In the living room, Serena watched the drama unfold from a safe distance. Seeing that tensions had peaked, she hurried forward and hugged James's arm, gently patting his back to soothe his anger.
"Uncle James, don't be angry," she said. "Iris hasn't had much schooling, so she's just very blunt. She doesn't mean any harm."
"Doesn't mean any harm?" That single sentence only fueled James's rage even further. "She doesn't mean any harm, yet she blatantly stole your room? She didn't even greet her elders! She's arrogant and lacks basic manners. If you let her stay with the Sherwood family, she'll bring disaster upon all of you sooner or later and drag the whole family down!"
He glared at Iris, a dark and sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "You ignorant little brat, someone like you wants to get into the experimental class at Lumin-Umbra High School? Do you even know what kind of people go there? Are you worthy? You'd better crawl back to wherever you came from!"
