SCARY BROTHER

REAS watched as the bald captain rushed to follow the annoying prince. When the two were both gone, he then turned to his twin brother. His expression was now back to normal. None of that obedient expression he had been showing since earlier. Reas could even feel the happiness radiating from him. 

That smile on his face said it all. It was the kind of smile Astrid usually had whenever a scheme he thought of had gone smoothly. Reas suddenly thought back to everything that had happened since they walked out of the drawing room. 

The infuriating way Astrid was been acting – as if he suddenly realized that he shouldn't fight with the prince, that he had no power to do so – suddenly made sense. If Reas was guess was correct, then it probably had something to do with whatever scheme he came up with. His brother's acting was so good that he was on the verge of thinking that it was real. In fact, if he didn't grow up with him, he might have really thought that Astrid became scared of that prince.

Especially after that thing just now, when that crazy prince tried to threaten Astrid. Instead of fighting him off, his brother acted like some saint who could bear anything that the devil tried to do to him as long as that could save the people. Which ultimately pissed off that guy. 

Reas glanced at his brother meaningfully. "Aster, what are you playing at?"

Astrid turned to his brother. "I put a sleeping drug on his food earlier," he said in a voice so quiet that only the two of them could hear.

Even if the drug had already taken effect and that prince was now already down, Astrid still had to be careful just in case that subordinate of his heard them.

Reas' eyes widened slightly. But he quickly got over his initial shock and asked, "One of the drugs given by Uncle Leigh?"

Astrid nodded. "That guy is probably now asleep."

Reas immediately understood what his brother was planning with that sleeping drug. He had no doubt that the drug would not work. Because it was made by their Uncle Leigh. He might be eccentric as hell and hard to understand sometimes but there's one undeniable fact about him. He's a genius, the type that could only appear once a millennium. Any drugs, medicine, or poison he made would work. Even if the one who ingested it was someone who was trained to withstood any poison and any other types of drugs. 

"Even if we managed to get that guy to leave, there's still a possibility that he would return. He might not find any trace of that sleeping drug but he would still suspect us," he said, voicing his worries. "It would be a bigger problem then."

"You don't have to worry about that. I'll just make sure that subordinate of his would believe that we don't have anything to do with it. Besides, they wouldn't have any evidence that would point to us. After all, there's no drug in this Empire that could make one fall asleep two hours later."

Astrid was sure of that. Because of how advanced the physique of the people in this era was, all the drugs that they would take would quickly metabolize and take effect. So, a slow acting drug was almost not heard of. Besides, Uncle Leigh said that all the drugs and poisons he'd given them were unique in this Empire. So, he was not that worried that the prince would connect his sudden drowsiness to them.

Reas wondered how Astrid would make that captain believe that they had nothing to do with how the prince suddenly fell asleep. Bit he still had a more pressing matter in his mind. 

"Then how about that guy's interest in you?" he asked. "Do you think it will just disappear once he leaves here?"

"Why do you think I was acting the way I did for the past two hours? So, he would lose his interest in me. Did you see his last reaction? He almost blew up." Astrid chuckled. "He's probably thinking how boring I became."

Reas shook his head, finally hearing the answer on the way his brother was acting. Sure enough, it had something to do with his scheme. He saw the prince's reaction during his brother's last act. 

He looked like he would rip Astrid apart with that explosion of violence. Reas was actually ready to stop him if that were to happen. But surprisingly, the prince just let go of Astrid. Although not before Reas saw a flash of disgust in those golden depths. Remembering that and hearing what Astrid just said, his brother's tactics might really just work.

"Well, I guess anything is alright as long as we could get rid of that guy," he just said at the end. 

"I think so as well," Astrid said. Then he walked forward and glanced back at Reas with a smile on his face. "Why don't we go inside and see the sleeping beast?"

Reas stared at that smile plastered on that beautiful face and he couldn't help but think that sometimes his brother could be really scary if he wanted to.