The young noble evaluated him, clearly trying to determine if Ren was someone important or simply audacious. His eyes swept from Ren's expensive 'off-colored tunic' down to his polished 'comfortable-first' boots, then back up again with growing confusion. The clothing style screamed new wealth, and the face was unfamiliar.
"Your family," he repeated with a tone suggesting disbelief, his lip curling slightly. "And who exactly are you?"
Ren simply looked at the noble without changing his neutral expression and sighed, somewhere between bored and annoyed at "this type of thing".
He'd dealt with enough entitled nobles at the academy to recognize the pattern, the posturing, the assumed superiority, the need to establish dominance over anyone perceived as inferior.
The butler, positioned discreetly behind Ren, considered intervening. His hand twitched toward his side, where a formal introduction card rested, but only correctly used for higher ranked nobles than his employer…
