16 ROYALE ACADEMY III

When he lined up to get some food, Hillary and Brigette waved their hands towards him. "Are you buying lunch for Rina, too?" Hillary asked while moving slowly to get to the front since there were still other students queueing ahead of them. "Do you even know what she likes to eat?"

"I can take a guess based on what they have at home." Nicholas responded which made the other students lining up behind him to gasp in surprise.

'It's really true! He's living with Serina's family.'

'He even dared to guess what that ice queen likes to eat based on the things in her home.'

The students started sending messages to their chat groups and even posted comments on the public forum. As for Nicholas, he wasn't aware of the forum yet but he was aware that people were talking about him and Serina.

"Don't be silly." Brigette told Nicholas and moved a little to let him see the food being displayed. "Serina likes to eat 2 servings of squid rings, no rice, a ham and egg sandwich, plus 2 cartoons of strawberry milk."

"Huh? That's all? She was so grumpy earlier but these are the only things she eats for lunch?" Nicholas asked in disbelief. He was almost slapped with the books from stopping Serina earlier but it turned out, she was only in a hurry for these several foods. "No wonder she's very skinny."

"You call her skinny? Then, what would those real skinny people be called?" Hillary questioned in exasperation. "Also, have you gotten your meal card?"

"Nope. Can't I pay cash here?" The students behind them giggled upon hearing his response but when he looked around, they instantly stopped laughing and looked away to avoid his gaze. "I just transferred here, alright. I have still so many things to do. You can't expect me to have my meal card right now."

"Fine. Fine. I'll lend you my meal card."

"How about I transfer money to your card?"

"That's fine, too." Hillary handed her card and Nicholas opened his bank account using his fingerprint. He scanned the QR code on the meal card and sent a hundred dollar to Hillary. It wasn't really on purpose but the students behind him caught a glance of his bank account and saw his balance.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Hillary asked when she checked the balance. "I don't think my best friend's meal would cost this much."

"Include mine on that."

"Well, okay." Hillary didn't press on this matter anymore because it was their turn to queue up. They ordered Serina's meal and Nicholas ordered his meal, too, along with Hillary's order.

None of them noticed that several people behind them were unmoving and pale. They were shocked silly when they caught sigh of the numbers on Nicholas' account. It can be considered invading someone's privacy and because of this, no matter how much other students ask what happens, they made excuses just and tried hard to forget what they saw.

Serina watched her two best friends and the annoying transferee talked while lining up, watched them order her food which was really the things she had in mind and watched them left the line to get back to their table. When Nicholas placed the tray of food on the table, he slowly pushed his chair a bit closer towards Serina's spot.

"Stay away from me." Serina mumbled while pulling her food tray. "I'll pay you back later."

"Ha? No need. There's no need to." Nicholas replied as he waved his hand in dismissal. "I owe your family a lot so there's no need."

Serina gulped hard and looked at her food. She was deeply worried of her future. 'How should I deal with this person?' Serina thought as she started eating the squid rings. 'This is really getting out of hand.'

Nicholas was considered the strongest alpha in many werewolf packs which makes other werewolf stray away from his path. He's dutiful and intelligent but in front of the woman he considered his mate in this very early stage, he seems relax and jolly. He didn't exude the intimidating pressure at all.

Not long after, the four of them finished eating their lunch and was about to leave the cafeteria to go back to their next class when Serina turned around to look at the man who suddenly appeared in her life. "What will you be doing this afternoon?" Serina asked with her raised eyebrow.

"I'm going back to your house. If it's okay with you, I can stay and wait –"

"Just go home. There's no need to wait for me."

Nicholas was a little bit disappointed but he didn't disobey her. He already crossed her line and made her upset for almost an hour. He wouldn't want her to be irritated and have her smack him on the face. "Fine. I'll go home. Make sure you come back early, too."

Serina didn't say anything and left Nicholas alone in the cafeteria. The latter didn't mind and just smiled. He already mapped out his plans to let her grow close and accustom to his presence. He only needed time.

After staying for half an hour, Nicholas finally decided to come home. On his way home, he sensed a strong psychic power around him but when he tried to track the source, it vanished like a bubble during summer. He tried so hard to track it again but it was to no avail.

The elders who were scouring the city to find the source of this psychic powers couldn't do anything as well. Whenever they felt closer to the source, it automatically shuts and blocked anyone from pushing through. They still couldn't find were the dragon resides.

On the other hand, during this short unleash of psychic energy, Serina was actually talking to her father, telling him how Nicholas found him and the severity of the danger that lurks around her. As a father, Michael didn't want her to suffer any injustice just because of what happened in the past. Michael promised that he'd settle it before breaking the mind link, withdrew his own psychic energy and blocked any trackers.

His mind was in disarray. He tried so hard to make sure that his daughter won't meet their guest but, in the end, Nicholas still found Serina in the campus.

"What shall we do now?" Irene asked her husband as the two of them sat around their kitchen table. Both of them wore anxious expressions and were worried of Serina's welfare. The quotation of 'letting a wolf inside one's house' was literally applied to them and this wolf wasn't the normal type. One wrong move and three lives will directly perish from the face of the earth.

'Knock! Knock! Knock!'

There were three knocks on the front door but before Michael could stand up to see who it was, the door was swung open and Nicholas came inside. "Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth."

"Good afternoon, Nick." Michael greeted after changing the expression on his face.

Nicholas looked at the man in front of him for several seconds before giving out a faint smile. His gut feeling was telling him that there was something wrong but whenever he looked at the couple, he couldn't point out what was keeping him on edge. "By the way, I met your daughter in the campus earlier. She looked fine."

"Was she?" Irene asked without really expecting any answers coming from the young man but Nicholas proved her wrong. He's got so many things he wanted to say about Serina.

"Is she really a manhater? Although she looked a bit boyish in her actions, her feminine charm wasn't covered. Also, she's eating too little at lunch. Anyway, I won't bother her anymore. I'll go back to my room now." He wanted to say more but he didn't want to scare them if they knew that the man they kindly accepted to their home has different motive towards their daughter.

Nicholas thought that things will change after he met Serina in Royale Academy but reality was far from his expectation. She completely avoided him by applying to stay in the school dorm. 'She dislikes me that much?'