The Alchemists

Antonio's family have been working for the Medici family for generations and they maintained the family castle during the absence of their employer. Lauriel only stopped by from time to time and it could be decades that they would actually see him.

The past decades, he came from frequently with his goddaughter and Antonio was happy to see his master looking contend, better than before. He thought, finally Lauriel will find a family on his goddaughter. The surprise visit today, when Lauriel suddenly introduced his own son, Nicolae, really made Antonio feel happy beyond measure.

Finally... the master has found his family!

Lauriel was happy too because Nicolae quickly felt at home in Grosseto. The young man had explored the area around their house and got along well with the staff and their children.

Inwardly, Lauriel felt that his life was complete because there was now a successor to the Medici family in the world. And if Aleksis later recovered, maybe Nicolae and Aleksis would fall in love and get married, uniting the Schneider family and the Medici family into the most influential family in the clan.

And maybe he would be able to live long enough to see their children, grandchildren, born into this world. Really, his life would be perfect.

Lauriel smiled a lot when thinking about this. The aura of sadness and loneliness that had surrounded him slowly disappeared and the staff could see that their employer had changed so much.

Really, a great change could occur when someone had a child. When Lauriel first came to the Medici palace with his goddaughter, Aleksis, the staff noticed changes in Lauriel, who used to be reclusive and aloof. He became a very patient and dedicated man to his goddaughter.

Now when they saw Lauriel come with his biological son, his face radiated: I am a proud father. Indeed, there was still worried aura around him because Aleksis was still unwell, but they were very confident that their young miss will recover soon because Lauriel was the best poison and medicine expert in the world.

*** 

One afternoon, while Lauriel was working on something in the living room, Antonio came to him carrying a painting he had been cleaning.

"Sir, we haven't had another member of the Medici family in this palace for a very long time; why don't we call a painter to make a painting of you and Mr. Nicolae?" he said while showing the painting he was holding. "I only thought about this because I was cleaning up the paintings of your ancestors."

Lauriel saw the figure of his father and mother in the painting held by Antonio and smiled, "It's now the modern time, Antonio, we don't use paintings anymore. There are already digital photos available. We just need to print it on canvas and we have a 'painting'."

"Uhm ... it's not the same, Master. Don't compare artwork with modern-time photos. This old palace is full of history; wouldn't it be nice if we could hang a painting of you and Mr. Nicolae together with the paintings of your family members as you are both the descendants of the Medici family?"

Lauriel looked at the smiling faces of his mother and father and sighed sadly. He regretted that he had never taken his picture painted with Luna when she was still alive. Now their descendants would never be able to see the woman he loved.

Antonio seemed to read Lauriel's mind. He touched the man's shoulder and said carefully, "Sir, the Linden family must still have paintings of Lady Luna ... I can borrow one of them to be repainted by our painters here. That is if you allow it."

"The Linden family is gone," Lauriel answered.

"True, but their relatives, the Meier family and the Baden family, still exist. Princess Portia may still have some photos and paintings of Lady Luna." Antonio looked at Lauriel hopefully. He looked at the man and the paintings in his hands alternately. Finally Lauriel nodded.

"All right, Antonio. I'm not sure you'll get it, but I appreciate your efforts. I'll visit Portia's place and talk to her about it." He pondered for a moment, "Maybe I will also take Nicolae to the Linden family palace, so he can see where his mother was raised."

"Ah, that's a very good plan, Master." Antonio smiled broadly. He was very pleased to see the change in his master's attitude.

"Send an official letter to the two families, so that we would not be considered rude if we were to come suddenly." Lauriel then got up and walked out.

He looked at the foggy valley below and his mind drifted to more than a hundred years ago, when he returned home for the last time before the world war.

At that time, his brother and his entire family were still alive, and Luna was there to accompany him. They then went to Asia for an adventure, and unexpectedly, a few years later, the war broke out again and everything changed.

All his family members were killed and then Luna left him. Now he could not even remember the face of the only woman he ever loved. He purposely didn't ask for a picture or photo of Luna from Portia because he knew seeing her face would destroy what little sanity he had left back then. But his sadness was so great that it took him almost 100 years to finally forget her face.

He was not sure if he would still be alive today if he had a picture or a painting of Luna with him. Surely all he would think about then was how he could go and see her in the afterlife.

He was grateful that he didn't proceed with his plan to take Death, because then he would miss the opportunity to meet his son, Nicolae.

Now that he had Nicolae, Lauriel felt that his life was finally complete. He had Aleksis, the sun of his life, whom he was very grateful to meet, and he had Nicolae, his son from his only lover.

Oh, Aleksis ... please, wake up. How can your Uncle Rory continue living if you're not around?

***