While they were in the carriage, Andrew doesn’t make any comment about any topic being brought up and if a question was thrown at him, he just answers absentmindedly.
Finally Marian notices his attitude and hence stops talking. Andrew was actually in deep thought right now. ‘Genius and you are acting like a kid? Is it not just about studying, I would best you sooner or later’, he just spurts random stuff to himself while being deep in thought.
He was pissed off by the way a boy who he didn’t offend nor knew anything about could just be acting that way to him. Andrew had seen that Alex has answered all his questions with little to no thinking and he has even been through before the appointed time and went through his work more than ten times and even waited for the time to be up before he submitted his script.
‘Although being through, he didn’t deem it fit to help his fellow examinee. I just have to wait till next year to try my luck once again. I would surely have him crushed underneath me. He would be my stepping stone towards a bright future’, he continues grumbling inwardly. The exams of the school although very difficult, an examinee even though having failed could register again the next year.
But each examinee was only allowed at most three tries(three years intervals), after which he won’t be allowed to take the exams again. Eve had only been able to enter on her third try, she has even almost given up on being able to be admitted into this school but seems luck shone on her eventually. The way Andrew was behaving was as if he was still in a bad mood about how the exams went, but he was still thinking about that boy who didn’t do anything other than snort all the time just by looking at him.
To Andrew, Alex felt proud due to being hailed as a genius and hence concluded that Andrew wasn’t someone worth his time. At least that’s what Andrew thought. Alex being in another carriage was free of such thoughts and was just reviewing the face of Andrew. ‘He is unfamiliar. Then why do I get such vibes around him when I don’t get a single sense of familiarity from him?’, he questions himself.
But after thinking for a while, he couldn’t get a single thing in order. ‘Nevertheless, it seems like someone interesting has entered into the setting, some bit of uncertainty though. Nothing that cannot be taken care of’. He shakes the thoughts off his head immediately.
This was the greatest genius who can be rarely seen even after a thousand years. He raises the cotton in the carriage slightly and watches as the scenery changes with a slight smile on his face. Although he was rumoured to be the adopted son of the king, he didn’t have a single guard by his side just in case there was to be something like an assassination.
Although he was powerful, he was not powerful enough to be able to triumph over most higher realm experts.
Soon he got to the palace, which was nothing short but a magnificent sight, occupying a huge stretch of land which was even larger than what was being used for the military headquarters. There were guards stationed at key positions, they were all well-equipped with nice armour and swords were sheathed. They didn’t seem to be anything special but they were the best of the best. These soldiers could be used for wars but they were currently being wasted as they idled around in the act of safeguarding the royal palace.
Getting down from his carriage, all the faces of the guards change into that of absolute terror. It seems like the reincarnation of the devil and not Alex just came down from the carriage, but none of them failed to pay their respects.
Alex takes their expression as normal and it seems like them not being afraid of him would be unnatural. Being afraid of this frail-looking boy was something to be looked into greatly. What could he have done to create such reactions from them?
It just so happens that the same week when he was being adopted into the palace, he was able to rout out the conspiracy of the hidden danger which was lurking behind the kingdom. He was the reason the king came to apprehend one of the reigning dukes and had him executed. Concrete proofs were being laid out and the duke couldn’t retort to it one bit hence he and the rest of his family were killed till the last person, be them a kid or an elderly person. The current family which filled up their space as the duke coincidentally happens to be the family which has taken care of Alex to some point and was of a mere rank of a baron, such rapid promotion to the rank of a duke hasn’t ever been seen.
A lot of blood was shed on that day and some military personnel involved were not spared in the least. That was the first time since the history of the kingdom is founded that a duke has been killed. He has also in one way or another dealt with some guards who have even dared to look at him with scorn or even any maid who has dared to gossip about him in a bad way. And although there has never been any proof of him being connected to their deaths, there was no doubt about him being the culprit. His friendly face was the direct opposite of his deeds.
He walks slowly but filled with confidence into the palace, there was not a single pin which drops during his walk and his face was filled with warmth, a stacking contrast to the feelings of the guards.
On entering the palace, a young man who seems to be in his early twenties, with golden hair and looks fairly handsome rested his back on one of the pillars and on seeing him, his face was filled with scorn.
This happens to be the crown prince of the kingdom. “Brat”, he calls unto Alex. Even though he was being called a brat, he doesn’t take it to heart and his smile was still fully plastered on his face. “Oh, elder brother. You seem to have been waiting here for a while now for now, am sorry to have kept you waiting”, he replies.
“Huh, who is your brother? You bastard son of a bitch, don’t ever call me your brother again. I don’t still know what father saw in you that made him adopt you”, the crown prince spits on Alex’s shoe the moment after he completes that sentence. “Many thanks for your nice words”, Alex just bows his head in reply. Even after he raises his head, his smile was still on his face. He didn’t even flare up one bit due to the crown prince’s actions.
Seeing him this way got the young man more annoyed but he just decides to let Alex go. After all, it was difficult to punch a smiling face. He has noticed the attitude of the guards and maids around Alex and the king always sings praises about him every time which was super annoying to him. He did all this to make him understand that he wasn’t afraid of him and to put him in his place. And also to understand that there could be only one crown prince who would inherit the kingdom in the end. He was the only son of the king with just a sister who has been termed the most beautiful girl in the whole kingdom.
The king didn’t want many children in order to avoid a power struggle between his children which will have great disastrous effects on the kingdom and even leave it in a state way weaker than it should ever be. If such a situation ever happens, they would not be able to avoid invasion from other kingdoms and their lands would eventually be lost.
“Father is requesting your presence”, after saying such words, the young man didn’t stay behind but instead walks away while grumbling about why he was sent as a messenger to this boy, he even asks if there weren’t guards or maids to relay the message.
Alex watches him walk away while he just shakes his head and makes his way to the throne room, to meet the king. A man could be seen at the window staring as the conversation concluded between the crown prince and Alex. Although his face was not that visible.
At about the moment that all these were going on in the palace, Andrew has gotten home. Although they have gotten on different carriages when they came for the exams, they got back on the same carriage.
After getting home, and noticing the sour mood of Andrew, Eve quickly says goodbye to the family and heads out. Marian didn’t want to bother Andrew and thus left him all alone. Andrew lays in his bed thinking hard about what to do since he didn’t even have any iota of confidence in being able to pass this exam he has just written. After a long moment of suspenseful thinking, he jumps out of his bed as if finally making a decision. He finds Marian and borrows every book which was available to her and even went to the library in the mansion and starts reading. He has decided that apart from his training, he would dedicate more time to studying.
This new behaviour of his shocks both the old madam and Marian as he doesn’t even spend time for his normal goofing around. Apart from the time he spent of eating and resting, he has no other free time. And in such a fashion two days went by, and Andrew gives up on his new lifestyle.
It was way more boring than he had initially thought it would be. “Well, what would be would be”, was what he said as consolation to himself.
He resumes his life of drinking, he even took it upon himself to visit Eve. Her brother was rarely around due to the fact that he was always busy attending parties, meetings and the rest. Hence there was no one who could prevent Andrew from seeing her.
Although he was married, the wife was even in favour of them seeing. If one didn’t know the age of Andrew, one would think he was about the age of Eve. And anytime she was asked about her relationship with the boy, she would always blush furiously and her face would be beet red as if she had a high fever and was running temperature, but she never answers the question and just runs along as if avoiding the topic.
The wife of her brother has asked numerous times, but it was the same response she gave her every time. But seeing such a fine and seemingly gentle boy coming around to visit her sister-in-law, she encourages the relationship and thought that even if her brother finds out, she would convince him to also accept the relationship as much as she has done.
