The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

AFTER morning class ended, Astrid ate lunch as usual at the greenhouse. Kiran was the only one there with him since Snow had a filming schedule today. It was for a youth drama in which Snow managed to successfully get the role of the second male lead through audition.

That drama would probably air next month. Maybe just a week or so after the premier of [Serendipitous Summer]. He was confident that Snow would get a lot of good attention from the movie. After all, he was there and saw the other's performance during filming.

As long as the youth drama he's filming now had a good script and cast, then the probability of it having a good reception amongst the public would be high. Assuming that the movie would be a success, then it would definitely be a big boost to Snow's popularity.

Astrid had really hoped that would be the case. Not just for Snow, but also for him. It's his first starring movie after all. If it didn't do well in the box office, producers might think that he's not bankable enough to be leading a movie.

But honestly, he's not really that worried about it. He had confidence with Director Hale and the rest of the production crew. He firmly believed that the post-production would only make the movie better.

Actually, there's only one thing that's worrying him right now. And no, it's not whether he could play the role he wanted in the script he read last night. It actually had something to do with the message he received this morning. Just remembering it was already making his head hurt.

[Aster, can I meet you today? Any time is fine. Just... I hope we can meet, just the two of us. Preferably in a more private setting?]

[I didn't mean anything weird by that. I promise. There's just something I wanted to talk to you about.]

[You can send me the time and place.]

[Please, I hope you will grant this request.]

[I beg you.]

Those were the messages that Casey had sent him. Astrid hadn't yet replied to any of them. Reading those messages and thinking of what happened yesterday at the manor, he could only think of one reason the other wanted to meet with him.

That his hunch was right and that the duke really did suspect that he was related to them.

The fact that Casey sent those messages in such a tone meant that it was no longer a suspicion, but more of a fact. Because why else would he be acting like that? Surely it wouldn't just be because of something related to EMMA. The other could just let someone working for him to deal with things like that.

But no, he sent those cryptic messages instead, sounding very desperate. What else would Astrid think?

It was already noon, and he didn't really know how to answer the other. Because if he was right and the Grimaldis now knew that he and Reas were related to them, he genuinely didn't know what to do next.

He could just ignore it and act like he didn't know anything. But things would end with just that? If he was indeed right and Cassius wanted to meet him because he found out that he was his nephew, then no. It wouldn't end so easily by pretending to be ignorant. Maybe it would even escalate.

Surprisingly enough, even after realizing that possibility, he didn't feel panicked at all. He was only worried about what his next action would be, but he wasn't that overly concerned about the consequence of it.

Probably because he knew that even if he Grimaldis knew about Astrid and Reas' true identities, they couldn't do anything drastic. Unless, of course, they wanted to expose their mother to danger.

If they suddenly became overly enthusiastic over a pair of twins 'not related' to them, it would only arouse suspicion. Which would then alert the Lancasters. Even if the Grimaldis had the power to go toe to toe with them, it would still cause a bloodbath. After all, even if the Lancasters' influence had dwindled over the past two decades, their military might had not diminished in the slightest.

It even had the trend of growing even more, especially after the new Emperor was enthroned.

The situation could probably be broken if another power intervened and sided with either one of the two.

Astrid suddenly thought of Wulfric. He knew that if he just asked, the other would not hesitate to help. He would probably even waged a war against the Lancasters just to make sure no harm would come to him.

But Astrid didn't want things to reach that point. Putting Wulfric in such a dangerous situation when it had nothing to do with him just didn't sit right with Astrid. Because it felt like he was taking advantage of the other. And their relationship shouldn't be like that.

"Aster, you're barely eating. Is there anything worrying you?" Kiran's call temporarily cut off the thoughts running through Astrid's mind.

He looked at the other and smiled. "No, it's noth--" he stopped. No, maybe a third party's opinion was what he needed right now. Maybe Kiran could give him a new perspective that he couldn't see as the person involved. "Actually, there is one."

Kiran put down the spoon he's holding and with a serious expression, he said, "You can tell me. Maybe I might not be able to help you solve it, but at the very least, I could help to ease your burden."

"Well, it's like this... my mother cut off her ties with her family a long time ago. And now, her younger brother is trying to contact me. I kind of don't know what to do about it."

Kiran's eyes widened, as if he didn't expect such a serious situation. Then his expression calmed down and he appeared like he was seriously thinking of an advice to give him.

"This is just me, but, well, I think you should ask your mother what she thinks first."

Astrid felt like he just received enlightenment when he heard that.