Marin coughed on the tea he was drinking, startled by the sudden question.
Jamie clicked his tongue, mockingly, at the Crown Prince. "Oh dear, you should be careful, Your Highness." Continuing to calmly sip on his own cup. His ego was too enormous for him to let go, he only gave back what the Prince showed him earlier, the element of surprise.
By the time Jamie gave the Prince a glance, the man in front of him who was full of confidence is nowhere to be found, leaving a mess of a man in love.
His whole face and ears turned red and his golden eyes shook, darting around
"How did you know?" Marin muttered.
"You couldn't be more obvious earlier."
Jamie sighed in his head, his predictions are never off.
Jamie's evaluation of Marin during this meeting is that he is honest and kind to a fault, even to the servants they met along the way, but knew how to be cold and unyielding when needed to, displaying the sudden change Marin had when he was left alone with Jamie.
Just like his sister, Jasmine.
"Aren't you two made for each other too much?" Jamie mumbled before he bit off a cookie. Marin's sensitive ears picked it up and his attention was now focused on Jamie.
The silver head continued acting nonchalant, but he did that on purpose, of course.
"How so?"
"You don't know my sister?"
"I... only know her name," Marin replied hesitantly.
Jamie stared at the red-haired man with an impassive expression. He guessed that Marin must've at least heard of Jasmine, since she was such a buzz around high society when she got adopted into their house.
Also, the fact that Marin is in love with Jasmine without even knowing her much made him wince with embarrassment even more.
"How can you like her this much without even knowing anything?"
"It's fate! When I first laid my eyes on her, my heart started to beat faster than it should..." Marin explained with a gentle smile on his face, which made Jamie's face crumple into disgust.
"You do know that's uncomfortable for Jasmine, right?"
"Of course! I want to look away but I find it difficult for my eyes to stray away from her... My eyes just want to look at her, and only her."
Jamie wanted to vomit in the sweet-infested air that the Prince was exuding. He rubbed his temples and sighed.
"You're my advisor, aren't you? Why don't you help me-!"
"No. I'm only here for the Empire, I'm afraid." That is his sister getting involved, he'd rather not do something indecent to Jasmine. He'd leave Marin to know Jasmine on his own.
Marin pouted and crossed his arms.
'Is this the same man who looked like the perfect Emperor in my eyes?'
"You're her brother. Just tell me a little bit about her. Please..."
'I am now sure there is no such person that can be classified as perfect...' Jamie gave the redhead a blank stare.
"I'll only tell you what the public should already know."
Marin beamed and cheered. His eyes were now only focused on Jamie explaining their similarities with each other and Marin was all ears.
"Hm, she's still the same..." Marin mumbled which made Jamie raise his eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Ah, nothing!" Marin scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "I mean, I love her even more now. Wouldn't she make the perfect Empress?"
"An inelegant woman such as herself wouldn't be perfect for anything."
"Don't insult her in my presence!"
"I insult Jasmine in her presence, Your Highness." Jamie crossed his arms.
Marin's mouth gaped wide open. "Aren't you siblings? Why do you hate her so?"
"How can you conclude it like that? She often does that with me too and we don't hate each other. We're pretty close if you ask me."
"Is that so? That's great to hear then." Marin smiled, bitterly.
Jamie didn't pry any further to the reason for it but he could guess what it was for.
A rule among royalty is that the first-born children are the ones who are to be crowned the next Emperor. Marin was educated at a young age and he showed such great talents that everyone praised him. Jamie guessed that Marin most likely didn't have the time to be with his siblings all this time, or maybe he was guessing wrong. Curious as he was of the real situation, he'd rather not ask such a personal question.
Jamie nodded to Marin's reply.
"You were 30 points right off the bat but after you confessed your love for my sister, you went down to 20."
"What do you mean by that?" Marin raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, I beg your pardon. I unconsciously spoke." Jamie cleared his throat. "I have this point system in my head for people I meet."
Marin chuckled in disbelief. "You rank people after you meet them?"
"It's easier for me to remember who I want to associate with personally, and how I want to treat them."
Marin was amazed at how straightforward Jamie was. "Up to what number do you consider someone you respect?"
"30."
"I was right there immediately?!"
"Obviously. If you hadn't-" Jamie shuddered. "-made it obvious that you liked Jasmine, I would have respect for you right now."
"You don't have any respect for me right now?!"
Jamie ignored him, then stood up after looking at the sky. "I should head back to our estate. It was nice meeting you like this, Your Highness." He bowed in front of the confused red-haired man.
"Alright, I dismiss you..." Marin sighed. "Give a good word if Jasmine asks about me!"
Jamie, of course, ignored his words again but bowed his head anyway.
"What a surprisingly eventful meeting." Jamie slightly smiled and then remembered his last meeting with Nera mi Ponterise 10 months ago. He stopped in his tracks and shuddered. "Why do I remember that now?" Quickly dismissing the thought, he shook his head and went ahead to his carriage where he found Jasmine waiting for him.
"Was it fun?" Jasmine asked her brother.
Jamie stared at Jasmine's beaming face. 'She enjoyed herself in the royal library, good for her.'
But as he recalled the conversations he had with the Prince, he slightly frowned and cringed.
"So-so."
"Talking with the Crown Prince is so-so?" Jasmine sighed. "As expected of Jamie de Vanderwale, of course."
"I look forward much more to the plant healing research rather than this tedious task."
"Is it because Nera is involved?" Jasmine teased. Jamie turned his head immediately to Jasmine with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Why would I be looking forward to something if she was involved?"
"I don't know. You keep asking me about how she is."
The other reason Jasmine started to be adamant about calling Nera every night was because, other than she herself wanting to check up on Nera, Jamie had asked her how Nera was after her head had mysteriously hurt out of nowhere.
"I just ask because I'm curious--"
"Curious, of course, you are." Jasmine shrugged, "A weird word for worried, if you ask me."
Jamie cleared his throat as he dismissed his sister's words. "Curious if she does something suspicious again, is what I was going to say."
"Suspicious? What did she do to warrant that suspicion from you?"
"Telling you about the capabilities of plants to heal a person."
Jasmine lightly slapped Jamie's arm. "She said she needed to know for her body!"
"But again, why did she say plants?"
Jasmine stared at her brother. "That... is still a question in my head too."
"See? I can't help but be questioning as to why she said that."
"But don't force her to say it, if she doesn't want to! How rude!"
"It's still baffling how an idiot like her can ask something like that."
"Jamie!"
"Yes, I know, she isn't an idiot." Jamie rolled his eyes.
But he really was genuinely interested, in fact, in awe at how Nera could've come up with the possibility of plants healing people. But he would never admit that. He sighed, never expecting anyone to have 40 points in his own made up ranking system this fast.
'There must be something wrong with me, after all.'