Ironically, the atmosphere on the train felt familiar, like something I had experienced before.
“Hey, sis!”
As I returned to my seat after a quick trip to the front car, Lucas waved at me.
It seemed the memories of childhood were still influencing him, but after his fight with Jayden, he decided to respect my thoughts.
“Come over and sit. We have plenty of time, so let’s play some poker.”
“……”
I glanced at Lucas, who was holding cards.
He had done the same the last time we rode the train together. Back then, Lucas had suggested a card game to me as well.
I had refused that time.
The reason was simple. I had no idea how much I would need to rewind time to win a card game, and that sounded like a hassle. In life-or-death situations, it was unavoidable, but going through the trouble of rewinding time just to win a card game was too annoying.
“What are you trying to teach the kid?”
Jayden rolled his eyes.
“Kid? You think she looks like a child? She’s all grown up.”
“You really can’t say anything to your little brother, huh?”
Jayden said this to Lucas and then flashed me a very friendly smile.
“You don’t have to force yourself to join. Just spend your time however you want.”
Hmm.
For some reason, that annoyed me. Last time I was irritated by Lucas calling me over, but now it was Jayden treating me like a kid that was getting on my nerves.
“……”
I briefly stared at the two, then waved my hand to shove Lucas aside.
“Oh, are you going to sit down?”
Lucas said with a blush on his face.
“I don’t know how to play poker.”
I said as I took the seat he had offered.
“Let’s play blackjack. The rules are much simpler.”
“Right, that sounds good. And it’s quick to deal.”
Lucas smiled as he shuffled the cards.
“Blackjack, huh….”
Jayden muttered that under his breath.
Of course, it wasn’t because he disliked blackjack; he seemed a bit shocked that I knew such a game. He probably thought I would stay cute and innocent forever.
“Alright, how much should we wager?”
“Hey.”
Jayden said incredulously.
Seriously, does it even matter what we wager?
Sure, both Jayden and Lucas might be in a pension state right now, but technically, both of them were princes.
Needless to say, there was really no need to worry about money. I mean, unless we were wagering a castle or a mansion, then maybe it would be a different story.
“More importantly, do you even have any money?”
Right. And this was also important.
It wasn’t like I was struggling to eat, but neither was I giving these guys money. First, all the money provided by the royal family had been cut off. They might get items if they request them, but in case of emergencies, they wouldn’t give out cash.
Anything they personally had was probably frozen too.
“I don’t have any money. But how about this? You wager ‘Big Brother’ rights on a daily basis. You promised to give it to Jayden, right?”
“I didn’t know you were interested in that sort of thing?”
When I fumed and asked, Lucas leaned against the window and turned towards me as much as he could.
“Hey, I’m technically your older brother too, you know? You’re the youngest among us siblings. Of course, I want to hear you call me ‘big brother.’ Ah, but you know what? I’d prefer ‘oppa’ over ‘big brother.’”
Imagining myself calling Lucas ‘oppa’ sent shivers down my spine.
I wanted to slice off the part of my brain that came up with that image.
“I can’t just let that slide.”
The person who jumped in with that was… Claire.
I thought she was seated with Alice in another car earlier, but somehow she was here now. Then again, since we were in the same car, the space wasn’t that wide. Plus, the loud chugga chugga sound of the steam train made it easy to overlook her coming.
“Sylvia is my sister. I have no intention of handing her over to you guys.”
“Hey, what about that? Your sister has already transferred that ‘big brother’ right to Jayden.”
Jayden puffed out his chest, looking proud as if he had earned that right.
“Two whole days!”
Jayden said, declaring victory.
Claire looked at me, slightly shocked.
“Really? Only two days? I have a whole week.”
“What!?”
Bella suddenly interrupted, and Jayden’s jaw dropped.
“I reserved a week’s worth of calling her ‘sister.’ I plan to use it from when we arrive at our travel destination.”
Hmm, I think I’ll just hole up in my room at the travel destination.
“……I can’t just let that pass.”
