Reincarnated as the Heroine's Brother

Chapter 22

The bakery was busy as ever, freshly baked goodies smelling ansolutely heavenly and looking divine. Rey hummed a tune he vaguely remembered from his last life and fell into the familiar routine of putting up the baked goods his parents had made early in the morning. Mother was taking the butter cookies out of the oven, the golden-brown hue looking as tempting as usual. Father whistled a happy tune as he decorated a custom order cake.

The bell rung more and more frequently as the hour passed, the beggining of the morning rush taking their usual orders and some taking the cookies that were just out of the oven for extra.

All in all, it was a pretty normal scene.

The bell rung again and Rey greeted in reflex, not looking at who the customer or visitor was. A soft voice made him look up at the red-haired teen he met yesterday. "Um... could you recommend me some things?"

The cutie was blushing and nervously tugging at his sleeve. Rey giggled, "Sure! You can call me Rey, by the way."

"A-ah, of course." Aiden paused and added as an afterthought, "Rey."

He was adorable and Rey just wanted to squish his cheeks. Rey hummed instead, keeping his hands on the cookie jar, opening it. "I definitely recommend these, they were out of the oven only an hour ago. Then..."

Rey let himself ramble on, squealing at how the other nodded and listened to every word he said. Such a cutie.

Aiden nodded seriously and said, "I'll take all of those!"

...wait what?

"Are you throwing a party of some sort?!" Rey asks, which was a completely normal thing to do while disbelieving because he had just told Aiden every single thing that didn't have to be custom made or wasn't available at the moment. "Who would need so much bread?!"

To his questioning, the other bumbled and flushed a bright red, "I, I didn't know what to get!"

Oh. Oh of course.

Mother walked out of the baking area with a tray of freshly baked and decorated fruit tarts and Rey tells him, "Just try one of those first. Mother! We have a customer who wants to try one of those!"

Mother smiles at the both of them and Rey could pinpoint the moment she thought of something and a devilish glint appeared in her eyes. Oh no. What did she think of?

/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\

Chris practically sprinted down his usual route to the bakery Rey lived in. It was important that they meet up now and he warns the other about Ignis.

He wouldn't put it past them to take hostage en masse and Rey and his family are in prime position for it. They were mildly famous in the capital for being one of the best family-run bakeries and so were popular with the people, but not so in the eyes of nobility. Their family had also produced Lily who had light magic and so was distinguished from others.

If Ignis decided to be smart for once, then they would be one of the hostages. It would create a rift between nobility and the common people because they were not important enough in the nobility's eyes to save and risk things but they were in the common people's eyes. The Ignis woman who was the king's advisor was clearly a spy and it was about time that someone or something take the collected information back to Ignis and it had happened.

Earlier, he had caught a dove that had a letter tied to its leg. The poor bird was being taken care of by Leo and he had burnt the letter that contained everything.

Of course it was then that he catches sight of red hair. Inside.

And so the first thing that comes out of his mouth the moment he opens the door, "Rey, get away from him!"

Two pairs of eyes flickered to him immediately after and he recognizes prince Aiden for who he is. A sudden regret washes through when he registers the fear in the third prince's expression. Of all people...

"Chris? What happened?"

Of course prince Aiden would prefer running away to the enemy than his family. Or...

He looked at Rey and offered up an apologetic grimace, "Sorry, I thought he was someone else." Which wasn't exactly a lie. Its not like any kingdom would be stupid enough to send out any of their possible heirs to possible death, right?

...well, it was Ignis they were talking about.

It is after reassuring Rey that no it was nothing I thought he was threatening you and Rey himself introducing the both of them, expecting them to get along that hopefully-future-father-in-law called the black-haired one inside. Chris turned to the blank-faced Aiden and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I... my mother and brothers gave me the task of checking on Hestia and collecting information..." the more he talked the more frantic he looked. Chris took pity on the boy who would always look like a lost puppy whenever he saw him and bluntly told him. "You were sent on a suicide mission. That woman sent a messenger dove to Ignis earlier this morning."

Aiden slumped down. Chris sighed and thought about it.

When they won—and Aqua will win. It had Terra as an ally and two variant magic users, so unless the king somehow screws up royally or the Ignis has been hiding something big the entire time, they had a guaranteed win—Ignis' citizens had to be either slaughtered, enslaved or integrated in. All of which were bad things to do.

An idea kept forming in his mind and mother would likely be most delighted if she ever found out.

Aiden fidgeted and excused himself, going to wherever he was staying and probably stewing in whatever he was thinking. Chris had to make sure that that woman does not find out that her third prince was here, else some things might happen.

He had a lot to do. But for now, he would just spend time with Rey.

/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\|/|\

Some things happening and Chris has an idea, I wonder what it is?
I myself have some ideas I want in this and hopefully it doesn't seem too bad. Love you guys! Thanks for reading!

Words: 1062