Chapter 185: Apology from fiance (in a better way!)

The scarred veteran wheezed, smacking his open palm against the dust three times in rapid, breathless surrender. "I yield! I yield!"

The courtyard detonated with Shouts and cheers. Even Cinon roared in hearty approval, stomping into the ring. The giant hoisted Eren right onto his armored shoulder, parade-marching him around the circle as soldiers tossed copper coins into the air.

Up on the viewing veranda, Seraphina stared at the spectacle, her eyes twitching in disbelief.

"These absolute, brainless, treasonous idiots..." Seraphina muttered, burying her face into her hand and shaking her head in profound, royal disappointment. "I leave my personal guard alone for an hour, and they make a playboy their honorary commander."

Aria, however giggled, her golden eyes shimmering with affectionate amusement as she watched her shirtless fiancé.

"Well, it seems my husband-to-be conquered your entire personal garrison in a single afternoon, Sera."

Seraphina huffed, folding her arms.

Aria’s gaze softened as she watched Eren casually slide down from Cinon’s shoulders to help the fallen veteran on the back.

"Most men do that, don’t they?" Aria whispered, leaning against the marble rail. "They fight, they posture, and they claw until they conquer a woman’s heart... and the very second they win it, they lock her away. They dictate her movements, strip her of her agency, and turn her into a trophy for their own fragile pride."

She paused, lifting her hand to look at her palm, remembering the stinging slap she had delivered to Eren’s face.

"Eren is different. You saw it down there. He could have ripped that cell, and every guard inside it, to absolute ribbons if he wanted to. Nobody could have stopped him with force."

Her golden eyes drifted back to the dark-haired youth, who was currently accepting water from an eager retainer, laughing heartily in the afternoon sun.

"Yet the moment I told him to stop... he froze. When I slapped him, he didn’t raise his guard. He didn’t lecture me, and he didn’t flinch. He let me reprimand him. He lets his women who share his heart hold the steering wheel of his life, Sera."

Aria turned to the silver-haired princess, her eyes sparkling with clear conviction.

"And that is why, no matter how unhinged he gets... I will trust that idiot until the day my world ends."

***

The glow of sunset filtered through the glass of the Reedings carriage as Eren had finally dressed up in a fresh, linen shirt and a clean vest, though his damp, dark hair still fell casually over his brow. He sat slouched against the cushions, legs stretched across the cabin, lazily tracing the silver rim of a pocket watch with his thumb.

"So," Eren said, breaking the rhythmic clatter of carriage wheels, "our dear Santa Claus coughed up the name of Baron Kiliyan, overseer of the western border."

Sitting across from him, Aria rested her chin on her palm, her golden eyes tracking the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"Cinon’s intelligence network is already moving," Aria replied, her tone crisp and straight. "By tomorrow evening, we’ll have a complete history of Kiliyan’s private life and whatever discreet mountain hideouts he owns. But moving against a landed noble requires timing. If we spook him without a plan, whoever is supplying him behind the curtain cuts the loose end."

"You’re right," Eren murmured, his eyes narrowing. " Better to catch the rat with the cheese in his jaws."

He snapped his pocket watch shut with a sharp click, slipping it into his vest. When he looked up, the cynical gaze dissolved, replaced by a smirk as he looked at his blue-haired villainess.

"Now that the conspiracy is safely shelved for the night..." Eren whispered, his voice dropping into a low rasp. "I believe I am owed compensation for suffering domestic violence in that cellar."

Aria arched her brow perfectly, a playful smirk curving her lush lips. "Domestic violence? You tried to turn a man’s skull into strawberry jam, Lord Volsver."

"My soul took it unconditionally," Eren chuckled. "My face, however, feels profoundly neglected."

Aria let out a soft laugh as she uncrossed her legs. Rising from her seat, she closed the distance across the cabin, stepping into his space with the graceful, fluid poise of a hunting cat.

Instead of sitting beside him, she hiked her skirts slightly and straddled his lap, settling her plush, rounded hips firmly over his thighs.

Aria rested her palms flat on his chest, feeling the solid, heavy thud of his heart. Her golden eyes burned with warmth as she tilted her head up, her lips inches from his jaw.

"Is my pampered husband-to-be pouting because his fiancée had punished him?" she whispered against his skin, her fingers trailing slowly up his neck to tangle into his dark hair.

"Not pouting," Eren murmured, his hands settling possessively over the soft butt, pulling her tighter against him until the friction of her tits sent a jolt straight to his body. "Just establish that if you’re going to hold me like that forever, my lovely villainess... you bear full responsibility for walking the beast."

Aria shivered, a ragged gasp catching in her throat as she felt the rigid, heavy length of his arousal pressing firmly against her ass through their clothes.

"You really are an insufferable, horny beast," Aria groaned softly, her pupils dilating with hungry anticipation.

She leaned down, capturing his lips in a fierce, demanding kiss that tasted of winter roses and pure, unbridled possessiveness. Eren answered with feral greed, his tongue parting her lips to claim her mouth completely, his hands sliding down her back to knead the soft butt, hiking her silk skirts up until it gave way to the bare warmth of her thighs.

She broke the kiss with a ragged gasp, her golden eyes were clouded, pupils blown wide with need, her chest rising and falling against him.

"Demanding beast," she breathed, her forehead resting against his temple while her hands worked the buckle of his belt.

Aria slipped her fingers past the waistband of his trousers, immediately encountering the scorching heat of his cock. Eren groaned from deep in his throat as her soft fingers curled around his girth, stroking him from root to crown in one slow sweep that had his hips bucking upward on instinct.

"Aria..." his voice was a rasp against her throat.

"Look at you, darling," she purred. "Acting like you’re in control when you’re throbbing so hard it hurts."