Curse the Mainframe! 244 Who Are You?

"Who are you?" Dominique repeated again with hostile intentions.

If he couldn't see from his boss' posture that he didn't want the other dead, Dominique would already have tried his best to kill him instead of that rather flimsy attempt.

Alistair's eyes flashed, this aura changing back to something serious. "First prince of the Rhys Royal Family. Alistair Rhys."

When did he ever need to introduce himself?

Dominique didn't even blink before he turned his attention back to Alec. That was not the answer he was looking for from the other man.

Alistair silently rewrote some of his impressions he had on the Sin.

"Sit down," Alec said.

Dominique sat across from Alistair immediately after Alec's order, still glowering at the prince.

Alistair was speechless.

"Did you call him here?" Alistair said with suspicion.

He was outnumbered in this room. Even if he didn't think he'd lose in a fight, it remained that the Alec had somehow managed to call someone to his side without the prince being aware of it.

"No," Alec said simply, and Alistair believed him for some reason.

"So, he managed to find you in this huge city without even knowing about the rumours about us?"

Dominique's eyes narrowed. "What rumours?"

"Rumours about Alexander and the princess. Alexander and the prince."

Dominique's face darkened. He'd heard a number of rumours that were going around, but he hadn't linked both his boss and the Alexander from the rumours. Until now, that was.

Suddenly, the Sin felt his urge to kill everyone who talked about his boss increase exponentially.

His glare got sharper when he stared at Alistair's face, but the other didn't even flinch.

Alistair was thinking. What should he do with the both of them, now? He couldn't possibly keep both Dominique and Alec nearby with him.

Surely, with him sending away the employees after Dominique so rudely barged into the room, there were emergence of new rumours.

His gut was telling him that he should just keep both of them loosely at his side to form a proper partnership, and he relaxed when he made the most optimal decision.

Dominique didn't realize that his presence had helped Alistair's suspicious heart settle down somewhat.

If he knew, he would surely have his annoyance levels shoot up.

"Do you want to strike a deal with me?" Alistair finally said the words that Alec had been waiting for.

Feeling both pairs of eyes from boss and subordinate train on him, Alistair continued talking. He laid his cards out on the table. "Help me take down the royal family."

"And why should I?" Alec questioned. His eyes were unreadable.

"I can help you prevent the war with the Neil Clan entirely."

Alec gave a faint smile. "I don't need that. No, rather, we don't need that."

Alistair's eyes narrowed as he thought. He originally thought that the other man had made contact with him because he was trying to prevent the royal family from going to war with the Neil Clan, but it appeared that was not the case.

Then, what did he want?

The first prince ran through the interactions that they had together, as well as the various rumours that had been going around about Alexander and the princess.

He could not determine his motive.

He was looking for information on the war, but he wasn't biting the bait when Alistair said that he'd be able to prevent the war altogether. Then, what did he want?

As he was looking between Dominique and Alec, his eyes flashed. "What do you want?" he said slowly.

He felt as if he was on the verge of discovery when he noticed the comfortable interaction between Dominique and Alec.

Just as Alistair was studying Alec, Alec had been looking at the prince's reaction towards Dominique's presence.

Even though Dominique didn't sport the mandatory black collar of the Rhys Royal Family's creation to show that he was a Sin, Alistair should have already known that the other was a Sin because they came from the same sect.

Dominique was not what he called low-key, and almost everyone in the sect knew his face, as well as the fact that he was a Sin.

Alec leaned forward a little after he made up his mind. Alistair would be the perfect chess piece to use in this.

He'd been unhappy about the treatment that Sins had been subjected to outside of the sect.

Both before and after they entered the sect, they had been irrevocably changed by their experience outside.

Mainly because of the mandatory collar that was attached to Sins outside of sects and clans, the Sins had a hard time because they were ostracized, which just fuelled their violent tendencies more.

It was a vicious cycle that had to be treated, and Alistair was in the perfect position to change that.

More importantly to Alec, though was that Alistair didn't have a visible change in his behaviour when he interacted with Dominique, and even after Dominique had thrown a dagger at him with killing intent, Alistair didn't react negatively.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Alistair was faking it. His acting skills seemed to be relatively impressive, but Alec went with his gut instinct that the other truly didn't see anything wrong with Dominique being a Sin.

That was enough for him right now.

"Are you planning on taking over the throne?"

Alistair fell silent, his mind whirling. Instead of looking at Alec, he looked at Dominique who was just sitting there silently like a giant stone statue that was glaring at him.

"I've already set up a silencing barrier, so feel free."

Alistair turned back to Alec. "Yes."

While he would rather not, the royal family was rotting from inside out.

The numerous terrible deeds that had been performed by both the emperor, empress, first princess and second prince were already enough for Alistair to think about how to get rid of them once he caught whiff of the terrible things that were going on.

It was precisely because they were in such positions of power that there was nothing to keep them in check.

The only one who was free of the 'family drama' was second princess Freesia, who was making herself as unnoticeable as possible.

"If I help you, then I want you to do something about the Sin's collar once you become emperor," Alec said simply, also showing his hand to the prince, just like how the prince laid his cards out on the table.

A smile slowly curved onto Alistair's face, and it was different from the sloppy smile that he usually showed people.

It was a charismatic and genuine smile that seemed to contain the prince's deep pleasure at the words that came out of Alec's mouth.

He had indeed not been wrong seeing the camaraderie between Alec and Dominique.

If it was like this, then he felt as if he had more of Alec's personality figured out, and that gave him a sense of relief and safety.

"I had been already planning on doing so," Alistair said with pleasure.

Alec hummed. Regardless of whether or not the other was telling the truth, it was enough for him.

Compared to Alec and Alistair's cool reaction, Dominique felt waves of emotion when he heard about his boss' condition to help the prince.

The fanaticism and worship that he had for his boss deepened a level.

The boss had thought about them first, which made him feel something light bubble up in the pits of his stomach.

He definitely hadn't been imagining the short glance that the boss gave him before he talked, and there was a strange feeling being born in his heart.

The boss wasn't even a Sin, but he really treated them well – both him and the other Sins out there.

Dominique was a little jealous, but the deep satisfaction that he felt outweighed that feeling by far.

Chapter end

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