Chapter 650 - Taming the Fifth Year - Plunder - 2

"Rivals?" Ren repeated.

Liora looked at him with the same expression of frustration he was getting used to, but then with a softer expression. Something more vulnerable beneath the exasperation. "Yes, Ren. Rivals. Because apparently there are at least three of us, possibly six if we count the new ones, competing for your... your time."

The correction was clumsy, obvious.

Ren was completely paralyzed, processing this information.

Liora saw his expression and sighed again. Then, resolved, she stood and walked around the table until she was in front of him.

"Maybe," she said, her cheeks flushing even more, color spreading across her pale skin, "I should be more proactive. Make you remember that I was first."

Ren swallowed, his eyes very wide. His heart was beating faster, awareness of her proximity making thinking difficult.

But Liora stopped, her face now completely red. "But... I’m still embarrassed. And my mother always said that if something embarrasses you, you’re not ready yet." She breathed deep, steadying herself. "So... keep waiting for me. Please."

Ren nodded, biting both lips inside his mouth, not knowing what else to do or say. Words had completely abandoned him.

"But," Liora continued, her voice becoming firmer, "you have to fix this. You have to talk to Larissa and Luna. Because they feel betrayed. Even if you don’t understand why, it’s real to them."

"What do I tell them?" Ren asked, genuinely lost. How did you apologize for something you didn’t understand you’d done?

Liora stood up, her decision clearly made. "I’m going to talk to grandma Selphira and Julius. We need to understand why three girls from other academies, one of them about to do her military service, are here ’bothering’ our Ren."

And she had completely ignored him.

Before Ren could ask again, Liora disappeared with a spatial jump, her mana dissipating in the air like morning mist.

’Our?’

Ren remained seated alone with Mayo, who finally stopped trembling and looked at him with amusement but also with some sympathy.

"Welcome to adolescent romantic hell," she said with a small smile. "Where even geniuses seem to be completely useless."

Ren buried his face in his hands, the gesture one of complete defeat.

’How am I supposed to talk to Larissa and Luna about this when I don’t even understand what’s happening?’

But he knew Liora was right.

He had to try.

Even though he had no idea how.

"I just wanted to learn social practice..."

♢♢♢♢

"You can still use mana eyes, right? Ask them directly."

Ren had to finally get things clear. Enough misunderstandings...

So he decided to first do what Liora had told him to do and interrogate the new girls to clarify everything and have the correct idea when apologizing to Larissa and Luna.

Ren arrived at Aldric’s classroom earlier than usual the next day.

Aldric wasn’t there, as always. He’d already adapted his schedule to "not get in the way." The three girls were already there, seated in their usual semicircle.

But this time, Ren didn’t sit.

He remained standing in front of them, his posture rigid, his expression more serious than they’d ever seen him. There was no friendly greeting. No casual smile. Just intensity that made the air feel heavier.

Cassia was the first to notice something was wrong. "Ren, are you...?"

"I need to clarify some things, so I’m going to ask you some questions," Ren interrupted, his voice colder than normal. A tone they’d never heard from him before. "And I need honest answers."

The three exchanged quick glances, silent alarms passing between them.

’Here it comes,’

Cassia thought, her stomach sinking.

’I knew he’d eventually confront us.’

’He’s showing his true colors,’

Seraphina considered, her mana eyes gleaming as she tried to read his emotional state. From what little she could understand, he seemed angry.

’The game changed,’

Jeannette concluded mentally.

’Or ended...’

"Of course," Cassia said carefully, straightening in her chair and trying to project a calm confidence she didn’t feel. "Ask what you need."

Ren observed all three, his eyes moving between them. Evaluating... "Are you hiding something from me?"

The silence was absolute for three seconds. Three seconds that felt like an eternity.

’Straight to the point,’

all three thought simultaneously.

’We were playing with a target too big for us...’

"Ren," Seraphina began, choosing her words with extreme care like navigating a minefield, "the situation is more complicated than that question implies and..."

"I don’t care how complicated it is," Ren said, and there was real frustration in his voice now. Raw emotion bleeding through his usual control. "I just want to know if you’re doing something bad. If you’re lying to me."

’Something bad?’

Cassia blinked, confusion mixing with alarm.

’Is he talking about the seduction or about...?’

"Define ’something bad’ for us," Jeannette said with a careful voice, trying to buy time to understand what he actually knew.

"No games," Ren shouted, his voice rising with accumulated frustration. "Just answer yes or no... Trying to deceive me or manipulate me..."

’For whatever you actually want,’

he thought.

"Aldric and you were pretending, but someone told me you’re here for other reasons."

The three tensed visibly, bodies going rigid.

’Selphira, that’s why she took Aldric away a while ago,’

Cassia thought with fearful respect.

’Of course she’d see through all this.’

She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, there was resignation in them. The game was over. No point in pretending anymore.

’There’s no point in pretending anymore. He surely already knows we’d try to sabotage him with distractions from his exams... Seduction was only a secondary prize if possible.’

"Yes," she finally admitted, the word heavy. "But we didn’t have a choice! Our families have... expectations about this."

Ren felt something sink in his stomach at the "yes"... It was true. "So you lied to me. From the beginning."

"We didn’t want to," Jeannette intervened quickly, desperation entering her voice. "But we relaxed, enjoying your company and dialogue about nobility and cultivation techniques genuinely. Technically we didn’t lie about any of the ’sessions’. We just... omitted talking about the complete context of why we were here."

"What context?" Ren asked, his voice hardening further.

The three exchanged glances again, silent communication passing between them with the speed of thought.

’How much do we tell him?’

Cassia asked with her eyes.

’Everything, apparently he’s about to explode... He likely knows all and wants us to stop holding back,’

Seraphina responded with her expression.

’I don’t want to know what it’s like when someone this powerful and eccentric gets truly angry. And we’ve already come this far...’

’This is going to complicate things at home if we get out alive,’

Jeannette concluded, her resignation as big as her fear.

"Ren," Cassia began, her posture losing some of its noble grace and becoming more... surrendered. "Our families aren’t the only ones involved. There are several noble houses working together. Not just to ’spend time with you’ necessarily, though that’s part of the distraction strategy. To..."

She stopped, choosing carefully. Every word felt like walking on thin ice.

"To what?" Ren pressed, his patience wearing thin.

"To sabotage you," Seraphina said directly, deciding bluntness was better than dancing around it. "Or at least, to control you. Distract you. Keep you occupied with things that aren’t... becoming someone more powerful than you already are."

Ren blinked, the admission hitting different than expected. "Sabotage me? You?"

’He sounds genuinely surprised,’

Cassia noted, confusion evident.

’He doesn’t consider us capable? I thought he was playing a long game but...’

"You’re a threat," Jeannette explained. Finally being honest felt almost liberating. "Politically. Your achievements, your rewards could make dozens of houses doubly rich. You’re too powerful for your age and have incredible connections... There are nobles who’d prefer you didn’t become more influential than you already are."

"And using girls to distract me is their plan," Ren said slowly, processing...

Then, with genuine confusion:

"Are they idiots?"

’It wasn’t a long game...’

Cassia thought, looking at the other two with dawning horror.

’We never had a chance... That’s why he never touched us?’

all three understood simultaneously, the realization bitter.

Though Ren wasn’t thinking that. Rather he wanted to know what kind of pervert they thought he was to fail because of something like that?

Then the image of Roran’s group and his friends from his poor territory came to mind and he thought they would fall for this...

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad plan after all.

"It’s one of their plans," Cassia corrected. "Not the only one."

"Do you know the others?" Ren asked instantly.