The Alchemists

The atmosphere at the Medici Castle that afternoon was very lively. Dozens of waiters paced around and carried drinks to the party guests who were enjoying the festive event.

Of course, this event could be considered very special, because the owner of the famous Medici Castle,  who was known to be very reclusive and did not like the crowd, insisted on holding a lively party by inviting the people close to him.

Caspar and Finland, who had just arrived with London and Rune, immediately approached the host and updated each other about their news. They haven't seen each other for a few months.

"You've really changed," Caspar said, hugging Lauriel, and touching their foreheads. "No one would have thought that one day there would be a party thrown at the Medici Castle."

"Well ... this place has been quiet for too long," Lauriel replied with a smile. "But today is a special day, my son is celebrating his 100th birthday. Not every day you can celebrate for turning a century, right?"

Caspar nodded. He looked around, "So, Nicolae will finally come home? How long has he been gone?"

Lauriel sighed, "It's been over five years ... I guess he really needed time to find himself."

Caspar knew what Lauriel meant. Nicolae was heartbroken because the girl he loved was married and had children with another man. After making sure that Aleksis had returned to her family home and was in good condition, Nicolae decided to withdraw and not return for many years.

He still faithfully updated his father on his whereabouts, but he still did not want to come home and chose to travel alone around the world. Lauriel could only wait patiently.

This year, Nicolae would turn 100 and Lauriel thought this to be a good opportunity to persuade Nicolae to come home since his father had arranged a festive birthday party for him.

Finally, Nicolae relented. He knew Lauriel did not like crowds, so if his father organized a party for his sake, he had to respect his father's good intentions and come home. He realized, of course, that Lauriel missed him a lot.

Lauriel deliberately invited all Alchemist families, especially those who had beautiful and single girls in the house. He never expected that the time would come when he had to use this dirty trick to get his son a partner.

Lauriel remembered the party of 200 years ago when he first met Princess Luna. The girl's parents deliberately held a very lively party and invited all single Alchemist men to come, hoping that Luna would be attracted to one of them.

Luna was indeed attracted to one of the party guests - Lauriel, who came with four of his men. She even ran away from home disguised as a man to follow Lauriel's crew on adventures around the world.

Well ... it didn't hurt to try, did it? Who knows, maybe one of these girls would capture Nicolae's attention, Lauriel thought. He hoped that his son's broken heart had somewhat recovered and he returned home with a new heart that could open up to other girls.

"Uncle Rory, when will Nicolae arrive?"

Lauriel's reverie was moved when he heard Aleksis' sweet voice greeting him. The girl had been helping him with the party decorations and the staff so that everything went on smoothly.

Aleksis was now almost 26 years old and was extraordinarily beautiful. Gosh, he really prayed that when Nicolae saw Aleksis again, his heart wouldn't bleed all over again.

Aleksis was indeed the perfect girl. She was very beautiful, very intelligent, and her presence always brought happiness to everyone around her. Outsiders would think that the girl was still 20 years old and would not guess that she had two very adorable children.

The two children were very similar to each other and if they wore similar clothes, people would think their eyes were playing tricks on them and seeing double.

As usual, Altair and Vega followed their mother everywhere. Wherever Aleksis went, Altair and Vega would follow. This time they weren't wearing the same clothes so Lauriel could distinguish which one was Altair and which one was Vega.

Although Altair was a boy, his beautiful platinum-blonde hair grew to his shoulders. He liked to wear brightly colored clothes and at first glance, people would think he was a girl, just like his twin sister Vega.

The two children did not look like Aleksis at all. Both had pale skin and beautiful faces with fine lines that made them look gentle. They had large dark blue eyes and long platinum blonde hair.

"Uncle?" asked Aleksis once more.

Lauriel realized he hadn't answered Aleksis' question yet. He just shook his head, "I don't know. Hopefully, he comes home before the party is over. Otherwise, this party will be in vain."

"Hahahaha ..." Aleksis laughed at Lauriel's answer. "Hopefully ..."

Aleksis then stood beside Lauriel and surveyed her surroundings. "Will you also announce Nicolae as your son? I see a lot of beautiful girls here at the party."

Lauriel turned and smiled at Aleksis, who seemed to understand very well why Lauriel invited so many single and beautiful girls.

"That's right. I think it's time." He leaned his chin toward Caspar who fetched drinks for his wife and asked, "When will your father announce you? He can't keep on hiding his children from the outside world, can he?"

Aleksis shrugged, "I don't know ... Dad is still overprotective, even though we're all grown up. London is now 23 years old and will soon help him at the company. Rune is 21 years old and he has successfully created his first machine. I don't know why he is so worried about us."

"That's because he loves you all too much," Lauriel said with a smile. "Maybe he will introduce you to the clan when you are 100 years old. Hehehe ...."

Aleksis almost spouted her drink at Lauriel's words. "Gosh ... 100 years? That is such a long time."

"Yes, you can't blame your father for being overprotective. You know for yourself what has happened to you all this time?" Lauriel said softly. Aleksis could only sigh.

She realized that she always made her father worry. Since she was a child, Aleksis had been on the verge of death several times. When she was two years old, she was nearly poisoned by Alexei, her father's enemy; when she was 12 years old, she was kidnapped by human traffickers; when she was 20 years old, she was nearly killed by Rosemary and fell into a coma after she fainted. 

No wonder Caspar kept a close eye on Aleksis.