

Chapter 15: Jelousy?

Emma’s storm-grey eyes locked into his blue eyes with a terrifying intensity, and his brain was scrambling to analyse the situation.

He gulped, genuinely confused whether he’s fucked up or having the luckiest moment in his life. If this is a real-time event, he would click that second option without an inch of hesitation.

The proximity was genuinely dangerous. He could feel from that grip on his shoulder that she was holding back a lot.

Despite that, he tried to maintain his signature composure.

"Uhm, captain? What’s the matter? If you wanted a rematch, I think these hallways won’t be an appropriate location."

Instead of answering, Emma leaned slightly closer to his face, her lavender fragrance kicking his senses like a chemical weapon. Her sun-kissed face inches closer to him, and she can almost feel his breath. His hand instinctively raised to place on her waist.

But before the scenario could play out his grand fantasies, Emma’s eyes instantly widened with sudden, absolute panic.

Without warning, the sexy knight violently pushed him aside, sending him flying like a deflated wind turbine before he hit the polished floorboards with a dramatic thwack. He slid for a solid three feet, halting face-down on the expensive rug.

"What the hell is that for?" Eren’s voice came muffled against the rug, slowly turning around on the floor. "You can simply tell me to fuck off, Captain. You didn’t need to try to bury me under the foundation!"

"Am I... interrupting something?"

A lazy voice came from behind, entirely devoid of interest. Eren doesn’t need to guess the owner.

Still flat on the ground, he arched his head back to look at the source of that uninterested voice.

Standing there a few steps away was a cute, petite girl with sharp red eyes looking down at Eren like he was a particularly pathetic species of beetle.

"Good morning, Miss Librarian. Fancy meeting you here." Eren croaked out, offering an upside-down wave from the floor.

Norelia shifted her gaze from the pathetic sight of the fallen young master to Emma, who had forcefully turned her face away.

The captain’s face was a chaotic mess of emotions that was clearly written on her face like a detailed history book. Noreila placed pieces together in her genius mind and concluded that she stepped in at the wrong time, else she would witness scenes she had always read about on live.

Absolutely disappointed.

Then the petite girl noticed something unusual: the tanned girl was looking at her with a fierce glare that was practically saying, ’fuck off.’

However, Norelia remained entirely uninterested. Dealing with a battle-crazy tomboy was outside of her jurisdiction.

She simply tapped the book she was holding against her chest and looked down at the floor-ridden noble.

"I’m heading to the workshop," the petite girl announced lazily, already moving without waiting for an explanation. "Are you coming, or do you plan on dating that rug?"

"Coming, coming," Eren sighed, pushing himself up from the floor, adjusting his shirt, and giving one last, incredibly smug wave at the deeply conflicted Knight. "Duty calls, Captain. Keep an eye on the old man."

With a smooth smirk, Eren fell into step beside the small librarian, leaving the flustered war goddess behind.

The silence stretched as Eren and Norelia navigated through the huge corridors.

Norelia then gave him a side glance, sharp red eyes filled with curiosity. Deciding to break the silence, she asked, "Were you two always close?"

Eren let out a amused chuckle, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked. "Close? Far from it, Miss Librarian. Given my track record of my personality in the past, she actually wanted to kill me. The only reason my neck is still attached to my shoulders is because I happen to be the son of the man who saved her life."

Norelia frowned, her eyes looking down as she contemplated the sheer absurdity of his statement. She saw the fierce, possessive intent in Emma’s eyes earlier, it’s a look that belonged to a predator protecting its prize.

’Hmm... it might not be the case anymore,’ she mumbled under her breath, barely audible over the echoing hallway.

They finally entered the place where Eren happily (pretended to) spent his last twelve days, aggressively trying to complete their projects.

Truth to be told, they completed side projects long before. That included Noreila’s favourite project which helps relieve her stress. Unfortunately, she didn’t even show him the final design, taking it to her quarters straight away.

"Ok, I’ll get to the point," Noreila announced, her lazy voice turning into a professional employee. "We’ll run the diagnostic sequence on the testing doll, and bring our baby out for the testing."

"Careful with your wording," Eren chuckled, walking over to the secure locker. He opened it and brought out his masterpiece.

It was a spider-like device made with silver-alloy conductors. It has six sharp, incredibly thin mechanical legs branched out from a central housing, created to anchor onto a patient’s chest. Right in the dead center was a high-grade mana stone which acts as an empty battery.

Holding it carefully, Eren walked over to Norelia as she finished the final inspection on the life-sized dummy.

The doll was a mechanical marvel she had personally built with artificial mana veins designed to accurately mimic human circulatory systems.

He carefully positioned the device over the doll’s chest and the mechanical legs clicked as they pierced softly to the surface.

"I don’t have the actual mana hyper-accumulation syndrome," Norelia said, placing her small palms against the doll. "But I happen to possess one of the largest natural mana reserves in the kingdom. I can flood the doll’s pathways with enough dense, volatile magic to perfectly mimic the the illness of your little sister."

Eren looked at her, his blue eyes softening with sincere appreciation. "Thank you, Norelia. I couldn’t have done this without you."

The petite girl paused, her ears twitched slightly with pink. "J-Just shut up and watch the meters. I’m doing this for the contract, not your gratitude."

She cleared her throat, and unleashed her magic with immense focus.

A visible mana erupted from her small frame, channeling directly into the dummy.

Right on cue, the spider-like device activated, and the mana stone in the center began to drink the mana with a soft, beautiful blue glow. It flawlessly absorbed the tide of excess magic, regulating the flow with perfect stability.

Seeing the reading stabilize, a rare proud smile formed across Norelia’s petite face. Her red eyes sparkled with triumph.

"Look at the absorption rate!" she said excitedly, turning her head toward Eren with a brilliant smile. "We actually did it! The circuit logic is completely—"

Before she could finish the sentence, the smooth blue light inside the stone violently spiked, turning into a blinding red.