The Alchemists

He.. killed Aleksis' husband?

It took Lauriel a few seconds to understand what his goddaughter meant. Afterward, he was shocked. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect Aleksis and Alaric Rhionen to be married.

Hadn't they only been together for two weeks?

What happened in such a short amount of time that both of them become that attached to each other?

He didn't know. He was in great disbelief. But at least, he now understood why Alaric was willing to do anything for Aleksis. Apparently, he really loved her.

There was no crying over spilled milk. Although he did not approve of Aleksis' relationship with Alaric, if he knew that they truly loved each other and were even married, perhaps he would hold himself back and refrain from targeting Alaric.

Lauriel looked at his goddaughter who kept staring at him hatefully, as if he was an enemy. His eyes became very sad. The last thing he wanted to do in life was to make Aleksis cry. He loved the girl very much.

"Aleksis ... I didn't know. I'm very sorry." he whispered softly.

Aleksis just moved her gaze away, completely unwilling to look at Lauriel.

"I don't want to see them. Take me away from here," she whispered to Nicolae. The young man nodded and immediately helped her up. When Aleksis fell again due to her legs which were still not strong enough to support her body, Nicolae resorted to carrying the girl out.

"Where are we going?" Nicolae asked when they passed by the front door.

"I want to go far away from here." she replied, closing her eyes. She did not want to see anyone. She knew that her mother and father would arrive soon, but she did not want to see either of them too.

"Wait ..." The young man carefully placed Aleksis on the backseat of his car and sat before the steering wheel. "As you wish, we will leave this place."

He knew that at the moment, Aleksis needed time alone to vent her sadness, but because her body was still very weak, she could not leave by herself. Living in this house would only make her even more depressed as she would regularly see the people she considered responsible for her husband's death.

This was why Nicolae would try his best to help the girl. He was afraid that Aleksis would act recklessly if they keep pushing her.

***

Mischa continued to search along the Mures River for the body of her foster father. He mobilized all his men to comb through the place. They intended to leave no stone unturned.

A man's shout from the end of the river made him stunned. A couple of seconds later, he could be seen running towards the direction where the voice came. When he arrived, his men was already surrounding a limp body wearing a black outfit. This person was lying behind a large rock and his condition appeared very horrible.

At one glance Mischa was able to estimate how much blood was lost and how many bones were broken. If all of these had been experienced by an ordinary person instead, his body would have been crushed beyond recognition.

"Immediately get the medical helicopter down here," he ordered the pilot who had been circling his helicopter above them.

Within 10 minutes, Alaric's body had been transported out of the gorge and brought to his castle. There,  dozens of doctors and other medical personnel were waiting for him.

The next day, all members of Rhionen Assassins who were in Europe gathered at Alaric residence while those still in the other parts of the world were already on their way. Mischa, as the only dragon-level assassin among them, besides Alaric, led the discussion with his comrades on what steps they should take after this ordeal.

"Master was attacked and his condition is very critical. Even now, he is not yet out of danger, and the doctor said his chance of survival is less than 1%." Mischa announced in a calm voice.

He appeared not as flamboyant as usual. Instead of wearing his favorite pink, he was wearing black, and he planned to wear the same color from today onwards as a sign of grieving for his foster father.

"Is this caused by the same group of people?" Pavel asked with an angry face.

"It seems like it. I wasn't there. I only got orders to stand guard because the enemy arrived, but when I brought the reinforcements with me there, Master had already fallen into the gorge."

"Then, where is Miss Aleksis?" Pavel asked again. He was beginning to suspect that the girl had something to do with all of this. If Alaric did not bring Aleksis to his residence, this would surely not have happened. He was now curious whether that woman was truly on his master's side or if she was actually involved with those people who pulled his master into a trap...

"Miss Aleksis is nowhere to be found. I suspect she had been taken away by the same group who injured Master." Mischa sounded very tired, "We can think of revenge later. Right now, the priority is to make sure he survives his critical situation."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Pavel, you're used to helping take care of Rhionen Industries. Don't let all our master's plans fall apart just because he is injured. You have to make sure all the projects go smoothly," Mischa ordered calmly. Pavel nodded.

"I will need help," Pavel said. "If you can take care of it, I will be very grateful. After all, you are one of the heirs."

Mischa nodded slowly. Indeed, among the 15 assassins in his group; he, Takeshi, Kai, and Rosalien had a higher standing as they were heirs to Alaric Rhionen. Since they were little, they had been raised and educated by Alaric Rhionen himself and even bore his last name as his foster children.

With Alaric in a dangerous condition where they didn't know whether he would survive or not, they were forced to step forward, intervening with the management and operations to make sure Alaric's project and goals would continue.

A month passed and the doctors began to give up. They said that all the man's internal organs had been too damaged and would have problems recovering completely. The threats and shouts from Takeshi and Pavel only made them shrivel up in fear, but no one dared to promise anything to placate them. There was just no way to guarantee that the dying patient in the bed would be able to wake up again.

After Mischa and his siblings debated amongst themselves, they all then decided to announce Alaric Rhionen's death and formally assumed management of his businesses.

Pavel immediately took action and contacted Rhionen Industries' partners to inform them that the business would continue and that the children of Alaric Rhionen would keep all their projects in progress.

Sophia who received the news was horrified and surprised. She could not contact Alaric for several months. However, she only assumed it was because her cousin was busy or did not want to talk to her. Upon hearing the announcement of Alaric's death from Pavel, she hurriedly came to see the latter in Bucharest and forced him to tell her what happened.

"Tell me what's going on!! Alaric is my cousin and I have a right to know what befell him!" she exclaimed the moment she stepped into Pavel's spacious office.

Her sharp eyes made the man feel cornered. He had no choice but to narrate to her what his master had experienced... that he got trapped by a group of strangers and then killed in his own home.

Sophia was devastated since she never imagined Alaric would ever suffer such a bad fate. All because of a woman!