Chapter 835: How Nnaive Can You Be?
Chapter 835: How Nnaive Can You Be?
Chris’s smile vanished for half a second before he forced it back. "Careful, Hunter. That mouth of yours is going to make people think you are protective.""I am eating."
"You keep saying very little, but you still have not denied that Sheila relies on you privately."
"Because your assumptions are still not my responsibility."
Chris leaned forward slightly. "If she depends on you, then the year deserves to know. If the princess needs a dark mage standing behind the curtain to keep her steady, perhaps she is not fit to command the second-years."
Liam looked at him, calm and cold.
He understood exactly what Chris was doing. He also understood the source of Chris’s confidence, which made the entire performance even more irritating. Chris thought he was using information. He did not understand that he was being used by someone better at this than he was. Isolde had given him enough to aim him, and his pride had filled the rest with arrogance. He was not a strategist in this moment. He was a sharpened object thrown by another hand.
And because Liam knew that, he restrained himself.
If he exposed that he knew about Isolde now, the advantage died. Chris would realize something was wrong. Isolde would adjust. Sheila’s test would change shape before she had a chance to face it properly. Beyond that, there was Queen Lucy to consider. Liam had no affection for Chris, but Chris was still her son. Humiliating him publicly or breaking him in the cafeteria would drag more politics into Liam’s life, and he was trying very hard not to let the day become even worse than it already was.
So Liam finished his meal.
Quietly.
That annoyed Chris more than any answer could have.
The silence stretched long enough that the students nearby began looking less certain. Chris kept speaking, tossing out polished lines about command, pressure, hidden weakness, and the difference between popularity and capability, but Liam gave none of it the weight Chris wanted. He ate. He drank water. He wiped his mouth with a napkin. He behaved as if Chris’s words were no more important than the distant scrape of a chair across the cafeteria.
Eventually, Liam set his utensils down and rose.