OUR FOREST OF THORNS | tbosas ✔️

025 || How The Game Goes

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE —        How The Games Goes ..

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          "Has it yet occurred to you that you are perhaps overestimating my little sister, Dr. Gaul?" Albert sighed. He's had to walk through this woman's laboratory in deep reconstructions for the past ten minutes, and at long last, the walking was starting to get him irritated, especially with a lack of alcoholic beverage in hand to keep him entertained. "You've called me here because you were concerned about what she's up to, but all I have heard so far is mere speculation, nothing of real substance."

"She burned down a whole wing of this laboratory, whether you want to see it or not," Dr. Gaul was undisturbed by the stubborn idiocy of the president's eldest son. After all, no matter how annoying his nature, an aspiring man with the intelligence of a slug would always be more beneficial to her plans than the sharp enemy Daphne Ravinstill had proven herself to be. "She didn't do all of this to hurt me, Mr. Ravinstill, but it's very likely instead that she had chosen arson as a cover-up for a theft."

"All wonderful accusations which I would love to hold against my dear sister, as you well know, but none of which can actually be proven," Albert grimaced. "Your archive has been swept clean and there's no inventory left to cross-reference in order to look for what could be missing. Even with an inventory still available, you wouldn't be able to tell which assets have been lost in fire or to theft, because there's no security footage left either. All you have to back up this assumptions of yours is what my fiancée likes to call a 'female intuition', some bullshit excuse that will never stand in court, and believe me, my sister is many things but she's not some coward. She will take accusations like these to court, without hesitation."

"How about the rat population control project she funded after the fire?" Dr. Gaul offered another fact for his consideration. "It is undeniably suspicious that she's decided to work on a pesticide, of all things."

"Is it really?" Albert dismissed with a sigh. "We have lost Tributes this year to rabies, haven't we?"

"And Miss Ravinstill is definitely known for her endorsement of the Games."

"I don't think I care for your tone, Dr. Gaul," he warned in retaliation to her sarcasm.

"Pesticides are just another name for poisons, Mr. Ravinstill," she continued, completely ignoring his comment; the likes of Albert could not scare her, much as they tried, and unfortunately for her patience, they did try quite a lot. "I believe your sister is setting up a coup d'état."

"Are you sure we are talking about the same Daphne?" Albert shook his head. "Sure, she's always had the ambition of besting me in politics, but she's not cut for this game. You've seen how she behaved in Congress. She's too radical to make it to the top and I am sure she's not delusional enough to not see that."

"Her performance in Congress has been perhaps a little too dramatic," she agreed. "There's always the option that she may have had ulterior motives to join though."

"Didn't you say you are working on removing her anyhow?" He now sighed, exasperated by just how much importance was placed upon his sister in this conversation.

"There's been some unusual hold-ups from Strabo Plinth," she admitted, uncomfortable with the partial defeat on that front.

"I would normally entertain a scandal about Daphne bribing Plinth with unbecoming favors," Albert couldn't help a grin at the thought of such a tabloid title, "but everyone and their mother knows my sister has a talent for unsettling every man in a mile radius."