Aurelia was in thought, "You know, I get the feeling there's bad blood between Geoffrey and Tanya. Even a mother and son can have a rift, especially when power and profit are on the line. Blood ties can be forgotten."
This thought resonated with Leopold.
"A rift is good for us. We can exploit it, divide and conquer."
The next day, Aurelia took William to Skyler's room to invite him for breakfast.
"Skyler, did Thomas really hypnotize you yesterday?"
Skyler scratched his head and offered a sheepish grin. "Actually, no."
William snickered behind his hand, "Mom, Skyler has a PhD in psychology. How could he fall for hypnosis that easily?"
Aurelia's face lit up with surprise and curiosity, "Wow, Skyler, you're amazing. Spill the beans, what happened?"
Skyler raised an eyebrow smugly, "Angel, when Thomas took out that necklace, you smelled something sweet, right?"
"Yes," Aurelia nodded.
"That was a hallucinogenic agent. He hid it inside the necklace, and when he swung it, the drug would be released, fogging the mind, making forced hypnosis possible."
Pausing for effect, Skyler continued, "When he tried to hypnotize you in the hallway, I caught onto the necklace's secret. I pretended to have a stomachache, dashed to the restroom, and secretly took an antidote. That way, the drug did not affect me. So, no forced hypnosis for me."
Aurelia gave a thumbs up, praising, "Brilliant, Skyler. You never show your full hand." Then she adopted a more serious tone, whispering, "When Thomas freaked out, slapped Tanya, and yelled at her, was that some kind of reverse hypnosis you performed?"
"No, I didn't hypnotize him." Skyler shook his head.
Aurelia was taken aback, but he didn't seem to be lying.
"Could it be that there's another hypnotist on this cruise?" Aurelia was curious.
"Looks like it." Skyler pulled a funny face, exchanging a glance with William, who was internally gloating - he was the other hypnotist.
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