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

Chapter 502: Big Sister [III]

She wasn’t the most expressive child growing up.

Her father wasn’t exactly the kind of man who spent a lot of time with his children, so she was obviously never really close to him.

Ezra, the eldest of their siblings, used to tease her about her hair color. Calliope, her sister, would join him whenever she got the chance

Tristan, for the most part, didn’t care about anything. He was the type of kid who did things for attention.

Thalia never figured out how to interact with either of them. So she would just glare. But that only made them laugh harder.

She hated them. All of them. She would look at her cousins and wish she was a part of their families, had them as her blood brothers and sisters.

But… Samael was different.

Samael was sweet.

Samael was kind, and his smile always seemed to make her want to smile in return.

Samael never teased her about her hair. Samael never laughed when she stumbled over her words or ignored her when she went quiet during family gatherings.

When Ezra and Calliope would pull pranks on her, Samael would come and quietly take her away.

He would simply sit beside her, sometimes without saying anything at all, doing his own thing. Thalia would try to mimic whatever he’d do, and he’d just laugh at her silly attempts.

But it wasn’t a mean laugh like their siblings’. It was a kind laugh. She liked that laugh.

They had been like that since they were children.

…Until they weren’t.

For a long, long time, Thalia had been holding herself back. So when her feelings finally found the words, they came pouring out. “I don’t know you anymore. You can’t hate someone you don’t even know!”

Samael, understandably, was confused. “What does that even mean?’

“You left me!” Thalia screamed back, louder than was necessary.

Her brother silently stared at her for a moment, genuinely lost. His eyes, even though a bright and sparkling gold, reminded Thalia of so much of their mother.

He really did have the kindest eyes out of anyone in their wretched family.

That only made it worse.

“Okay, really, what are you on about?” he started, stepping closer. “I never left—”

“You did! You left me all alone with that man!” she shouted, making him flinch back. “When Mother passed away, you locked yourself in your room! You stopped talking to me! You stopped eating with me! You stopped doing everything!”

Samael frowned, but she wasn’t done talking yet.

Her voice cracked, and her breathing grew ragged. She could feel tears gathering in her eyes, but she forbade them to fall. “I would knock on your door every day. I’d ask you if you wanted to go outside. I’d ask you if you wanted to eat with me. But you never answered!”

“What did you want from me, Lia?!” Samael spat back. “My mother had just died! And she died because of me!”

“She was my mother too!” The words tore raw from Thalia’s throat. “You think I didn’t lose her too? You think I didn’t wake up every morning and expect to hear her voice? You think I wasn’t crying myself to sleep every single night?! She was the only one who understood me in that family after you! And I lost both of you together!”

The anger on Samael’s face cracked, giving way to something that very closely resembled guilt. “Lia–”

“We were best friends. We only ever really had each other, so I thought…” Her voice faltered. “So I thought maybe we’d be there for each other. But when Father named me his heiress, you didn’t even try to fight him on the decision!”

“That’s not fair,” Samael objected. “What could I have done to change his mind?”

“Nothing, probably. But you could’ve at least fought! And don’t tell me some nonsense like you were scared! You stood up to me to protect your Shadow! You fought Father when he banished you from the family! You fought me when I hurt your friend! So where was your conviction when I needed you?! Why didn’t you stand up for me?!”

The tears she’d been holding back spilled. Her chest was aching, feeling as if something was wrenching her heart out with every word she spoke.

“I never wanted to be the heiress. I knew it was always your dream to succeed Father. But it’s not my fault that he favored me! I never wanted that! I tried to tell you that so many times! I tried to make it up to you, but you never listened! You felt like I had stolen what was rightfully yours. You hated me first. Maybe hating me was easier than fighting him. Maybe I was just not worth it.” Her lips quivered, tears streaming down her cheeks uncontrollably now. “Was I… not worth it?”

Samael said nothing.

Thalia almost wished he would. She wanted him to argue. To shout back. To reason, maybe.

But when she looked at him, he averted his gaze.

“I… I did not know,” was his response.

Oh.

Oh, of course.

He did not know. Because why would he? She was the big sister. It was her job to fight for him, her job to take a stand for him, not the other way around.

But it was the other way around.

It had always been.

He was the dependable twin, and she hated when he left her alone.

Thalia looked away. Hearing those four words hurt more than any excuse could have.

I did not know.

With a bitter scoff, she went back inside and closed the door again.

“Lia, wait—”

“Go away.”

