LET'S DO THAT

"INDIRECTLY?" Emmy asked, a bit confused.

"I have a lot of experimental drugs from Uncle Leigh. I believe we could use one of those," Astrid answered.

A frown immediately appeared on Emmy's pretty face when she heard that. The 'Uncle Leigh' her son mentioned was Leighton Hayes. He was a doctor who had known her husband even before she met Gage. He owed a favor to Gage. So, when it was time for Emmy to give birth, Gage cashed in on that favor. 

Leighton helped in delivering her babies. He was mainly the doctor in charge. No, it was probably more accurate to say that he was the only doctor there. He didn't even have an assistant. He was not even working at some big hospital or even a clinic. What he had was a lab. A very big lab that he built inside an asteroid.

With just that, one could see that he was not just an ordinary doctor. And yes, he wasn't. Leighton Hayes was a very well-known name in the academic world. He's a famous eccentric and sometimes even referred to as a mad genius. He made medicines that could cure super rare diseases. He gained a lot of fame and influence. But because of that, he also gained a lot of enemies. After dealing with a lot of backstabbing and assassination attacks, he finally had enough and he just chose to poison all his enemies.

It would have been a capital offense worthy of being imprisoned for life. But as it happened, the poison he used would not immediately kill the recipients. They would last for a day before dying. Then at the very last minute before they died, Leighton sent them the antidote for the poison. It was a very traumatic experience for his enemies that they never dared to mess with Leighton again after that. They didn't even dare to file an official complaint against him. 

Tired of all the politics, he decided to just retreat behind the scene, completely away from the limelight. That was 20 years ago. It was such a huge news back then even amongst the nobilities. That's why Emmy was very surprised to find that her husband knew him personally. She was even more surprised to know that he agreed to deliver her babies. 

Not only that, Leighton also agreed to alter the result of Astrid's mental strength level. Because of his reputation quirkiness, no one would certainly think that he would alter the result of a baby's mental strength level.

After the delivery of the twins, for some unknown reason, Leighton grew attached to them. Almost acting like one of those weird uncles that every child had. Every year, at the twins' birthday, he would take his time to fly here and celebrate with them. 

"Did Leighton give those to you during his last visit here?" Emmy asked.

Astrid nodded. "It's a box full of experimental drugs he just finished making. Reas also has his own box. Uncle Leigh said that we might be able to use it one day. Who knew it would come so handy this fast?"

"Is it safe to use them? We can't accidentally kill the prince here. And there might even be a chance that he would smell or even taste the drug. Which would be equally bad for us."

"Don't worry, Mom. I already picked the perfect drug. It's an odorless and tasteless sleeping drug. It would only take effect two hours after being ingested. So, if we put it in his tea or his food, he wouldn't suspect that it was because of whatever we served to him. And even if he did and he went and had a full body scan, no one would find the trace of the drug. Uncle Leigh said that no one would be able to detect the drugs he made." Then Astrid smiled at his mother. "Isn't it perfect, Mom?"

Emmy suddenly didn't know how to feel. This was the first time she'd seen this cunning side of Astrid. He was always sweet and gentle towards her and his father that both of them always worried that he would be bullied outside. Unknowingly, he had already grown up without them noticing. Should she be glad or worried about that?

At the end, she could only sigh helplessly. Of course, it's a good thing. At least now she knew that her son wouldn't just be easily taken advantage of by others.

"How long will the effect of this drug last?" she just chose to ask.

"Twelve hours according to the memo Uncle Leigh sent to our Terminals."

It's actually not just a memo but a complete manual. All the drugs he sent were listed there with matching description and direction to use. Those details were important since a bunch of poison was also sent together with the other drugs. Of course, Astrid wouldn't tell that to his mother or she would definitely scold Uncle Leigh.

 Emmy nodded. Twelve hours were more than enough for the prince to leave here. And it's a reasonable duration of time to wake up for someone who suddenly fell asleep. If he couldn't find any trace of drugs in his system, then the prince could only assume that he fell asleep naturally.

"Okay. Let's do that."