Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 433: Snow Falls On Top [III]

Haaa!

See, whoever claimed money can’t buy everything clearly didn’t have enough money to buy everything!

In the words of my elder brother Ezra, ‘You can purchase a nun’s virtue if your pockets are deep enough.’

Now I didn’t share Ezra’s borderline psychopathic (and perverse) worldview, but in this specific instance? I was inclined to agree. The man had a point.

Trying to stuff back a smirk, I answered her, “Small things. Like when you inevitably become the duchess, I want you to open the North to the world, especially to the West. Return the favors I’ll be doing you,” I smiled. “But all that’s in the far future. More immediately, I want you to side with me in an upcoming academic event.”

Casey frowned, clearly not sure what I was talking about. When she asked me to elaborate, I did. It was going well. I was sure I definitely had her.

…Until I was done and noticed a ghost of a grin pulling at the corners of her lips.

I immediately decided I did not like that look.

But I pushed such thoughts aside. For whatever she was planning, I’d make sure my hold on her was foolproof.

“Oh, I see,” she murmured, more to herself than to me, I think. Fingers playing with her chin, she looked as if she had finally put together the puzzle pieces and decided she liked the picture. “So you want me to aid you in this Mock War against your sister.”

I nodded. “Shall I take that as a yes, then?” It was a rhetorical question. I knew she was in, anyway. “I’ll draw a fair contract and treat this as an official business trans—”

I was in the middle of getting up to leave.

“No.”

The word was sharp enough to give me a whiplash.

The phantom smirk I’d been nursing vanished. When I looked up, the grin on Casey’s face, on the other hand, had fully manifested.

“…Excuse me?” I scrunched my nose. “No? What do you mean, no? I’m handing you a fortune and helping you reclaim your birthright. What part of this equation warrants a ‘no’?”

My outburst, it appeared so, only served to amuse her further. Like I was some adorable plaything.

She leaned inward, resting her elbows on her knees. The knowing little grin on her face widened. “Your sister,” she drawled the words, “from what I’ve seen of her, is close with Princess Alice and her brother. She’ll no doubt have their support. She’s also set to inherit your father’s seat. The next Duchess of Luxara.”

There was a gleam in her eyes, deep violet trapped under a sheen of azure that made it seem like a galaxy was swirling beneath her gaze.

“So tell me, Lord Theosbane, wouldn’t it be better for me to join her faction instead?” Casey said, and the way she said it didn’t seem like she was bluffing. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to join not only a future duchess but also a future Monarch?”

It’s not like I hadn’t thought of that myself.

Alice was a problem. As the crowned princess of the entire Central Safe-Zone, her political weight was enough to sway almost anyone.

A future queen could offer much, much more than a Duke’s son.

If Casey went to my sister, she’d be hitching her wagon to the future ruling elite. The world leaders of tomorrow.

“You could,” I nodded once in agreement, hardening my glare as I was made to sit back down. “You could absolutely go to Thalia. You could crawl to her, beg for a place at her round table, and hope she doesn’t find your baggage too heavy to carry. Because unless you’re confident in your ability to charm people, I think neither she nor Alice would be particularly keen on adopting an exile who wants to wage a war against the sovereignty of the North.”

This was another advantage I was offering her.

Anywhere else, with anyone else, she’d need to build connections from scratch and play a long, exhausting game of courtly politics.

Even if Thalia and Alice accepted her after running a diagnostic on her, I doubted they’d provide her any help with her real issue.

I leaned in as well, mimicking her posture. “The truth is, you’ll be lucky for them to even glance at you. They won’t meet you right now let alone listen to what you have to say. They are already always surrounded by desperate nobles like you trying to curry favor. And when the war starts, you’ll be just another face to them, a pawn to be traded on a map. Good luck climbing to the top from the very bottom of a roster that already has too many star players.”

Casey’s violet-blue eyes drilled into mine.

Poor girl. She thought she had flipped the tables on me.

There was no way she didn’t already know everything I just told her. Perhaps it was an attempt to startle me. She must’ve sniffed out my desperation and thought she could use it against me to wrestle more money.

But all it did was—

“Cute.”

I frowned.

Casey was openly smirking now.

“…What?”

“Your negotiation skills. Cute,” she repeated, flashing too many teeth in her grin for it to be amicable. “You had already guessed my response even before you began. You were prepared. The rumors paint you as overly self-centred and egoistic. You are all that, but you’re not stupid. That’s good.”

I continued glowering at her. If she was trying anything other than to anger me, she was failing spectacularly. I was about to speak up again, but she beat me to it.

“But still,” she shrugged. “My answer is no.”

Okay. I was clearly losing it at this point. “Are you stupid? You’re throwing away a clear chance at—”

I stuttered to a stop.

Casey reached behind her with a hand and fished out a phone, waving it at me. On its screen, a red dot was blinking.

I stared at it, brain momentarily blanking out.

I knew what it was as soon as I saw it, but for some reason, a part of my mind refused to believe it. Refused to believe that I had been… played. And by the oldest trick in the book, at that.

She had been recording this entire conversation.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” I immediately whined like a toddler. “I came to you in good faith!”

Casey chuckled darkly but otherwise ignored the immature accusation. “Coming into someone’s home with secrets you should not possess to give them an ultimatum is not good faith, Theosbane. It’s an ambush.”

Fuck.

Should I just grab it and smash that phone?

“Do not even think about it,” Casey hid the phone away as if reading my mind. “The audio file is already uploaded in cloud storage. You’ll just be breaking my new phone for nothing.”

Fuck!

It was hard to tell whether she was unbeknownst to my annoyance or relishing it. Either way, her clipped tone sounded merrier as she continued. “You’re right. They’d never even have taken the time out to meet me, let alone listen to me. But after they receive this very interesting voice recording, they’ll not only know about the mock war you’re planning to surprise your sister with, but also that you’ve tried to bribe me to join your side. That’ll surely pique their interest in me. So thanks! You made my work easier.”

I shook my head, vehement. “It’ll still take you a long time to get in their good graces enough for them to even consider helping you!”

She started getting up and heading for the door. “I’ll manage.”

“You’re making a mistake!” Maybe it was the frustration talking. Maybe it was the dent in my ego. I couldn’t help but shout. “Thalia is on thin ice in my family! She’ll lose her standing when she loses to me!”

“If she loses to you,” Casey called out, all confidence and swagger. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t. I’ll be the one to tip the scales. I’ll be the one to decide the victor of this little Mock War.” A pause. “But… if it ever looks like you’re going to be more useful for me, then I’ll simply switch sides.”

Honestly, I was far too stunned by the sheer audacity of the bitch to scoff at her face. “Oh! Will you? And what makes you think I’ll want to work with you then?!”

“I’ll make sure to leave you no other choice,” Casey stopped by the door and turned to me, giving me an infuriating tilt of her head. “You’ll do well to remember this day, Theosbane. Remember that snow doesn’t fight to reach the top. It just falls, and still ends up above everything else.”

She offered a polite bow, something I had seen northern highborns do at the end of a pleasant conversation. Then swung open the door and gestured for me to exit.