Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 553

Chapter 553: Chapter 553 - Taming the Fourth Year: Liora’s Date

Ren finally met Liora in the academy gardens after classes, where she waited for him with an expression mixing determination and nervousness.

She wore a simple but elegant dress that highlighted her eyes, and had her hair arranged in a way that suggested she had put extra effort into her appearance. Undoubtedly against school regulations...

"Come with me," she told him, taking his arm without waiting for an answer.

Yet not even the director would say anything to her as long as she didn’t go overboard anyway. As expected from Selphira’s favorite mischievous granddaughter.

She led him farther from the common areas, away from the main paths toward a more solitary section of the academy grounds.

"I asked my grandmother to have any guards from Julius or ours keep a good distance so you wouldn’t feel too watched," she explained as they moved.

Ren didn’t completely understand the reasons, but followed anyway. He would do whatever she asked as long as his earlier mistake was "forgotten", truly forgiven.

They arrived at an elevated area with many trees... at the foothills of this elevation, not far away, one of the less traveled mine entrances was located some tens of meters below them.

The small hill offered an elevated view of the entire school and part of the city. From that position, Ren could see the Sky Tasty towers in the distance and the large bridge that Dragarion had created, now with an open gate that allowed passage for Yano civilians who hadn’t been crystallized.

It was a view that brought with it complex memories.

The Yano people now depended completely on Victor, Julius, and Arturo’s management, and had basically been reduced to second-class citizens. Fortunately, they weren’t generating significant problems, at least nothing big compared to the opportunist nobles who remained a constant source of political tension.

Ren and Liora had climbed to the crown of a large tree to better enjoy the view, but Ren was surprised when Liora moved closer and sat very close to him on the same branch.

The proximity immediately reminded him of that time, years ago, when he had had to chase her to give her the fusion ability. Back then, she had fled from any physical contact.

"Do you remember that time when I had to catch up to you to give you the fusion power?" he asked, as if trying to remind her of the situation to see her reaction, but...

"Yes," she responded. "Back then I wasn’t ready," she said softly. "Now I am."

Ren didn’t completely understand the insinuations, but he did understand that now she had no problems with physical contact. In fact, she seemed to be actively seeking it again.

Ren took this as a positive sign for preserving their friendship... So he thought about putting his arm around her shoulders as a gesture of "warmth between friends", but when imagining the situation and smelling her so close, his new and "powerful" hormones made him consider other implications that filled him with doubts.

His arm, which was moving toward her, stopped halfway, quickly retracting while he blushed a bit.

The internal war between his conscious intentions and his body’s reactions was becoming a constant source of confusion. Every interaction now carried layers of meaning he hadn’t previously considered.

But Liora immediately noticed the aborted movement.

"Why don’t you do it?" she asked directly. "It wouldn’t bother me..."

Although she was also blushing when asking the question.

Ren desperately tried to change the subject.

"What was it you wanted to clarify?" he asked hurriedly. "I’m going to apologize for anything else that bothers you that I haven’t clearly apologized for."

"You don’t need to give me any other apology," Liora said, her voice becoming softer. "What you demonstrated as a person, the importance you gave me, and realizing that you’ve been ’watching me closely’... I loved it." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

She became redder as she spoke, but maintained eye contact.

"Do you really like me as a lover?" she asked directly, confronting him with an intensity that made Ren feel as if he were under a spotlight.

Ren frowned, genuinely confused. He didn’t remember saying anything like that... at least not out loud, ’Right brain?’

He didn’t realize he had used different words that Liora had interpreted ’more romantically’ than he had intended.

But despite the confusion about the specific words used from his mouth in the past, he at least understood perfectly the look in Liora’s eyes here and now...

It was an expression he had never seen directed toward him before so closely, loaded with hope and vulnerability.

He swallowed hard.

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