84 Noone looks more honest than a villain.

Nildiri Hills, Northern Army Basecamp

Agastya cleared his throat and said a bit awkwardly, "Umm… actually, Cousin Avantika intended to stay back and have an early dinner with us. But I guess there was some sort of disagreement between her and Third Brother. I was surprised that the two of them who usually get along the best, had quarrelled. Had I not known better, I would have suspected it to be a lovers' spat… but how can that be? Third Brother won't play around with the feelings of our young cousin. He is well aware that Mother treats Cousin Avantika as her own daughter."

Saying so, Agastya showed a confused expression as if he was still perplexed about the matter.

"I tried speaking to Third Brother about it but…" he started.

"That's it. You can carry on with your work now. Send someone to the village to ask Dushyant to come back quickly," with that, General Chandraveer dismissed him.

Agastya's lips stretched into a smile as soon as he turned to leave the room.

Ever since the incident a couple of days ago, he had been thinking of a way to let his parents know about this matter.

As a matter of fact, he had known for a long time that his parents wouldn't be happy to accept Avantika as their daughter-in-law. This was also one of the reasons why he had hesitated all these years in expressing his love openly for her. He had wanted to be strong enough and attain a dominant position in the army before putting across his feelings in front of his parents.

The reason was - he hated failure!

He couldn't handle defeat in any form. Understanding this trait of his personality, since childhood, Agastya always weighed his options carefully and liked to maintain a cautious approach towards all matters.

This steady and mature behaviour of his had won his father's appreciation in the past few years and helped him rise in the ranks rapidly.

Both his younger brothers were mavericks, preferring to take greater risks to earn higher gains. But what the battalion needed was a calm and holistic approach, not hot-headedness.

Had that not been the case, their father wouldn't have sent Nakulesh all the way to the capital to serve in the orthodox and extremely demanding position as one of the royal guards* responsible for the emperor's well-being.

General Chandraveer hoped that his second son would learn to curb his impetus behaviour in that position. But this meant that Nakulesh's career path was now permanently linked to the capital and he was unlikely to return to the Northern Army ever.

As for Dushyant, the small battalion which he led, had seen a lot of success but was often under severe criticism for their ruthless and unconventional ways. The last war between the Turts and the Northern Army was a perfect example of this. Turts were one of the bigger nations on the other side of the Nildiri Hills and often led their army to engage in skirmishes with the Northern Army.

Two years ago, the Turts unexpectedly managed to scale the other side of the Nildiri Hills unnoticed by the Northern Army's border patrol. By the time the army became aware of their incursion, the Turts had managed to put themselves into an advantageous position and occupied a high peak from which they could cause damage to the reinforcements sent by Northern Army to their border patrol team.

After a massive loss of life in the first three days, Dushyant led a chosen few of his people and went all the way round that particular peak. In order to fool the enemy, his people were wearing similar uniforms as the Turts, which no one knew how they had managed to arrange for in such a short time.

Moreover, he managed to convince the Turts that his team was the reinforcement sent by their country. He did so by showing his sincerity as he killed at least 30 Northern Army soldiers on his way to the peak which had been occupied by the Turts. It wasn't the number of people killed but the cruel method of killing which he had employed.

He used the same 'hacking the skull' style as the Turts, and butchered the Northern Army soldiers without batting an eyelid.

Of course, he went on to do the same to the Turts when he managed to reach their camp. His ruthless act won the war but his methods came under heavy censure even in the royal court where many ministers raised their arms in protest, asking for removal of such a mercenary leader who was lacking in morals.

Agastya thought back to the stress and pressure which their father had undergone during that episode. Post that war, Dushyant was ordered to go into patrolling the highest, most desolate peaks of the Nildiri hills. After seeing his actions, there was no way that General Chandraveer would ever give a powerful post to his third son.

Agastya's face stretched into a twisted grin.

The twins, Nakulesh and Dushyant may be more talented than him, but he would be the one sitting at the highest post eventually!

*Royal Guard - Think of it as a secret service agent next to a president of a country.