The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

REAS stared at his brother's nonchalant attitude and suddenly felt the urge to pull out his hair because of frustration.  But since he didn't want to get bald, he could only scratch the back of his head.  If he didn't know him better, he might really think that the other was not taking his safety seriously.

But he did know Astrid.  And he's not someone who would joke about something like that.  So, when he said that he would have a fallback strategy no matter how things turned out, he had no choice but to believe him.  Because once Astrid decided on something, he would definitely follow up on it with actions instead of just words. 

Then, what else could he do?  As someone who only wanted the best for his brother but didn't want to be the kind of person who would intrude in every aspect of his life, he could only support him.  Although they're twins, he didn't have the right to control his life and vice versa.  The two of them could only give suggestions to each other.  It's still up to them whether they would follow it or not.

This time, Astrid obviously had no plans on following his 'suggestion'.  So, really, he could only protect him once things went awry. 

"Do what you want," he could only say at the end.

Reas simply made a decision.  Once he became an official soldier of the Empire, he would definitely do his best to rise up in ranks as fast as he could and gain more power and influence along the way.  He would be at a position where no one would even dare to mess with him or the people he cared about.  Even if the one he was up against was the prince.

Astrid, who had no idea that his almost whim-like statements made his brother even more determined and ambitious, smiled.  He could see that the other was very reluctant to say that.  Reas probably wanted to continue arguing with him until he saw 'reason'. 

But the thing was, he had always been very rational.  Even when he said those things earlier about Wulfric, his brain had already reasoned out a lot of things with him.  From all the pros and cons.  But even though the cons far outweighed the pros, he still believed that his initial judgment wouldn't be wrong.

That's pretty much illogical.  Something that went against his nature.  But he just couldn't help it.  He just wanted to see how things would develop until the end.  Yes, he knew, it was reckless and totally not like him.  But just like anyone else, he's also human.  He's far from perfect.  Sometimes he would make decisions that might or might not affect him negatively later on.

It was his mistake to make.  If he was wrong and things went out of hand, then he could only blame himself.  He wouldn't go around crying over it.  He would accept that he was wrong and then learn from his mistake.  Just like all humans should.

But at the same time, he would also be prepared for whatever would come.  This way, his loss wouldn't be that huge.  And he could still ensure his safety at the end of it.  There might be some things that would be out of his control, but the important thing was that he truly wouldn't let the situation reach a point where he was the one at the most disadvantageous position.

Astrid walked to his brother and linked their arms together.  "Don't think about it anymore.  The thing you should think about now was your dormitory life that would start in three days."

Although the performing arts school where he was admitted would also start school registration in three days, he was not required to live at the school dormitory immediately after.  There wasn't really a strict requirement for students to live at campus.  But the Imperial Military Academy was different.

They had to live at the dormitory provided by the school.  The incoming freshmen even had to stay a week ahead before the start of the school year. 

"Do you have everything you need?" he asked.  "We can go shopping tomorrow if you want.  This big brother will accompany you."

Reas snorted.  He knew this guy was just saying that to coax him.  But it didn't matter.  Since he knew whatever he said wouldn't change Astrid's mind.  "I already have everything I need."

"Then, accompany me somewhere tomorrow," Astrid said, as if already expecting that he would answer that way.  "You'll definitely be in a good mood once we get there."

Reas only had a question mark on his face when he heard that.

----------

An aircraft was flying towards the direction of the capital's military base. 

Inside, Wulfric was still mulling over how he would befriend Aster.  He seriously didn't know how he would do it.  He had never tried to do something like that.  Most of the time, it was other people who wanted to befriend him, not the other way around.  But he just scoffed at those people. 

Because he knew that those people really didn't mean it.  They were only trying to get close to him because of his position as the prince and not because of who he was as a person.  And after his reputation became, well, let's just say it was the opposite of 'good', those same people started to avoid him.

At first, there were still some who tried to get close to him.  But one time, he couldn't control his temper and just directly broke someone's bones, putting the other into coma for almost a month.  Considering how advanced medical technology was, having a person in a coma for a month was already a huge tell that Wulfric didn't hold back when he attacked. 

After that, there were no more ingratiating gaze falling on him.  There was only fear.  And he much preferred it that way.  At least he no longer had to deal with those hypocritical people.

He once again looked at his two captains.  "You still haven't thought of a way?"