While everyone was having dinner, Reine thought to herself, 'I must inform mom as soon as possible about Azrael's return! We have to hasten our plans! It's such a pity though, such a handsome man is to become my half-brother!'
In fact, Azrael was extremely attractive. His grey eyes with scattered blue flecks, combined with his tall and well-built body as well as his high military rank obtained at a young age, made him one of the most eligible bachelors in the country of Phillon. It was only that, he was hardly seen attending the social gatherings of the country's elites, that few knew of how he really looked up.
However, the mystery surrounding his appearance added to his charm in the eyes of most females. Also, despite never seeing him with their own eyes, the majority of the females of the country's elite were confident that with the excellent genes of Andrew and Amelia Romanov, Azrael couldn't look anything but attractive. This belief coupled with the fact that he was an heir of the Romanov family, one of the richest families in Phillon, made him sought-after by many females. Unfortunately, not only did Azrael show any interest in any of the women, but they also could never come in contact with him, as he was always in the military for the last ten years.
So, it was natural for Reine to be attracted to Azrael. She thought to herself, 'Azrael is not by biological half-brother! So my attraction to him is justified. Tomorrow, when mom will come in the morning, I have to ask her for some tips to make Azrael fall in love with me!"
She thought, "I have to ask mom to quickly make 'father' fall in love with her. Then after their marriage, I can reveal to Azrael that I'm not his biological half-sister. We could then reveal that there was some mix-up with the DNA test results and the lab had recently informed us about their mistake. By then, Mr Romanov would have already married mom and would be in love with her, so they wouldn't be able to do anything. Besides by becoming my husband, Azrael could at least inherit a part of the Romanov's fortunes!"
Reine had already started to envision herself as the sole heir of the Romanov family. She was sure that she could make their father choose her over Aylin and Aelia, for Reine believed that aside from just scoring well in the exams, Aelia didn't really know much about handling company matters. Whereas Reine herself had already been interning in a company for two years, so she deemed herself more capable than Aelia. As for Aylin and Azrael, she dismissed them for Reine considered Aylin as an ignorant girl, who could never handle a big company like Romanov Jewels, and as for Azrael, she believed that as he was always in the military, he wouldn't be suddenly interested in company matters. They could just appease Azrael by giving him some of the company shares.
What Reine did not know was that Aelia, whom she had dismissed as just a student without much experience, was already handling some of the company matters, to help ease the burden on her father's shoulder. This was also the reason, why Aelia wasn't seen much on the university campus. Not only did she handle the company matters well, but she also brought perfect scores in all her exams. Thus the professors at the university never complained about her skipping classes, instead, they tried to enrol her in their respective courses.
Also, the youngest sibling of the Romanov family whom, Reine had considered as an ignorant girl who couldn't handle company matters, was actually the world-renowned jewellery designer, Linlin, who had signed an exclusive contract for designing jewellery just for the Romanov Jewels. Very few people outside the company executives knew this fact as Aylin didn't like public attention.
Reine also didn't consider the fact that all three siblings had already inherited major shares of the company. Initially, Andrew Romanov had twenty-five per cent of the company shares, while Amelia Romanov had another twenty-five per cent of shares under her name. After Amelia's death, her portion of the shares was distributed among the three Romanov siblings. This together with their original ten per cent of shares, had made the three siblings three major shareholders of the company after their father. Thus, Reine's plan of giving Azrael some shares if he married her, was actually superfluous for he would never need to depend on her.
However, Reine didn't know any of this, neither did she try to find out about the actual matters regarding the company's shares, as she felt extremely confident of her plans as well as her capabilities.
She thought, 'Now I should focus on leaving a good impression on Azrael! As for that bitch Aelia, she would have to be humiliated tomorrow, as I'll leave her no choice but to wear that ugly dress.'
While eating when Aelia gave a casual glance at Reine, she saw the sharp glint in her eyes. She impassively noted it and turned to see her brother too had noticed the scheming look on Reine's face.
Not noticing the cold look on Azrael's face, Reine smiled warmly at him and said, "Brother, here have this!"
Seeing the piece of smoked salmon that Reine was about to place on his plate, he replied coldly, "I don't like this dish."
Hearing this, Reine's cheeks warmed in embarrassment. Before she could place another dish on his plate, Azriel got up from his chair and said coldly, "I've finished my dinner!"
Seeing him leaving the table so quickly, Mr Romanov exclaimed with concern, "You ate so little! Do you want me to order the kitchen to make you some light snack before you go to sleep?"
Azrael shook his head, saying, "There's no need! I just lost my appetite!" He then coldly glared at Reine.
Seeing the cold gleam in Azrael's eyes, Reine felt something cold had slithered into her heart and she shivered.
Hearing what Azrael said and seeing his cold gaze on her, Reine's cheeks blushed in embarrassment. Under the table, she clenched her hands into fists and her knuckles turned white. She quickly mumbled a "good night" and went to her room.
After dinner, Azrael went to talk with his father in his office room.
Aelia and Aylin were sitting in the drawing-room, chatting with each other. After half an hour, when Azrael left his father's office, he saw his sisters chatting in the drawing-room. Seeing this, he called them, "Aelia, Aylin, come see me in my room!"