The Alchemists

For the past few months, the Schneider family home had been filled with sadness. Aleksis left them as soon as she woke up from her coma and no one had the chance to meet her after.

Lauriel told Finland that Aleksis went berserk and blamed them for killing Alaric Rhionen, whom she claimed to be her husband. None of them had expected that Aleksis had such a deep relationship with the man.

According to Marion, Lauriel could only conclude that they had been chasing after the wrong Alaric, and the real Alaric was the one they had shot at Targu Mures, whose body had fallen into a gorge.

"He was very smart. He fooled us from the beginning by pretending to be someone else," Lauriel said with a long sigh. "I didn't know their relationship was that deep. No wonder he so cruelly slaughtered the Black River gang for trying to kidnap Aleksis."

"We would have done the same thing if we knew that Aleksis was targeted," Caspar confirmed. "This was actually a very bad misunderstanding ..."

Jadeith clenched her hands and showed dissatisfaction, "But they are very dangerous. Kurt died in vain because of them. I wouldn't want to see my cousin involved with someone like him."

Caspar turned to his nephew and nodded tiredly, "I don't really like it either, but he is dead now. I don't want Aleksis to stay sad for too long."

"I know Nicolae is working together with Aleksis to keep her out of our reach. He still won't tell me where they are ..." Lauriel complained. "I'd love to meet Aleksis and apologize to her in person."

Finland, whose tears had become dry, continued weeping over the fate of her daughter. She really missed Aleksis.

"Aleksis has been gone for two months now, I am very worried ..." she burst into tears. Caspar hastily embraced his wife and stroked her back affectionately.

"I believe Nicolae will look after Aleksis ... For how long is Aleksis planning to run away from home?"

"Maybe, if we send one of her younger siblings, Aleksis would want to meet them?" Finland asked hopefully. "London and the Rune are missing Aleksis too."

Aleksis' parents were suffering greatly because their daughter did not want to meet them. Many times they had persuaded Nicolae to take them to Aleksis, but the young man always refused. He did not want to violate the trust Aleksis had given him.

"I'll try and contact Nicolae again," Lauriel said quietly. He took his cell phone and called Nicolae's number.

In the living room of his apartment in Bucharest, Nicolae was busy working on something on his tablet when his cellphone rang. Aleksis was sitting absentmindedly looking at the snow falling from the window.

"Hello, Father," Nicolae said, glancing at Aleksis who looked at him attentively, obviously curious about Nicolae's telephone conversation. "I'm fine, Aleksis is fine too. Sorry, I still can't tell you more about our whereabouts. We still need time ..."

Nicolae had made sure that his cell phone couldn't be tracked even by the best technologists, and Lauriel, who tried in vain to trace it, had finally given up.

"Hmm ... I haven't seen you in two months either. You don't miss your dad?" Lauriel complained. He finally gave up, because it was clear that Aleksis still did not want to meet him.

Nicolae took a deep breath. He did miss his father, but he did not go home because he wanted to accompany Aleksis. He could not bear to leave the girl alone.

"I miss you too, Dad, but I can't go home right now," he finally said. "Later when I can go home, I will immediately find you. Possibly in the summer."

"Summer? That's still so long ..." Lauriel was really depressed. He really missed Aleksis and Nicolae but the two children didn't want to go home.

Slowly emptiness started to undermine his heart and memories of decades ago, when he no longer had a desire to live, returned. It felt as if what he was experiencing now was not much different from that time.

After Nicolae hung up, Aleksis became sad to see Nicolae's sad expression. She understood that Nicolae didn't want to leave her alone, and that made her feel guilty.

"You should go home and meet your father. He must really miss you," Aleksis said quietly.

Nicolae shook his head and resumed his work. "I'll go home when you go home."

"You ...!" Aleksis bit her lip nervously. "Why are you acting so stupid?"

"It's okay, all right? I don't want you to do anything stupid," Nicolae answered lightly.

"What do you mean? Do you think I'm stupid for bothering you? Do you want me to leave?" said Aleksis in a trembling voice.

"Princess, I do not consider you stupid, but I consider your actions, running away from home and not wanting to talk with your family, to be stupid and irresponsible." Nicolae placed his tablet aside and faced Aleksis, looking at her with serious eyes. "Naturally, if you are angry, you need time to calm down. What matters is how long will you keep your anger. If you put yourself on your parents' side, what will you do?"

"I'm not my parents ..." Aleksis said.

"True, but you will soon become a parent. Imagine yourself in the position of a parent and think about your father and mother's feelings. How would you feel if your beloved child would not meet you and blames you for an incident that was not entirely your fault?"

Aleksis pursed her lips. She imagined her two children, who are currently still in her womb, all grown up, not willing to meet her again. She would definitely be very sad ...

"They ... they caused Alaric's death ..." Aleksis finally whispered, trying so hard to hold back her sobbing.

"I know, and I'm sorry ... But if you want to be fair, it's not entirely the fault of my father and Uncle Caspar," Nicolae reminded, "You must forgive them for they didn't know. They didn't know what your relationship with Alaric Rhionen was, because you never told them anything."

Aleksis looked cornered. "I haven't had the chance to tell them ... I was just delaying it, because I needed to find the right time so that your father and Dad can accept him."

"I understand. He is not the ideal male figure your father and my father would like for you. Surely it is not easy to convey such things to them," commented Nicolae. "But still, you should respect your parents enough to tell them the truth."

Aleksis finally buried her face in her hands and cried uncontrollably. During these two months, Nicolae had never talked about Alaric Rhionen. He also never mentioned anything about Aleksis' decision to run away from home and her blaming their parents for Alaric's death. But now, for the first time, Nicolae spoke bluntly to her about a topic that they had been avoiding.

Aleksis did not want to accept the fact that she was guilty of the incident that had befallen Alaric and resulted in his death. If Aleksis had been open to her family, maybe they would not have wanted his death.

Nicolae's words today forced Aleksis to admit her own mistakes ...

She was also responsible for Alaric's death ... but cowardly she ran away and pointed all the blame on Lauriel and her father.

"Ohh ... Nic ... I've been so mean ..." Aleksis cried bitterly, "I'm just as guilty ... but I put all the blame on Uncle Rory and my father ... I'm so bad ... They must be very sad because of what I had done to them these past few months ..."

Nicolae did not answer. On the one hand, he was glad Aleksis had admitted her mistake, but on the other hand, he also didn't want her to blame herself too much. He was afraid that Aleksis would lose her desire to live.

As Caspar said, all of this was a very bad misunderstanding.

"Your father and mother, and my father are missing you very much ... they have suffered dearly for the past two months worrying about you ..." Nicolae said quietly. "Please, see them ..."

For a long time, Aleksis pondered with wet eyes before, finally, she nodded, "I ... I'll go and meet them."

A sweet smile grew on Nicolae's face when Aleksis agreed.