Chapter 71: Council meet 1
Eren looked between the Prince’s pale, sweat-slicked face and Violet, who was visibly panicking, trying to shrink into the floor.
Right. The Crown Prince clearly knows about her curse. He spends ninety percent of his business hours glued to Alice’s side, so he’s undoubtedly been exposed to her best friend’s tragic curse before.
"Violet?!" Theo stammered out, his voice cracking slightly as he backed up half a step. "H-How are you... why are you sitting right next to Eren?!"
Without waiting for an answer, the silver-haired royal suddenly grabbed Eren by both shoulders and shook him in panic. "Eren! Look at me! Are you ok?! Is your vision blurring?! Do you feel an intense, crushing nausea in your chest?!"
Eren stood completely still, letting the Prince rattle his shoulders in absolute deadpan judgment, wondering how in the world this dramatic, overly emotional golden retriever is related to the terrifying, ice-cold Princess Seraphina. The genetic variance in this royal bloodline is thoroughly unhinged.
"Your Highness," Eren interjected, gently removing the Prince’s trembling hands from his shoulders. "I assure you I’m alright. Furthermore... if I may point out a rather important detail... you are currently standing well within her three-foot radius yourself, and yet you seem alright."
Theo froze.
The Prince stared down at his own palms as the realization hit him. The intense dizziness, trembling, and severe physical repulsion would hit his nervous system.
But right now? Nothing.
Not a single trace of discomfort.
Violet’s eyes widened in equal shock. Two human beings standing right next to her with zero symptoms.
’How on earth...?!’
Eren could practically see the barrage-level questions forming behind the Prince’s wide eyes, ready to completely overwhelm the flustered purple-haired cutie.
Before the royal heir could launch an interrogation, Eren smoothly redirected the flow.
"Moving past the miracle, Your Highness... what was it you were attempting to convey before you started a welfare check on my body?"
Theo blinked, snapping back to reality. "Ah! Right! Eren... you have been summoned to the Student Council office."
Eren raised a single, skeptical eyebrow in slight annoyance. "And why on earth has the supreme executive authority of the student body requested my presence? I haven’t even finished my morning schedule."
"I’m not entirely sure," Theo admitted, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "I guess it’s about repeated incidents between you and Reinhardt."
Noticing Eren’s slight scowl, the Prince quickly puffed out his chest, offering a bright, reassuring smile. "But do not worry! I will personally accompany you to the office to ensure the proceedings remain entirely fair! You have nothing to fear, Eren!"
Eren sighed. "Well, if the royal heir insists on... lead the way, Your Highness."
As he walked beside the Crown Prince, Eren glanced toward the Violet, and his lips curved into a warm little smile.
Violet’s heart practically skipped a full three beats, completely flustered by the casual charm of the boy who had just rewritten the rules of her miserable life.
***
As the two of them walked, Theo cast a curious glance toward the young man walking beside him.
"You know, Eren..." Theo began, his tone surprisingly earnest. "News travels rather quickly among the high nobility. I heard about the official reinstatement of your engagement with Lady Aria Reedings. And... the miraculous cure of Lady Liora’s condition as well."
The Crown Prince flashed a bright, genuine grin, clapping a heavy hand onto Eren’s shoulder with pure golden-retriever energy. "I wanted to congratulate you properly. I knew you had truly changed the moment I saw you on the training grounds yesterday."
Eren chuckled at the sudden royal affection. "I appreciate the sentiment, Your Highness."
"However," Theo’s expression turned slightly more serious as they approached the administrative tower. "I must advise caution. Reinhardt will almost certainly be present in the council chamber today. He has been searching for any possible way to process your official expulsion from the academy. Please... do not lose your temper or resort to physical measures like you used to."
Eren merely shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you say, Prince. Rest assured."
A few moments later, they arrived at the massive, double-oak doors of the Student Council Headquarters. Theo pushed the heavy doors open, revealing a breathtakingly opulent chamber filled with polished mahogany desks and grand stained-glass windows.
Inside the lavish room, a neatly combed guy with blue hair and glasses sat behind an imposing desk, exuding an aura of cold and deadly seriousness. Standing right beside him was a secretary so unnaturally drop-dead gorgeous she looked like a high-tier doll model.
Eren suppressed an exasperated roll of his eyes.
He wondered why every single student council in fiction was built identically? Why does a student committee need a room that looks like it commands a standing army? This is an academic student management committee, not the World Government.
Putting his profound structural grievances aside, Eren stepped up to the desk alongside Theo, offering a formal greeting to the man sitting in the center chair: Cedric Reedings.
Yes, the famously terrifying Student Council President was none other than Aria’s twin brother—and, naturally, the third, most dangerous capture target of the original game.
Cedric offered a crisp, polite nod toward the royal heir. "Your Highness," he acknowledged smoothly, before shifting his eyes onto Eren. "Eren."
While his tone remained perfectly civilized, the trace of cold, microscopic contempt radiating from the young man was potent enough to frost glass. The model-like secretary stepped forward with a graceful gesture, politely offering them the plush leather chairs facing the desk.
Eren dropped into the seat with supreme, unbothered ease, resting his ankle over his knee as he subjected the ’perfect’ president to a quick visual assessment.
’What an absolute lineup of male leads this game generated,’ Eren smirked at the irony. ’The first capture target is a naive, silver-haired golden retriever. The second is an arrogant noble who abandons his fiancée only to run back the second she stops granting him attention. And the third is a closet yandere wearing the mask of a flawless gentleman.’
"So, President," Eren began, leaning back in the plush chair, "what exactly is the nature of this urgent summons? My daily schedule is packed with high-priority tasks."
Before Cedric could utter a single word of response, a sharp, arrogant voice echoed from the far corner of the room.
"I was the one who requested your pathetic presence here, Volsver."