CHAPTER 164: ALICIA’S NEW FAMILY

Silence enveloped the living room as no one made a sound. Alex sat beside Alicia on a sofa while his mother and sister sat opposite them. Zoran took the one-person couch on the side.

All of them, except Alex, were staring at Alicia, deep in thought. Emily however, just blinked curiously at this girl who looked to be around her age.

Alex had explained to them how he came across Alicia and why he had brought her home. He claimed to have found her wandering around in the city. She had approached him, saying she was hungry, and Alex had bought food for her.

After that, she had insisted on following him because he was nice to her and she didn’t want to be alone. When he asked about her family, Alicia said she didn’t have a family and had been alone all her life.

She had even been wearing rags and he was the one who bought this black dress for her.

Alicia was shocked and extremely embarrassed by the backstory that Alex had made up for her; not only was it shameful, but it was also simply ridiculous, and no one would believe it.

But she had to play along since she was afraid of her core being attacked by lightning again. So when Alex’s mother asked if what Alex said was true, she nodded with a shy face; she was blushing so hard that smoke almost rose from her head.

After hearing Alicia’s confirmation, the couple fell into silence as they thought silently.

After a while, Zoran asked Emily to take Alicia to her room so that they could wash up and get ready for dinner.

"Ah, okay!" Emily exclaimed before getting up and pulling Alicia’s hand as they left the living room. Emily looked rather excited about Alicia, it was as if she saw her favourite cousin after a long time.

After the two girls left, two pairs of eyes landed on Alex. He didn’t react and remained calm.

His mother was the first one to speak. She asked if Alex was really telling the truth with that story that felt like it had come out of a fairytale, or if he had tricked the girl into running away from her home.

Alex remained firm in his claims, he had decided to make Alicia a homeless girl as it would be easier to let her stay instead of looking for her relatives. He also made sure to show that she didn’t remember ever having a family.

"But why did you bring her home? We barely..." his mother wanted to speak but suddenly stopped. She was about to say that the condition of their home wasn’t very good to take in another person but then she remembered what had happened at the hospital.

The Union card from Mr Chen and the ten million Zen from those men who Zoran worked for. They were not poor anymore!

This time, his father finally spoke.

"All right. What you did wasn’t really bad since you did it with good intentions, it was best to let her follow you instead of pushing her back into the cold world where she’s alone. We’ll let her stay since she has nowhere else to go but don’t repeat this kind of thing again without informing us first.

We can’t have you bringing home girls every time you go out, one wife is enough." Zoran said with a playful smile.

Alex was stunned after hearing the end of Zoran’s words but he chuckled the next moment.

His mother was in agreement with what her husband had said as well, the girl looked cute and obedient; it would be cruel to send her away when she had nowhere to go.

"All right, young man. Go wash up too and come down for dinner." His mother said with a smile before going to the kitchen.

Alex got up and left for his room while his father remained inside the living room.

Meanwhile, in Emily’s room. The windrend who was in her human form sat on the bed and stared at Emily with a perplexed expression. She had heard everything that Alex discussed with his parents in the living room and was further left speechless by how nice Emily was as she picked out one dress after another and asked if Alicia liked them.

Alicia felt something was strange.

This family was definitely a nice one; the parents were kind and welcoming, and the daughter was playful and cute. So how did someone as demonic as Alex come from such a home?

Where did he get his devilish behaviour from?

She knew that Alex’s family weren’t aware of his second identity and personality; they would definitely be shocked if they found out. Should she tell them?

At the thought of this, the memory of the pain she felt previously surfaced in her mind.

’Nope, I choose life!’

After a while, everyone gathered in the dining room for dinner.

Magic beasts had no issues digesting human food so Alicia was able to eat normally.

While they ate, Alex’s mother asked Alicia some questions, trying to learn more about her.

Questions like whether she ever had any family members or where she used to live.

Alicia shot a glance at Alex before replying that she didn’t remember having any family members. As long as she could remember, she had been all by herself.

As for where she used to live, this was a bit tricky since she didn’t know Balon City that well. So she decided to tell the truth. She said that she had been wandering alone for a long time and slept wherever the night met her. She also had to find food by herself when she got hungry.

That was how she had been living after running away from home, but since she didn’t say that she was a magic beast and had been living outside the City, Alex’s parents were easily able to create a scene of a young girl surviving in the corners of Balon City all by herself and sleeping in front of shops and alleys.

It was saddening.

"It’s fine, now. We can be your family if you want, you can stay with us for as long as you like." Alex’s mother smiled and said to Alicia, her smile was so charming that Alicia was dazed.

Everyone in this family was so good-looking!

They finished dinner in a bit, and everyone went to their rooms. Alicia was told to go join Emily in her room; that was where she was going to be sleeping until she got her own room.

Emily was more than happy to share her room with Alicia and the two girls left. Alex smiled as he walked behind them while going to his room.

His sister was so adorable and innocent, she wasn’t even wary of Alicia; he had to do a good job of protecting her from any harm in future.

Now that he thought about it, his mind went back to when his sister usually returned with bruises and juice stains on her uniform. Should he go look for those who bullied his sister and murder their families?

’Hmm, I’ll have to think about this.’ Alex thought to himself as he entered his room and locked the door.

Morning came quickly, and the second round of the tournament was starting today!

Everyone woke up early in Alex’s home, except for Alicia who still looked drowsy during breakfast. She had been dragged out of bed by the excited Emily and after a few minutes of preparation, they were now at the dining table for breakfast before leaving for the stadium.

Alicia was a powerful magic beast and was used to sleeping for a long time, waking up early was never a habit that she had displayed so she had almost crashed out when a cute girl’s face appeared in front of her after she was woken up.

But she quickly remembered what had happened yesterday and how she had gotten here. Alicia wiped off invisible sweat from her forehead as she thanked her memories for reminding her that she was in a monster’s home.

She didn’t dare to imagine what would have happened to her if she hadn’t remembered on time and had accidentally hurt Alex’s sister. The attack on her core was another big issue.

After breakfast, they all left home and headed for the tournament venue.

Along the way, the excited Emily asked Alicia if she was watching the tournament on the broadcast outside. Alicia didn’t know about any tournament so she shook her head and said that she was aware of it.

Emily took it upon herself to bring her up to date on the tournament’s development, and she was more than happy to speak.

Her story mostly revolved around the top academies and Alex’s glorious matches.

Alicia looked at Alex in shock after listening to Emily. So that was why he was in this strange uniform? From what Emily had told her, the rest of the students in the tournament were kids with the highest strength of Core rank mages, and Alex was participating?!

This monster, was fighting against some children and pretending to be an Adept mage?

’So you don’t only bully magic beasts, but also humans? Just how much of a psychopath are you?!’