Reborn in another world as a Hermaphrodite

As the 2 of hearts failed to match Sophia's 1 of spades, Mary's heart skips a beat before turning to the right.

To her relief, her 10 of the club had beaten her 10 of heart, avoiding the tie as she pushed past ten cards.

"Dang it. I knew I should have swapped my cards." Sophia murmured as she threw both cards aside.@@novelbin@@

"Too bad, no takesies-backsies!"

As Mary celebrated her victory, she started jumping on the sofa in pure excitement.

"You just got lucky."

"Why does someone sound so sour? Is my ear hearing things?" Mary asked sarcastically as she sat back down.

"You little brat——"

"Stop fooling around. If a guard or a maid saw you two being so improper in the castle, Mom would be extremely mad."

Alex interrupted the two just as Mary ran behind him to avoid being put in a chokehold by Sophia.

"I was just celebrating. She's the one being angry." Mary argued as she shyly looked to the side.

"I'm just teaching her some manner," Sophia argued as she realized how childish she looked earlier.

"Doesn't matter. I'm going to confiscate this away from you two."

After gathering all the cards, he quickly ran to the shelf before putting it back into place. Then, he carried the chair back to the table before sitting back down on the sofa.

"You ruined all the fun," Mary complained, directing it right towards Sophia.

"Hmph!"

Sophia didn't try to argue back against her this time, opting to sit on Alex's other side.

---

With some time passing by, Mary was soon bored as she stared outside the window.

A layer of white snow still lingered on the city despite the fact that the first week of June had almost passed.

"Alex, I'm bored," Mary complained as she shook his elbow.

"Go read a book or something," Alex replied as he continued reading the book from the shelf.

"Sophia, do you want to go do something?" Mary asked after seeing him not willing to compromise.

"Hmph!"

Sophia flat-out ignored Mary, reading a different book from the shelf as she still looked a little grumpy from earlier.

With nothing much to do, Mary picked up a book and started reading it.

But after a while, Sophia started to get a little bored. She put the book down and looked over at the two of them.

Alex was still reading his book in silence, seemingly enjoying the story being told in the book.

Meanwhile, Mary barely looked awake as her eyelids looked heavier and heavier before closing.

"Alex, are we really just going to wait here?" Sophia impatiently asked as three hours had passed since Katherine had left.

After noticing Alex not responding, she kept on shaking his arm until he finally snapped out of the book.

"What do you want me to do? Do I look like I know some spells to figure everything out magically?"

"Come on, I know you have the biggest brain in the house. You have to know something that we can do."

After hearing Sophia's plead, Alex finally puts his book down before looking over at her face.

"Here, I know what you can do to help Mom... Start studying for the final exam and make sure you pass it."

The answer disappointed her, but there was nothing she could do to argue back, as she didn't even know where to begin.

"I guess you're right..."

As Sophia picked her book back up, Alex's mind was in a completely different place.

---

"Sarah, stop playing your game and help me with something," Alex demanded as he stood next to a desk.

Sarah was on the chair, one hand on the keyboard's QWER and the other on the mouse.

Her eyes were laser-focused on the computer, with constant movement on the screen.

"Just give me a second."

As Sarah answered back, he could hear sounds coming straight from the computer speaker.

"An Ally had been slain... Enemy Double Kill... Enemy Triple Kill... Enemy Quadra Kill! Ace!"

"Fuck this game... Ahem, what do you want to ask me about?" Sarah asked as she finally turned off her computer.

"My family is missing."

"Your family? Isn't Sophia and Mary next to you?"

"Not them. Mom, Amelia, and Grandma are all missing." Alex explained.

"Huh... I know as much as you do. I'm afraid I don't know where they are either."

"Come on, you have to know something... I helped you set up a whole computer and all those games for you——"

"Okay, fine, fine. Just give me a second."

As Sarah closed her eyes, Alex waited patiently as he looked around the room.

It was just an ordinary bedroom, but according to her, it was supposed to be his bedroom back on Earth.

The computer on the desk was the same computer he had vague memories of assembling with someone close back on Earth.

This whole setup was her request, as she wanted to try out his 'gaming' culture back on Earth.

Of course, he didn't do all these for free. For the past month, he was able to go to the dream to be with Katherine together.

Even though they hadn't crossed any lines at all ever since that day, he was satisfied just being next to her every night in the dream.

It was almost like his secret hideout, away from all the problems he faced with learning and studying—A soothing experience that brought him peace.

"Ahem, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Did you find them?"

"No, but I recommend you leave Regina before midnight... Something bad is going to happen."

"What——"

Before Alex could ask anything else, Sarah kicked him out as she closed the dream state.

---

Looking to the left, Alex noticed Sophia had fallen asleep on the sofa as the book rested close on her lap.

On his right, Mary had long dropped the book onto the floor, her body leaning to the side of the sofa.

As he took a look at the clock, it was already Eight O'clock at night.

"Shit... Do I listen to her or not?" Alex wondered as his mind felt a little conflicted.

But after remembering what Katherine had said before leaving, he made his final decision.

"Sophia, Mary, wake up. It's eight already."

"Hm?"

As the two of them slowly woke up from the shaking, they were surprised to see that the sun had already gone outside.

"Is Mom here already?" Mary asked as she closed her eyes once again, along with Sophia, who looked way too tired.

"No, but we're going to go back home."

"Home?" Mary muttered in slight confusion to herself.

"What do you mean we're already going back home? Mom isn't here yet."

Sophia finally woke up fully, questioning Alex as she didn't understand why Alex wanted them to leave.

"It's almost going to be late. We still have an exam next week, and we already promised to have a study session with Evelyn."

"But..."

"There's no but. Remember what Mom said? We can ask the guards to bring us home if she doesn't come back."

Alex paused for a second, then continued.

"They are going to be fine. Grandma is literally almost an archmage, and both Auntie and Mom have way more secrets than we know of.

Besides, they would know we'll be at home when they come back to the castle. We'll just let those two guards tell them."

Seeing Sophia still looking a little hesitant, Mary suddenly chimed in.

"Sophia, are we really going to sit here until tomorrow morning? There's nothing to eat, and we didn't even bring any clothes with us even if we wanted to live here."

"Fine. Let's go to the guards then."

After putting the book back onto the shelf, the three of them headed towards the castle entrance.

But to their surprise, the door was already locked, with the two guards nowhere to be seen.

Just as Alex tried to pull the lock aside, a magical barrier suddenly forced his hand back.

"Crap, they already locked it for the night... Let's go try to find someone to open it."

The two of them quickly followed Alex down the hall, walking around the castle in an attempt to find someone.

However, after walking through the entirety of the first floor, they noticed there was not a single person in the castle other than them.

"Where did everyone go? Why would there be zero knights in the castle?" Sophia murmured as they arrived back at the entrance.

Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire

"It doesn't make sense. The maids are on off days, but the knights don't have any off days."

After a short thought, the three of them decided to check the second floor of the house before heading over to the balcony.

But once again, they still couldn't encounter or see any guards that would usually be standing at various watch towers.

However, as they looked over to the city, they quickly noticed something was a little off about it.

"What is happening?"