Falling For The True Heiress

We got up and walked into the gaming room one after another.

The room was already set up.

Danny was the first to drop into her chair.

"I’ve been waiting for this."

She cracked her knuckles before putting on her headset.

Caleb quietly sat beside him and adjusted the height of his monitor.

Sasha flopped into her chair dramatically.

"I swear..."

"If we lose to those wolves again, I’m uninstalling Valorant."

"No, you won’t," Danny replied without even looking at her.

"I know," Sasha said with a quiet sigh. "But let me be dramatic."

Camila laughed softly as she pulled out the chair beside mine. "You’ve been saying that since last year."

Sasha shrugged. "So?"

I couldn’t help smiling a little.

Felix walked to the front of the room and folded his arms.

The smile on everyone’s face slowly disappeared.

Felix walked straight toward the large screen mounted on the wall.

"Everyone." His calm voice immediately got our attention.

"We’re playing Ascent."

My fingers paused on my mouse.

Ascent...

The exact map where TitanWolves eliminated us last year.

Felix crossed his arms. "They know this map. They’re comfortable on it."

"And they’ll probably expect us to play exactly like we did last year."

He looked around the room. "So don’t."

He paused. "Play your own game and communicate well."

"Also trust each other."

He nodded once. "Log in."

I slid into my chair and adjusted it before putting on my headset.

The familiar weight settled over my ears. And the outside world disappeared.

Only the soft hum of the computers remained.

I rested my hand on my mouse. Everything felt familiar.

But then my thoughts drifted somewhere else.

Sylvia.

And that guy.

The way she smiled at him. The way she reached up and fixed his hair.

"...Lia?" Camila’s voice came through my headset.

I blinked and turned toward her. "Hm?"

"You there?" She asked, staring at me with concern.

"Mmm."

"You don’t sound like it," she said, still looking unconvinced.

"I’m fine," I said, forcing a small smile.

She stared at me for a moment before nodding. "You’d better be."

"Because they’re already here."

A notification appeared on the screen.

TitanWolves has joined the lobby.

Danny leaned forward immediately. "They’re early."

Caleb adjusted his headset. "They’re taking this seriously."

One by one their usernames appeared.

TW_Raven

TW_Ace

TW_Venom

TW_Hunter

TW_Crow

Danny clicked his tongue. "...I still hate these guys."

The lobby timer started counting down.

00:30

The map loaded.

ASCENT

The Agent Select screen appeared.

Danny immediately locked Jett.

"I’ll enter."

Camila hovered over Omen for a second before locking him in.

"I’ll smoke."

Caleb selected Sova.

"I’ve got recon."

Sasha locked Killjoy.

"I’ll hold the site."

Only one slot remained. Everyone looked at me.

"Amelia."

Felix’s voice was calm. "You know what to play."

I nodded.

Without hesitating—

I locked Clove.

The countdown reached zero. And the loading screen appeared.

On the opposite side...

TitanWolves’ lineup slowly revealed itself.

Astra.

Cypher.

Fade.

KAY/O.

Sova.

"Same lineup..." Danny muttered. "They didn’t change a thing."

The loading screen disappeared.

The buy phase began.

TW_Raven: "Same map. Same result."

TW_Ace: "Let’s see if they’ve improved."

"Bastards!" Sasha shouted.

I tightened my grip on my mouse.

Inside my headset, only one sentence echoed.

"Let’s not lose to them again."

Felix folded his arms and looked at each one of us.

"Don’t focus on their agents. Focus on how they play."

"They don’t win because of their composition."

"They win because they understand each other."

He paused for a second. "And today..."

"We’re going to find out exactly why."

The loading screen disappeared. The timer started counting down.

0:30

"Pistol round," Danny said as she bought a Ghost.

"What are we doing?"

"Standard setup," Felix answered immediately.

"No hero plays. No overpeeking."

"If they want Mid..."

"Make them earn it."

We all nodded.

The timer reached zero.

ROUND ONE

The barriers dropped.

"Let’s go."

Danny dashed toward Mid first. Camila immediately smoked Top Mid. And Caleb fired his Recon Bolt.

The arrow landed near Mid and scanned the area.

"No one, Mid."

I stayed beside Camila, watching A Main.

Sasha was already setting up Killjoy’s utility on B Site.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then—

"Footsteps."

I tightened my grip on my mouse.

"A Main."

The footsteps became louder.

"They’re coming," I leaned forward.

"Three..."

I frowned.

"No..."

"Four!"

"They’re rushing!"

"They’re hitting A!"

Camila immediately dropped another smoke.

Danny swung out from Tree.

Bang!

"One down!"

A second later—

Danny’s icon disappeared. "They traded me!"

Spike dropped onto the site. "They’re planting!"

"Rotate!" Camila called.

Caleb and Sasha immediately started rotating.

Camila and I pushed onto the site together. A knife suddenly landed beside us.

