The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

"DID Mom manage to fake her death? And did Dad actually ended up being wanted?" Astrid asked.

Although he already had an idea on what the answer would be, he still wanted to know how it happened. The fact that no one had come in this planet to look for his mother for as long as he could remember meant that for everyone else, she was already dead. Emmaline Grimaldi no longer existed. 

But he wasn't sure if the same could be said for his father. That's why he asked this question.

"I left a video message to Duke Grimaldi before your father and I executed our plan," Emmy said. "I told him to tell everyone that I died in the same planet where Cecil died. With his position, he could easily fake my death. And because that bastard and I disappeared together, it would give him the right excuse on why he ended up searching Cecil's villa. He could simply say that while looking for me, he received an anonymous video. Since it's the video of Cecil confessing to his crime, he could just say that he went to that villa looking for me."

Considering how everything went well, her father definitely followed the instructions she gave to a tee. She also didn't doubt that her father would do it like that. Because that way, the Grimaldis would still appear like they were on the neutral side and not deliberately targeting the Lancasters. After all, his daughter also 'died'. Who would dare point fingers at them?

"I did end up being wanted," Gage said afterwards. "As long as one investigated enough, they would find my connection to your mother's and Cecil Lancaster's disappearance at Dionysius. The Lancasters couldn't charge me for the death of Cecil. In the eyes of the public, I did a great deed by killing him. So, they did everything in their power so I could be charged by 'killing' your mother. The Grimaldis didn't do anything to stop it. It would be too suspicious if they did. And that's how your Dad ended up in the most wanted list of the Empire."

Emmy pinched her husband's cheek. "Why do you seem so proud?"

"Aw… aw… wife, don't pinch too hard."

Astrid stared at his parents. The way they were acting, it's like what they said was nothing. As if all those depressing things couldn't affect them. 

His mother's family knew that she was still alive and yet none of them had been in contact with her. And she seemed okay with that. No, maybe she was secretly in contact with her younger brother. They seemed close based on what their mother told them.

He remembered how this Duke Grimaldi was in his mother's story. A responsible duke and an unfeeling father. He seemed to be very objective, someone who wouldn't act on his emotions. And yet he made a decision to use his only daughter as bait just to capture that Cecil Lancaster when there's a lot of other way to do that. Ways that wouldn't hurt the feelings of his child.

It almost seemed like a very emotional decision. As if he couldn't wait to put Cecil Lancaster into trial in the fastest way possible. And since that psycho proposed marriage to Mom, he simply chose to agree with the idea of using his mother as 'bait'.

But why?

"Did Dad and Mom ever find out why this Duke Grimaldi wanted to use Mom as 'bait'? If he hated that Cecil bastard, why couldn't he just pay someone to assassinate him or something?" Reas said, asking exactly what's on Astrid's mind. 

"Maybe that psycho did something that angered the Duke. But it was something that didn't warrant for him to move his hand and kill him. Putting him to jail would be enough to quell his anger," Astrid said, sharing his theory. "But he wanted it to be done quickly, so he chose to use Mom as 'bait'."

Emmy looked at his twins. One didn't hesitate to suggest that her father could have just killed Cecil and the other talked mockingly while coldly analyzing things. They didn't even bother to show any kind of respect to her father – their grandfather. Did she and her husband just raise a pair of terrifying children?

But instead of being afraid, she was oddly proud. Because it just showed the strength of the two.

Regarding their question, she simply said, "We also don't know."

But she had a guess on why. She bet that Gage also had his own conjecture about the matter. But she no longer wanted to dig up the past. Because just like what she said to her husband when they were leaving that underdeveloped planet, everything was already over with the death of Cecil Lancaster. If they continued to be tied up in the past, then how could they create a path to their future?

She caught herself and she almost laughed because of her last thought. Despite thinking that way, she was still tying up her children here because of that past. Wasn't that hypocritical of her? 

She stared at her twins and finally made up her mind.

***

ANNOUNCEMENT:

This story will go premium once it reached ch.71. And because of the new rule regarding new contracted novels, the first two locked chapters would automatically be under privilege. I have no control over this. The good thing is that it would only be worth 1 coin to access the privilege chapters. 

I know some of you will not like that the story will go premium. But this is a contracted novel and its chapters will be locked sooner or later. I always locked my story at ch.71. It's the same for my other two novels.

If you don't want to continue reading on because of that, I understand. It's alright if you drop the novel.

To those new in Webnovel, the chapter cost all depends on the number of words in that chapter. 200 words = 2 coins. Contracted writers are required to write at least 1k words or more for their premium chapters. So, my chapters would probably cost at least 6 coins. I just want to share this in case you think that the writers are the ones who put prices on their chapters.

If you decided to buy the privilege, please read the instruction about the privilege first. That way you would understand what you're going into and you won't feel that you have been cheated.

Lastly, I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who's still here and who decided that they would still continue reading on. Let's all join Aster on his journey to stardom! ＼(≧▽≦)／