Villain’s Favorite 216

Chapter 216 Training 

94 

She couldn’t sleep. She lay on her back, staring up at the rock ceiling, turning over what was coming. “After the new year, when Grandpa drops us on that island, things are going to be a lot harder than this, aren’t they?” 

Alfred wasn’t asleep either. 

His voice drifted out from the sleeping bag beside her, a little muffled but completely steady. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” 

He had no real expectation that Maya would be able to bring herself to hurt anyone. 

His plan was simple: he’d handle the dangerous parts, and she’d stay out of the way. 

Maya had no idea he’d already mapped the whole thing out. She took his words at full face value and told him, just as earnestly, “I’ll protect you too.” 

Two small children, one eight and one seven, lying in the dark of a mountain cave, making their promises to each other with complete and solemn sincerity. 

“This is revolting.” 

On the other end of the surveillance feed, Ned looked like he’d swallowed something deeply unpleasant. 

He and Raymond had been close enough as children. 

Raymond was seven years older, and Ned had always assumed, as a matter of course, that his brother would inherit the family business while he served as the dependable second-in-command. 

He’d spent years training and sharpening himself into exactly the kind of person who could run an operation like theirs. 

Then he turned around to find that his hopelessly romance-addled brother had run off with a notoriously fearsome female contractor from the underground world. 

When the news hit that his older brother had abandoned the family and left the entire mess in his hands, Ned had confronted him in utter disbelief. “You walked away from everything for a woman, and now you’re just living off her? Have you no shame?” 

Raymond had looked genuinely puzzled. “What’s wrong with that?” 

“What’s wrong with that?” Ned had repeated the question back at him with barely contained fury. “You’re a grown, capable, independent man. How are you comfortable just being a kept husband?” 

“Being a capable, independent man is genuinely great,” Raymond had agreed pleasantly, before pivoting with complete composure. “But being a devoted house-husband has always been my deepest aspiration. 

“You don’t get to look down on that just because you happen to have money.” 

Ned had nearly blacked out from sheer indignation. 

Some conversations simply had no productive destination. 

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10:14 Tue, May 12 

Chapter 216 Training 

The two of them had barely spoken since. 

He had no particular warmth toward any of these children. 

94 

They were the genetic continuation of a man who’d let his heart make every decision, and they were part of the wreckage his useless brother had left behind. 

But to prevent the two of them from actually dying out in that wilderness, he’d deployed a drone and installed surveillance equipment, checking in periodically to confirm the kids were surviving their training. 

He’d put on the earphones tonight and walked directly into the most saccharine conversation he’d ever been forced to witness. 

On the screen, the two children had gone quiet. 

Moonlight spilled in through the cave mouth and fell across two small faces. 

The girl was curled deep inside her sleeping bag, lashes resting against her cheeks, breathing slow and even. 

The boy lay on his side facing the entrance. 

Ned killed the screen, yanked off the earphones with a cold, dismissive motion, stood up, and poured himself a glass of water. 

A full month of specialized training had reduced both children to collapsing wherever they landed in the wilderness and falling asleep before their heads hit the ground. 

Another day passed. 

Maya was curled into herself inside the cave, sleeping deeply and dreaming something sweet. 

Then the system’s voice cut through the dream without any warning whatsoever. 

It was cold and flat, like a bucket of ice water poured directly into her subconscious. 

“Maya.” 

Her brow creased. She didn’t wake. 

“Do you want to alter the plot?” 

Her consciousness was dragged up from the dream whether she wanted it to be or not. “What?” 

“In the original storyline, the female lead, Kaia, will be involved in a kidnapping incident at school.” 

Maya’s mind was still sluggish, working through the words piece by piece. “And?” 

“This plot point exists to showcase the depth of the bond between Thomas and Kaia.” 

She opened her eyes. The cave was still dark all around her. 

She stared at the rock overhead and asked inwardly, “So what?” 

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10:14 Tue, May 12 

Cropter 216 Training 

She had the quiet sense that the real point was still coming. 

The system had told her a long time ago that the fates of villains all led to the same place. 

Some endings were dramatic, some were quiet, but the destination never changed. 

It rarely surfaced on its own initiative. It functioned as a guide, not a narrator. 

The fact that it had spoken up unprompted now made something in the back of her mind go very still. 

“The important thing is that your brother George is one of the kidnappers in this storyline. You already knew that, didn’t you?” 

Maya was silent for a moment. 

“Yes.” 

“George plays a significant role among the kidnappers, and once this part of the storyline concludes, he’s 

been written out.” 

Written out. 

The system delivered the phrase lightly, the way you’d announce a game character had been eliminated and it was time to reload the last save. 

Maya’s fingers tightened around the edge of her sleeping bag. 

Her thoughts knotted up against each other. 

She and George hadn’t known each other for very long. 

If she was being precise about it, he occupied a category somewhere between acquaintance and something 

warmer. 

But if George died, her mother would be devastated. Her father would carry it. Everyone who mattered would feel the loss. 

He was family. 

Which meant he couldn’t die. 

Maya lay there watching the moonlight and understood, with complete and quiet certainty, that she wasn’t going to let that happen. 

“System,” she said, her voice barely above a breath. “You’re telling me he’s going to die, aren’t you?” 

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