Chapter 253: 252 – Princess Astra’s Request

Mana and Raven exchanged a meaningful glance – both of them knew exactly what Astra was looking for, after all.

"Mana and Raven are very tired already," King Jaren said. "Astra, why don't you speak to them tomorrow morning instead?" he suggested.

"But Papa, it is very important," Astra said in a pleading voice, looking up at her Papa with a pitiful expression.

"Surely Princess Mana and Prince Raven are not so tired that they can't spare a few minutes to speak to their older sister and my dear fiancée?" Crown Prince Mars said with a frown.

Mana and Raven nearly rolled their eyes, both of them thinking how Mars would react if he knew exactly why Astra wanted to speak with them! Would he still want the two of them to speak to Astra urgently if they knew that Astra was going to ask them to procure more of the love potion to drug Mars and that she wanted to keep him drugged and obedient for the rest of his life?

Well, if the chicken was determined to send itself to the barbeque oven, why should Mana or Raven have any objections. In their eyes, the more Mars was obsessed with Astra, the more peaceful the life of the others.

"All right," Mana said, taking Raven's hand. "I suppose we can speak to Big Sister Astra for a bit."

Astra smiled beatifically at the two younger children and pulled them into another room. She quickly cast a privacy barrier around the room and turned to face Mana and Raven.

"I need more of the love potion from the renowned Poison Expert Naver," Astra said without preamble the moment the privacy barrier was set up completely.

Mana and Raven pretended to be nervous.

"What – what – love potion?" Mana asked in such a fake innocent voice that it was clear that she was simply pretending not to know something that she knew very well.

Astra sneered, thinking that this cheap little sister of hers couldn't even lie properly despite being ten years old. When Astra herself was at that age, she had already mastered the art of acting and lying!

Of course, Astra had no idea that Mana was acting like this deliberately to cater to Astra and to make her think exactly in this manner!

"We don't know of any love potion!" Raven said in a nervous voice, letting his voice even tremble a bit towards the end. "We never got any love potion from any renowned Poison Expert Naver!" he added quickly.

Astra smiled smugly, thinking that this Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom was an even worse liar than her little half sister Princess Mana. What a foolish pair of children, Astra thought with a smile on her face while sneering at them internally.

"Mana and Raven," Astra said in a cajoling voice. "Look, I know that in the past Mars was troubling you and the two of you got some love potion from the renowned Poison Expert Naver and drugged him so that he would have his eyes only on me."

Both Mana and Raven pretended to be very afraid.

Mana even thought that perhaps she ought to consider branching out into show business, given how well she and Raven were acting in this improvised scenario.

"We – we did not!" Raven cried, his rainbow eyes darting around nervously, and moving closer to Mana.

Mana also moved closer to Raven, so that the two younger children were sticking together and looking very fearful of the older princess standing in front of them.

"I am not angry," Astra said gently, smiling at the two younger children. "In fact, I am very grateful that the two of you did such a thing – it has helped me a lot."

"Really?" Mana asked, her emerald eyes wide and innocent.

"Yes, really," Astra said, nodding at Mana. "It was very useful for me to have Mars besotted with me like this. You know how much I have adored Mars since I was young, haven't you, Mana?"

Mana nodded slowly, letting her face brighten a bit. "It really helped, Big Sister Astra?" she asked hopefully.

"It really helped," Astra said. "And I am very grateful to both of you for helping me with this. Ever since that day, the relationship between Mars and I has improved a lot, and I have been very happy."

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Mana displayed an exaggerated sigh of relief. "That is good, Big Sister Astra," she said.

"However," Astra said softly. "The effects of the love potion seem to be wearing off now." She blinked slowly, making a pitiful face at Mana and Raven. "In the past few days, I have noticed that Mars is eyeing other people and his devotion to me has decreased significantly. I am afraid that he may try and cheat on me once the effects of the love potion wear off completely…" she said sadly, sniffling a little and even let her brilliant emerald eyes fill up with unshed tears. "Mana, Raven – would you please help your Big Sister Astra again?" she coaxed.

Mana and Raven exchanged a glance and frowned slightly.

"Didn't the renowned Poison Expert Naver tell you that the effects of the love potion would last for six months?" Mana asked Raven, a small frown on her face.

Raven nodded. "It was supposed to be," he said. "May be the effects were diluted…"

"Did we do something wrong?" Mana asked, her frown deepening.

Raven also frowned and tapped his chin thoughtfully. Then he shook his head. "We followed the instructions of the renowned Poison Expert Naver and we poured the entire bottle of the love potion into that bottle of wine," he murmured. "We didn't shake the bottle properly, though, because we were in a hurry, so may be that is why the effect was diluted…"

"Or may be Big Brother in Law Mars didn't drink the entire bottle of wine," Mana remarked.

Astra frowned. "No, I shook the bottle properly and Mars drank the entire bottle," she said. "I watched him drink the entire bottle."

Raven tapped his chin again. "May be the wine diluted the effects of the love potion…" he said.

She looked at Raven. "Did the renowned Poison Expert Naver mention what is the best way to administer the love potion?" she asked.

Raven nodded. "The best way is to drink it straight away," he said. "But he said that the taste is very strong and unpleasant, and it is only diluting it with an entire bottle of wine that the taste can be masked. Otherwise it tastes really bad and no one would drink it." His face was particularly innocent as he said all this.

Mana controlled her laughter with great difficulty. She knew that the love potion was tasteless and odourless, and Raven was simply saying all this to create trouble.

But Astra, naturally, took Raven's words seriously. "How bad does it taste?" she asked.

"It is like a mixture of cow dung and horse urine," Raven replied with a straight face, and Mana almost lost her composure.

Astra wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment, trying to figure out if she could get Mars to drink something so unpleasant without mixing it with anything else. She looked at Mana and Raven. "Can you get me a regular supply of the love potion?" she asked.

"We got one bottle for you as an engagement gift," Mana said, looking away. "But the renowned Poison Expert doesn't make it regularly and he said it is very difficult to store and that the potion loses its efficacy if it is stored for more than two weeks," she murmured.

Raven nodded. "The renowned Poison Expert Naver only makes small batches of it, and never more than half a dozen bottles," he said. "We had to beg him for a favour this time and managed to get a second bottle. Otherwise he never sells more than two bottles per year to anyone, and he told us that he won't make the next batch for at least the coming five months or so…" He bit his lip nervously. "This was the last bottle he had…"

"I will pay him thrice the amount," Astra said. "Please tell him that, and ensure that he sends me a regular supply!"

Mana shook her head sadly. "Big Sister Astra, we didn't want to tell you this, but Raven and I had to pool in our savings and pay ten times the regular price to get a second bottle. If we ask for more, the renowned Poison Expert Naver will ask for even more money…" she said in a feeble voice. "We can't afford any more, Big Sister Astra…"

"Nonsense," Astra said. "I will pay whatever he demands, but I must have a regular supply of the love potion!"

"But it is very expensive," Mana murmured, shaking her head.

"How much?" Astra demanded arrogantly. "I have plenty of money, I will pay the renowned Poison Expert Naver myself!"

Mana mentioned a figure that made Astra stumble.

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