Read Novel Full Chapter 558: Medicine?
Chapter 558: Medicine?
The Gardener flashed the blade towards Lillian’s wrist, pressed the edge against her skin, and swiftly slit her wrist - causing a stream of her blood to fall into the black liquid below.
Lillian unconsciously tried to retract her hand at the pain, but when she realised what had happened, she became stunned - what just happened?
"What are you doi—!?"
When Lillian was about to finish her words, the Gardener intercepted and said in a strict voice:
"Continue imbuing your mana into the mixture, you won’t die of blood loss."
Seeing that the man hadn’t seemingly gone mad, Lillian continued transferring her mana into the cauldron.
The Gardener measured the volume of blood that fell into the cauldron, his mind making a quick and mental calculation. The black and viscous liquid below, which would periodically turn white, swallowed Lillian’s blood like it was a hungry slime.
Its body slushed about inside the cauldron, spinning and transitioning from black to a reddish white as subtle and horrific noise began to resound from within the cauldron.
After a while, Lillian began to feel numbness in her wrist. She frowned, but before she knew it, Lillian was freed from the Gardener’s grasp.
She would then catch a health potion that was magically thrown to her by the Gardener, who then began to dash around the entire laboratory. He pressed buttons, turned switches, twisted and stared at dials.
Everything that was around the chemistry lab seemed to have some form of relation with the cauldron as Lillian watched as flames erupted out from beneath its metallic body - rapidly increasing its temperature.
"Get me some tools!" The Gardener hurriedly ordered Lillian, causing her to spring into action.
Since she had no reliable knowledge of chemistry or alchemy, she remained silent as she handed him a variety of instruments and glassware.
She watched as he did his magic.
The flames of the cauldron reduced and increased periodically, and the Gardener tossed and mixed in other ingredients from his spatial rings. Soon enough, the end of the process came near once he pulled on a lever.
The contents of the cauldron were suddenly drained, disappearing into a tube found at the bottom and being transported into the large tube of green bubbling liquid that Lillian saw earlier.
Stunned and silent throughout the entire process, Lillian turned towards the tube it was transported to and watched as the contents of the cauldron had an immediate reaction when it came in contact with the green liquid.
Lillian watched as the green liquid and the viscous black mixture clashed against each other inside the tube containing them; they both looked seemingly incompatible.
But then, they mixed.
A gas began to appear inside the tube, clinging to the ceiling of it. The contents within it began to decrease slowly.
The liquid was reduced to 75% of what it used to be, then to 50%, all the way down to 10%.
Over time, the liquid became extremely concentrated. And that wasn’t the only change, for the black viscous liquid had now completely transformed into a pure white and reddish substance with no evidence of corrupting into black again.
Lillian then watched as the Gardener walked over to the tube and inspected it, gauging the percentage of completion before summoning a glass bottle and holding it under a tap attached to the glass tube.
With a twist of its handle, the liquid quickly poured into the glass bottle; no longer having a trace of its once viscous trait.
Lillian stared at the bottle that was held towards her. Blinking back into consciousness, Lillian nodded and bowed her head gratefully before reaching out to it.
But then—
The Gardener pulled her in by the shoulder with a menacing glare in his eyes.
"Tell me... What is the relationship with your family?"
"H-huh? G-good, I suppose?" Lillian stutteringly spat out, feeling the Gardener’s grip on her shoulder tighten.
"Good... So, let me tell you this and listen well. If you were to go against the Roselle family in any way or take advantage of us, I’ll see to it that your entire family is exterminated. Killed. Slaughtered. Do you understand?"
Staring down at her, the Gardener exerted an outward pressure on the surroundings with his mana - especially on Lillian.
Fortunately, with the help of the Acus Mark, it was rendered useless. However, Lillian was able to feel it nonetheless inside her heart.
Lillian nodded, understanding his words. She was then cast out of his chemistry lab with the glass bottle of Marionette’s medicine in her hands.
With a heavy feeling inside her chest...
"Haa..."
She sighed.
Lillian shot a look back at the doors to the room with a look of resentment for what he said, but then sighed again. There was most likely a reason why he was so angry, but Lillian had yet to figure it out.
With slow steps, Lillian began to walk back to her room - storing away the bottle inside her spatial ring.
...
Hearing Lillian’s footsteps echo further away from his lab, the Gardener stood in front of his cauldron - cleaning it out from top to bottom, inside and out.
