Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 648

Chapter 648: Chapter 648 - Taming the Fifth Year - Multiwalled Fortress - 3

The following days established a strange but not unpleasant pattern.

The three girls appeared in private places, generally in Aldric’s classroom instead of their respective tutor classes, for the "social practice sessions". Aldric had insisted that Ren dedicate at least one daily hour to this, and Ren, genuinely thinking it was part of his noble education, had accepted.

But the sessions rarely were what he anticipated.

Ren began noticing patterns. Small things that initially seemed innocent but that, when accumulated, created a strange sensation. Like pieces of a puzzle he couldn’t quite see the full picture of.

Cassia had the habit of touching his arm when she asked a question. Only briefly, only a light touch, but consistent. Her fingers would rest on his forearm for just a moment, warm through the fabric of his sleeve, always when making a point or seeking his attention.

Seraphina positioned herself always so he had to look at her directly when speaking, her clear blue eyes maintaining eye contact that lasted one second longer than normal. Not aggressive, not challenging, but intense in a way that made awareness of her presence impossible to ignore.

Jeannette laughed at his jokes, even the ones that weren’t particularly funny, with a warmth that seemed designed to make him feel intelligent and entertaining. Her laughter had this quality of genuine delight that made him want to be funnier, more interesting, better.

Individually, they were small gestures. Together... Ren wasn’t sure what to think.

’Social practice sure is more complex than I thought.’

♢♢♢♢

And things got more complicated.

Well... The one who complicated things in his mind now was Larissa.

Larissa, who lately was acting... different.

It started subtly. Small changes that Ren almost didn’t notice at first. Things so minor they could be dismissed as imagination or coincidence.

During their practice sessions, Larissa began finding excuses to touch his hand when correcting his posture. "Your wrist needs to be straighter," she’d say, her fingers adjusting the angle with touches that lasted a second longer than necessary. Her skin was always warm, her grip gentle but firm, and Ren found himself hyperaware of each contact. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The corrections became more frequent. More unnecessary... redundant, perhaps? Though Ren couldn’t be sure. Maybe he was just that bad at this.

When they walked together between classes, she positioned herself closer than usual. Not invasively close, but enough that Ren was hyperconscious of her presence. Close enough that he could smell the subtle scent of perfume that always seemed to cling to her hair. Close enough that their shoulders would occasionally brush, sending small jolts of awareness through him that he tried to ignore.

And there were moments where Larissa would open her mouth as if to say something important, only to close it and change topics abruptly. Her expression would shift, something vulnerable flashing across her features before being buried under her usual composed mask.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked her one day after she’d stopped mid-sentence for the third time. They were in one of the private study rooms.

"Yes," Larissa responded too quickly, her voice slightly higher than normal. "Just... thinking."

"About what?"

"Things," was the cryptic response. She looked away, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of her book in a rare display of nervous energy.

Ren frowned, concerned. Larissa was almost never evasive with him. Never uncertain. She usually was the one with confident answers lately.

"Larissa, if something’s wrong, you can tell me," he said gently.

She looked at him then, really looked at him, with an intensity that made his breath stop. Her eyes held something he couldn’t name, something that made the room suddenly feel smaller, warmer.

"I know," she said softly. Then, quieter, almost to herself: "That’s the problem."

"What?"

"Nothing." She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. "Let’s continue with the posture practice."

But the strange moments kept happening.

The strange thing was that Ren started noticing similarities.

The way Larissa found excuses to touch him during practice... was similar to how Cassia touched his arm. The same duration of contact. The same warmth. The same awareness it created.

The way Larissa positioned herself closer lately... reminded him of how Seraphina always made sure to be in his line of sight. Always there, always present, impossible to ignore.

The way Larissa seemed to seek his approval, his attention... wasn’t so different from how Jeannette laughed at his silly jokes. That same quality of wanting him to notice, to appreciate, to... something.

It was as if Larissa was... trying to teach him ’social practice’? But that didn’t make sense.

Larissa was his friend and a royal, therefore superior. Weren’t the lessons supposed to be about interacting with someone unknown of lower rank? Shouldn’t she maybe use Maria to teach him that?

’Strange,’ he thought while evading a small group near the library. ’Maybe Aldric’s girls are very efficient... or maybe they already got bored of not being able to catch me and only the elite are hard to beat with my level of ’social practice’.’

’Social practice does work,’ he concluded naively.

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