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

Chapter 503: Familiar Relationships Are Hard

“I’m just saying.” Alice raised an eyebrow at her brother. “It’s really not a good look for a prince to get eliminated by a girl. Twice. You lost to Zynx too during the Team Test, didn’t you?”

Willem narrowed his eyes at his sister, who couldn’t stop laughing at his expense. It was a comical sight, considering one of his eyes was swollen black. “I don’t want to hear anything from a turntail! You left me all alone with that crazy girl! I was begging you to take me with you!”

“Not my fault you’re slow,” Alice grinned, leaning back against the settee. “A good strategist knows when a tactical retreat is necessary. I had to cut my losses.”

“It wasn’t a tactical retreat, you literal traitor! You bolted the second she materialized her katana!” Willem winced as he tried to gesture wildly, the sudden movement agitating the throbbing skin around his black eye. He reached up, gently prodding the bruised swelling with a groan. “She’s a monster. I swear she isn’t human. No one moves that fast. Why do I always get pitted against such crazy women?”

Alice laughed again, finding Willem’s suffering rather amusing. When he pouted, she pursed her lips, still unable to hold back a small smile. “She’s supposed to be from the Blade family, isn’t she? Their sword arts are said to be exceptional.”

“No, no, what she used resembled the Valkryn family’s sword art rather than anything from the West or Central,” Willem said, shaking his head, his eyes fixed on the holographic television screen.

The girls were watching some stupid reality show.

At first he tried telling them how stupid it was, but now he found himself weirdly invested in whether Jessica was actually going to text her toxic ex back.

“Wait, the Valkryn family?” Alice frowned. She shifted on the settee, turning her full attention to him. “That can’t be right. Who is supposed to be her mother again?”

Willem shrugged.

The two of them turned their gazes, looking at the third person sitting cross-legged on the floor for answers.

She was eating ice cream out of a large ceramic bowl, one hand lazily holding a spoon while the other supported her chin.

Unlike the other two, she hadn’t paid much attention to the ongoing conversation. Or, more accurately, she had been pretending not to.

“Lia,” Alice called.

Thalia paused halfway through another spoonful. “What?”

“Who’s the mother of your brother’s Shadow?”

Thalia swallowed her ice cream and looked up at them. Her expression was blank for a moment.

Then she frowned. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you lived with her?”

“And your family was the one who probably killed her,” Willem added dryly, which prompted Alice to smack him on the arm.

Thalia moved her gaze back to the holographic display. “I hate that bitch.”

“…Why?” asked Alice.

“She’s crazy.”

For a second, there was total silence, save for the tantrum Jessica was throwing on the television.

Then, Willem’s cheeks puffed out like two little balloons, and he looked like he’d burst laughing. Alice quickly shot him a warning look, though she was holding back a laugh as well.

‘Don’t!’ she mouthed.

But Willem couldn’t resist making a joke.

“Pot calling the kettle black,” he chuckled under his breath.

Thalia’s ears perked, her head slowly turning toward him. “What did you say?”

Willem immediately stopped smiling.

They kept staring at each other.

Then Thalia’s lips twitched. It was so imperceptible that she could’ve tried to hide it… if not for a tiny snort that escaped her nose next.

Alice immediately lost it.

She practically doubled over on the settee, wheezing so hard that she nearly fell off. Willem joined her, and Thalia joined them both two seconds later.

For a few minutes, none of them could stop laughing.

Willem eventually wiped the corner of his eye, wincing when his fingers brushed against his swollen cheek. “Ow.”

“That serves you right,” Alice said with a teasing grin, still shaking.

“For what?”

“For being an idiot.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

Alice’s smile disappeared. “Careful, brother.”

Willem smirked back with a daring smirk in response. “What? You going to leave me behind again?”

“I might.”

“Traitor!”

“Slow.”

“Coward.”

“Idiot.”

“Bitch.”

“Willem.”

“…Sorry.”

Thalia snorted again. Alice hopped off and joined her friend on the floor.

The trio watched the rest of the episode in relative silence, groaning dispassionately when it looked like Jessica would cave in and text her ex, but then quietly cheering when she didn’t.

Finally, after an hour or so, they caught up to the latest episode.

Willem turned off the television. “Okay, that was better than I expected. But we ended on a cliffhanger.”

Alice stretched her arms above her head. “Obviously. They want us to watch the next episode.”

“Yeah, but it was a stupid cliffhanger.”

Alice huffed, then turned to Thalia. The black-haired girl was finishing the last of her ice cream. “Lia, why don’t you go talk to your brother? He’ll be leaving tomorrow, right?”

“I don’t want to.” Thalia waved dismissively, scraping the final few melty bits from the bottom of the bowl.

“Why?” Alice frowned, already guessing her response.

“Because.”

“That isn’t an answer. That’s an excuse.”

Thalia gave her a flat look. “You’re really annoying.”

Willem snorted from beside her. “That’s putting it mildly.”

Alice ignored him. “Lia, you can’t just leave things like this. I’m not asking you to go be best friends with him, but at least talk to him before he leaves. I know he won’t be fighting on the front lines, but he’s still going to an actual war. Who knows what can happen there?”

Thalia’s hand stopped inches away from her mouth. She said nothing for some time, then put the spoon down. “There’s nothing to talk about. I already told him everything I had to say. I tried talking to him first during the Commemoration Ceremony. He’d rather prioritize everyone else. Let him. I don’t care.”

Alice wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose. Really, were all Theosbane this dumb? “Look, he’s your family, alright? And he came here to see you, didn’t he? Even after what you did to his friend. He has made an effort. That means he wants to fix his relationship with you.’

Thalia softly bit her lower lip, scratching the nail of her index finger with her thumb. She did that until the skin around it started turning red.

“You guys are my family,” she muttered at last.

Alice and Willem shared a glance. Neither of them knew what to say to that. So they didn’t say anything.

They both moved at once, hugging their friend from either side, making her jump and yelp in surprise.

“W-Wait! What are you doing?!”

“Shut up,” Alice muttered, squeezing her tighter. “We are your family, Lia. That’s why I do not want you to have any regrets. Please.”

Willem nodded from the other side, his head buried in her shoulder. “And I’m tired of pretending to notice that brooch you keep hiding every time we come into your room.”

“Yeah,” Alice’s tone went back to teasing. “You’ve been working hard on it. Did you think we were blind?”

Thalia’s cheeks turned rosy. “I-It’s for me, you buffoons!”

“Sure, girl. Sure.”

Thalia tried glaring at them, but try as she might, she couldn’t stay angry at these idiots. In the end, she couldn’t help but melt into their hugs.

When she spoke again, her tone was soft and low and just short of being shy. “Fine. I’ll go.”