Chapter 300 She''s Mine!
Academy, Behind the Cafeteria.
Under the shade of a tree.
Lia, who was sitting on the bench, nced to the side and smiled at Rio, who had just arrived.
"I knew you woulde here…" N?v(el)B\\jnn
No one knows Rio better than her; she saw that interview and knew that Rio was really bored, and he will definitelye to this spot to rx.
Rio nodded his head and sat down beside her.
"Although it was quite troublesome, it was a decent experience to take that interview… I don''t really want to do it again, though; it''s quite troublesome…"
Lia also nodded her head in agreement with Rio''s words and said,
"Yeah, you looked like you were having a lot of trouble trying to fabricate lies, haha, that was kind of cute though~"
Rio shook his head and said,
"Being called cute doesn''t make me feel good at all, sigh~"
Lia ignored thoseints and rested her head on his shoulder before speaking.
"By the way, I didn''t get the chance to tell you this during the award ceremony, so let me say it now… You looked very handsome that day, just like a prince!"
A slight smile appeared on Rio''s expressionless face after hearing that praise from her.
"Well, if you like it that much, I would have to start focusing on fashion sense then-"
Before Rio could finish his sentence, Lia directly sealed his lips with hers and stopped him from talking.
Even Rio was taken aback by her sudden move, as he didn''t expect her to be the one to take the initiative.
Lia leaned back and said, with a smile,
"Unfortunately, we were at a public event that day; otherwise, this youngdy would have eaten you alive, hehe~"
Rio was really surprised at Lia''s assertive tone today. He tilted his head in confusion and asked,
"Where did you learn these flirting techniques? I don''t remember Lia being this bold…"
A smug look appeared on Lia''s face. She puffed up her chest in pride and said,
"Of course I learned these from Ellie! She''s done a lot of research on how to flirt with Liam, so I took some tips from her…"
"So, what do you say? Was it effective?"
Rio nodded his head in response to her question.
"Yeah… it was perhaps too effective; actually, I nearly got a heart attack from that…"
While saying that, Rio gave an imaginary thumbs-up gesture to Ellie in his mind while saying,
''Excellent work, Partner!''
Just then, Rio remembered something, and he brought out the vouchers from his space ring.
"By the way, I got these vouchers from Mr. Jin; how about we go on a date this Sunday?"
Lia hurriedly nodded her head at those words and agreed.
"Yes! We should go!"
…
Liam''s dorm room.
*achoo!*
"Er… is someone talking about me behind my back?"
Ellie narrowed her eyes and pretended to be on guard while looking all around her.
Liam rolled his eyes at those words.
"You are thinking too much… Hey! Kazto! I said, Don''t steal those cookies!"
Wearing an apron with a bunny design on it, Liam was baking cookies for his summoned beasts.
Although he lost the championship, he is still a part of Team Astra, and Rio''s victory meant that the whole team Astra had won.
Thus, to celebrate this victory, he baked cookies right after returning home, but Kazto kept sneaking around to steal them before they were fully baked.
Ellie nced at Liam''s apron and said, with a teasing smile over her face.
"Master, you look like good husbando material! That is why I like…. Your cooking! Haha…"
(She was about to say, ''I like you'' but changed it mid-way…)
Liam didn''t take her words seriously at all and said,
"No point in trying to tter me, Ellie; I will give equal amounts of cookies to each one of you-"
*Ding**Dong!*
Liam nced at the door with a frown on his face,
''Hmm, I don''t remember Rio and others saying that they would visit me, so who could it be now?''
"Ellie, go open the door and see who it is… If it''s Link, then tell him to piss off! I won''t give him any more cookies for Riya!"
Apart from Rio and the others, Liam doesn''t have any close friends, and aside from Link, no one is rude enough to visit without giving a prior message.
That''s why Liam''s first guess was that Link must havee to visit.
Just as Ellie was about to get up, the door opened by itself, and a tall, purple-haired man walked in.
Ellie immediately moved and defended Liam behind him after catching a single nce at that man.
