Reborn into Beast Tamer Clan with Monsters-Only Affinity-Chapter 69: Mysterious girl

Still laughing, he picked up the fancy teacup he stole and drank from it straight to the mouth, not even bothering with proper manners, since he didn’t bring any cup or plate with him. As the warm tea slid down his throat, he suddenly froze and tilted his head up, eyes narrowing.

"Whoa," he murmured under his breath, "this is the first time I saw someone with the same hair color as mine."

Owen blinked, licking a bit of frosting from a small cupcake he was nibbling. "What are you talking about?"

Axelius stood up and pointed to the tree in front of them. Owen followed his finger and saw it too—a girl sitting high up on a thick tree branch, her back leaning against the trunk, a book in her hand. She had soft black hair just like his, tied loosely behind her back, and wore a simple black silk mask that covered her lower face.

"She didn’t hear us, did she?" Axelius asked, lowering his voice a little.

"She’s pretending," Owen replied, already bored. "Don’t bother her. Just finish your food and get back to your room before someone sees you."

But when Owen turned to look back at Axelius, the boy was already halfway up the tree. "Axel! Seriously?! You’re so stubborn!" he shouted, hovering helplessly below.

Axelius climbed with ease, swinging around one branch, then jumping to another until he reached the other side of the tree and sat down on a branch opposite the girl. His legs dangled lazily, and he leaned forward slightly.

"Hi!" he greeted with a big grin.

The girl didn’t say anything. She just looked up at him with calm blue eyes that shimmered like glass, then returned to reading her book like he didn’t exist.

Axelius blinked. "Whoa... what beautiful blue eyes. They look like stars," he whispered to himself, feeling oddly drawn to the way she didn’t care about him at all.

He waved again. "Hey, are you deaf? Can you hear? Why are you not talking?"

Still, no answer.

So with a loud sigh, he stood up, balanced himself carefully, and moved over to her branch, squatting right in front of her face and waving his hand again. "Helloooo~"

But before he could say more, the girl snapped her book closed, stood up in one smooth motion, and jumped down from the branch like a leaf falling softly. Axelius’s jaw dropped.

"Whoa," he muttered, then immediately started climbing down, bouncing from branch to branch in a hurry.

When he got close to the ground, he jumped down fast and landed directly on Owen.

"Ow! What the heck, Axel?!" Owen shouted as he flattened from the impact.

"Thanks!" Axelius said, already running ahead, chasing the girl who was walking calmly across the path. He rushed forward and quickly stepped in front of her, arms spread out to block her path.

"Hey, I’m talking to you, kid!"

The girl stopped and looked up at him slowly. Her eyes moved from his boots to his face like she was sizing up some cheap toy at a store. Axelius frowned at her stare.

"Oh, attitude?! Do you even know who I am?!"

But the girl simply stepped forward, stared him straight in the face, and said calmly, "You look more like a kid than me."

Then she brushed past him, bumping his shoulder lightly, and walked away like nothing happened.

Axelius blinked, stunned.

He turned to look at her as she walked away, and only now realized that his height reached her neck. He stared in disbelief, She’s taller than him and thought that she just insulted him.

"What the fuck?! If you think you’re cute, you’re not! You think I talked to you because you’re cute?! No! You ungrateful... cut—ugly brat!" he shouted after her, kicking the dirt with his foot, his cheeks slightly red with frustration.

He stormed back toward the tree, muttering curses and insults under his breath the whole time, stomping with each step like a child throwing a tantrum.

Behind him, Owen floated while chuckling. "Oh wow. You got rejected by a girl taller than you. That’s new."

"Shut up!" Axelius snapped, climbing back up onto the branch and biting angrily into a muffin like it had insulted him too.

Axelius bit into the muffin so hard the crumbs exploded out the sides, his brows twitching in frustration as he sat cross-legged on the branch, sulking. Owen hovered beside him, arms crossed behind his little back, wearing the widest grin his tiny face could stretch.

"I told you not to bother her," Owen said in a sing-song voice, bouncing. "But nooo, you just had to go up and say hi. Look where that got you."

Axelius didn’t answer at first, just stared straight ahead while chewing angrily like the muffin personally offended him.

"And you got wrecked," Owen added, spinning upside-down in the air with a mocking laugh. "She called you a kid, man. Oof."

Axelius finally snapped, his voice low and muttering. "She looked like the same age as me..."

"Yeah," Owen quickly replied, "but taller."

Axelius’s head jerked around, and he glared at Owen with fire in his eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?! Height doesn’t mean age!"

Owen smirked, still floating upside-down. "No, but it makes her look older. You, on the other hand... I mean, someone already mistake you for a dwarf."

"I am not a dwarf!" Axelius shouted, fists clenched as he stood up on the branch, making it wobble dangerously. "She’s just tall! Like... freakishly tall for her age!"

"Uh-huh," Owen said, floating higher, clearly enjoying the chaos. "She’s tall, graceful, quiet, mysterious, and smarter than you."

"She’s not smarter than me!" Axelius shot back, pointing a finger up at Owen. "She’s just quiet! that’s all!"

"While you, Loud and stomp-y," Owen teased. "And short."

"I swear, if you weren’t a slime—"

"You’d stomp me too?" Owen cut in.

Axelius groaned, plopping down again on the branch, dragging his hands down his face. "Ughhh, what even was that girl? With her mask and her book and that stupid glittering hair..."

"She has the same hair color as you," Owen reminded with a wink. "But I think she wears it better."

"Oh, shut up!" Axelius grabbed another muffin and stuffed it in his mouth like it was Owen’s face, chewing hard and angrily while grumbling between bites. "This is all your fault."

"My fault?" Owen gasped. "You’re the one who thought she’d fall in love with your weird tree-branch ’Hi!’ routine."

"I wasn’t flirting, I’m curious!" Axelius yelled with his mouth full, crumbs flying.

"Could’ve fooled me," Owen hummed. "Climbing trees, waving at her, calling her eyes sparkling... Sounds like love at first height difference."

"I’m going to throw you."

"Go ahead," Owen giggled. "I don’t have bones."

Axelius groaned again, leaning back against the tree trunk and muttering to himself. "Ugh, she made me look like a total idiot..."

"You made yourself look like a total idiot," Owen corrected proudly.

"Can we just go back to the room now? Before I start stomping random nobles?" Axelius grumbled, finishing the muffin and brushing off crumbs.

"Sure," Owen bounce closer. "But don’t trip over your pride on the way down."

"Seriously, Owen..."

"Okay, okay," Owen laughed, leading the way back Axelius kept grumbling, still red-faced and annoyed. But even then, he couldn’t help glancing back one last time toward the tree where the girl had been.

’Why was I’m so annoyed at her?’