•••

I kept knocking on the door. I kept calling out to her. I could hear small hiccups and sniffles from the other side, but she wouldn’t answer.

“Lia!” I knocked again. “Lia, come on out! Please!”

I was so stupid. A small part of me always knew it was wrong to hate her when Father was the one who chose her as his successor.

But I was just so… jealous of her that it never crossed my mind.

I spent so long thinking about what she had taken from me that I never stopped to wonder if she was hurting as well.

“Lia–” I was seriously considering forcing the door open, but my phone chimed before I could reach a conclusion. A text notification.

Vereshia urgently needed me at her office.

I debated ignoring her for a bit, but eventually decided against it when she started calling.

I touched the closed door, my fingers resting against the cool wood. This was the first time in years I wanted to talk to her, and yet I had to leave.

What a cliché.

Pocketing my phone while silently promising myself that I would come back, I turned around… and immediately spotted someone familiar at the other side of the hallway.

A tall young woman of athletic figure and sharp features, her fiery red hair styled in several thin and thick box braids.

Sporting a casual outfit — a short pleated skirt and an embroidered sleeveless white blouse — she was surrounded by a bunch of girls whom I assumed were her friends.

Between them, she definitely came off as the queen bee. Which was ironic, because…

“Ali!” I started toward her.

Princess Alice stopped mid-conversation as she and her friends snapped their gazes in my direction.

The moment she saw me, her eyes widened with a mix of surprise and horror.

“Ah, fuck!” she cursed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Without waiting any further, she whirled around and started running toward the lift. Unfortunately for her, before she even finished turning, I was standing right in front of her.

She bumped into my chest, then recoiled and looked up at me. “What the—?”

“Hello.” I smiled down at her before acknowledging her friends with a “Scram.”

They all regarded me with disbelief.

One of them seemed particularly offended. “E-Excuse me?”

“Scram,” I repeated simply.

“Sammy,” Alice hissed softly before looking over her shoulder. “Girls, can you give me a minute?”

Her friends exchanged glances, clearly reluctant to leave. “Alice…”

“It’s fine,” Alice assured them. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

They were still worried, but decided to do as they were told.

The moment they were gone, Alice rounded on me. “What the hell do you want?”

I gave her a cheeky smile. “Were you running from me?”

“I-I was not!”

“No, you were. You cursed three times, then you started running.”

“Shut up!” Alice’s face turned the shade that matched her hair. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” I said seriously.

And suddenly, all that color from her face drained until it was pale as bone.

“Sammy, l-look, it wasn’t me, okay? In fact, I was against using your friend! Ask him! It was all Lia’s idea! Okay… fine, not all. After I realized she wasn’t going to listen to me, I may have suggested some plans.” She winced. “Look, the bottom line is that I really didn’t want to involve him! I was vehemently against involving him, Sammy–”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I want to talk about.”

“…No?”

“No. If anything, I pity you all. Vince would find a way to—” I stopped.

Alice was staring at me.

“What?” she asked cautiously.

I squinted. “Actually, forget it.”

“No, no. You can’t just stop there!” She grabbed my sleeve. “What would Vince do? What?”

“I wanted to talk to you about my sister,” I said, changing the subject.

It worked. Alice’s expression changed imperceptibly. The nervousness was still there, but now there was also deep concern. “Oh… did you two talk?”

“Kinda.” My smile turned tight. “She slammed the door in my face after saying some things. She… seemed pretty upset.”

Alice softened, her shoulders slumping as she let out a quiet sigh. “Yeah. I see. Don’t worry. Will and I will cheer her up. We’ll call her boyfriend, too.”

…Huh?

Boyfriend?

I gawked at the red-haired girl. “Wait, she has a boyfriend? Thalia?”

Alice stilled for a second. When she spoke up again, she was muttering, “You… didn’t know? It’s a boy in her Physical Conditioning class. They made it official just before the Mock War. He had the Ivory Crown. Lia didn’t trust anyone else.”

Wow.

Two things crossed my mind immediately.

Firstly, who was the unlucky guy? And did he have no taste?

Secondly… Thalia was right. We really didn’t know each other to the point where I had no idea what was going on in her personal life.

That was a very sad realization, for some reason.

I didn’t get to dwell on it. My phone dinged again. I licked my lips, turned the device silent, and sighed. “I have to go. Take care of Lia. I’ll talk to her once I’m back from Iron Height.”

“Right. Iron Height,” she nodded back, offering a faint smile. “Good luck, Sammy. Don’t worry about her, and… come back safe.”