The Alchemists

Alaric looked through the car window without a slight care. After leaving Singapore for two months, he did not feel like he was home when he arrived in Singapore.

He had indeed never felt an attachment to any place, until Aleksis entered his life.

When he left for England two months ago, his heart felt very heavy, and for the first time he felt like he was leaving home. That feeling surprised him quite a bit, because the feeling was completely foreign to him. Maybe he felt like he was leaving home because he left Aleksis in Singapore at that time.

Countless times he had blamed himself for not bringing Aleksis with him. Their situation was still complicated at the time, because Aleksis did not want to tell her family about Alaric. The girl was still waiting for the right moment.

Unfortunately, the right moment never came.

At least until Alaric suddenly heard the news that Aleksis had returned to Singapore and was totally fine...

Though he may be here, for some reasons, when he looked outside the window and paid attention to every corner of the road he was traveling towards Bukit Timah, he still did not feel at home.

Was this because Aleksis was not with him?

He took his cell phone and dialed Takeshi's number.

Hmm ... Takeshi did not pick up his call.

Alaric began to suspect something had happened to him. Takeshi always picked up the phone if Alaric called. Alaric then contacted Rosalien whom he knew was with Takeshi.

She also did not pick up his call.

What was this?

He then contacted Pavel, who was always reliable and he was immediately told what had happened.

"Rosalien made a fuss yesterday and she and Takeshi were arrested by the police, Sir." Pavel's voice sounded regretful. "I'm still investigating where they are being detained."

Pavel's explanation surprised Alaric. Takeshi and Rosalien were two assassins from the phoenix level who were very tough. They had NEVER been caught before. How was it possible that they now fell into the hands of the police?

"Hmm ... once you find them, immediately send a lawyer to release them from detention." Alaric was silent for a moment. "Who do we have around here?"

"Kai is in Australia, Sir. Do you want me to call him?" Pavel seemed to check on something and then added, "Mischa is in Vietnam."

Alaric was quiet for a second as he assessed his situation. In the rear car there was a security team who worked for him. There was also Pavel in Singapore. Did he really need additional men? Something on his head seemed to warn him that something dangerous was waiting for him.

"Alright, please call Kai and Mischa."

He returned to his daydreaming all the way home.

***

Lauriel and Marion arrived at the hospital and met Neo who was resting after the surgery to save his life. Endo, who was sitting by the bed, immediately got up when he saw Lauriel enter.

"Lauriel, you came!" he said.

"Hmm ..." Lauriel sat beside the bed and checked Neo's sleeping condition. He nodded slowly then took a few pills out of his jacket pocket and handed them to Endo. "Give these to Neo when he wakes up. He will recover faster."

"Thank you."

"Marion and I will interrogate the two assassins; you can catch up with us when Neo is awake." Lauriel then got up and walked out, followed by Marion. Endo could only nod.

An hour later, Lauriel and Marion arrived at Bayfront and entered the empty warehouse guarded by Max's men.

Pavel could still not find Takeshi and Rosalien's whereabouts because they had both been secured outside the police station on Marion's orders. Now, Lauriel himself would interrogate them.

Max welcomed Marion and he looked at Lauriel questioningly. Lauriel's presence always gave an intimidating aura to people who were accustomed to deal with violence.

Normal people would only see him as an indifferent young man in his 20's, but someone like Max, who could judge Lauriel by the way he lightly walked and yet remained cautious, could not help but pay close attention to the man.

Marion raised an eyebrow at Max and then pointed her chin at Lauriel. It made Max realize that the man who had just arrived was not an ordinary person. If Marion, who was already so amazing, seemed to respect him, surely he was a very important person.

Finally, subconsciously, Max's attitude also became respectful toward Lauriel as he brought them inside and showed their detainees.

Rosalien sat on the floor and she was chained with a large chain to a pole in the middle of the room. Takeshi was detained in another room and from the start Marion had made sure that they could not talk to each other.

When she heard footsteps approaching, Rosalien raised her beautiful face and looked cynically at the people who came. She did not look scared at all. The girl did not say a single word.

"You may leave," Lauriel said without turning his head. Marion immediately signaled Max and his men to leave the room.

At first, Max wanted to argue; as Billie Yves' security chief he wanted to know what Rosalien's motive was for shooting his boss. But seeing how Marion's expression darkened, he finally nodded and took his men outside to secure the perimeter.

Lauriel leaned on his knees in front of Rosalien. Rosalien thought the man would interrogate her by asking her questions, such as her name, who had sent her, and what her motivation was ... bla … bla … bla … But apparently, all her guesses were wrong.

"Where is Alaric Rhionen?" Lauriel asked without further ado.

Instantly Rosalien's face went pale. From the way he asked, the man in front of her seemed to know a lot and had very little patience. Rosalien refused to answer and bit her lip while looking away.

These people know about us, she thought. Otherwise, the first question they asked would not be about the leader of Rhionen Assassins.

"Do you want me to torture her, Lauriel?" Marion asked in a voice as cold as ice. Rosalien slowly turned her head towards the sound and immediately recognized the girl who had pretended to pass out in Takeshi's arms, when in fact she was trapping Takeshi and herself ... before paralyzing them with poison.

Who ... who were they really?

Lauriel's voice sounded cold, but he had no intention of giving physical torture to Rosalien. At least not now.

"No need, Marion. Incidentally, Aldebar and I are developing a new potion that will be very useful for such situations." Lauriel took out a small bottle from his pocket and opened the lid.

Rosalien turned to see what Lauriel meant and before she could reacht, Lauriel suddenly grabbed her face and forced her to swallow the contents of the bottle.

"Ughhh ..." Even though she struggled to escape, Rosalien could not resist Lauriel's strength. "What ... what's this?"

Marion just stood still and observed what Lauriel was doing and waited for what would happen.

Lauriel took a chair and sat in front of Rosalien who tried to spit out the liquid but failed. The contents of Lauriel's bottle had entered her stomach. Rosalien immediately felt that her head became dizzy and her eyes hurt.

Then, everything went dark.

"What did you give her, Lauriel?" Marion asked.

"Veritaserum. The truth serum. I don't want to bother torturing her and this serum will cause her to tell only the truth. She won't be able to lie." Lauriel looked at Rosalien who was lying unconscious and tried to figure out how old she was and how she could become an assassin.

"Ah, interesting." Marion said, "May I have a little?"

"What for?" Lauriel asked.

Marion just frowned and didn't answer. There were so many interesting things that could be done with the truth serum. She could secretly put it in Lauriel's drink and find out if he had ever loved Marion, even just a little.

Or she could make Jean tell the truth whether he and Billie were back together, or not.

Gosh, Marion! Can you please focus?? She scolded herself.

Rosalien moaned in pain and opened her eyes. When her eyes fell on Laurie, she groaned in anger. Lauriel didn't care about that at all. His voice sounded very firm when he spoke.

"Alright, let's get started."