The Alchemists

Pavel was surprised to see Aleksis running fast to Alaric Rhionen's office, and before he could stop her, she opened the door and burst in.

"Prince Siegfried!!" She called out to Alaric in a voice that was almost out of breath.

This must be the Prince Siegfried she was looking for, thought Aleksis. She now remembered that the man had also called her 'Little Girl' as his savior used to do eight years ago.

The masked man, who was enjoying his whiskey, was surprised by Aleksis's sudden presence. He thought the girl was gone.

Shamelessly Aleksis jumped and embraced him, making him feel uncomfortable. He put down his glass and awkwardly hugged Aleksis back.

"Gosh... you're not dead... You're still alive..." Aleksis whispered emotionally. "I'm so glad to see you again..."

A few moments later Aleksis let go of her arms and examined Alaric's hands. "Which of your hands did you lose? I can ask Uncle Rory to treat it and will I ask Uncle Aldebar to make a good prosthetic hand for you..."

The man looked amazed at how much Aleksis was worried about him. The girl even thought of his hand which he said earlier was destroyed by a bomb blast.

"Uhm... my hands are okay, little girl. Earlier I was just joking..." he said with a smile.

Aleksis looked at him intently as if to imprint the figure of the man in her memory. After eight years, of course, she no longer remembered the face of her savior.

This afternoon she even thought that Nicolae was Prince Siegfried, when in fact the real Prince Siegfried had changed his appearance. Indeed, they were physically similar: they both had tall sturdy bodies and similar hair.

Or perhaps his face was actually not damaged, just as his hand was not really destroyed?

Was this actually Nicolae in disguise?

But Nicolae was still young... while Prince Siegfried should now be in his 30s...

No, in fact, he should be around 40-ish years old now, considering the fact that he first met Aleksis 18 years ago in Thailand.

Aleksis frowned and unconsciously touched the leather mask on Alaric's face.

As if reading Aleksis' mind, the man touched Aleksis' hand and lowered it. He shook his head with a wistful expression, "I was only joking about my hand, but my face was truly disfigured... that's right. Even I can't bear to see it, so I wear this mask..."

"Oh..." Aleksis was stunned.

That meant that Alaric's face was truly disfigured, she thought sadly.

Prince Siegfried could not be Nicolae in disguised because they were almost 20 years apart. If Alaric were Nicolae, it meant that he would have the Alchemist youthfulness. While Nicolae didn't even understand what an Alchemist was.

Aleksis' father must have known him too because Caspar was still the Alchemist clan leader and he knew everyone.

Aleksis silently rebuked herself for thinking too far, only because Alaric was wearing a mask to hide his disfigured face.

Poor Alaric... the wounds on his face must have been so severe and painful to damage his face like that.

Another round of sadness hit Aleksis. She thought about the terrible events that forced Alaric to hide behind a mask when meeting other people.

She then raised her hand again and stroked Alaric's cheek lovingly.

"It must have hurt a lot..." she said softly.

Alaric was stunned to see that Aleksis had not changed her attitude at all, even though he had said that his face had been badly disfigured. He unconsciously closed his eyes and enjoyed the touch of her hands on his face. Slowly his face showed a faint smile.

"Hmm... it doesn't hurt anymore. It's been a long time," he said softly.

"Uncle Rory said he first met you 18 years ago, and he gave you some powerful medicine to treat wounds... you gave me the last remaining medicine when I fell from the car... Why didn't you ask Uncle Rory for more medicine? "I'm sure he will gladly give it to you. We have been trying to find your for years... but you are very mysterious," Aleksis said with a slight protest.

Gosh, if Alaric asked for the medicine from Uncle Rory, surely his face could have been saved...

"I never help anyone because I expect something in return," Alaric answered with a shrug. "Besides, this is the risk of my profession. If I let you know who I am, I must kill you..."

"Gosh..." Aleksis pursed her lips in surprise, "Then, are you going to kill me now? I already know your identity..."

Alaric looked at Aleksis with a soft smile, "Why would I save you three times, to just kill you in the end? Isn't that stupid and a waste of energy? If I wanted you to die, I should just leave you alone. With this level of carelessness, you will die very easily."

Aleksis pursed her lips at Alaric's words. He's not wrong though... In the three times that Alaric met her, three times he also saved Aleksis from danger...

Ugh... thinking about that made Aleksis upset and want to scream.

"So, when I'm in danger next time, you will just leave me be?" she blurted out in protest. Her rather childish behavior made Alaric unable to hold back his laugh.

Although now the girl he helped had turned into a very, very beautiful woman, her behavior was not much different from when they had met and hung out for a week when she was 12 years old.

Alaric still remembered how Aleksis schemed him to jump into the water by pretending to drown.