Chapter 208 - Taming Discrepancy

While Ren happily busied himself with preparations, a much tenser conversation was unfolding elsewhere in the academy.

Two days earlier...

Director Ignatius's office had always been an imposing space, with its shelves filled with ancient tomes and expensive pieces from bygone eras. The director's phoenix, partially manifested in the golden veins running across his skin, added an air of authority to the already intimidating office.

Facing him, Kassian Goldcrest maintained perfect posture, his expression carefully controlled despite the fury boiling beneath the surface.

"It's unacceptable," he declared in a cold voice. "A student missing for days, and nobody considered it necessary to inform me."

Director Ignatius reclined in his chair, studying the young Goldcrest with a penetrating gaze. There was something disturbingly calculating in how his eyes traversed Kassian's face, as if peeling away layers to see what lay beneath.