Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Chapter 131: My new roommate is driving me crazy Part2

"My dearest younger brother! It looks like you have finally hit puberty. Ha Ha Ha." Xavier chuckled and took a sip from his glass.

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Xander replied with his usual tone that lacked any emotion whatsoever.

The two brothers were leisurely seated near the inner courtyard and were sharing a pot of high-grade spirit wine. 

Apart from being a master in rune inscription, Xavier was an avid foodie and often busied himself with brewing spirit wine.

Though he treated it as a mere hobby, he did manage to conjure exceptionally strong high-grade spirit wines every now and then.

Of course, every single time he did so, without fail, he brought it over to Xander and trapped his brother into an hour-long gossip session.

And considering the latest heaven-defying development in the royal palace, the one where his almost asexual brother suddenly made his royal consort into a personal disciple and even allowed her to stay inside his private palace quarters, Xavier had a million questions and he felt like his brain was about to explode.

So he purposefully brewed a strong pot of wine throwing in all sorts of high-grade and rare-grade ingredients and brought it over to Xander as soon as he possibly could.

"Ha Ha. No use in trying to hide it anymore, brother." Xavier raised his eyebrows repeatedly and winked at his brother. 

"Everyone already knows that you have a thing for the beasts too!" He grinned. Xavier was so happy that, finally, he was not the only bad boy in the royal family.

He even added with a solemn nod acting as if he was the expert on that scene. "By the way, you should really give vixens a chance." 

Xander almost spat out the wine in his mouth and chuckled. 

"Did you really think that I let someone else in here without any reason?" He asked, wiping his mouth.

Ah~ Xavier scratched his head. What other reason could there be?

"Think about it," Xander mumbled, taking another sip. 

"A few days ago, Salvatore's daughter accused her of obtaining the tribulation treasure from the eastern forests, and when I scanned her, I couldn't find any trace of it."

"But then a few days later, she shows up in the auction house with an ingenious pill concoction formula. Again, I scanned her and couldn't find anything."

"Heh. Considering the snake's experience in alchemy, I would be a fool to not put 2 and 2 together." Xander smiled and explained.

"Ah~" Xavier nodded in understanding. 

Of course, it was just like his cold and calculative brother to keep someone close by his side just to find out their secrets and spy on them.

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer!

"So you think that she obtained some sort of alchemy inheritance?" Xavier curiously asked.

Xander nodded. He was also not too sure about it but that should be the most logical guess. 

But whatever it was he should be able to find it out soon enough

The elf's crimson eyes flickered and gazed in the direction of a certain someone, along with his brother...

"Damn it, you bastards! I am right here!" Tang Yue fumed inside.

How humiliating! These two assholes were sitting right in front of her and discussing her as if she was not even there!

They were casually treating her like a mere object.

If you want to find out about my secret, at least have the decency to do it secretly! 

Why are you spilling it all out in the open like this??? Discussing all your elaborate and devious plans right in front of me!

Did you think I can't hide anything from you even if I wanted to? How arrogant?! You are going to pay for this, you jerk!

At least give me some of the wine you are tasting, damn it! Tang Yue cried inside and put the next batch of herbs in. 

She was also sitting near the inner courtyard and working hard on her day's personal disciple chores, which was to prepare a bunch of ingredients for the lunatic Crown Prince who also moonlighted as an alchemy grandmaster.

Tang Yue didn't quite realize it yet but her fear towards the blood-thirsty tyrant had already dwindled to a great extent.

These past couple of days had been absolutely nerve-wracking for her. 

She was constantly walking on eggshells, jumping up in fright every time the mad man came in front of her or even remotely close to her.

But otherwise, it was mostly uneventful. 

She had already resigned to her fate and made her peace about living with the hooligan. 

She even adjusted her routine and planned for her new training regimen including the newly added alchemy disciple duties.

She couldn't afford to slack off anymore. 

The contest for the labyrinth slot was fast approaching and she was nowhere close to preparing for it. 

She even had to do additional nonsensical work now, which was totally unfair! Why did she have to unnecessarily suffer and work as someone else's lackey?

At least her skillset in alchemy was rapidly improving. This was Tang Yue's only solace.

The monster at least had the heart to give her a few pointers every now and then, greatly helping her in the due process.

Tang Yue was too indignant to accept it but the fact was that Xander was easily a better teacher compared to the perverted old ancestor and his weird system shenanigans.

Not only her alchemy skills but Tang Yue's fire magic and mana manipulation techniques were also constantly improving by leaps and bounds.

Just obtaining an affinity to an element was rather the most basic requirement to use that particular elemental magic.

High-tier spells and real combat strength required a much elaborate proficiency and understanding of that particular elemental magic.

So Tang Yue took her disciple duties very seriously and tended to everything with the utmost care and respect, even on times like today, when two jerks sat right in front of her and talked smack about her.