Chapter 287: Fear

Emma let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to drag the very warmth out of the hearth.

The room plunged into an absolute, petrified silence. Aria and Norelia froze as if hit by a ninth-tier frost hex, their eyes wide as saucers and their jaws dropped so loose they could have caught every moth in the mansion.

Norelia practically tumbled off Emma’s lap, scrambling onto her knees on the rug. Aria lunged forward on all fours, she clamped both manicured hands onto the tanned tomboy’s shoulders, violently rattling her.

"Hold off?! Why on earth would you hold off, Emma?!" Aria sputtered, her usual poise completely eviscerated into frantic, unladylike hysteria. "What possible reason could you have?! Did your feelings for that incorrigible rogue sour because he kept us in the dark about The Substance? Do you resent him?!"

"N-No... it’s not that," Emma muttered, ducking her head away from Aria’s furious, searching golden eyes.

"Then is it your pride as a martial artist?" Norelia pressed, leaning over with her cashmere sleeves pushed up, her crimson eyes dead serious. "Are you worried that carrying a child will cause your body to weaken as swordmaster?"

Emma shook her head, a tired, faint scoff leaving her lips. "You know me better than that, Professor. I could carry triplets and still split a boulder in half. My body isn’t that fragile."

"Then why?!" Aria demanded, her voice cracking with pure, desperate frustration. "Tell me!"

Emma went completely quiet.

She averted her gaze, her storm-grey eyes softening into an expression of agonizing, defenseless vulnerability that looked entirely alien on a warrior carved from battle. The silence in the bedroom grew thick, broken only by the crackle of cedar embers.

Slowly, Emma reached out with a trembling hand, snatched the crystal bottle from the floor, and tipped it back. She swallowed a massive whiskey in one gulp.

"It’s fear," Emma whispered, her voice barely a thread.

"Look around us," Emma rasped, setting the bottle down with a dull clink. Her hands dropped to her knees, her fingers digging into her skin. "That syndicate... that horrific Substance flowing through the kingdom... they tried to assassinate the Duke. Who knows who the next target is? I can stand on the front lines and take anything for Eren. He can move heaven and earth to shield me."

"B-But... what if something goes wrong?"

"Just like Rujgard... he vanished, and I... I completely lost my mind. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t breathe. Every second felt like my ribs were being crushed because I was entirely helpless to reach him. And that was just him."

A lone, shimmering tear welled in her grey eyes, catching the golden firelight before rolling down her tanned, flushed cheek.

"A child would be between us," Emma whispered, pulling her knees up to her chest and burying half her face against them, her voice muffled with terror. "A fragile, innocent little thing. If we brought a life into this chaos right now... I would never know peace again. Every carriage ride, every mission, every alley... I would be paralyzed, terrified of what monster might come to rip that baby away from me. I can bear bleeding for him. But I couldn’t survive watching our child bleed."

The bedroom fell into profound, agonizing silence.

Aria’s hands slowly slipped from Emma’s shoulders, her golden eyes wide, glossy with unshed tears as the weight of the warrior’s confession struck her like a physical blow. Norelia clutched the hem of her oversized sweater, her head bowing low, completely struck mute.

Eren stood frozen against the door.

His hand hung suspended, his throat dry. The cocky smirk that had adorned his face for weeks had withered into absolute silence. By every rule of chivalry—or even basic human decency—he should have spun on his heel and walked away. It was a sacred sanctuary of secrets, tears, and vulnerabilities shared exclusively between women.

Yet his feet refused to obey.

Before logic could wrestle back command of his limbs, his fingers curled around the brass handle. With a slow, silent turn, he pushed the door open.

The quiet click of the latch echoed through the chamber.

Aria and Norelia instantly whipped their heads toward the threshold, their tear-glossed eyes widening in startled shock.

"E-Eren...?" Norelia stammered.

"What in the world are you doing here?!" Aria gasped, scrambling to smooth her silk camisole as her aristocratic composure struggled to reboot. "Since when have you been lurking outside like a common thief?!"

Emma alone remained entirely silent.

She kept her chin resting on her folded knees, her eyes fixed on the rug beneath her bare feet.

Why would the empire’s greatest Swordmaster be surprised? Her senses were attuned to the flutter of an owl’s wing a league away; she had tracked his footsteps, the faint pulse of his heartbeat.

She had known he was there all along. And the raw confession she had poured into the silence wasn’t merely meant for the two women sharing her time.

It was meant for the man standing at the door.

Eren let out a long, heavy exhale, dragging a hand through his dark hair.

"Sorry for crashing the girls’ summit," he murmured, his voice hoarse, gentle, and utterly devoid of bravado.

He stepped into the lavish suite, closing the door behind him with a soft thud. He walked across the room until he came to a stop directly before the hearth. Standing between them and the crackling blaze, his silhouette cast a long, sheltering shadow over Emma.

He looked down at the three of them, a faint, tender curve touching the corner of his lips.

"Room for one more stray?" Eren asked softly.

"Always, darling..." Aria whispered, her golden eyes softening with profound understanding as she shuffled backward on the plush rug, clearing a generous space beside the warrior.

Eren dropped to the floor, letting out a quiet breath as he folded his legs and settled close to Emma’s side. And

Norelia peered up at him. "Did you... hear everything?"

"Not everything," Eren replied. "Just... quite enough of what I needed to hear."

Emma’s head ducked even lower, her flushed ears burning.

"Idiot..." she mumbled into her knees.

Eren let out a chuckle. Before he could speak, Norelia shifted across the rug, crawling onto his lap without an ounce of hesitation. The petite genius grabbed and snuggled against his chest to offer whatever warmth her body could muster. Eren naturally wrapped an arm around her waist, his chin resting lightly atop her messy chestnut curls.

With his free hand, Eren held Emma’s clenched knuckles where she hugged her shins.

He didn’t pry her hands away. He enveloped them, rubbing his thumb along the rugged, battle-worn skin of her fingers.

"Emma," Eren murmured, his voice dropping into a quiet, breathtakingly intimate tone that seemed to drown out the crackling cedar logs. "Can I say something to you?"