Chapter 40

The waiting time was long, yet short.

When Winnie returned to the tea room, her face was flushed and she was slightly out of breath. The distance from here to the Alchemists' Association was quite far, so she had spent a relatively longer time.

If her pace had been slower, perhaps her return would have taken even longer.

But she didn't, because she wanted to go and come back as soon as possible.

Or perhaps, she was worried that being slower would make him angry.

Winnie placed the small leather box on the tea table and opened it, looking at him with a blank expression, "The items are here."

Xialan nodded, opened the clasp of the small leather box, and then he saw ten small transparent bottles filled with liquid.

Five were purple, and five were green.

They were neatly arranged, one above the other.

"How do I use them?" Xialan picked up one of the purple bottles and showed it to her.

Winnie took a small step forward, pointing at the purple bottle in his hand, "These are the failed products. You can drink them directly, one bottle per day. It's best not to take more, as they are failed products, and taking too many in a short time might exacerbate the side effects."

"What about the green ones?" Xialan's eyes turned to the other bottles in the box. "To neutralize and alleviate the side effects?"

"Yes." Winnie nodded, a bit ashamed. "After drinking the purple potion, drink the green one. If the order is wrong, the neutralizing and alleviating effects might be reduced."

Xialan took out another green bottle and opened both the purple and green bottles, placing them on the table.

"Excuse me... what are you doing?" Winnie looked puzzled. She thought he was going to drink them now, but she had a vague sense of foreboding.

"Is it safe for a normal person to drink?" Xialan asked.

"No, the side effects might be more pronounced," Winnie replied.

"Drink it." Xialan looked at her, his gaze cold.

"What?" Winnie took a small step back, looking at him in disbelief.

Her vague sense of foreboding had indeed come true.

"I said, drink it," Xialan repeated.

"Why?" Winnie bit her lip, her eyes moist as she looked at him, trembling.

"Will you drink it, or not?"

Meeting the girl's eyes, Xialan's were cold, and his face was stern.

"Are you afraid it's poisoned?" Winnie thought of something and asked.

He was silent, seemingly confirming her suspicion.

He was a cautious person, especially when dealing with others.

He wouldn't easily trust anyone.

After the chain of events following Ambefin's death, he trusted even less those who were involved.

When Winnie left the house, what she didn't know was that he had been secretly following her to verify.

To verify whether she would call the Capital Guard.

She didn't.

But this didn't guarantee that the potions he gave her were safe.

One of the branches of alchemy, potion masters, if they wanted to kill someone, their methods would be more secretive than anyone else's.

Because as long as a person is alive, they need to eat and drink.

They could kill their target through various channels, and in some cases, even through skin or air contact.

In the wars between countries on the Eldran continent, potion masters were often an important presence that could not be ignored, and he knew this better than anyone.

"Do you still not trust me?" Winnie looked at him, trembling.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Why?" Winnie asked.

"If you were in my position, would you easily trust a strange person who asked you for treatment? Especially if that person might be a criminal being pursued by the Capital Guard?" Xialan said calmly.

Winnie lowered her head, her small fists tightly clenched under her large cloak, her body trembling. After a while, she looked up at Xialan. Despite the fear in her voice, her eyes showed a newfound calm.

"Will you kill me afterward?"

"Why would I kill you?" Xialan asked.

"I don't know who you are, but to keep a secret, I think you will kill me in the end," Winnie said.

Xialan took out an ancient longsword from his ring, the same one that had beheaded Ambefin.

He slowly drew the sword, his movements gentle.

"Clang—"

Winnie's whole body tensed, almost losing control.

Because the young man's sword was suddenly at her delicate neck.

"Afraid of death?" he asked.

Winnie looked at the cold blade, breathing rapidly, and nodded.

"I've killed many people, men and women, old and young—" Xialan said slowly. "And you are not a special one."

"Why do you kill people?" Winnie suppressed her fear, and when she looked at him, his eyes seemed to have lost their luster.

"Why?"

He tilted his head slightly, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth, his pale face adding a touch of eeriness.

"Because they stood in my way."

"You're sick," Winnie said.

Her voice trembled, but she wasn't mocking him. It was her intuition as a potion master.

"I know," Xialan nodded. "That's why I've been restraining myself."

"But you can't control it," Winnie said more boldly. When she was in her potion master state, many things were forgotten, even fear.

"Do you know?" Xialan laughed, but there was no warmth in his smile.

Winnie shook her head, meeting his eerie smile. "I don't know, it's just my intuition as a potion master."

