Chapter 189: Aria and Violet

The morning sun had already cleared the horizon, casting golden light across the academy’s corridors as Eren walked through it, practically radiating that specific brand of unearned confidence that only came from eight hours of uninterrupted sleep and questionable life choices.

"Damn, that was a good rest," he announced to a potted plant, rolling his shoulders until he get a satisfying pops. "Who knew muscle mommies make the best pillows? Would get crushed affectionately again."

He’d slept like a dead man—all evening, all night, straight through to morning. When they got back to his dorm, Emma prepared a simple dinner that somehow tasted like actual cuisine, then proceeded to serve as a human weighted blanket with benefits.

Her presence was basically an emotional security, occasional flexing, and the kind of body heat that could replace central heating.

But paradise was temporary, and reality came in the form of boring Mana Circuit class.

Eren entered the lecture hall, already buzzing with the chattering of students. As per tradition, he went for the back row. Right next to the purple-haired cutie.

He was already halfway through when his steps halted all of the sudden.

His blue eyes went wide.

Because sitting beside him was someone who had approximately zero business being within fifty feet of a mana engineering lecture. Aria Reedings.

The blue haired villainess sat with her chin resting on her palm, elbow propped on the desk. Her golden eyes glinted with mischief. She smiled, waving hand with the enthusiasm of a cat watching a mouse walk into a trap.

"Good morning, darling," she greeted.

Beside her, Violet slowly raised her head. "G-g-good morning, E-Eren," she stammered, her small voice barely audible over the classroom chatter.

Eren sat down hard, his brain short-circuiting. "What," he said.

He leaned toward Aria. "You’re in Mana Combat, Physical Combat, and Administration Politics," he said, counting off on his fingers. "This is Mana Engineering. This is circuits, Aria."

Aria didn’t flinch. If anything, her smile widened in delight. "Can’t a yearning fiancée want to spend time with her darling?" She tilted her head. "Right, Violet?"

Violet immediately nodded. "R-right."

Eren’s head turned toward the purple-haired girl. "Did you two become best friends in a week? Was there a friendship arc?"

"Of course we did," Aria said, reaching over to play with Violet’s hair. She twirled a purple strand around her finger, then gently pinched the other girl’s cheek, squishing her face like she was handling a particularly adorable hamster. "How could I ignore this cute little kitten? She’s my favorite person now."

She paused, glancing at Eren with those golden eyes glittering with amusement. "Besides you, of course, darling."

"K-kitten?" Violet’s face went approximately the same color as her hair. She tried to pull away, failed, and settled for adorably protesting, "I-I’m not a k-kitten..."

"You’re absolutely a kitten," Aria said, merciless. "Look at you. Small. Soft. Makes noises when startled. If I put a bell on you, you’d complete the aesthetic."

Eren stared at the two of them, sitting together like some kind of alliance between chaos and shyness. He had the distinct feeling he’d walked into a fanfiction written by his own subconscious.

"Okay," he said, leaning back and throwing his hands up in surrender. "Why are you here, really?"

Aria’s smile didn’t falter, but something in her golden eyes shifted. She reached into her jacket and took out a thick envelope, the kind that have more than a paper.

"Look at it," she said, sliding it across the desk with two fingers.

Eren took it, feeling the heft. Curious, he peeled back the flap and glimpsed the contents—a letter, folded neat and military-precise, and beneath it, the corner of something glossy. He slid one photograph out barely an inch, and his expression didn’t change.

It was the gore. A body induced into the art of violence.

He slid it back immediately.

"Sera sent this?" he asked, voice casual despite the content.

"Came last evening," Aria said, already turning her attention back to Violet’s hair, twirling a purple strand with idle fixation. "Emma said you were tired and sleeping, apparently. So I decided to play delivery service. Consider this a hijacking."

Eren leaned in close, close enough that from the outside, it would look like a romantic moment. Foreheads nearly touching.

"How are you looking this calm when that’s the content?" he whispered.

Aria turned her head, her lips brushing his ear, her expression still playful. "Same way you are, darling."

Before Eren could answer, the room fell silent as Professor Norelia had arrived.

The petite girl stood at the pavilion, red eyes scanning the room. She was dressed in her customary deep blue robes, the silver trim catching the morning light, and she looked like a doll that had been given sentience and a doctorate.

"Open your textbooks to Chapter seven," she said, her voice carrying despite her size. "We’re discussing resonance theory in multi-node circuits today."

Aria leaned toward Violet, loud enough for Eren to hear, deliberate as a gunshot. "Professor Norelia is really cute, isn’t she? All petite and beautiful."

Violet made a small squeaking sound, her eyes darting between Aria and Eren, realizing too late that she was sitting in the blast radius of something she didn’t understand.

Eren felt the headache coming on like a weather front.

’What have I made?’ he wondered, staring at the blue-haired villainess who had the entire academy—including Alice, walking on eggshells around her. The same woman who could freeze a room with a glance.

And here she was, teasing him about his other girlfriend while playing with his purple-haired classmate like a cat.

Norelia began to lecture, her voice clear and precise, diagrams appearing in the air the pavilion in shimmering mana-light.

Aria lasted approximately four minutes and thirty-two seconds.

She yawned, jaw-cracking spiritual exhaustion. She looked between Eren and Violet with the expression of someone who had just discovered they were allergic to boredom.

"You listen to this every day?" she asked calmly.

"Unfortunately," Eren and Violet said in unison, then glanced at each other. Violet turned the color of a ripe tomato.

"It’s boring," Aria declared, as if this were a fact of nature, like gravity. "I want fun."

And then, she began to slide under the desk, folding herself into the narrow space between the seat and the floorboards, her movements so smooth and silent that the students three rows ahead didn’t even turn. Violet watched with mounting confusion as Aria disappeared from view, her hand still half-reaching for the purple hair she’d been playing with.

"Wha—" Violet started.

Then she felt movement at her side. Aria shifted, crawling beneath the desks, right Eren’s legs.

She looked up at him from below, golden eyes gleaming, and she gave a predator’s grin. A lover’s grin. The grin of someone who had absolutely zero respect for academic institutions.

Eren stared down at her, his expression carefully neutral for the benefit of anyone glancing back, while his brain screamed in approximately twelve different octaves.