Lyle glanced at Imina. Her usually icy expression was now lit with righteous indignation—and oddly enough, that flash of emotion made her look... almost cute.
"We shouldn't waste our ti playing gas with these petty conspiracies," she said sharply.
"When the sun rises, even the darkest shadows disappear."
Lyle chuckled softly, his tone unexpectedly gentle. "Besides... this might not be a bad thing."
His eyes glinted with a hint of mischief. "Starting tomorrow, keep releasing the Rejuvenation Elixirs. But this ti, we're done with charity."
"The price—set it at one gold coin. Only five bottles a day. Sell them openly at the Adventurers' Guild."
Imina blinked, her amber eyes briefly widening. Then, for the first ti in ages, a radiant smile broke across her typically frosty face.
"Understood."
Three days later...
The entire capital's potion market was thrown into utter disarray.
Every morning, the Adventurers' Guild was packed to the brim with a mob of hopefuls. With only five bottles released per day, and each priced at a re gold coin, the demand reached a fever pitch.
On the black market? Those sa bottles were now going for over a hundred gold coins—and climbing fast.
The effects of the potion alone would've been enough: it could heal crippling injuries and reverse what most clerics considered permanent. Add in so clever scarcity and a dash of exclusivity, and it was practically gold bottled in glass.
And no one—absolutely no one—had managed to replicate Lyle's alchemical formula. Not even close.
Naturally, opportunistic rchants, alchemists, and adventurers alike were losing their minds.
Snag a bottle for one gold, flip it for a hundred. It wasn't even business—it was legalized robbery.
For context: the best high-grade healing potion on the market cost maybe eight gold, tops.
No one hated money enough to ignore this.
The term "genius alchemist", which had previously floated around only among a few insiders, now spread across the empire like wildfire. And just to make it easier to identify him, people started calling him "the black-haired genius alchemist."
anwhile, a more disturbing rumor had begun to spread.
Two noble houses—Rockbruise and Eminst—had been completely wiped out overnight. Every mber of both families was reportedly... dead.
The story was so extre that most people dismissed it as nonsense.
Strangely, the flow of this rumor seed to have been deliberately slowed or suppressed.
And with all the chaos stirred up by Lyle's miracle potion, the general public hardly gave the news a second thought.
Later that night, in a quiet courtyard deep within the noble district...
Lyle had no intention of getting mobbed again. After the public release of his potions, he relocated to a more secluded residence.
He'd been holed up here for days now.
Aside from casually crafting a few more elixirs each day, most of his ti had been spent channeling magic into the Orb of Death.
[Orb of Death: 90/280]
With 90 points of magic stored, he wasn't worried about running out any ti soon.
"Was this Leinas' doing?"
Lyle paused his spellwork, gently turning the enchanted orb in his hand as his thoughts drifted.
The Rockbruise family had been hers. If this massacre wasn't her work, he'd eat his own boots.
As for the Eminst family—he didn't know much about them, but if they were connected to her fiancé, it wouldn't surprise him if she'd wiped them out too.
"Wiped out both families, huh? That woman..."
He clicked his tongue. For soone who usually seed cold and detached, she was vicious when she wanted to be.
Just then, a lithe figure vaulted over the courtyard wall.
Imina landed lightly on her feet, her violet ponytail bouncing as she hurried over.
"Lyle, do you know how much the Rejuvenation Elixirs are going for on the black market now?" she asked, practically glowing with excitent.
As one of the silent architects behind the scenes, Imina had witnessed the teoric rise firsthand—how a bottle worth maybe ten gold had exploded in price from one to five hundred gold coins.
It was madness.
"Five hundred already?" Lyle raised an eyebrow. "Sounds about right."
Supply and demand was universal. No matter the world, rarity bred value.
"And tomorrow," he added, "besides the usual five bottles to the Adventurers' Guild, I'll give you another five to slip onto the black market."
Imina froze mid-step. "Wait, we can do that?"
Before she could ask more—
"You were followed," Lyle said flatly, glancing toward the courtyard shadows.
"What? Impossible!" Imina's face changed instantly.
She'd taken every precaution—looped around the city, checked for tails, even used a few stealth tricks she'd picked up over the years. And besides, hardly anyone even knew she was working with Lyle.
A soft, familiar voice drifted from the darkness.
"Don't bla her."
The voice was light, clear... but weary.
Imina's eyes went wide. Her expression shifted to disbelief. "You!?"
Of course she knew the rumors. She was the one who'd told Lyle about them.
From the shadows stepped a figure cloaked in black. A faint tallic scent—blood—lingered around her.
Leinas.
Imina instinctively tensed.
But Leinas ignored her completely. Calm, composed, she walked straight up to Lyle, pulling a pouch from her cloak.
"This magic pouch contains five thousand gold coins," she said evenly. "It's the maximum it can hold."
"A pity. I had to leave a lot of valuable things behind."
Her face was pale, but a faint smile curved her lips.
"Two thousand wasn't enough."
Lyle studied her. She looked the sa as always—but sothing about her felt different, like she'd shed her old self and erged reborn.
"You reek of blood," he said mildly. "You've killed a lot of people."
"I have." She nodded without hesitation. "Their blood was the only thing that could wash away my sha."
"You don't mind killing?"
"I mind being humiliated more."
Lyle gave a low whistle. "Impressive. You took out two entire noble houses and lived to tell the tale."
In the original story, Leinas only did this after she joined the Imperial Four Knights and borrowed the power of the Bloody Emperor.
So for her to do it now...
Yeah. She was definitely sothing else.
Leinas paused, then smiled—a bright, genuine expression on her otherwise colorless face.
"I swore a long ti ago... if I ever broke the curse, I'd give up anything to repay the one who helped ."
Suddenly, she dropped to one knee.
Her golden hair fluttered in the night air.
Then, with solemn grace, she pressed her clenched right fist to her chest and bowed her head.
Her voice rang out clearly:
"Under the light of honor and loyalty—
I, Leinas Rockbruise, swear this vow of fealty.
My heart, my courage, and my life I offer to your glory.
I swear by the soul—I shall serve you without hesitation,
as your unbreakable shield and unwavering sword.
Your word is my command. Your will, my purpose.
Even if darkness devours the light,
I shall hold fast to this oath.
If ever I betray it—may the knight's spear abandon my soul,
and my body fall to the flas of the deepest abyss."
Her vow echoed through the courtyard like a chi struck in a silent hall.
Imina took an involuntary step back, her face etched with disbelief. Her amber eyes widened in shock.
A knight's oath.
A real one.
Only the oldest noble lines still practiced that kind of vow—swearing eternal fealty in a sacred ritual. Normally, it was done from lesser nobles to great lords... or directly to the Emperor himself.
Never—never—had Imina heard of a noble pledging themselves to an adventurer.
This was history-defying stuff.
Lyle, too, was stunned.
He didn't know much about noble customs, but even he could tell this wasn't just a casual promise like joining soone's adventuring party.
He sighed quietly, rising from his chair.
This woman really had a flair for drama.
He walked over to her, reached out, and gently placed a hand on her left shoulder.
Her body visibly relaxed at the touch.
"I don't worship any gods," he said quietly. "So I can't give you a sacred blessing in return."
"But I'll do what I can."
"I'll make sure the na Rockbruise becos great again—because of you."
Leinas smiled up at him. Then she reached up, took his hand from her shoulder, and moved it in front of her face.
"Leinas Rockbruise," she said, bowing her head once more.
And then—delicately—she pressed her lips to the back of Lyle's hand.
"At your service."
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