Thunk!

KAY/O’s suppression blade.

My abilities disappeared immediately.

"They suppressed us!"

"They’re playing post-plant," Caleb called through comms.

I peeked at Generator. Astra appeared.

I fired first.

Bang!

Headshot.

"One dead!"

"Nice!" Sasha shouted.

Camila smoked off Heaven. Sasha swung from Market and traded another kill.

"Two left!"

The Spike kept beeping.

Faster.

Faster.

Caleb started defusing. "Cover me!"

I held Heaven.

But there was silence.

Then—

A blue beam tore across the site.

Sova’s Hunter’s Fury tore across the site.

"Sova ult!" Camila shouted.

The first beam forced Caleb off the Spike. The second beam hit him directly.

Caleb fell.

"Damn it!"

Sasha tried to swing. But the third beam caught her before she could fire.

She dropped instantly.

Now...

Only Camila and I were left.

"I’ll stick!" Camila shouted. "You cover!"

I nodded immediately.

She started defusing. She got halfway.

My mind betrayed me and drifted to Sylvia.

"...Lia!"

Camila’s voice snapped me back.

Then—

Cypher peeked from Heaven.

I swung. We fired at the same time.

My bullets missed by inches.

His Ghost didn’t. And everything went black.

Amelia was eliminated.

"Cam!" I shouted instinctively.

She cancelled the fuse and tried to fight.

Fade’s Prowler blinded her.

Cypher swung again.

Bang!

Camila fell.

A second later—

BOOM!

The Spike exploded.

DEFEAT

TitanWolves won the pistol round.

The room fell completely silent. No one spoke.

Danny pulled one side of her headset off and leaned back in her chair.

"...Again."

Caleb rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the scoreboard.

Sasha let out a frustrated sigh. "I hate playing against those guys."

I kept my eyes on the screen. We had lost the first round.

Again.

The word "DEFEAT" was still glowing on the screen.

Without realizing it...

My fingers had tightened around my mouse so tight that my knuckles had turned white.

Across the room, Felix didn’t say anything immediately. He walked slowly behind us, his eyes moving from one monitor to another.

Then he stopped. "Good."

Danny turned around so quickly that her chair squeaked.

"...Good?"

Felix nodded once. "Yes."

"I’m glad you lost that round."

None of us understood what he meant. He folded his arms.

"If you can’t beat them in a practice match..."

"You definitely won’t beat them in the tournament."

The room became even quieter.

"You all made the same mistake. You respected them too much."

He looked at Danny. "You got your first kill."

"But instead of falling back..."

"You challenged another fight."

Danny lowered her head.

Felix turned to Caleb. "You wanted to defuse too early."

"You knew two players were still alive. But you rushed it anyway."

Caleb sighed quietly.

Then Felix looked at me.

"Amelia."

I slowly raised my head.

"You stopped paying attention halfway through the round."

My heart skipped.

"You were aiming. But your mind wasn’t on the game."

I lowered my eyes immediately.

He wasn’t wrong.

Sylvia...

She had been in my thoughts the entire time.

Felix continued.

"Valorant isn’t only about aim. It’s about information."

"Timing. Patience."

"And trust."

He walked toward the screen. "TitanWolves didn’t beat you because they’re better shooters."

"They beat you because they trusted each other. They never took unnecessary fights."

"They traded every teammate. They used their utility together."

"They communicated."

He turned back to us. "And what did we do?"

There was silence.

Felix answered his own question. "We fought as five individual players."

"Not one team."

He pointed at all of us. "That changes today."

"From now on..."

"I don’t want five good players. I want one great team."

He clapped his hands. "Reset your mindset."

"We’re running it back."

"This time..."

"We make them work for every single round."

Felix waited until everyone had settled down before speaking again.

He folded his arms across his chest and looked at each of us. "From today onward, everyone has homework."

Danny groaned dramatically. "Coach, please tell me it’s not actual homework."

Felix ignored her.

"Every one of you is going to watch TitanWolves’ previous matches."

The room fell quiet.

"Not one match," he continued. "All the ones you can find."

He walked over to the screen and pointed at their team lineup.

"I don’t want you watching as spectators."

"Watch them as opponents. Study how they move."

"How they rotate. How they use their utility."

"Who likes to push? Who plays patiently?"

"Who gets impatient when they’re losing?"

He paused for a moment before looking directly to me.

"Every player has habits."

"The more matches you watch, the more those habits reveal themselves."

He turned his gaze to the rest of the team.

"Learn their habits. Learn how they react when they’re ahead."

"Learn how they react when they’re behind."

"Figure out who takes risks. Figure out who’s always the first to rotate."

"Figure out who the others trust the most."

"By the time the tournament begins..."

"...I want you to know TitanWolves almost as well as they know themselves."

A small smile appeared on his face.

"Information wins games."

"Talent alone doesn’t."

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