The Alchemists

Portia was shocked to hear Caspar's remark about how Alexei almost killed Caspar's daughter. And Sophia knew about Aleksis' identity from the beginning?? She can't help but feel rage in her heart. She loved Alaric like her own son and she couldn't stand seeing him suffer like this.

"Sophia?" Portia turned to Sophia, who suddenly turned pale. "Alexei did that? Did you know about it?"

Sophia looked away, trying not to return Portia's sharp gaze.

"Sophia knew that Aleksis is my daughter. Has she never told you?" Caspar asked in puzzlement. He looked both disappointed and upset. Sophia clearly knew that Aleksis was his daughter, as she had also been the one who told Alexei about Caspar's daughter. "Sophia, I forgave you for pitting me and Finland, but it looks like you still haven't changed!"

Alaric was very surprised to hear that his cousin had deliberately hidden this important information from him. He was also furious when he learned that Aleksis was almost killed by Sophia's brother.

He let go of Aleksis's hand and moved quickly to get Sophia. His right hand then grabbed the girl's neck and lifted her into the air.

"Your brother wanted to kill Aleksis? And you knew about Aleksis from the beginning, but deliberately hid it from me. Why did you do that, Sophia?!" he asked in a deep voice. He had never been this angry.

Everyone was very surprised to see Alaric's reactions. Sophia reached out and kicked in panic, trying to free herself from Alaric, but he was too strong for her. Fear immediately crept up in her mind. She knew what her cousin was capable of.

She realized Alaric could be cruel and now thought that she should have escaped quickly because sooner or later, they would find out about her role in this misunderstanding... But earlier, she had been too shocked and had no time to escape.

"Aghhh.... he… help... me..." Sophia's pained and suffocated voice shocked everyone there. For a moment, they couldn't do anything. Fortunately, Nicolae quickly approached Alaric and pulled his hand to release Sophia.

"Alaric, don't... Please stop this. Your children are watching. You shouldn't frighten them..." he firmly reminded. He grabbed his brother's shoulder and exerted pressure so Alaric's arms slowly dropped and released Sophia's neck.

The girl fell to the floor and coughed while holding her neck. She was frightened. She had just escaped such danger, and the experience exhausted her.

Nicolae restrained Alaric, who was still furious and patted his shoulder in an attempt to try to calm his angry brother. Alaric slowly controlled himself and silently stood still, sharply staring at Sophia.

"Sophia... You deliberately hid this... How could you?" Portia asked in a disappointed tone. "I really didn't think you would do this to your own cousin..."

"This is all because of Aleksis..." Sophia whispered, trying to catch her breath. "Because of her, my brother was sentenced to death... I don't have anyone else now..."

Lauriel walked toward Portia and held her hand, "Portia... I was the one who sentenced Alexei to death. He tried to kill my goddaughter, and he also set me up using Luna's name. Caspar was still kind enough to let Sophia take Alexei to Switzerland and live quietly there, not lacking anything. If you want to be angry because of what happened to Alexei, you can be mad at me, but don't involve Aleksis."

Portia sighed. She indeed harbored resentment towards Caspar, since her nephew, Alexei, was sentenced to be an ordinary human. But she didn't know what the background of the event was that Alexei was punished because Sophia had been lying to her all this time.

"Alexei didn't do that in order to avenge Famke's death, as was said in the trial at that time. Instead, Famke was instructed by Alexei himself." Caspar added. "Sorry if you've been misunderstanding all this time. I don't want to bring up old problems, so I didn't feel the need to discuss them."

Portia nodded.

"I understand now." She turned to Aleksis and waved her hand. "Come here, child. Let me see you carefully."

Aleksis walked over to Portia and slightly bowed, "Auntie Portia."

"Hmm... I'm glad to have met you today." Portia smiled and stroked Aleksis's cheek with a motherly gesture, "I hope you and your children are willing to visit us often in Glasgow. Our house is always too quiet."

Aleksis smiled and nodded. "With pleasure, Auntie."

Alaric, who had calmed himself, walked over to Aleksis and put his arm around her waist. "Mother, I'll bring Aleksis to visit Glasgow. Don't worry."

"Great." Portia nodded at Lauriel and Nicolae, "I hope you'd also be willing to come visit once in a while."

Lauriel and Nicolae nodded as well. However, Portia was Luna's favorite cousin, and they had a very close relationship.

For a moment, Lauriel and Alaric's eyes met. Now, Alaric could be more sympathetic to his father, because he already felt how sad he was when he found out too late that he had children and lost so much time which could have been spent with them…

He realized, if he loved Aleksis and their two children and was willing to sacrifice anything to protect them, surely Lauriel also had the same feelings towards him and his brother…

If only his father knew about them from the start...

Alaric was now convinced that Lauriel would do anything for them, and he would never let his children live alone and struggle to defend themselves in this harsh world…

But his father didn't know…

"Father... I'm sorry," he said suddenly. His voice surprised Lauriel, who didn't think Alaric would call him father.

Alaric released his embrace on Aleksis and approached his father. He seemed reluctant at first, but Alaric then embraced Lauriel and buried his face in his father's shoulder.

Lauriel was rooted in his place. He was surprised because of how sudden it was. He didn't expect that Alaric would accept him and call him father.

"My son..." Lauriel whispered in a choked voice after he had awoken from his daze. He patted his son on the shoulder and returned Alaric's hug more tightly. "Welcome home. I'm so glad you're home now."