The Alchemists

London and Rune simply followed Alaric's steps. They already knew Alaric's violent background, and this time, they witnessed how he handled the problem. Luckily, he had listened to Aleksis' words and didn't kill Elien with his hands.

However, they could surmise how terrible the retaliation against Elien from the notorious Russian mafia would be, and the two hoped they won't see news about it in the media.

"This world is cruel," Alaric said as they stepped into the elevator to the penthouse. "You mustn't show mercy to your enemies or anyone who had the intention of doing harm to you and your family. Once you show mercy, they'll repeat their actions."

London and Rune nodded.

Alaric immediately saw Aleksis when they arrived at the penthouse. "Are we going home now? All my businesses are settled."

Aleksis nodded. They said goodbye to London and Rune before immediately heading home. On the way, Aleksis wanted to ask what had happened and what he did to punish Elien, but she was reluctant to bring up the bad things. Alaric, who seemed to be able to read her mind, personally told her what he did to punish Elien.

"I don't want any secrets between us. All this time, I was gossiped with several women, including the girl earlier. I have nothing to do with them, but I also didn't think it's necessary to straighten out every gossip circulating. For me, all of those don't matter." Alaric said, tugging Aleksis's hair behind her ear. For some reason, his wife's hair was often disheveled. "But after your return, of course I won't let those cheap rumors continue to spread."

"Then why did she do it?" Aleksis asked in puzzlement.

"Since a long time ago, the woman lived a very expensive lifestyle. She was also addicted to gambling, which lead to a huge debt to the Russian mafia. She was then used by the group of people who wanted to hurt you by setting the trap earlier..."

Aleksis pursed her lips in surprise. "That group of people wanted to hurt me? What did I do wrong to them?"

Alaric pulled Aleksis to his c.h.e.s.t and calmed the girl. "Don't worry, I've taken care of everything. Do you still remember the Blue family? They wanted to take revenge for what happened at our wedding last time. They paid the Russian mafia to do everything, including using Elien, whom they thought had a close relationship with me. Their goal was, of course, to stain my name and hurt you. Unfortunately, they're dealing with the wrong person. They don't know who I really am."

Aleksis remembered Kit Blue, who was almost choked to death by Alaric and her father, who were furious. Apparently, they couldn't stay silent and tried to get revenge.

"What did you do to them?" Aleksis questioned. She looked right into her husband's deep purple eyes. "You won't kill the Blue family, right?"

Alaric softly chuckled. "No, I won't get my hands dirty. Mischa will meet the head of the mafia group and ask him to choose, their own lives or the lives of the Blue family."

"Oh..." Aleksis understood what Alaric meant. He would let the mafia group itself take care of the Blue family. "Thank God... I don't want you to kill people of our kind. You know that the punishment for an unforgivable mistake is Death."

"I know." Alaric kissed Aleksis to calm her down. "I won't do anything that would separate us ever again."

Aleksis felt calm hearing his words. She closed her eyes and leaned against her husband's c.h.e.s.t, enjoying his slow, peaceful heartbeat, before gradually falling asleep.

When their car arrived home, Aleksis was still asleep. Alaric knew his wife was really exhausted because of their intense lovemaking earlier, including the stress from knowing how there were people who tried to set up her husband, it was no wonder Aleksis immediately fell asleep in the car.

He carefully carried Aleksis past the automatic door and immediately took her to the bedroom and laid her on their bed. He loosened his wife's clothes then covered her after making sure the room temperature was as cool as she liked.

Alaric then cleaned himself in the bathroom and sat in his office checking the news related to the Virconnect celebrations that night for a while. He was very happy to see so many positive news about his family and how all of those made his reputation go uphill. He was getting increasingly popular. At this rate, he would even be able to become the president if he wanted to.

After making sure everything was fine, he returned to the bedroom, took off his clothes, and slipped under the duvet, laying himself down while hugging Aleksis.

With his eyes closed, he thought about how happy his life was at the moment. He could sleep hugging the woman he loved every night, see her face when he woke up in the morning, and spend every moment with her. He would never be bored.

He was no longer interested in becoming a ruler. Let humans take care of themselves. He couldn't care less about them now. It would be better for him to take care of his family and make sure that they would always be safe and happy.

***

Two days later, the world was shocked by the news of Elien Mikhailova being found assaulted by an unknown party. Her arms and legs were broken. She was deliberately left alive to experience worse sufferings than death, because even though her arms and legs could heal, she wouldn't be able to dance anymore.

Living without being able to do the only thing she could do was too unbearable for the ballerina. A month later, she was found dead, having committed suicide in the hospital where she was being treated.

The Russian mafia group Mischa visited was very surprised. They didn't expect that the ex-assassin from the Rhionen Assassins, who used to be very famous in the underworld, would suddenly come to raid their leader's house.

He brought three of his colleagues from the Phoenix level who happened to be in Europe. They ransacked the group's headquarters before threatening their leader to take responsibility by killing the Blue family.

In just one week, all the hotels and buildings belonging to the Blue family were bombarded by unknown people. The police failed to find the culprit and Lex was too afraid to tell the police that they had hired the services of the Russian mafias before this.

Finally, for the sake of his family's safety, Lex took his wife and daughter to hide. Nobody heard anything about them since then.

***