Chapter 220: Lysandra’s Confrontation

"Wait... is it because I didn’t tell her? Or is it because I told her the items I sent were for her but used that as a disguise to enter? Or was it because I lied to her earlier when she asked if I was offended by Melissa’s comment?" Kaelen exhaled wearily.

She sure had a ton of reasons to be mad at him.

Kaelen wasn’t an expert with women and didn’t want to just apologise for something he had no idea about. Her annoyance could be the result of anything, including things he hadn’t even mentioned.

He groaned in frustration and sat up on his bed to focus better.

There was no way to know what was on her mind without asking, and there was no guarantee she wouldn’t just lie and say she was fine.

Kaelen might not be an expert with women, but the one thing he could do was pay her a visit and ask her to her face. She probably wouldn’t lie to his face, right?

"Whatever. Let’s just do it."

Switch.

Kaelen’s shadow was still lurking in Lysandra’s lobby, so he simply directed it to her room and swapped places with it.

His vision blurred for a moment before he appeared in the middle of her room, expecting to surprise her from behind because she should probably have been cultivating on the balcony, as she had been when he met her last time. Instead, he was surprised when she spotted him before he could even see her.

"Kaelen?" Her voice called out to his side, but her tone lacked the element of surprise.

Kaelen tilted his head to see her sitting up on the bed.

"Oh, were you sleeping?" he asked in surprise.

She slowly shook her head. "No. What are you doing here?"

Kaelen moved towards the bed and plopped down on his back beside her, surprise flashing across her face.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing? Am I not allowed to pay you a visit? Have you forgotten I said I’d come after I attempted the Third Floor? I already did that, and now you’re chasing me away?"

"Ah, that’s not—"

"And what’s the meaning of this reply? Why does it sound like you hate me now after I took care of your bully? Don’t tell me you’ve already gotten attached to your teammates here."

"Kaelen, it’s not like that..."

"If you think I’m a terrible person, just come out and say it. I came here so you could say that to my face without hiding your cold emotions behind the screen."

"You totally misunderstood me. That’s not what—"

"It’s okay if you don’t want to party up with me again. But does that mean we’ll become strangers after all the time we spent together? Don’t you think that’s unfair—"

"KAELEN." She suddenly raised her voice, making Kaelen pause abruptly. "Will you let me at least say something? I asked if you were offended by what happened on the second floor, but you said it was fine and you didn’t care. You also said you’d send something to help me recover, and I was happy you weren’t angry and even sent me a gift, only for you to sneak into my lobby by deceiving me and torturing my party member behind my back.

"Though I don’t sympathise with her in any way, would it have hurt to tell me you wanted to retaliate? And when I asked about it, you casually told me about it like it meant nothing to you and like I was a nobody.

"You said that if we wanted to work together as a team, then I’d have to follow your instructions without question. I always felt like I might be doing too much and that I was irritating to be around you. But now I’ve come to realise I’m not entirely the problem. You’re just terrible at communication, and if you’d always give me the benefit of hearing you out and explain your plans like we’re supposed to be a team before throwing yourself into danger, then we wouldn’t be having this issue where it always seems like I’m the problem.

"How hard is it to acknowledge me as a person with feelings and not one of your emotionless shadow summons? Is that your definition of loyalty? Or am I not good enough for you?"

Kaelen froze on the spot as he stared at Lysandra venting her frustration until she was out of breath. Her face was red now, and her eyes looked tired.

He was only joking when he kept interrupting her with his repeated dialogue, but never expected her to crash out on him.

It turned out that he wasn’t far from the truth. She was angry at everything about him. And listening to her now, Kaelen couldn’t refute a single point she made, though he had his personal reasons for every single one of them.

But then, this was the first time he was seeing her display so much emotion and speak her mind without the fear of annoying him or having a disagreement.

Kaelen felt terrible because, if he was being honest with himself, up until that moment, he had only ever considered Lysandra one of his Transcendant trophies who wouldn’t betray him under any circumstances—no different from SKD and his shadow summons.

He even treated Kenora better and with more intention and consideration.

He opened his mouth several times to speak but had no idea what to say at that moment. He was just terrible with people.

"I-I’m sorry..." he said softly.

Lysandra, who had moved her gaze away from him after venting, shifted it back to him with a complicated expression. Then she leaned forward and pulled him into a tight embrace, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I didn’t mean to make you feel this way. I only want you to see me as a person... and as a woman..." she said and pulled back to cup his face in her hand and look into his dull gray eyes.

She hesitated for a moment, before she slowly leaned forward.