The Alchemists

"It looks like Mother was a great woman. Too bad I don't know what she looked like," Nicolae said quietly. "In the old days, it was not usual to take photographs, and even if there were photographs taken, I'm sure that nothing would have been left due to the war."

Lauriel was sad to hear that. Not only because he hoped that Nicolae could know his mother's face, but also because after almost 100 years, slowly his memories of Luna's face began to fade.

He did not have a photo or a picture of his girlfriend, and after nearly 100 years, he had to accept the sad fact that he also did not really remember what her face looked like.

"Even I am slowly forgetting your mother's face," Lauriel murmured, "I only remember her beautiful purple eyes ... and her purple hair."

"Purple is a characteristic of the Linden family," Petra said, nodding. "Maybe if Nicolae saw Princess Portia, he could imagine what Princess Luna looked like. Portia and Luna have some similarities. After all, they are cousins."

Nicolae had heard about Ned and Portia before, but he just found out that Portia was his mother's cousin. Inwardly, he did not want to see Portia, because after all, Portia was not Luna. He did not want to long for his mother even more.

"It's okay. Maybe it's better if I don't meet Portia," Nicolae said, smiling faintly. "Mmm ... what if we continue developing a plan to find Rhionen Assassins? I can sketch the two members I saw and we could look for them. After interrogating the two, we can obtain information about the others."

Nicolae had observed that Lauriel's expression had turned sad when Luna's name was mentioned, so Nicolae wanted them to stop talking about his mother. He glanced at his father and felt touched because his father really loved his mother, even after hundreds of years.

He wondered if he could have that much love for a woman. At the moment, he liked Aleksis because she was very cute and she had a great personality, but he did not know whether his feelings for Aleksis were as deep as Lauriel's feelings for Luna.

"All right, we can start with what you suggested," Lauriel nodded in agreement. "I've also met Takeshi and Mischa, so I can help you. The others can start finding ways to infiltrate Rhionen Industries, because now it's clear that the two are related. I want to know who Alaric Rhionen is."

Nicolae had told Lauriel that Alaric Rhionen had contacted him to look for Aleksis, and it was highly  likely that he was indeed the man called Prince Siegfried by Aleksis. Now Lauriel was targeting Alaric because he held him accountable for all the problems that befell Aleksis as well as Kurt's death.

They agreed to target Takeshi and Mischa while infiltrating Rhionen Industries in search of information about the members of the Rhionen Assassins. Nicolae quickly sketched Takeshi and Mischa's face according to his memory and hacked all CCTV camera controllers around the world to find them both.

"All right, then we should gather at my family's house, so as not to interfere with Aleksis' healing here," Lauriel said later after they had finished their discussion.

"Your house?" Petra looked surprised hearing that. "Boss, you haven't gone home for a long time ..."

Nicolae turned to Lauriel. He also did not know which house Lauriel meant. As Lauriel was a nomad, being an adventurer who only recently settled, he only knew that Lauriel had a farm in Colorado and an animal conservation in Kenya.

Lauriel looked at Nicolae's surprised face and nodded. "The Medici family castle. I am … was ... the last descendant and I haven't lived there for a long time - probably since my whole family died. I only stop there once every few years to make sure that everything is fine."

Only then did Nicolae realize that Lauriel still had a family home - a home where the family had lived for generations, just like the Schneider family castle in Germany. He imagined that if Lauriel had taken Death, if he had not met Aleksis, the Medici family's home would have collapsed altogether because it's last successor would be no more.

"Where is our family home, Father?" Nicolae asked.

"It is in Italy, in Grosetto to be precise. I will take you there, and hand it over to you, since you are the heir of the Medici family. I will stay at the conservation."

"Uhm ... but if we go, who would take care of Aleksis here?"

"Italy and Switzerland are not far away," Lauriel said. "You can come here anytime."

"Hm ..." Finally Nicolae nodded. He turned to Terry. "How about you?"

Terry shrugged, "I have to work on my last short film project so that I can graduate. Thereafter I was asked to help Uncle Caspar at the company. I only need two more months. I guess you won't be able to play in my movie now, will you?"

Nicolae shook his head, "Sorry, but I have to help care for Aleksis and help my father find Rhionen Assassins."

"Hmm ... it's fine." Terry accidentally saw Jean standing outside the window, walking with Finland towards the lake while chatting. "Maybe my father can help ..."

"Gosh, you are going to ask your father to play in your short film?" Nicolae asked in amazement. "Your film will be a huge success!"

Terry smiled broadly, "Indeed. But I don't know if Father would want to. I must ask him first."

Endo touched Lauriel's shoulder before they all disbanded to do their respective duties, "Boss ... will you not forgive Marion? It's been almost 18 years. You know we need her."

Lauriel sighed and finally nodded. "All right. Next week when we regroup at Grosetto, you may invite Marion."

"Ah ... okay! I'll talk to her. Marion really misses you ... er, she really misses all of us at the Wolf Pack. She said her life was boring without us." Endo looked very happy. He patted Lauriel's shoulder excitedly then left the room and immediately called someone to deliver the good news.

Lauriel thought about the reason why he kicked Marion out of his group 18 years ago. Marion took liberty in shooting Alexei when Lauriel clearly stated that he had wanted Alexei alive. He knew the reason Marion shot Alexei wasn't just to teach him a lesson. At that time Alexei had told Lauriel that he had information on the whereabouts of Princess Luna.

Lauriel knew that Marion had long harboured feelings for him, but unfortunately Lauriel only considered Marion as his little sister. He always let Marion do as she pleased, but when Marion deliberately shot Alexei when Alexei offered information about Princess Luna, Lauriel felt that Marion had stepped over the line.

He must punish Marion so that the girl understood that her actions were very detrimental to Lauriel who was eager to know the whereabouts of her girlfriend, the mother of his child.

Now, after 18 years, and after Lauriel had learned with certainty that Luna was indeed gone, he was able to forgive Marion. Besides, he had also met his biological son, Nicolae. 

That was why he gave Endo the permission to contact the girl and bring her back to the group.