The Alchemists

'Alaric' (Pavel) smiled softly at Terry. Rhionen Assassins did not need anyone's help, especially a mere security team whose job was to protect an actor. However, he held back and said nothing.

"It's not necessary, but thank you for your offer. We will find and save Aleksis as soon as possible," said the fake Alaric. "You don't need to worry."

Somehow Terry felt unsure with what the man said. 'Alaric' didn't sound earnest. What were they hiding?

"Then take me back to land," Terry took a deep breath. "I have to report the disappearance of my sister to the police station. I came here purely out of curiosity. I wanted to see who Prince Siegfried whom my sister often talked about was. Now that we've met, I have no need to wonder anymore."

Alaric's eyes sparkled. He wanted to know what Aleksis' brother thought about him, now played by Pavel. He smiled slightly when he noticed Terry's expression of dislike.

He already suspected that Terry would object. Of course, most normal people would not be willing to see their beloved sister engage in a relationship with someone they deemed inappropriate.

This only made Alaric's love for Aleksis grow deeper. The girl did not care about physical good looks and material things. Aleksis also thought Alaric to be in his 40s and that he had a disfigured face, but her love for him never changed.

Pavel, who was disguised as Alaric, nodded at Terry's request to be taken back to land. "Of course. We will soon return to the mainland. Thank you for coming. My men will make sure you return to your car without anything lacking."

He then bowed slightly and went from the 'living room' to the captain's room. Terry followed his every move with an increasingly troubled mind. Kai, Takeshi, and Mischa nodded at Terry and joined their 'boss' out. Only the young masked man stayed behind. He then sat on the couch and looked at Terry with his arms crossed.

Is this the man who would make sure that I get back to my car safely? thought Terry. It seemed so, because the other assassins had left him.

Since there was nothing he could do but wait, Terry sat down and stared back at the young man, but only briefly. He did not want to be considered rude for staring at the face of a disfigured man for a long time.

"Are you thirsty?"

Terry was taken aback when the masked man talked to him. His voice was soft and attentive, as if he was speaking to a child, not at all the voice of an assassin.

"Eh ...?" Terry replied in confusion.

"I want to drink. What can I get you?" asked the young man again.

"Oh, just water, thank you," Terry replied.

The masked man nodded and stood up. He took a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to Terry, while he poured himself a glass of whiskey. Again they sat next to each other in silence.

Terry was not someone who could sit still, so, after a while he finally asked the masked man what had become his main concern from the start. The young man seemed to have a higher position compared to the other assassins and his he was very nice to Terry. Maybe he would be willing to provide him with information about Aleksis ...

"What exactly is your boss relationship with my sister?" Terry finally asked. "You surely know that as a brother, I worry about who my sister is hanging out with."

The masked young man nodded, "I understand."

"So?" Terry asked again, seeing that the young man was willing to talk with him.

"Hmmm. Aleksis is an important person for our master," the young man answered patiently. "She is a very amazing girl and he loves her very much."

CLANG!

Unknowingly the glass bottle in Terry's hand fell to the floor and broke to pieces. He had expected this, but hearing it directly from Alaric Rhionen's assassin still surprised and angered him.

Aleksis should not be in a romantic relationship with someone who had such a dark background, moreover, it seemed that they were not equals.

Alaric was not at all surprised by Terry's attitude. He signalled a servant to clean up the glass shards and made no comment about what had just happened.

He understood that Terry and most likely Aleksis' entire family would not approve of their relationship. At this point he didn't care too much either. He planned to take Aleksis away from her family and they didn't have to consider her family's opinion.

He also realized this was one of the reasons why Aleksis was so determined not to tell her family about him. If Terry knew that Aleksis was married to him, maybe it wasn't just the glass that would break. The young man would definitely lose it.

"Do you want something stronger to drink?" Alaric asked Terry, who sat transfixed at the broken glass.

Terry just shook his head, "No, I have to drive."

"Hmm ..."

Alaric remembered the various photos he saw of Aleksis and Terry together, both of whom looked very close with each other. The love between the siblings was obvious.

He was informed that Terry was Jean's biological child as he donated his sperm 24 years ago. Alaric had studied all data about Terry: he knew about Terry's birth at the hospital, then his childhood with Sylvia and Kendrick Chan, and how he became an orphan at the age of 15.

He was actually very interested in knowing when Terry and Aleksis met and found out that they were siblings. He was curious if Aleksis was also related to Jean and Billie. From their pictures, Alaric had suspected that Jean and Billie were Alchemists as they both looked suspiciously too young for their age. As Terry's younger sister, of course Aleksis had met Jean before.

Was Aleksis related to Jean and the other Alchemists? 

Kurt van Der Ven, whom Alaric suspected was Aleksis' father, also worked for the Schneider Group. Caspar Scheider was the owner of the Schneider Group ... and he was the leader of the Alchemist clan.

He looked at Terry's bright brown eyes. Was it possible that Terry was also an Alchemist like his father, Jean?

"I didn't know Aleksis had a brother, by the way. You two don't really look alike," Alaric finally said in passing after finishing his drink.

Terry knew this question would come, and he had prepared an appropriate answer.

"We are indeed not alike and we did not grow up together. Incidentally, her mother donated her egg cells which later became the embryo that my parents used to bring me to the world. We also did not know that we were siblings until eight years ago."

Eight years ago?

Alaric met little Aleksis in Singapore eight years ago. Was that when Terry first met with Aleksis and learned about their relationship? 

Ahh ...

Alaric could now vaguely remember Aleksis' mother, the half-Asian woman he had seen entering the lobby of the Rendezvous Hotel eight years ago to pick Aleksis up. The woman's face was quite similar to Aleksis'.

Was that woman Kurt Van Der Ven's mistress? She did look like she could be such a woman...

Or was Alaric mistaken? The initial information he obtained mentioned that Aleksis was Kurt's niece, but there was gossip and additional news that Aleksis was actually Kurt's illegitimate daughter. What if the rumor was wrong?

Was it possible that Aleksis, Terry, Jean, Billie and all the others were part of the Alchemists clan?

Instantly Alaric's eyes glittered.

He had never thought about this before. Was it possible that Aleksis was …

that she was..

… an Alchemist too?