Chapter 653 - Taming the Fifth Year - Pledge - 3

"No!" Ren said quickly, realizing the problem. "Wait, yes I have a secret, but the secret isn’t about anything romantic."

The three brothers exchanged glances, silent communication passing between them.

His mana showed it was true. Completely true. No deception, no half-truths, just straightforward honesty.

Julius closed his eyes briefly, something like relief crossing his face. The tension that had been coiled in his shoulders released slightly. Victor completely loosened his grip on Ren’s shoulder, giving him an almost friendly pat instead.

Arturo opened his mouth, clearly wanting to ask more about that "secret" and what it implied exactly. His curiosity was evident, political instincts wanting to understand what Ren was hiding.

"It’s enough," Julius stopped him with a gesture, his hand raised again. "We already interrogated, said what we thought and... made our points clear."

He stood, approaching Ren. The interrogator becoming the advisor.

"Ren, I would appreciate it if you talked to Larissa. And recommend that you consider your future very carefully."

He paused, his eyes studying Ren’s face as someone who’d spent decades reading people.

"Because you shouldn’t bite off more than you can chew. And although everything could seem... ’tasty’, we must be measured. Choose well."

Julius’s tone was paternal but with an edge that communicated this wasn’t a suggestion but a warning. The kind of advice that carried consequences if ignored.

Ren swallowed, nodding. He understood. Or at least believed he understood what they were trying to tell him about multiple relationships.

Though he didn’t get why they were pushing Larissa to him... They wanted to get him like Selphira? Still... She was free to choose, he’d never use those ’politic shenanigans’ to pressure anyone, much less his friends.

Liora and Luna... They seemed interested in different ways.

But he’d have to see if those ’temporal crushes’ as his father calls them would not ’vanish easily’ by adulthood, then he’d see what to do.

"They never last, so don’t get too invested... It hurts!"

he used to say, trying to protect Ren’s heart.

’Yeah, good luck with that mess future me!’

The three brothers began moving toward the exit. Victor gave him another pat on the shoulder, this one definitely friendly. A gesture of approval, of acceptance into some unspoken club. Arturo looked at him for a long moment before nodding with something like reluctant approval, as if admitting Ren had passed a test he hadn’t known he was taking.

Julius stopped at the threshold, looking back with expression that had shifted to something warmer.

"By the way," he said with a more casual tone, the advisor voice replacing the usual prince, "look for her in the library. When Larissa gets like this, she tries to study or work on something to distract herself from her problems."

And with that, all three left, closing the door behind them with a soft click that somehow felt final.

Ren remained standing alone in Larissa’s empty room, processing what had just happened. The confrontation played back in his mind, each moment feeling surreal in retrospect.

He’d been interrogated. Subtly threatened. Warned about "biting off more than he could chew". And apparently the Dravenholm brothers thought he was trying to assemble some kind of... harem?

’Where did they get that idea?’

But then again:

Liora had admitted she liked him.. Luna had lied about ’not having any interest in him’ and was clearly upset about something related to the three new girls. Larissa was...

And from the outside, especially for protective brothers, it probably looked exactly like Arturo had described. A boy collecting girls, accumulating romantic interests without consideration for the complications.

Ren put a hand to his head, feeling a headache forming behind his eyes. The kind that came from emotional exhaustion rather than physical strain. But...

’The library. Larissa is in the library.’

He had to talk to her. Explain... something. About the three girls. About how he wasn’t "accumulating" anyone nor damaging the school or noble’s public image.

About how honestly he had no idea what he was doing in any aspect of this.

But first he needed a moment to breathe.

Because he’d just been threatened by three of the kingdom’s most powerful nobles about not breaking their sister’s heart.

And Ren wasn’t even sure what kind of relationship he had with Larissa to begin with.

Then that kiss, which still seemed like he’d dreamed it, returned to his mind. Had it been real? A product of fever and injury? Something between?

’This is a disaster,’

he thought, not for the first time that day.

And he had the suspicion it was going to get worse before it got better.

Especially when he had to talk to Liora and... Luna.

Whose mana had been more agitated than Larissa’s. More violent, more controlled, which somehow made it more frightening.

But first, the library.

First, Larissa.

One disaster at a time.

♢♢♢♢

Ren found Larissa in a corner of the library, surrounded by books she clearly wasn’t reading anymore.

He sensed her before seeing her completely. Her mana was a combination of emotions that Ren had caught easily: embarrassment, anxiety, and something deeper he couldn’t completely identify. Something vulnerable that she usually kept buried beneath layers of noble composure.

But the most notable thing was resignation. She already knew he was coming. Like him, she’d also felt his now not so hidden mana approaching. And in her "resigned" mana it was evident she’d decided not to flee this time.

Ren approached slowly, his steps deliberately unhurried to give her time to relax. When he reached her table, he stopped a meter away. Giving her space, not crowding her when she was already uncomfortable.

"Can I sit?" he asked with his softest voice.

Larissa nodded without looking at him, her eyes fixed on a book of lineage history that she definitely wasn’t reading.

Ren sat, the silence extending between them for several seconds that felt longer than they were. The library’s ambient sounds, distant page turns, soft footsteps, whispered conversations, seemed to fade, leaving just the two of them in their bubble of tension.

"Larissa, I..." he finally began, searching for words that wouldn’t make things worse, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to..."

"No," Larissa interrupted him, her voice surprisingly firm despite the tremor beneath it. She finally looked up to meet his eyes. "You don’t need to apologize. It’s me again."

She sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly with the release of her held breath.

"Although I always try to appear and maintain the dignified facade, in the end I’m an immature girl like always."

Ren laughed.