Reina shifted nervously in her seat. Rin wanted to tell her to stop fidgeting and sit up straight, but he was just as nervous as she was.
Collin had gone out to fetch Alia and the MC. Currently, the only thing separating Rin from the original MC was a wooden door.
*knock*
"Sir, I’ve brought your guests. Should I bring them in?"
The butler asked in a low voice.
"You can bring them in now."
Rin hoped his voice sounded strong, but he had no confidence in himself. He had grown up beside one of the female leads of the novel, so eting a character wasn’t anything new for him. But he still felt tense and excited as he waited for Albus to enter.
His first impression of Albus was...strange.
Rin had expected to be awestruck by the flashy guy in front of him. The original novel described Albus as a dashing youth with flaming hair and passionate eyes. Moreover, his looks were what caused so female leads to fall for him.
So Rin had naturally assud him to be beyond handso and charming.
The youth in front of him was all those things. But sohow, he was also "sowhat...ordinary.
Rin was not a vain guy who liked praising himself, but he had eyes. He was born with a good pedigree as well as wealthy, famous parents. It was natural for him to be surrounded by better-than-decent faces.
So, while Rin wasn’t trying to nitpick, he could not call Albus’s face the most striking he had ever seen. But he could also not call it average.
There existed a line between average and mind-blowing where a face made people turn and look twice, but not enough to recall for a lifeti.
But Albus opened his mouth and his sly voice reached Rin’s ear.
"Sir, you look quite young. I never expected soone as young as you to be able to handle running such a successful settlent."
Albus’s sweet words were filled with unnecessary flattery. He was deliberately embellishing his words to leave a good impression on Rin. His eyes did not look away from Rin for even a second the entire ti but he seed well aware of the tension between Alia and Reina.
"Thank you for the complint. Now, shall we get to business? What brings you to our settlent?"
Rin knew what had brought the MC here. But now was not the ti to show off his knowledge. His task here was to assure Albus that Rin was harmless and that there was no need to be on guard around him.
Albus looked taken aback by his question but he imdiately recovered and gave Rin a smile.
"I ca here because Shelly recomnded this place to . She told how her ’childhood friend’ ran this place and she wanted to co here. We initially decided to head here together, but the plans changed...but I finally made it all the way here."
Not only did Albus push all the bla on Shelly, but he was also putting Rin’s friendship in front of him like a weapon. He was subtly hinting that this was all Shelly’s wish to make Rin back down and accept him.
Seeing the MC use Shelly’s na for his own profit left a sour taste in Rin’s mouth, but his consciousness pricked him and reminded him that he was not much different when it ca to using people.
[User, aren’t you glad you found soone so similar to you in nature? Why don’t you and Albus beco best friends]
’We might be similar, but I at least have manners to not purposely exploit my people. I don’t think it’s fair for you to lump us together.’
Rin felt irritated and complained to the system. The system had nothing more to say, but the initial rebuttal left a sour taste in Rin’s mouth.
Albus noticed the slight shift in the mood and imdiately pressed forward to take advantage of the situation.
"If you are still unsure about my credibility, you can call Shelly and confirm my story with her. And also-"
"No, it’s fine. I believe you. Moreover, you have Alia with you, so that’s a good enough reason to allow you entry into my settlent."
Rin stopped Albus before he could say anything more. He looked at Alia instead, who seed to be getting more and more uncomfortable by the second. She was looking around with a frown on her face and her hands twitched by her side.
But the reason Rin was he wasn’t focused on her attitude, but on Reina’s.
Reina had frozen in shock and hadn’t taken a single step toward her sister. It was up to Rin to prompt her forward and make the situation less awkward.
"Anyway, I understand your situation well. You are soone who saved Shelly and Alia’s life. As such, I’m inclined to believe that you are a decent person. Reina will show you to your rooms."
Reina flinched at Rin’s decision. Her eyes moved from Rin to Alia before they softened and she nodded.
"I got it. You two can follow ."
Albus looked surprised at how smooth this interaction went. His eyes narrowed, likely wondering how he could make use of this situation.
But Reina walked past the open door and looked back at the pair with a raised brow.
"Please follow quickly. We do not have a whole day to spend here."
Albus nodded and followed behind her. But Alia looked even more hesitant than before. Her gaze flickered when she looked at Rin and conflict sparked in her eyes.
"You...did you co to save before...no, forget about it."
She muttered the first part of the question before she decided to abandon it and decided she didn’t want to know.
Rin saw her struggling with her thoughts and he felt sorry for her. So, he decided to call out to her once before she left the room.
"I don’t know what is bothering you right now, but since we are forr classmates, I will give you so advice. It would be better to talk things out instead of keeping them bottled up and letting them fester. The choice is yours to make, but I do hope that you would consider my advice"
Alia suddenly looked a little sick. She bit her lip and diverted her gaze away from him.
"I-I will think about it."
She was not going to think about it. Knowing her nature, she would let it fester until soone forced her to speak.
*sigh*
’It looks like I will have to count on Reina to handle this situation.’
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