VILLAIN'S HAREM IN OTOME GAME

Chapter 30: Accepting Aria’s Proposal

Eren held the petite genius girl against him, treating her like a literal national treasure—which she literally was.

This was the same girl who thinks a thousand times just to lift her finger, yet does everything she can for his sake. The overwhelming surge of relief and joy in his chest was too massive to contain.

"Thank you, Norelia... Seriously, thank you so much," he muttered into her soft hair in raw sincerity.

Meanwhile, the girl in question was busy drowning in the wave of overwhelming emotions from his simple gesture of a hug. Sure, she had sat on this guy’s lap and aggressively grinded against his rod, along with an oral service in the library just yesterday.

But now it’s different, entirely different. This warm, protective embrace made her heart hammer against her ribs like a mechanical piston.

Worse, her traitorous brain immediately reminded her that this same guy had ruthlessly pounded a maid last night. And yet... as much as her brain was screaming to push him away, her body refused to execute the command. In fact, she found herself leaning deeper against his chest, craving the sensation even more.

She tapped her trembling hands on his broad back, like trying to console an overly dramatic kid.

"Alright, alright, you emotional kid," she grumbled into his chest, her face completely red like a ripe tomato. "It’s fine. I only did it for our employment contract. Besides... I will be requiring a special request as a fee in return once this entire project is successful."

Eren chuckled softly as he pulled back slightly, looking down at the petite girl who was literally a few years older than him. His usual, smug grin slowly crawled back to his face as he decided to go back to his original composure.

"Ohh, A request as an administrative fee? What kind of request are we talking about, Miss Librarian? A new, custom-engineered toy? Or..."

He lowered his voice into an intoxicating whisper.

"...are you requesting another hands-on research simulation with me like—"

Before he could spit out another shameless, degenerative content, Norelia clamped shut his toxic mouth with her hand, her soft hand tightly held against his lips, her face turning more red which broke the meter.

She aggressively pushed him away, and stood up with a fierce expression to display her authority.

"Shut your mouth and get back to work immediately, you absolute menace! Because of your incompetence, I am generously extending our contract from the initial fourteen-day... until this project is fully completed. Do not make me regret my charity."

He let out an amused chuckle, sliding back into his place chair and looking at the contents of the letter once more. He ran a hand through his hair, realising how big mistake he made.

"Alright, I’m a complete idiot for not anticipating that Liora’s passive mana output would be overwhelming. But honestly, I never thought that an Astreus Stone could serve as a vessel."

Norelia shuffled closer, leaning over his shoulder to look at the blueprint. Her small chest pressing with a tease against his back.

"To be precise, neither did I at first. But after receiving the letter, I spent the entire night running the theories of it in my head."

She pointed her finer at the battery slot on the blueprint.

"Most nobles only use this Stones as high-end adornments because of their rarity. But it’s common knowledge that they are just standard mana stones that have been subjected to thousands of years of compression deep within the earth. By the time they are mined, their energy is practically depleted."

Eren’s eyes flashed with a spark of comprehension. He started explaining his understanding.

"They’ve been completely emptied out for centuries. A standard mana stone behaves like a towel that will leak under sudden pressure, but an Astreus Stone is a completely dry sponge, so they can withstand an immense load of mana."

He let out a long sigh, leaning back in his chair as the economic reality of the project crashed his reality.

"Which brings us right to the financial bottleneck. The stone need to be swapped out on a strict monthly basis. And given my current asset... I can’t even afford to purchase a single stone right now."

Norelia tapped her chin cutely, her brows furrowing as she ran a search query through her vast mental archive of knowledge. "

Mmm... if my memory allocation is correct, the House of Reedings recently acquired Astreus mining. Perhaps we could request a bulk supply at a cheaper price from them?"

Hearing the specific noble house, Eren froze mid-breath.

The gears in his brain spun at lightning speed as he realised that he had completely forgotten about something due to being occupied by three girls for the past twenty-four hours.

"Reedings..." Eren muttered.

Bam!

With a sudden burst of energy, Eren slammed both of his hands down onto the wooden workbench.

His blue eyes practically blazing with excitement as he stared directly into the petite librarian’s face.

"Norelia... you are an absolute, undisputed, legendary-grade genius!" Eren shouted, his voice echoing loudly in the empty workshop.

Norelia completely blanked, her mouth parting opened as she stared at him like he had officially lost the last remaining thread of his sanity.

’What the actual hell did I even do?’

"I just found a backdoor idea to secure a lifetime supply of top-tier Astreus Stones without paying a single coin!" Eren announced like a scammer readying to scam an old lady.

Norelia’s eyes gleamed with curiosity, she leaned forward with the same excitement as his. "Really?! Tell me how! What’s the grand plan? Did you find a legal loophole in the mining contracts? "

"Oh, it’s much simpler than that. I’m just going to get engaged to Aria Reedings."

The high excitement in Norelia’s tiny frame instantly died mid-jump.

She froze mid-air, landing back on her feet as her expression instantly turned back into deadpan. She stared at him with a judgmental look, as if she were looking at a patient who had just voluntarily removed their own brain.

"Did you lose the last part of your remaining mind? House Reedings is a proud military faction. You don’t just walk up to the Sword Saint’s daughter and demand a marriage for some shiny rocks."

"Ah, right, I forgot to update you," Eren chuckled, casually offering her a lazy wave of his hand. "Aria Reedings actually proposed to me herself yesterday. She explicitly offered me a full-scale political engagement in exchange for some... personal terms. I just completely forgot about it until you mentioned the mines."

The workshop fell into a chilling silence.

This time, it wasn’t excitement that left Norelia’s body—it was her entire remaining soul.