Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 549

Chapter 549: Chapter 549 - Taming the Fourth Year: Connections - Good Guidance - 2

Ren had been gathering willpower for hours to deliver the gifts. Initially he had considered the cowardly option of simply sending them with a note, but he had realized in time that this wouldn’t fulfill the real purpose. As Jessy had explained, it was about the personal gesture as much as the gift itself. An apology had to be face to face, or it wasn’t really an apology.

The problem was that when he finally worked up the courage to look for Luna and Liora, they weren’t in their room.

This forced him to do something he had hoped to avoid: wandering all over the school uncomfortably asking about their whereabouts. Each conversation was a small torture.

"Excuse me, have you seen Luna or Liora?"

"Are you looking for them for any special matter? I can tell them if I see them," invariably asked whoever responded, with that smile that now seemed more obvious than ever, suggesting that everyone had decided there were obvious romantic interests between him and the girls.

"Thanks, but I just need to talk directly to them," he would mutter, feeling his cheeks warming each time.

The assumptions were everywhere, embedded in every knowing look and ’helpful’ suggestion. Fellow students would offer to deliver messages with expressions that clearly indicated they believed they were facilitating some grand romantic gesture.

After an hour of fruitless searching, he finally received useful information: they were in the academy’s back gardens, apparently receiving a visit.

When he arrived at the indicated area, he immediately understood why it had been so difficult to find them.

Selphira Ashenway was sitting elegantly on one of the garden benches, drinking tea as if her presence were the most natural thing in the world.

It seemed the girls had been there since their cups were still on the table.

Under normal circumstances, Ren would have tried to avoid the perceptive elder. Selphira had an uncomfortable ability to read people, and had almost always been capable of seeing through any pretense he tried to maintain.

But since the crystallization incident, he had noticed changes in her. She stayed closer to Liora, visited more frequently, and generally seemed a bit less intimidating in matters related to her granddaughter. Since Ren was technically part of "Liora’s affairs" normally, she had always treated him with a warmth he considered somewhat exaggerated for his taste.

He thought maybe that wouldn’t be bad now. So he approached...

But he was completely wrong this time.

"Ren Patinder," Selphira’s voice cut through the air like a sharp blade the moment he got close enough to be noticed.

It wasn’t the warm tone he had expected.

’Curse my luck,’ he thought. ’Seems she already found out about something.’

Selphira rose from the bench with movements that were too fluid for someone her age, but which reminded him of her true nature as one of the most dangerous people in the kingdom.

She gestured with her hand and the two guards following her stayed to collect the table.

"Walk with me." It wasn’t a request.

Ren followed obediently. Selphira guided him toward a more private section of the garden, where they were out of reach of the curious.

"So," Selphira began, her voice maintaining that dangerous edge, "are you going to explain to me why my granddaughter is clearly upset by something you did to her and won’t tell me about it?"

Ren felt as if ice water had been poured over him. Of course she had found out. The girls probably hadn’t mentioned specific details, but Selphira had over four hundred years of experience reading people. She didn’t need details to know when someone had hurt her family.

"I..." he began, but Selphira’s gaze silenced him immediately.

"I’ve watched them grow for years," the elder continued, her voice dropping to a tone that somehow managed to be more threatening than if she had been shouting. "I know every expression on their faces. I know when they’re sad, when they’re worried, and I definitely know when someone has hurt them."

’Think fast,’ Ren ordered himself. ’Explain the situation before she decides you’re a bigger disappointment.’

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