When he finished that, he looked down at his cauldron before taking off his mask, revealing the face of an incredibly handsome man who appeared to be in his twenties.
His once stoic and cold face then cracked a smile, a large and devious smile, as with a wave of his hand, he summoned ingredients from his spatial ring.
Ingredients... That looked closely similar to what Lillian provided, with the sole exception of the Umbravine Bloom, the Umbralight Pearl, and the Coralspire Orchid. He had lied earlier when he said he used up everything that Lillian handed over to him.
Why would he? A seasoned alchemist used everything he had for a singular batch when it could possibly fail?
With a raise of his hand, he caused a flower closely similar to the Umbravine Bloom to appear in the centre of his palm, though not of equal potency to the original.
"The Coralspire Orchid is unneeded..." He whispered as he prepared another batch, using other ingredients as substitutes.
What he was preparing wasn’t the medicine that he had created for Lillian to give to his niece... He was going to create a poison.
A poison that would act as a contingency.
This wasn’t considered theft, since the ingredients that Lillian gifted him were on the condition that he would prepare her a medicine.
But not only that... He had succeeded in another task.
When he first met her, he had his suspicions about her loyalty towards his niece. While his threat wasn’t a foolproof way to ensure her loyalty, it was good enough to act as a deterrent.
Half an hour passed...
Then, he got a call.
Pulling out his phone, he held it to his ear. The caller was his niece.
As he was about to ask what she needed...
"Medicine... I ran out..."
***
[30 Minutes ago]
Sitting on her bed, having yet to prepare to shower, Lillian held her phone to her ear as she talked with Marionette with a tired look on her face.
"And... That was my day."
She had just finished telling Marionette what she did today, only leaving out the part about Marionette’s medicine and what her uncle told her.
"I see... Seems quite... *cough* eventful." Marionette answered with a strained voice, causing Lillian to worry.
Since the beginning of their call, Marionette’s voice had become concerningly hoarse.
"Are you alright, Marionette? Have you been drinking well, your voice sounds rather..."
"*cough*... I’m fine."
Marionette, still in her room and lying down on her bed, looked down at her black veins - the darkness inside her veins had suddenly quickened in spreading.
Gulping down another pill, Marionette waited as the medication took action, causing the darkness inside her veins to retract. But, unlike the previous times where her pain would subside, the pain remained - still burning.
Soon after, the darkness inside her veins returned, as though it hadn’t just receded. The medicine that had worked near-flawlessly in the past... Was failing her.
This caused her to worry; she hadn’t ever encountered something that had managed to beat her uncle’s near-perfect concoctions - he was a master in his field, after all.
"*Cough!* *Cough!*"
Marionette coughed uncontrollably as she held a hand to her mouth; only after a while did the coughing finally subside.
Once she took several deep breaths, Marionette took a look down at her hand and found it to be stained in her blood - she was coughing blood.
She grimaced.
"Marionette? Hey, Marionette! Are you sure you’re okay?! You’re not fighting someone right now, are you?" Lillian inquired worriedly, figuring the coughing was due to a heated battle that Marionette was possibly in - something that Marionette herself would’ve preferred instead of what she was experiencing...
With a frown, Marionette watched as the dark veins continued to spread up her neck and across the entirety of her body.
She opened the pill bottle again and began to consume pill after pill. Marionette wasn’t sure if this was possible, but she felt as though the corruption inside her had begun to grow a resistance towards the pill!
Clicking her tongue, Marionette watched as her dark veins barely receded after another consumption of her pill. She scrounged inside the pill bottle again, but found that...
She had run out.
Seeing this, Marionette’s eyes narrowed. She then looked through her spatial earring and found another pill bottle that... Felt light.
Rattling it, Marionette heard nothing and immediately tossed it away to look for another.
One by one, each pill bottle she found... Not a single rattle could be heard.
Marionette widened her eyes; she was shocked. How could she have run out so fast - she had at least several weeks of supply stored inside her earring!
She knew that she had been taking them rather much lately, especially when she interacted with Lillian over the phone... But...
’Impossible...’
She needed to get more. And fast!
With an upset look in her eyes, she stared at her phone, which fell by her side and told Lillian:
"Apologies, but *cough*, I’ll have to call you back..."
"H-huh—?"
Before Lillian could realise it, Marionette had already hung up on her and called her uncle.