Reincarnated as the Heroine's Brother

Chapter 16

The sound of trickling water and crinkling paper were the only things to be heard alongside a set of breathing. An elegant, dainty hand covered with an navy blue embroidered silk glove turned the page from a rather sized stack of paperwork.

Sharp heterochromatic eyes flashed as they caught sight of the smallest flutter of black cloth. The hand that had previously been harmlessly turning a page took a throwing knife and nailed its target on the shadow guard's hood.

The woman had blonde hair put up in an intricate bun, strands escaping to frame her beautifully cold face. One of her eyes were blue, the other green. Her gown was a dark purple, accented with navy blue and made it seem like she was gliding on air.

The queen stood up, regal and graceful, and left the pavilion to question the shadow guard she had caught.

None of her movements made any sound.

"Have you neglected your training, Two?" She asked, voice deceptively even. Two took the throwing knife from her hood and got on one knee, bowing her head. "No, commander."

The queen took back her knife, slipping it into a sheath strapped in her sleeve. "Then what has gotten my best student so ruffled? Has it something to do with my...husband's decisions?"

"Answering the first question, commander, I found a very ambitious scheme that, if the schemer is enabled, will succeed. Answering the second question, commander, it has to do with the student with light magic who was recently admitted." Two answered dutifully.

"Elaborate," The queen demanded, flicking her wrist to motion the other to come with her as she returned to the pavilion.

Two did as ordered and didn't hold back.

Commander loved her children enough to do something about this, Two and everyone else were sure of this. Her...husband, on the other hand, was a complicated matter.

The shadow guards' loyalty was to the queen and the princes, not the king or the kingdom.

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This is what the common people know, the king and queen are deeply in love with each other, their love story sang by bards and hailed as one of the most romantic pieces to have graced the land of the living.

This is what the common people don't know, the king was a fickle, fickle man.

Chris mused to himself as the family of four—no, three sat in the dining room. Their father was flattering yet another young woman who was as the family of three dubbed, "auntie of the month".

They were a family of three, a mother and two brothers.

(Never his father, never the king because he had never been there, had never loved them or even looked at them in the eye once—not to insult or critic or compliment or even muse on how big they've grown by now.)

They were a family of three, with two extras sitting on the dining table, living in their home, leeching off of them.

This is something the common people would never understand, because theirs was a tale of love and loyalty, how could it grow to be like this?

(It was something Chris was afraid of, because if Rey ever found out that he had grew up in such a family, would he be disgusted?)

Leo picked at his food, mashing them into something unrecognizable. The queen, mother, their strict but loving mother, gave him a look that had him reeling to straighten up and eat properly, with manners.