CHAPTER 162: CHAPTER 161: OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: SCHOOL RIOTS BEGIN

Velvet Academy had seen many scandals.

The Great Soup Flood of Year 223, when the Culinary Club replaced all the fountains with broth. The Duelist-Arts Club Incident, when two rival love confession duels destroyed an entire wing of the library. The brief but terrifying reign of the Hamster King, a rodent possessed by a minor chaos spirit who seized student government by force.

But none of those events compared to this. Because pinned to the academy’s grand bulletin board, right between the weekly meal schedule and the notice about overdue library fines, was a single sheet of paper glowing with ominous magical authority.

It was a photograph and not just any photograph. Rei, looking like he’d just been stunned by a thunder spell, cheeks faintly red, his collar slightly tugged down as though he’d been forcefully adjusted. His hair was tousled. His eyes glassy. His entire aura screamed hostage photos.

Beside him stood Lady Lucivella Nightshade—the Demon Lord herself—shining like moonlight dipped in arsenic. Her silver hair cascaded perfectly over her shoulders, her crimson eyes smoldered with smug victory, and her hand rested delicately (possessively) on Rei’s chest.

Underneath, in elegant infernal calligraphy that burned itself into the notice board for maximum visibility, were the words:

"Official Engagement Announcement: Lady Lucivella Nightshade & Lord Rei Velvet."

And in smaller, sharper letters below that:

"Fiancé of the Demon Lord. Unauthorized touching will result in eternal incineration."

The academy went absolutely feral.

Students screamed in every corridor. Whole clubs disbanded on the spot. Merchants tore up their merchandise contracts. Professors retreated to their office bunkers. The Marriage Consultation Club began burning their own records as if trying to purge history.

By the time Rei regained consciousness, he was not greeted with sunlight or birdsong. He was greeted with paper. A mountain of letters, scrolls, folded flyers, even magically sealed envelopes covered him from head to toe, as if he had been sacrificed to the stationary gods. Some were written on gilded parchment. Some were scribbled with blood. Others had curses scrawled in glowing ink.

He sat up with a groan, dislodging a pile. One envelope smacked him directly on the nose. Another unfurled mid-air and screamed in a voice of pure anguish: "BETRAYAL!"

Rei stared around in horror. The entire dorm room was flooded ankle-deep in letters. Every surface was stacked with them. Even his tea cup had a tiny envelope folded inside.

Rosette stood in the corner, sharpening her knives silently. Emilia calmly poured tea. Lilia had already fainted dramatically across the chaise longue, muttering "husband, husband" like a broken record. Seraphina clutched her hymn book like she was preparing to declare a crusade. Drakana was pacing in circles, tail swishing dangerously close to setting the pile of hate mail ablaze.

Rei croaked, "What... what is all this?"

Drakana growled. "These letters from the academy, from the city and from the entire kingdom. They all saw it."

Rosette flicked a blade, catching one envelope in mid-air, pinning it neatly against the wall. "Your engagement announcement."

Rei paled. "She... she wouldn’t..."

All five girls turned in unison and pointed dramatically to the single glowing parchment still pinned above his desk.

The very same photograph. The words burning into his soul.

"Official Engagement Announcement."

Rei screamed into the heavens, "I DIDN’T EVEN SAY YES!"

[System Notification: Demon Lord Event Flag Progression +50%]

[New Title Obtained: "Unwilling Groom of Apocalypse."]

[Honestly, it looks like you said yes in that picture.]

Rei pointed at the photo. "That looks like a hostage shot!"

[System Reminder: History is written by the smug.]

He grabbed a letter at random, tore it open, and read aloud:

"Dear Former Role Model, I hope you get devoured by your demon wife. Sincerely, a betrayed classmate."

Another one:

"Rei, you monster! How dare you bypass the sacred Love Registration Queue?! May the gods revoke your lunch privileges!"

A third:

"I was saving myself for you. Signed, Gerald (Chess Club)."

Rei threw the letters into the air, horrified. "Why are half of these from guys?!"

Emilia sipped tea delicately. "Ara, ara. You are quite popular with both genders, Rei-sama."

Seraphina slammed her hymn book shut. "This is unacceptable. I cannot allow the Demon Lord to sully sacred vows of matrimony!"

Lilia bolted upright, eyes wild. "The audacity! She dares to preemptively print marriage certificates before me?!"

Rosette smiled faintly, dragging her knife through the photo without touching Rei’s face. "She’s making her bold move but it’s messy."

Drakana bared her fangs. "Messy or not, I’ll burn her entire announcement board to ash!"

Rei flailed his arms, sinking into the avalanche of envelopes. "No no no, don’t burn things! The academy already thinks I’m in on this!"

[System Update: Global Reputation -50.]

[World News Headline: "Academy Duke’s Son Sells Soul for Demon Bride."]

[Wow. It’s truly inspiring.]

He buried his face in his hands. "I didn’t sell anything!"

[System Update: Correction—You sold your dignity.]

The chaos didn’t stop inside his room. Outside, riots had already begun.

