Chapter 278: "I was not performing romance!"

Eren stared at that radiant smile, his swollen cheek still throbbing with glorious, undignified warmth.

She was right.

The cold, unvarnished truth of her scolding cut through his blind panic.

This was the brilliant, calculating princess he had spent countless hours admiring through a glowing monitor screen back in his old life. In his frantic terror of losing Violet, he had nearly abandoned the entire board, forgetting that rushing backward would only leave a trail of burning bridges for his enemies to cross.

And the ultimate irony wasn’t lost on him: here he was, taking salvation from the very girl he had sworn to pull out of her miserable fate.

A slow, incorrigible smirk began to reclaim his face. The icy dread steadily melting away under her presence. He could trust her. Why wouldn’t he? This was the woman who had marched straight into the lawless slaughterhouse of Rujgard just to retrieve his reckless neck, bound by zero obligation. The fiercely guarded royal who claimed to despise men, yet treated every single person beneath her with fierce, protective integrity.

Eren leaned forward, making absolutely zero effort to conceal the shameless admiration in his sapphire eyes.

"Well," Eren murmured, his voice dipping into that teasing rasp that always got under her skin. "If my future Empress gives her personal imperial guarantee just to comfort my fragile little heart... who am I to disobey a royal decree? Your Highness has a remarkably charming way of reminding me exactly why I admire your brilliance in the first place."

Seraphina’s haughty composure instantly shattered into a million tiny, blushing pieces.

"Wh—what?!"

The princess practically recoiled into the cushions as blush engulfed her pale cheeks, burning hotter than his bruised face ever could. Her wide eyes darted frantically toward the three sleeping figures before she snapped her fists tightly into her lap, desperately trying to mask the tremor in her fingers.

"Y-You absolute, unhinged idiot!" Seraphina hissed in a strangled whisper. "Do not flatter yourself! I am not doing it for your sake, and I am certainly not doing it for your harem! I am safeguarding those girls solely because their death would create an inconvenient administrative disruption in my political itinerary!"

"Ah, yes. The sacred administrative itinerary," Eren replied, propping his chin on his palm. His blue eyes glittered with amusement as he watched her squirm. "A grave matter of imperial bureaucracy. Of course, Your Highness. I believe you."

"Shut your shameless mouth!" Seraphina snapped.

She crossed her arms tightly beneath her bust to look intimidating, entirely unaware that it only pushed the breathtaking, creamy swell of her cleavage right into his unapologetic line of sight. Catching his shameless gaze drifting down, she let out an affronted gasp and violently turned her head toward the window, her heart hammering so violently against her ribs she was half-convinced the he could hear the rhythm.

"It is pure strategy!" she muttered furiously to the glass pane. "If that Lavenza girl is weaponized, she compromises the capital’s defense grid! And if the Syndicate maneuvers The Substance into imperial jurisdiction, they will use that precedent against my mother! Everything I do is calculated, Volsver! Nothing more!"

"Truly an immaculate masterstroke, Princess," Eren replied softly.

Before she could spit another aristocratic denial, Eren reached across the narrow space. His fingers caught her sleeve, gently tugging her hand. He slid his fingers between hers, wrapping his warm, sturdy palm completely around her slender hand.

It was the same reassuring grip she had offered him minutes ago.

Seraphina didn’t pull away.

She remained facing the window, staring straight at his stupid, irritatingly handsome face reflection. The mocking smirk had vanished, replaced by an expression so gentle.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Eren murmured, the words quiet, raw, and completely devoid of his usual bravado. "Really."

Seraphina’s red gaze slowly tore itself away from the glass, drifting down to meet his eyes. Seeing the profound, unyielding devotion burning in his gaze, a look that belonged only to her, the defensive walls around her chest surrendered.

"Hmph..."

She tried to scoff, but the sound came out entirely too soft.

She didn’t retract her hand. Instead, her fingers curled tightly around his knuckles, returning the warm, grounding squeeze with an involuntary, possessive strength of her own. She quickly ducked her chin, looking down at the wooden floorboards to hide the small, helpless smile.

"Just... don’t make me regret it, you idiot," Seraphina whispered, her voice delightfully wrecked, laced with a sweet, defensive little pout that made her look entirely too adorable. "Now go back to sleep. You look like a half-dead gargoyle, and I refuse to be seen arriving at the provincial estate with an exhausted, pathetic guy."

**

After some time, Eren leaned his head back against the cushion as he drifted back to sleep. The princess’s words entirely soothed the shock the system had driven into his spine. His fingers remained intertwined with hers, his thumb resting gently against the curve of her knuckles, anchoring him even in the haze of unconsciousness.

Seraphina didn’t pull her hand away.

She leaned the side of her chin onto her free palm, her eyes lingering on his sleeping face. Just minutes ago, he looked completely unraveled. Now, with his hair flopping softly over his forehead and his lips slightly parted in a peaceful slumber, the dangerous rogue looked infuriatingly innocent. Downright adorable, even.

A smile graced Seraphina’s lips.

Pfft.

A soft, melodic giggle broke the quiet moment.

Seraphina’s eyes went wide. Her spine locked instantly straight as she tilted her head to the side.

Aria was lounging comfortably against the carriage corner, her head propped against her knuckles, a single, brilliant golden eye open and glittering with mischief. Between them, the little shadow panther cub yawned, stretched its tiny paws, and padded over to curl into the warm lap of the softly snoring Emma.

"My, my," Aria murmured in a velvety, teasing whisper, never breaking eye contact. "In all the years I’ve observed our proud Princess... I never once imagined she could soothe a panicked man with such breathtaking grace."

Seraphina froze like an ice sculpture, her cheeks threatening to ignite the entire carriage. She quickly tried to withdraw her hand from Eren’s grasp, but his sleeping fingers curled instinctively tighter around hers, refusing to let go.

"A-Aria!" Seraphina hissed under her breath, her face burning. "If you were awake this entire time, why didn’t you intervene and comfort your own reckless fiancé yourself?!"

Aria stretched her slender arms over her head with a delicate, languid yawn.

"Oh, believe me, I intended to," Aria replied smoothly, her lips curving into a slow, knowing smirk that made Seraphina’s pulse spike. "The moment his panic spilled over about Violet, my first instinct was to hold that handsome, troubled head against my chest and return toward the capital. But then..."

She rested her chin back in her hand, her golden gaze fixed on Seraphina with devastating amusement.

"I saw the warmth in your eyes, Your Highness. Watching you step up and seize command of his heart was far too delicious a performance to interrupt. Why spoil such romance?"

"I was not performing romance!" Seraphina choked out.