Chapter 5
✠ After finishing my fulfilling routine in the kitchen, I went to the alchemist's laboratory with Prinz.
The alchemist hadn't returned yet, perhaps because the issue with the herb guild hadn't been resolved.
In the Serentra continent, healers were precious.
Divine power had a higher awakening difficulty than aura and magic, resulting in fewer gifted individuals, and since the religious orders monopolized the human resources, private employment was impossible.
If a dungeon subjugation team belonged to a noble house, the order would dispatch healers, but this didn't apply to the Gilette house, which had long since stopped subjugating dungeons as the lineage of swordsmanship had been severed.
Even for the wealthy Count Gilette household, receiving treatment from a healer required going to the cathedral in person.
However, nobles couldn't be expected to endure waiting queues for treatment every time they were injured or sick.
Fortunately, while it was an inferior substitute to a healer's healing arts, there was something that could roughly replace it—healing potions made by alchemists.
Wealthy noble houses would employ a personal physician along with a contracted alchemist.
Leonard Rodlain was also such a case.
He was quite a high-tier asset.
It was certain, considering there was a scene where the 10th-round protagonist came back from the brink of death thanks to his top-grade healing potion and was amazed by its efficacy.
"It seems the ointment for wounds has run out."
Not knowing what the ointment even looked like, Prinz rummaged through the shelves instead of me.
I thought it was strange since it seemed like something that would be made in large quantities. Prinz resolved my疑问.
"The head maid steals them often. For skin... moisturizing? Something like that, she said."
"What? Didn't you tell the butler?"
"They're all in cahoots. The butler, the head maid, even the doctor..."
What a difficult situation.
I supposed I'd have to ask after the alchemist returns.
But I noticed Prinz drooping the corners of his eyes noticeably, which caught my attention.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"Ah, no. Just..."
"Just?"
"You said you'd apply it for me after so long."
Ugh. If that's the reason for his gloominess, then it can't be helped.
I looked around the laboratory. The ingredients and equipment all seemed to be there.
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"Ugh. I need to level up."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Nothing, brother."
The level 1 unlocked items were only cosmetics and soap. It seemed I'd need to reach level 2 to make ointments or potions.
'Actually, this worked out better.'
The ingredients seemed abundant, and cosmetics and soap would be quite useful.
I made a gesture of rolling up my sleeves.
"Let's get started."
✠
"Hmm? Linz?"
Leonard, who had barely resolved the issue and returned to the laboratory, was startled.
Aylet and Prinz had fallen asleep sharing a single blanket, and the laboratory was in a mess, different from when he had left.
However, the desk was an exception. Dozens of glass bottles containing jelly-like contents were neatly arranged.
Leonard stared intently at the pretty ribbons tied around them. The words written on each ribbon tail caught his eye.
'Foaming Liquid Soap', 'Moisturizing Cream', 'Whitening Cream', 'Moist Lip Balm'.
He was greatly surprised.
'Did she perhaps do alchemy?'
There was also a small paper memo.
'A beauty potion as a gift! I never even thought of such a thing!'
Leonard was somewhat lacking in tact compared to his skill.
True to a scholar who had lived only reading books, he devoted himself solely to orthodox potion research, not even knowing that beauty item research for commercial purposes was gaining spotlight in the alchemy industry lately.
Such a person would have no way of knowing how to win the favor of his employer, the Countess.
In that regard, it was natural for Aylet, who had been exposed to all kinds of cosmetics advertisements in her past life and had some social experience, to know better.
'Could my daughter be a genius...! Ahem! No, I must not make the mistake many fathers make. Calm down. The thought and attempt are excellent, but since a child made it, the quality might not be...'
Leonard struggled to rein in his doting ego that wanted to run wild and attempted a quality test.
With a pounding heart, he opened the glass bottle of moisturizing cream. And applied it to his skin.
"How can this be!"
The effect was tremendous.
Even he, who was a novice in beauty matters, could clearly see the elasticity returning to his skin and the glossy sheen appearing.
'Our daughter is definitely a genius!'
He decided to freely become a doting father.
Now that he looked, there was not only beauty potions but also ointment on the desk.
To think she had already produced items imbued with healing power—there was no further need for doubt.
'Our child has the makings of a Grand Alchemist. I should start teaching her alchemy in earnest from tomorrow.'
Leonard picked up the sleeping Aylet in his arms to move her to bed.
His face looking at his daughter was full of smiles. It was truly a father's smile.
✠
I had a gloomy dream.
