The Alchemists

Actually, Lauriel was somewhat surprised when he learned that the destination of the plane they were chasing was not Bucharest, the capital of Romania, which was the center of Rhionen Industries' operations, but Targu Mures. It was a small town and in the past, the town was famous for the vampire legends of Transylvania.

Lauriel had been there several times when he was young and he still remembered the city well. Although hundreds of years had passed, there were still many historical buildings scattered throughout the city and its hilly areas. He felt like he was going back to the past when he was still on his adventures with Luna.

Hmmm ... he remembered that this place was where the last trace of Luna was found. He couldn't know for sure what had happened, but Luna had a friend in Romania named Degas.

Maybe his girlfriend tried to save herself from the war when her entire family was killed by going to Romania, which was relatively safer then, so she could ask for her friend's help, because Lauriel was far away in Asia.

Degas never met Luna and only heard about her death a few years later. When Lauriel came to meet Degas in Romania 18 years ago,  based on information from Alexei, he had to swallow his disappointment because Degas did not know what had happened to Luna.

Indeed, Lauriel's heart felt the immense pain once more when the plane landed and he had to set foot on Romanian soil. He had been avoiding this country for 18 years.

But now, he must free Marion and capture the Rhionen Assassins. He suspected that Alaric would also arrive soon. He and his team patiently waited.

***

Marion opened her eyes and found a man sleeping on the couch beside her bed. Was this Alaric Rhionen?

Ah no. Alaric was older, she thought. This must be one of the bodyguards who was ordered to guard her.

She quickly surveyed her surroundings and soon realized that she was no longer in the hospital.

Gosh, that meant that these people managed to outwit Lauriel and escape with her. Hmm ... She must immediately inform Lauriel of her whereabouts so they could immediately rescue her from the hands of Rhionen Assassins.

She saw that her clothes had been replaced with new clean clothes. Hmm ... that meant there's no hope in activating the tracker on her shirt buttons. She brushed her hair and found that only one pin remained, while she needed two to be assembled as a location transmitter.

Alright ... the final step.

She blinked in succession several times and activated the last communication tool which she did not really like - the blue-green contact lenses in her eyes which resembled Aleksis' eye color.

[We are close, we will pick you up soon.]

She immediately received a message from Lauriel which relieved her.

Oh, of course. Lauriel was also very efficient. Marion was not surprised to find that her friends were never far from her. Unfortunately, she could not reply to Lauriel's message because the communication device only worked in one direction. She wanted to tell them that she was fine and they didn't have to worry about her.

[We are waiting for you 500 meters east of the castle. If you don't come out in an hour, we will go in.]

Hmm ... okay.

Marion looked around and realized that there were no other guards to worry about aside from this man who was sleeping on the sofa by her bed. Her plan was to leave quietly, but even if this man woke up, Marion would be able to face him alone.

She got up slowly and sat on the bed, trying not to make a single sound. However, the young man was very alert. He immediately opened his eyes and when he saw Marion moving on the bed; he hurriedly got up and knelt at the foot of the bed.

"How are you?" he asked in the gentlest voice Marion had ever heard. The girl could only stare at him with amazed eyes. She hadn't noticed the man's face before, and now she was surprised to see that he was wearing a black leather mask which covered most of his face.

Alaric was aware of how Marion was transfixed by his face. He realized that the girl felt uncomfortable with the mask he was wearing.

Alaric smiled slightly, sat down next to the fake Aleksis and took the girl's right hand, then touched it to his face.

"The doctor said you might be a little dazed and so you may not be able to immediately remember everything that happened. It's only natural for people who were in a comma like you. I'm just glad to see that you're fine." He closed his eyes and let 'Aleksis' hand rub his face.

Marion began to feel uncomfortable. This man seemed to love Aleksis very much, she thought. Wasn't this one of the assassins of Alaric Rhionen? What had happened exactly? Was this guy also secretly related to Aleksis?

"Why are you wearing a mask?" the girl asked him in a soft voice. She must find out what really happened. "Sorry, I can't remember who you are."

Alaric opened his eyes and nodded, "It's okay, I will wait for your memory to recover. But from now on, I will no longer hide anything from you. I'm sorry because even though we are married, I didn't trust you to tell you the truth. I'm sorry, really."

Married?!

Marion's mind went dizzy. She did not know Aleksis had married this man.

Did her parents know? Did Lauriel know ???

WHO WAS THIS MAN ACTUALLY ??

Wasn't he just ...

Was he actually Alaric Rhionen himself...?!?

"Uhm ... I can't remember anything due to the accident. Can you please tell me who you are?" Marion looked at the pair of purple eyes with questions. Hmm ... his eyes felt very familiar. Lest the Alaric Rhionen that they met all this while was not the real Alaric, but ...

Alaric nodded. "Of course, I'll tell you everything. There are no more secrets between us."

He patted the fake 'Aleksis' hand gently and started telling his story.