Liam frowned and spoke in an irritated tone.
"What do you need, Old Man? Don''t you know it''s a crime to break into someone''s room without permission?"
Neo ignored Liam''s question and sat down on the couch nearby while saying,
"Hoh… You seem quite fascinated with your ''tools''; you are even cooking for them? Such bullsh*t…"
Ellie tried to stop Liam, but he pushed her aside, walked over to Neo''s side, and said with an angry face,
"Those are not my tools! My summoned beasts are like friends to me! You have no right to judge what I do with my summoned beasts…"
Neo crossed his legs and clicked his tongue before speaking.
"Look, kiddo, you are wasting your time by staying here; you should live back in the family mansion, and there I can train you personally when you are free from your academy sses…"
Neo cast a chilly nce at Ellie and Kazto before speaking.
"Tch! If you had trained them more strictly, you wouldn''t have lost to that random kid from the slums…"
The more Neo talked, the more Liam frowned at him.
"Rio is not from slums; don''t insult him!… also it''s my choice how I train my summoned beasts; you have no say in this matter…"
Neo was irritated by Liam''s tone, and he wanted to reprimand him, but then he remembered Ashtel''s words:
''You should talk it out properly with your son; how long are you going to create problems with him?'' (A reference to ch. 212.)
Neo took a deep breath to calm his mind before he spoke.
"Look, all I want to say is that you shoulde back home… Your mother has been worried about you for a long time now…"
Neo, being a person who has be used to talking in a twisted manner, can''t express his regrets properly; he can''t talk kindly, and his mentality is just too different from Liam.
Neo treats his summoned beasts as mere tools, and he never attaches his feelings to them.
He has permanently lost hundreds of his summoned beasts in battle, endured significant sacrifices, and witnessed the death of his most beloved summoned beasts directly before him.
He doesn''t want that to happen to Liam; he wants to tell Liam that he shouldn''t attach his feelings to the summoned beasts, otherwise he will regret it when he loses them.
For a summoner, attaching their feelings to the summoned beasts is very deadly.
The summoned beasts are bound by contracts, but once they die permanently, they will go back to the spirit realm, and this is inevitable.
As a result, a summoner should be ready to discard his summoned beasts at any time.
Although he wants to tell Liam all this, Neo can''t say it because he feels it''s just too awkward to talk his heart out with him.
He is a prime example of an awkward father who, due to mimunication, ruined his rtionship with his son and now finds himself unsure of how to repair it.
Liam scowled in response to Neo''s remarks,
"Look, I will not go back to that house, even if you kill me! As for my mother, I will video call her… or she can juste here to visit me!"
Liam doesn''t like the atmosphere at his home; all his siblings hate him for his amazing talent, and he doesn''t like living under the constant surveince of those hatred-filled eyes.
Liam nced at Ellie and said,
"Ellie, guide the guest to the door; tell him that he is not wee here…"
Hearing Liam''s words, Ellie scratched the back of her neck and didn''t move.
Although she is Liam''s summoned beast, she doesn''t want to make things worse with an SS-ranker like Neo.
If Neo gets angry, it will be difficult to protect Liam from him.
But before Ellie could say anything, Neo got up by himself and said to her,
"Ellie, I leave the safety of my son in your hands; if you have any need for enhancement items, you can contact me-"
Liam gripped Ellie''s hand tightly and red at Neo before speaking.
"Don''t act so familiar with her! She''s mine!"
Seeing Liam act so protective of her, Neo took ast nce at those two and left while sighing.
"Kiddo, you are putting your heart in the wrong ce... If you don''t stop now, you will get hurt…"
Neo shook his head before saying those words, and then left quietly.
Liam kept ring at his back until he left the room.
"Tch! He ruined the happy mood… sigh~"
Liam let go of Ellie''s hand and went back to baking cookies with an irritated look on his face.
Ellie''s face, on the other hand, had turned red for some reason, and Liam''s words, ''She''s mine!'' kept ringing in her mind.
…
…