"Ha—"

The sword was sheathed and put back into the ring.

He sat in a chair, gently picking up a bowl of tea and sipping it slowly.

As if nothing had happened, it seemed like a mere illusion.

"Will you drink it, or not?"

"Drink!"

The girl mustered her courage, picked up the purple potion, and drank it, followed by the green one.

Her actions were like a pout.

"When will the side effects start?" Xialan asked, looking at the seemingly calm girl.

"In the time it takes to drink a bowl of tea," Winnie said, her head lowered, her hands clutching her abdomen.

"Can you make poisons?" Xialan suddenly asked.

"Yes, but it will take time," Winnie said, her face showing determination.

"Poisons that can kill even high-ranking swordsmen when applied to a blade?" Xialan continued.

"As long as I have the money, I can make any poison."

Winnie took out a gold coin from her pocket and looked at him, her face showing a forced smile. "Before I reached a senior rank, my world lacked only money."

Xialan raised an eyebrow, looking at her with interest.

"I like people like you."

"I like people like you too."

"Can you make the poison I want within three weeks?"

"Are you going to kill someone again?"

"Do you want me to die, or do you want the person you want to kill to die?"

"If you die, where will I find someone to sponsor my experiments?"

Putting down the tea bowl, Xialan waved his hand. "You can go. I think the potion's side effects are about to kick in."

"Aren't you afraid the potion is really poisoned? After I leave, I might take the antidote," Winnie suddenly smiled.

"That's why I said, I like people like you," Xialan shook his head. "Go."

Winnie nodded, her small steps a bit unsteady as she quickly walked to a corner of the teahouse. Her stomach was churning, reaching its limit.

After paying and leaving, Xialan asked a servant in the teahouse for directions and then disappeared.

For a long time, a very long time.

Winnie's face was pale, her steps unsteady, as if a gust of wind could knock her down.

Leaning against a wall, Winnie's face showed a self-mocking smile.

She came from an ordinary family. One year, her mentor, who was also her uncle, suddenly returned to her home. In her memory, her uncle was a well-known figure.

Because he was an alchemist whom even the local nobles treated with respect.

Her uncle Collins was a faint figure in her young mind, mostly known from her parents' stories. He had left home early, and contact with the family was almost non-existent.

She didn't know why her uncle suddenly returned, but from her parents' warm welcome, she knew the family was happy to have him back.

For some reason, Collins unexpectedly liked her when she was young, indulging her various mischievous behaviors.

Later, her parents told her that because she had a talent for alchemy, her uncle treated her differently.

She didn't know what alchemy was, and neither did her parents, but they knew that if she wanted to become a great person like her uncle, alchemy was the path.

"If I become an alchemist, our family's situation will improve, and Father and Mother will be very happy, right?"

She asked with a childish face.

Her parents stroked her soft hair, happily telling her, yes.

She loved her parents and wanted to make their family happier.

So she started learning alchemy from her uncle.

Later, when her uncle was about to leave and return to the capital, she didn't want to go, but her parents hoped she would. On the day she tearfully said goodbye, her parents told her, "We hope little Winnie will become a great person and return. When that happens, Father and Mother will be very happy to see such a Winnie."

Perhaps, with her parents' expectations, she left with her uncle.

She left her hometown.

This farewell seemed like a permanent one.

When she was thirteen, her uncle told her that her parents had died in a fire.

The girl felt as if she had fallen into a dark abyss.

She was very sad, her heart torn apart.

She wanted to go home, but her uncle told her that if she returned now, he would abandon her, and she would never be able to study alchemy again.

She didn't understand why her uncle treated her this way. Was it really impossible to see her parents one last time? Why was he threatening her like this?

In the end, she chose to stay, because of her parents' words when they said goodbye.

She secretly vowed to become a great person and return to her hometown.

But what she didn't expect was that one day,

Her uncle suddenly raped her.

The frail and small girl couldn't resist her uncle's brutality. When that fiery heat entered her body,

Her world collapsed.

That night, Winnie cried silently in the dark room. When the crying stopped, a strange laugh echoed, as if another Winnie had appeared in the world.

She became her uncle's successor, and she paid a price.

On the day of an important potion experiment, Winnie secretly swapped a highly toxic potion. She watched as her uncle screamed in agony.

She laughed, laughing until tears streamed down her face.

Her mentor died, dying in an experimental accident.

As a healer, she was a junior potion master.

As a poisoner, she was a poison.

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