How do you feel when you find out that your best friend is actually gay?
Shock.
Right?
That is what most people feel.
His eyes were slightly widening beneath the mask, and his mouth hung open in an 'O' shape. All kinds of thoughts swirled through his mind.
'Wait, wait, wait. What the hell happened?
Wasn't she supposed to reconcile with her brother? Making a happy ending, why did she kill him?
Snapping out of it, Liam looked around. Looking at the knights' faces. They all wore stupefied faces, similarly confused by the ordeal.
'They are even more shocked than me.'
No, they might be even more confused than Liam was, as they were just told to come as reinforcement for the traitor.
But the sequence of the events that followed was nothing like they had imagined. It was chaotic and beyond their comprehension.
Only Joseph had an inkling of the true picture of the whole situation. One thing was clear to him: the prince was being used by someone for a greater goal.
Turning his head toward the one who fought the prince, he moved toward him.
'…He might know something.'
He was happy for a moment that his face was hidden behind a mask, and they weren't able to see his face; even then, his expression didn't change much. Alas, that was for a moment. As he soon spotted a figure walking toward him.
He had worn red armor just like everyone else, with a sword hanging by his waist and his white hair swaying as he made his way toward him.
'Shit! I need to leave this place.'
Swoosh!
Just like that, he vanished from his spot, making Joseph a bit flustered.
***
'Why…?'
Tears fell without her knowledge as she watched the lifeless figure of her brother. She saw everything.
How her tentacle pierced through his heart, spraying blood over her, and the fading of warmth from his body as he slowly turned cold.
Her head lowered as she gazed at her hand, which was colored blue.
It's the blood…
The blood of her brother.
'…why did you look at me like that?'
Her mind reeled back to the moment the tentacle pierced his heart. The look he gave her.
It was so…
…Relieved.
Why was that?
"Samantha"
Why did he look so relieved in his last moment when he was killed by her?
"Samantha"
Wasn't he trying to kill her just moments before?
"Samantha!!"
Why did he have that look? For what?
Before she could go any further in her thoughts, she was jolted out of it as her head turned to a certain figure.
Standing just a few steps from her was a man. He looked much older, the side of his face blue from the blood that trickled down his ear.
His brows were knitted tightly, and a worried expression marred his face, wrinkles folded up, making him look much, much older.
Seeing the figure, Samantha's knees buckled, and she almost lost her footing, but forcing herself, she stood. Raising her head, she observed his eyes, once hollowed and disinterested.
They were gone.
Now…
They glimmered with a radiant fire.
Her mouth had moved in an attempt to utter a word, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't.
A lump had formed in her throat when she looked at him. Making her unable to speak.
Seeing her daughter unable to say something, a part of Edward was hurt.
He heard it all.
He saw everything that happened.
And… Because he knew…
It hurt so much.
A doll.
That's what he was.
… A doll, unable to do anything. Watch as everything he tried to protect crumbles. The son he raised betrayed them.
The woman she loved burned.
The daughter she doted over was declared a traitor.
And now…
His son's body is lying lifelessly. Slain by his daughter.
He didn't resent her.
Far from it.
He blamed himself.
'If I hadn't—
As she looked at his daughter once more, who looked at him with her mouth moving, but no words came out. That cleared his mind as he moved and hugged her.
'I wasn't able to do anything, but now I can at least offer a bit of comfort.'
The two hugged, basking in each other's warmth to comfort one another, and the knights watched them without saying another word.
.
.
.
The silence persisted until…
Yawn!
Julie let out a big yawn as she stretched her hands.
All the heads snapped in her direction.
Staaare~
Sensing the intense glare she was receiving, Julie looked at the ruined hall where a lot of strange people were staring at her.
'Huh? Where am I? Why are they looking at me?'
She got flustered and confused, her eyes darting around until they settled over a certain figure.
She looked at Julie, and Julie looked back at her.
A strange silence hung over them. Breaking the silence was a deep voice that was calm, yet there was a hint of excitement in it that was hard to miss.
"…Is she my…granddaughter?"
***
Following the events of the night, Liam felt exhausted, so he came back to the room that Samantha had booked for the night.
"haaa…"
"I am tired."
He threw himself at the bed face-first while saying that.
A lot of things happened. Rolling himself around on the bed, he looked at the ceiling with a blank face. His mind going back to events that happened.
Everything went according to plan, but…
"…I never thought she would kill him."
Covering his face, Liam was once again reminded of the fact that he had been reincarnated into a game.
He had a strange feeling about it.
All he wanted was to be a dark hero by night and a simple civilian by day.
Yet…
Here he was.
He acknowledged his rebirth a long time ago, but then again, to be reborn into a game where there is constant conflict between the world and the protagonist of the game.
It was popular when he was still alive on Earth, not just because it was just a war game, but also because it was an otome game where you have to win over some targets.
To help you defeat the challenges that will emerge in the way of the protagonist. People were just fanboying over the characters and loved the vastness of the map.
"If memory serves me right, then I might be somewhere in Pembrok."
Pembrok was a whole other continent, and Liam's home was in Panas, also known as the middle continent.
The game's name was Bellum Et Amor. It is a Latin word that means "war and love."
Pretty simple name considering how popular it was. But the problem…
"…It will be troublesome."
Liam never played the game and thus didn't know the storyline. He just knew bits and pieces of information from conversations he had with his friends in school and also saw some illustrations of the character and world.
And one of them is Samantha; he saw one of Samantha's illustrations, but it was severely different. That's why he didn't know at first, but after learning more, he put 1 with 1 and got the answers.
Quite frankly, he didn't care much. Be it an otome game or a war game, all that mattered for Liam was that he needed to have a coffee shop and a simple wife to live a happy life while doing heroic work at night.
"It doesn't matter; I will crush whatever comes in between my peaceful life."