The Theater Club marched through the halls in dramatic mourning gowns, singing funeral dirges for Rei’s "purity." The Duelist-Arts Club challenged the Demon Lord to single combat (they were promptly obliterated in the courtyard by a casual flick of her finger). The Gardening Club had already replanted the entire rose garden into "memorial arrangements."

Worst of all, the Marriage Consultation Club had declared martial law. They began conducting random purity inspections and handing out counterfeit annulment forms.

Rei peeked out the window only to see Lucivella herself floating gracefully above the courtyard, tossing down signed engagement invitations like confetti.

She even had a megaphone.

"My beloved Rei Velvet is mine. I will protect him with all my eternal love. Anyone who objects may line up for incineration."

The students screamed in equal parts rage and adoration. Some collapsed. Some fainted. Some wrote poems on the spot and stapled them to the academy walls.

Rei slammed the shutters closed, collapsing back onto the mountain of angry letters. "This is my life now. Death by paperwork."

[System Notification: New Quest Added!]

[Quest: Survive the Engagement Riots.]

[Difficulty: Impossible.]

[Reward: None.]

[Should’ve stayed fainted.]

Rei buried himself deeper into the pile of letters and muttered, muffled, "I just wanted to read books in peace..."

But from the courtyard, Lucivella’s voice rang out sweet and clear, echoing through the academy grounds:

"My fiancé is mine. Spread these words around the whole world. The wedding is inevitable."

The walls trembled from the combined screams of thousands of students.

And Rei, suffocating under a cascade of increasingly violent rejection letters, realized with dawning despair—

The real war had just begun. Rei tried to crawl free of the avalanche of rejection letters, but the mountain shifted ominously. The paper pile collapsed inward like quicksand, swallowing him up to the waist.

"Help," he wheezed, flailing his arms. "I’m drowning in other people’s disappointment—again!"

Rosette didn’t move. She polished her blade with one of the letters, humming softly. "If you’re suffocating, that only means you’re finally mine. Paper coffins are... romantic."

"ROMANTIC?!" Rei screamed, kicking loose a scroll that hissed in infernal runes. "This thing is cursed!"

[System Notification: Cursed Hate Mail Equipped.]

[Status Effect: -10 Sanity per Second.]

[Honestly, you didn’t have much to lose.]

Drakana lunged forward and yanked him out with one clawed hand, lifting him like he weighed nothing. Unfortunately, the pile shifted again—an avalanche of envelopes thundered down, burying both of them.

From beneath the heap came muffled voices.

Rei: "I can’t breathe!"

Drakana: "Stop wriggling, mate, or I’ll—"

Fwump! More letters collapsed on top.

Lilia dramatically hurled herself onto the pile. "If my darling is buried alive, then I, too, shall join him in eternal slumber!"

Seraphina dragged her back by the ankle. "Compose yourself! This is no time for melodrama—this is spiritual warfare!"

Emilia, unfazed, poured more tea, setting a cup atop the mountain of hate mail like it was a serving tray. "Ara, ara. Perhaps we should invite Lady Lucivella in for negotiations. After all, she’s already acting like family."

"FAMILY?!" Rei burst from the pile like a reborn phoenix made entirely of stationery. His hair stuck out at deranged angles, ink smeared across his cheek, an envelope glued to his forehead. "SHE ANNOUNCED OUR WEDDING ON A BULLETIN BOARD!"

[System Notification: Emotional Stability -99.]

[You’ve officially unlocked the "Unhinged Groom" look.]

A thunderous boom outside rattled the walls.

The Theater Club had escalated their mourning dirges into full-on opera. The Gardening Club was pelting the Demon Lord with bouquets of funeral lilies. The Duelist-Arts survivors were holding up banners reading "ANNUL NOW OR DIE."

And in the middle of it all floated Lucivella, hair billowing, smiling down at the chaos like a queen surveying her empire. She raised her megaphone again.

"My beloved’s resistance is adorable. But futile. Remember—" she winked directly at Rei’s window, her voice dripping honey and menace— "true love always prevails."

Rei dove under his desk like a soldier avoiding artillery fire. "She winked. She WINKED. That’s basically a death sentence!"

[System Alert: Public Affection War Level = MAXIMUM.]

[Global Event Triggered: "Schoolwide Engagement Riots."]

[Congrats, you’re trending in hell and heaven.]

Another envelope smacked Rei on the head, this one from the faculty.

"Dear Lord Velvet, please vacate the campus immediately. You are a walking liability."

Rei clutched the letter, shaking. "Even the TEACHERS want me gone!"

From outside, the roar of students chanting echoed louder, shaking the very foundations of Velvet Academy.

"DOWN WITH DEMON BRIDE!"

"PROTECT OUR DUKE’S SON!"

"SIGN MY CHEST, REI-SAMA!"

Rei’s eye twitched violently. "I’m not surviving this. I’m not even surviving lunchtime!"

[System Notification: New Hidden Quest Unlocked!]

[Quest: "Last Lunch Before Marriage."]

[Objective: Eat one peaceful meal.]

[Reward: Inner peace (probably temporary).]

[Penalty: None. Death is already certain.]

Rei screamed into the heavens once more, his voice muffled by yet another envelope slapping across his face.

"WHY IS MY LIFE LIKE THIS?!"

And outside, the riots raged louder.

To be continued...