Alice chimed in.
They were all jumping in on this, huh?
I sat down to play a card game only to end up under attack from all directions.
“Aren’t you giving that title too easily to Jayden or Bella? Come to think of it, I think I did that last time too. I remember saying I’d ride on the airship.”
“……”
“Sis, you need to know how to value yourself.”
No, Claire. That story seems quite different. They’re siblings after all.
“……Alice, I don’t think you ever coveted such a title.”
“I didn’t covet it. I just don’t particularly wish to have a younger sister.”
Alice responded.
“But every time you call me ‘sister,’ your expression is entertaining.”
“……”
I paused for a moment and then looked at Lucas.
“Why don’t you say that to Alice?”
“To Alice?”
Lucas glanced at Alice and sank into thought for a moment.
“Um… Well, it just doesn’t feel necessary?”
“……”
“I probably didn’t listen to her a lot during childhood. So now I have this mindset that she would never call me that even if I asked. Back then, I felt a bit of a wall too.”
Ah, right.
From their perspective, it seemed that Alice was technically the next empress in the traditional sense. They probably thought they didn’t have royal blood flowing through them.
I felt the same way too.
But looking at the revealed facts, it turned out that I was the only one here without royal blood.
“Um… So, wanna try calling me that for a test?”
Lucas asked, and Alice’s expression twisted up tightly.
“Why should I?”
“See?”
“No, I’d refuse if you asked me to.”
“You don’t just refuse. You’d use it however you could if it benefited you.”
“……”
I had nothing to say.
“So, will you do it or not?”
“Of course not.”
I cut that off firmly.
“What’s the point of playing a game where you either break even or only lose if you don’t win?”
“……That’s also a fair point.”
Lucas shrugged his shoulders and said.
“Then let’s do it on a point system and see who wins. We still have more than an hour until we get there, right?”
If there’s nothing at stake, it might be alright.
I shrugged, and Jayden nodded his head.
“How about you guys? Want to join?”
As I looked at Alice, Claire, and Bella, Bella shrugged and went back to her seat.
“I’m good.”
Alice waved her hand and turned away.
But instead of going too far, she sat at the opposite side where our table was visible.
“I’m in.”
Claire said, and Jayden graciously moved aside to let her take a seat.
“But how do we do this?”
“Oh, the rules are simple. You get two cards first, and the person closest to 21 wins. It can be exactly 21 as well. But if you go over, you just die. After getting two cards, you can draw as many cards as you like to match the number, but if you go over because of the extra cards, you die.”
“Oh, that’s easy.”
Claire seemed pleased as she smiled.
“Great! Then I’ll deal the cards—”
“No, wait.”
I held my palm up to Lucas.
“I can’t trust you.”
“……”
Lucas looked at me incredulously, but I continued to stare him down as I shouted.
“Damien!”
“……Why are you calling me?”
A somewhat annoyed voice came from a chair behind us.
I couldn’t believe he was still sitting there. I thought he would move away because we were noisy.
Well, he was definitely withdrawn last time. It seemed that maybe Damien sat down first, and then Lucas and Jayden ended up sitting behind him, and Damien was just putting up with it because he was too lazy to move.
“Can you deal this? I can’t trust Lucas.”
“Hey, hey, are you really doing this for a game with nothing at stake?”
“Isn’t it you who’s planning to cheat in a game with nothing at stake?”
“Is cheating already a given?”
Lucas muttered incredulously, but I snatched the cards from his hands and turned to give them to Damien.
Damien sighed heavily as he stood up.
“Fine then, I’ll cooperate for just this one game.”
Of course, Damien wouldn’t be able to leave and continued shuffling cards until we arrived.
In a surprisingly amazing turn of events, Claire had a significantly higher score, enough to scratch Lucas and Jayden’s pride.
When I asked Claire if I should call her “sister,” she freaked out.
……So, the train ride to the travel destination turned out to be way more enjoyable than I had expected.
Feeling tense seemed foolish in comparison.
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