The Seductive Pretty Boy of the Matriarchal World-Chapter 28: Divine Assist

Elias Kane looked up and saw the young man who was absolutely not part of his plan standing there. He froze for a split second.

Thankfully his reaction was fast. While Tim Reed was still far enough away that even if he spotted him it wouldn’t be clear, Elias immediately dropped his head, rested both hands on his knees, and buried his face deep in the crook of his arm.

"Elias?"

Tim Reed walked over slowly, staring at the boy squatting under the tree, curled into a tight little ball. His face was full of disbelief. Only after getting right up close and looking several times did he finally confirm it was really Elias.

He was both excited and flustered. He bent down to pull Elias up, but the instant his hands touched him his whole body went rigid.

Tim felt Elias trembling lightly nonstop. He was...

Crying.

But no sound came out. Tim slowly squatted down, tilted his head, and listened carefully until he finally caught the faint whimpers—very soft, barely even sobs, more like choked little sounds, clearly being forced back.

It was as if someone had covered his mouth and he didn’t even dare cry freely, looking so pitiful it hurt.

Tim panicked instantly. "Don’t—don’t cry... What’s wrong? What happened?"

No matter what he said, Elias kept his head buried and refused to look up.

Tim didn’t dare force him. The grief and sadness were plain to see. Any move against his will would only hurt him more.

Tim pressed his lips together. He figured it had to be because he used to mock Elias all the time, so now he couldn’t earn any trust. Even though he’d already regretted it, Elias’s view of him wasn’t going to change overnight.

Tim bit his lower lip and said softly, "Elias, you didn’t come back to the dorm for two nights straight. We were all worried sick. This morning before it was even light out, the three of us went looking for you. We’ve been searching for over an hour..."

"I treated you like that before because I didn’t know about your family situation. I thought you were going to those places just to buy luxury stuff... I know I was wrong now. I’m really sorry."

By the time he finished, his face was burning red.

Elias listened to Tim’s sincere apology and felt a flicker of surprise.

He really hadn’t expected that one choked sob the other night to have this much power. It hadn’t turned Tim into a skeleton rising from the coffin to slap him, but it had genuinely shifted his impression and attitude.

Still, it wasn’t hard to understand. This was the top academy in the entire world. Anyone who got in had high overall quality.

There were definitely scumbags, but most people weren’t that bad.

Of course, he himself was the exception.

And Tim wasn’t clueless. He’d only targeted Elias before because he misunderstood him as a vain guy chasing luxury. The second he learned it was because of family money problems and Elias had no choice but to work at the nightclub, he regretted it on the spot.

It was just that these slag women weren’t normal. Their personalities all twisted to some weird extreme.

Elias slowly lifted his head, revealing a face covered in tears. His eyes were bloodshot, still misty with unshed tears.

Because of the motion his glasses slipped down onto his lap, his face completely exposed to Tim—pear blossoms battered by rain. Tim’s breath caught and his heart twisted hard.

"What happened to you?" Tim asked. His mind was total mush. He pulled out his phone to call. "The others are looking somewhere else. I’ll get them over here."

The others were the two other roommates. Tim figured they all needed to comfort Elias together right now.

"No!"

Elias suddenly grabbed Tim’s wrist and shook his head gently. "Don’t..." His voice was still shaking.

There was no strength in Elias’s grip—Tim could have shaken it off easily. But of course Tim didn’t. His own eyes were turning red as he forced down his discomfort and kept watching Elias, trying to figure out why he was so upset.

Tim’s pupils shrank. He finally noticed the sliver of neck Elias had exposed. It was deep, vivid red—the skin around his Adam’s apple had actually been broken. The rest of his neck was no better, covered in overlapping bruises, a total mess.

Even though Tim had never dated, he knew exactly what those were.

Hickeys!

No—if they were gentle kisses they couldn’t possibly look like this. Only reckless biting and sucking could cause something this bad.

In an instant Tim’s chest filled with rage. Of course it wasn’t aimed at Elias, but at whoever had hurt him like this. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

But no matter how furious he got, what could he actually do? With Elias’s family situation, Tim didn’t even have the right to tell him to stop. Elias needed the money. If Tim tried to stop him, where was he supposed to get it instead?

Right then Tim noticed Elias suddenly panicking, like he wanted to hide himself so no one would see.

He immediately looked around and his gaze locked onto a flash of silver hair.

It was Giselle Frost. Tim knew who she was—every guy on campus did. She was the universally acknowledged ice-cold campus goddess.

If Elias didn’t want Giselle to see him, it actually made sense...

Just as Tim thought that, he saw Giselle glance in their direction.

Even from a distance he could see her cold brows knitting together.

Why was Giselle looking at them? Two random guys huddled together shouldn’t draw her attention. Tim knew he had zero connection to her, so the only explanation was...

Giselle knew Elias.

But how did they even know each other...

The hickeys.

In a flash Tim filled in what he thought was the complete truth. Without overthinking it, he shouted coldly at Giselle, who was planning to ignore them and walk right past, "Giselle Frost, stop right there!"

Elias’s eyes widened a fraction. In his heart: Good brother!

What a god-tier assist.

Giselle clearly had no intention of acknowledging him, but after Tim’s shout she stopped. She stood there for a moment, then turned and walked over.

Tim watched Giselle approach slowly. All the momentum he’d felt inside mysteriously drained away. Even meeting her eyes felt difficult.

Elias knew it would be unfair to leave Tim facing her alone right now. He leaned against the tree root and started to stand.

Tim noticed and helped him up steadily.

Giselle stopped in front of Elias and said indifferently, "What do you want?"

"N-nothing..." Elias answered softly, the faint tremor of crying still in his voice.

Giselle frowned again. She could see what had happened to him, but she had no time for other people’s drama.

Still exactly like last time—weak and nauseatingly pathetic.

Giselle was about to leave when her final glance landed on the large exposed stretch of Elias’s neck. Red and purple marks everywhere, like a woman deliberately showing off the traces she’d left, glaringly dazzling.

Giselle’s eyes turned violent in an instant.