The Alchemists

For the Alchemists who can live forever, the new year is not something special worth celebrating. What made this New Year's Eve special was because it was a rare opportunity for them to meet with fellow Alchemists.

Aldebar and Caspar from the Schneider family celebrated their birthday once every one hundred years! Their sister, Flora, who lived in America, was not a fan of parties and never held any celebrations. She only came to events held by her brothers.

Important people from the noble families also often hold events, but all clan members agreed that nothing beat the excitement of Aldebar's party.

Tonight everyone had so much fun, talking and exchanging news with people they haven't met for a very long time. When the clock turned to 00.00, they all cheered happily, congratulated each other, and wished each other a happy new year.

Alexei and Sophia watched the excitement with flat expressions. When their gaze landed on Finland, something came up in Alexei's mind. He then talked to Katia who sat next to him. She looked very tired.

"I just realized, Caspar's wife hasn't taken the immortality potion yet. You can see that her eyes are not sparkling yet," he told Katia.

"Ah, you're right." Katia straightened up and looked at Finland, who was sitting next to Caspar, conversing. Her heart burned with seething anger again. "Maybe Finland hasn't decided to accept the immortality potion and become one of us."

"Really? It's hard to believe there are humans who would reject immortality." Alexei squinted his eyes and thought seriously. "Do you know why?"

"It could be due to a lot of reasons," Katia said, shrugging. "Maybe they got married in a hurry and Aldebar hasn't made a potion for her. It could also be that Finland doesn't want to be immortal for one reason or another. I had a chance to talk to her about Jean, maybe he was also part of her consideration."

"Jean?"

"The man who brought Finland backstage. They have been friends for years. I think Jean likes Finland, but he doesn't want to ruin their friendship, so he never confessed his feelings... until finally Finland met Caspar. I was so scared when he heard me talking about my 50-year engagement with Caspar." Katia gulped, shuddering at the thought that Jean knew she was not 25 years old. "I don't care if Jean knows that they are married, it's none of my business. But I'm worried that he accidentally heard about our secret. There are some Alchemists in the entertainment industry who could be exposed..."

"They do seem quite close," Sophia nodded.

Katia frowned as she remembered something.

"I just remember, Karl mentioned something about Jean. He was just interviewed by a lifestyle magazine. The same journalist interviewed Jean a few weeks back and she told Karl an interesting fact about them. He said this would make great news." Her eyes suddenly lit as she whispered, "I know how to hurt Caspar."

Alexei smiled when he saw the spark of hatred in Katia's eyes. He poured champagne for Katia and Sophia, then for himself. He invited them to toast with a smirk.

"Cheers to a new era of leadership." He finished his drink and hissed happily, "I also know how to throw Caspar out of his role as the clan leader. I don't have to wait too long."

Meanwhile, at their table, Aldebar, Caspar and Finland, Flora, and Louis were enjoying foods and drinks while chatting to each other. Flora's children and grandchildren held a meeting at another table. They didn't want to interfere with the elderlies' discussions.

This made Finland feel a bit awkward. She was the youngest human in the room. She would soon celebrate her 24th birthday, and according to Flora, Katia who was 75 years old and Jadeith who was 120 years old were the youngest Alchemists there in the room. Finland felt like a child compared to almost all the people there.

"Then, who is the oldest here?" she asked curiously.

"Caspar is the oldest, age-wise." Flora replied. "He is 438 years old, and he is a clan leader not only because family succession but also because he is the most senior here."

Finland couldn't stop coughing when she heard Flora's reply. Oh, that means she, the youngest human in this room, was married to the oldest human! It felt very strange.

Luckily Caspar didn't look old at all...

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'From the author:

First chapter for today. Hope you like it.

I am setting up a discord server for this novel, where I will share the visuals and backgrounds and other related stuff. You can check it and join here:

Discord: https://discord.gg/QhWaBz

It's still a bit empty at the moment.. hehe. I am commissioning artists to make digital arts and visuals for the characters, but I want to wait a little bit to show them to you, until we get to the main events, where you can meet all the important characters, not only Caspar, Finland, and Jean. There are more cool and great looking guys for us to drool over... hehehe.