Free Web NovelChapter 20: Engagement proposal for Eren
Aria let out a soft hum, giving him a small smile. "Are you truly asking about his well-being? Especially considering you are the exact person who forcefully put him into that deep coma?"
"Hey, let’s be fair here," Eren countered seamlessly, taking a slow sip of his tea. "I also spent a solid day in a coma because of that arrogant idiot. If anything, we simply traded localized brain damage."
She let out a chuckle that sounded so genuinely cute and effortless it could have fooled a saint into thinking she was an innocent maiden. "A fair point. But to answer your question. Reinhardt actually woke up from his coma a week ago."
Eren didn’t even react to the news. He knew the game’s main lead plot armor really is thicker than the hot maiden sitting across him.
Aria continued, her tone shifting into boredom.
"And he has been constantly bombing my estate with a pathetic mountain of love letters. He claims he wants to reconnect. He even magnanimously stated that he will completely forgive my ’unruly behavior’ toward the Saintess candidate. Only if I provide her a formal apology."
"Oh? And when exactly are you planning to write that apology letter, Lady Aria? Should I lend you some high-grade parchment?" Eren teased without even looking up from his tea cup.
"I won’t be needing any parchment, Eren. Because three days ago, I officially broke off my engagement with that pathetic prick."
Pfft—
Eren nearly choked on his tea. He looked at the blue-haired beauty with absolute shock, wondering if this is the same yander-lite villainess who spent the entire first half of the game destroying her own duchy just to keep Reinhardt’s attention.
Realizing she was staring at his reaction with immense satisfaction, he quickly forced his panic down.
He leaned forward, resting his chin in his palm and gave a dangerous smirk across his handsome features—an expression Aria clearly hadn’t expected from a brainless troublemaker.
His blue eyes narrowed in amusement.
"Does this mean my little reality check at the duel actually worked? I must admit, it’s a bit hard to believe that a girl who was so fiercely, embarrassingly obsessed with her fiancé suddenly threw away her engagement like that."
Aria didn’t falter. Instead, her smile turned sharp, matching his energy perfectly. "People can change when their eyes are opened, Eren. Just like a certain disgraced noble heir who suddenly stopped a two-year-long stalking campaign against Miss Alice."
Pfft.
A muffled unprofessional noise echoed from Emma, desperately holding back a full-blown chuckle.
Twisting around on his cushion, Eren gave Emma an annoyed look. "Emma... why exactly are you currently standing inside this room acting as a laugh track, instead of doing your actual job and guarding my father?"
Emma quickly cleared her throat, her expression instantly snapping back into a stone-faced professional facade, though still trying to hold back her laugh.
"His Grace explicitly ordered me to remain by your side during this meeting, concerning that you might behave... entirely inappropriately with an esteemed, high-born lady guest. I am merely fulfilling my duties as a preventative measure."
Eren let out a dramatic, irritated groan, turning back to face the blue-haired villainess while internally cursing the Duke’s complete lack of faith.
He then turned his attention back to the newly single, hot noble girl. "Did you really travel all this way here just to announce the thrilling legal annulment of your engagement?"
Aria’s smile didn’t waver for a single fraction of a second, just like him.
"Of course not," she murmured softly.
Eren lifted his cup back, taking a casual sip. "Then what exactly is the reason, Miss Aria? Enlighten me."
She tilted her head, her dark blue hair cascading elegantly over her shoulder as she delivered the punchline with the absolute serenity of a priestess reciting a holy text. "I decided to get engaged to another man instead."
"Oh? And who exactly is the luckiest bastard in the empire destined to inherit your spectacular baggage?"
Aria’s eyes gave a wicked gleam at him.
"You."
This time, there was no saving the tea. He started coughing brutally, hacking coughing fit as his lungs protested.
Emma stood frozen like a massive, beautifully sculpted Greek statue behind him, completely forgetting that her young master was currently dying. Her storm-grey eyes blew out of her face, her brain flatly refused to process the sentence.
As Eren desperately tried to recover his breath, a sudden wave of rose fragrance filled his senses.
Aria had leaned entirely across the small table, her mature figure giving him a view of her beautiful cleavage as she reached out. She started rubbing the center of his chest solely, absolutely tempting his innocence.
"Oh dear," Aria murmured in mocking concern, leaning in so close her lips were practically brushing his ear.
"Are you quite alright, my dear Eren? For someone who talks with such fierce, unbothered confidence, you seem to have an exceptionally fragile constitution. Do I really shock you that much?"
Eren slammed his palm against the low table, aggressively forcing the coughing fit to stop. He glared right into Aria.
’Accept this proposal? Is she entirely insane?’
He transmigrated into a ridiculously wealthy ducal family for one reason and one reason only—to live an aggressively lazy, luxurious noble life. Getting engaged to the final boss of Volume One means it’s the exact opposite of a peaceful retirement.
He forcefully grabbed her wrist, stopping her distracting rub against his chest, his blue eyes narrowed at her.
"As flattering as it is to be nominated for the position, Lady Aria, I am going to have to respectfully pass."
Aria didn’t even flinch at the rejection. Instead, she gracefully sat back onto her seat.
"Oh, my dear Eren. You seem to be under a massive delusion here. You talk as if you actually have a choice in the matter. I didn’t come here to ask for your permission."
Eren’s left eyebrow twitched violently. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"It means... that you don’t need to accept anything. Because your father, Duke Alfric, already officially signed and accepted the betrothal proposal in the grand foyer before you even managed to drag yourself to here."
Aria gave him a truth bomb which completely cornered his options.
’Are you fucking kidding me, old man?!’ Eren’s inner voice screaming in pure annoyance.
Two weeks ago he threatened him to disown, and now he’s selling him off to a yandere villainess without even a notification.
’How am I supposed to enjoy my rich, lazy life if I’m legally bound to a beautiful psychopath?!’
He took a deep breath, clamping a tight lid on his rising irritation. He leaned forward, bracing his forearms against the table as he gave her an intense glare.
"Why? Why choose me? A disgraced, troublemaking heir who spent the last two years running a pathetic stalking campaign. What could a top-tier prodigy of the Reedings possibly gain from forcing a sudden arrangement like this behind my back?"
Aria didn’t answer. Instead, her dark blue eyes shifted toward the tanned girl who was still doing a statue play by the doorway.
"Miss, would you be so kind as to wait outside the corridor? I would greatly appreciate it if I could discuss a few... highly private matters with my dear fiancé."