It was from when I was ten years old, before the possession. At that time, I was already permanently separated from my family.
It was right after losing my father and older brother in a car accident, so I was depressed as if dark clouds lingered only over my head.
However, before I could attend to my feelings, I had to learn to read people's moods first.
The ones who agreed to take me in, who had nearly been sent to an orphanage, were my relatives.
As soon as they decided to raise me, my relatives moved into a three-room apartment on a full deposit lease.
It was a much larger and better house than the separated studio they had been living in.
However, my uncle and aunt, who frequently had marital fights, decided to use separate rooms, and my cousin, who was two years younger, stubbornly refused to share a room with me, insisting she absolutely needed her own space.
So I had to spend most of my time in the living room.
I didn't harbor any particular complaints. Rather, I was just grateful and apologetic.
After all, they had taken me in as family instead of sending me to an orphanage despite their tight circumstances.
Of course, that was my naive thinking back then.
At that time, I didn't know that the deposit for that apartment had come from the sale of the house where I lived with my father and brother.
Because I didn't know, I tried to be good to my relatives. Since my mother wasn't around from a young age, my brother did a lot of the household chores while my father was out at work.
Recalling how my brother did things, I started finding and doing chores little by little.
When I did the dishes, laundry, and cleaning without being told, my stay-at-home aunt seemed pleased.
Having grown up without a mother, I was weak to praise from adult women, so I tried even harder. The household chores naturally became my responsibility.
Then one weekend. I woke up around lunchtime, and no one was home.
I did the dishes piled up from the day before and cleaned the house, then waited thinking I'd eat with my relatives when they returned.
Even as the afternoon came and my relatives didn't return, I got worried but couldn't think to call.
There was no telephone in the house, and I didn't have a cell phone.
They returned only after the sun had completely set.
Hearing the front door open with laughter, I ran out gladly.
The first thing I saw was my cousin wearing a headband with a bouncy star on a spring.
When I hesitantly greeted them and asked if they had eaten, my relatives made uncomfortable faces and said they didn't want rice, then went into their respective rooms.
I kind of expected that. The bodies of my relatives who came home past dinner time reeked of pork belly.
Weekends when no one was home when I woke up became routine.
At some point, I also stopped waiting and started eating meals alone. I understood, since we weren't really family.
But I had one question. Given their tight finances, was it really okay to eat out every week like this?
I found out later that what went into their stomachs was my father and brother's traffic accident insurance money and settlement money.
It was in my second year of high school when I learned that my relatives had taken all of my father's assets, insurance money, and settlement money and squandered it.
It was only a few days prior that I had been scolded for the first time when I asked them to send me to just one cram school.
It was even more devastating compared to my cousin who attended five cram schools she didn't even want to go to.
Since I didn't have my own room, I went to the playground in the next neighborhood and cried my eyes out.
When the truth came out, my relatives rather criticized me for being ungrateful, saying I was only calculating money when they had the grace of raising me.
Since they weren't people I could reason with from the start, I gave up and lived with the mindset of just enduring until I became an adult.
The non-rebellious me must have been quite convenient for my relatives.
Well, I didn't even experience puberty. I couldn't have. You can only act childishly when there's someone who will indulge it.
While living in that house for another year and a half, I thought I was getting by reasonably well.
But that was only my own delusion. It seemed I often groaned in my sleep as if being crushed by a nightmare.
My cousin, woken from sleep, would come out to the living room and shout asking if I had a mental illness, throwing a pillow at me before leaving. But that wasn't something that could be consciously fixed.
Even now.
"Mom... Dad... Don't leave me behind..."
"......Aylet?"
"Brother too... don't go... I won't steal your snacks anymore... I'll share my chocolate milk with you. Brother, brother..."
"......"
At that moment, my hand was covered with warmth. Since it was the first time this had happened, I seemed to feel a bit puzzled even while groaning in my sleep.
A gentle and soft voice, like a lullaby, reached my ears.
"Shh, Aylet. You must have had a nightmare. It's okay. Daddy's here."
"Daddy...?"
"Yes, it's Daddy."
"Are you really my real daddy...? That's strange. My daddy is..."
The rest of my words caught in my throat and wouldn't come out.
Fortunately, 'Daddy' spoke.
"I'm your real daddy. Daddy will stay right here until our Aylet falls back asleep."
"Promise... You have to promise."
"Yes, I promise."
It felt as if the warmth received through my hand traveled all the way to my chest.
Amidst a sense of relief I was feeling for the first time, I smoothly fell back asleep.
Privilege for the Possessor