The Alchemists

It was initially meant as a harmless joke. Marie only wanted to see Nicolae suffered a little for abandoning her at the dock a few months ago. She created the whole date from hell and trained Louisa what to do.

Marie used Sanna's housekeeper's name in her fake profile and trained the woman to give Nicolae the date from hell. Come to think of it, Marie was somewhat vindictive. She thought she had forgiven Nicolae ... but when she saw the man and his children were having fun, she felt angry again.

She meticulously arranged the date between Louisa and Nicolae. She observed how it went from her apartment while smiling to herself. She predicted that Nicolae would survive until the end, but at least he would look somewhat tortured. Haha. It must be very funny, Marie thought.

Marie had no idea that when Nicolae came and met Louisa, the young man remained friendly and polite, showing no expressions of being annoyed whatsoever, much less suffering, even though he had been deceived outright.

Nicolae graciously kept trying to engage Louisa in conversation. He asked her about her daily life and always tried to find something to talk about, even though it finally proved that Louisa could not keep up with his intelligence.

Throughout the dinner, Marie was just stunned at Nicolae's handsome and patient face from the hidden camera that she placed in Louisa's handbag, which she strategically placed on the table.

At the end of the dinner, Marie could see the look of shock on the handsome face, knowing that the date from hell would continue with a movie. However, Nicolae still nodded politely and did not object. Subconsciously, Marie smiled to herself, seeing this.

"You're so kind ..." the girl murmured to herself. Her face was filled with adoration. "A good-natured gentleman. What a rare specimen."

She no longer paid attention to how the date went. Her mind had drifted to her mother, who was being treated in the hospital. Suddenly, she had some crazy idea that she could find a fake husband to make her mother happy and finally willing to let go.

Maybe ... a guy like this would want to help me, Marie finally thought.

Her silly idea had turned into hope, and three days ago, she finally managed to ask Nicolae to pretend to be her husband in front of her mother.

Their scheme was almost exposed because Mrs. Lu was very smart, but this kind-hearted man rushed to propose to her in front of her mother, convincing Mrs. Lu that he really loved Marie and promised to take care of her. Marie knew that Nicolae was lying, but fortunately, Ms. Lu believed his convincing words.

And finally, yesterday ... her mother was able to die in peace.

Marie took a deep breath. She rose slowly from the bed and took clean clothes from the closet. After wearing a black dress for the funeral, she wrapped black ribbons around her wrists to hide the bandages that covered her attempted suicide wounds.

Marie then checked herself in front of the mirror and saw how she looked like a living corpse with a thin body, all-black attire, and a pale face. She felt very unattractive.

Marie then sat down at her dressing table and put on a thin makeup to cover her pale skin, her naturally-red lips did not require lipstick at all. Once she felt that she looked a bit healthy, Marie went out of the room and headed to the kitchen.

"Let's eat something decent, so you get strength. Today will be very hard. We will take care of your mother's cremation and spread her ashes to the sea. After that, you have to go to the hospital and look for a grief counselor to help you grieve properly," Nicolae said. He helped Marie sit in the dining chair and immediately put a plate of food in front of the girl. "Do you want juice or coffee?"

Marie just nodded, not answering. Nicolae put a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee in front of her. He then sat across from the girl and began to eat. Marie finally followed him and forced herself to chew food.

"Sorry, I have bothered you so much," Marie said after they had finished eating.

Nicolae just shrugged, "It's okay. It's my responsibility. Besides, as a good husband, I have to be with you until the end."

Marie looked up in surprise at Nicolae's words just now. As she watched the young man's expression, Marie realized Nicolae was joking. This man just smiled, as if not aware of the impact of his words on the grieving girl.

Aah, apparently, Nicolae was deliberately mentioning his status as Marie's fake husband to make the girl laugh. Marie could only smile faintly at his words and nodded.

"Thank you. I'm sure any woman you will marry in the future will be a very lucky woman." Marie took her sunglasses from the cupboard and wore them to hide her eyes, swollen from crying too much. "I will take care of the marriage annulment after I overcome my sadness. I will not linger."

Nicolae nodded. "Thank you."

In fact, for Nicolae, the marriage annulment was not really important. He asked that from Marie for her own sake. When they were married yesterday, Nicolae did not use his real identity as Nicolae Medici. He only used one of his old identities as a commoner, when he was a student at the St. Mary University.

He had been using it for almost 15 years and it's now time to drop that identity. After he returned to Italy to take Altair and Vega, so Lauriel could take them to their parents, Nicolae would create a new identity.

Now, Marie only knew him as Nicolae Sorin; Nicolae being his real name and Sorin was his middle name, which he used as his surname for this identity. His adopted family's name was Lupei and his current family name from his biological father was Medici.

Now it was time for Nicolae Sorin to disappear from the face of the earth. He would go back to using the name Nicolae Lupei or Medici in his new identity. So, it would make no difference for Nicolae if his marriage to Marie Lu was annulled or not.

However, Nicolae felt sorry for Marie if the girl did not take care of the annulment on time because then she would be recorded as a married woman, while her husband would soon disappear from the face of the earth. It would be difficult for Marie to remarry in the future when she met a man she fell in love with.

"You better make the appointment as soon as possible to take care of it," Nicolae added as they walked out of Marie's apartment to the elevator. "If you delayed it, it will bring you trouble in the future."

Marie nodded. "I'll do it. Don't worry."

They arrived at the crematorium at noon. Mrs. Lu's body had been delivered from the hospital and placed in a beautiful casket chosen by Nicolae. Even though her body and casket would be burned to ashes, he still chose the best available casket for the lady.

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From the author:

The video was actually quite cute using chibi characters from this novel. You can find it using the hashtags above, or search my username @Missrealitybites. I hope you will check it out and show support. Yeayy...

If I won the challenge and get the prize (banner in for 24 hours), I will celebrate it by giving you MA.S.S RELEASE of 10 chapters!!

So.. go ahead and check the video, like and comment. I hope we can win the challenge together :).