Chapter 14

It had been ten days since Alan had been entrusted with the opium business.

The second princess of the Empire, Siena Carlisle, was dealing with an uninvited guest.

“Big sister. Didn’t you say you got rid of that guy, Alan Medoff?”

At being asked such a question, Siena’s brow furrowed slightly.

In truth, she hadn’t been in a good mood for the past ten minutes. The unannounced guest who had suddenly appeared was rather unpleasant.

Though Siena didn’t like many people to begin with, the young lady sitting in front of her was especially irritating.

“You know what, I don’t understand what game you’re playing at, Anais.”

Her half-sister Anais, apparently having forgotten the memory of being undermined in front of their mother, had come all the way to Temseugung Palace on her own.

The reason for the visit was supposed to be an apology.

But since actually facing each other, Anais had only been snidely remarking, “You don’t even want my apology, do you?” and bringing up unrelated topics.

Siena knew well that Anais was cornered.

But that didn’t mean there was any reason to tolerate her attempts to sow discord between her and her close allies. Siena stared at her sister for a while and mocked her.

“The person who cleared your name from the poisoning charges you were framed for was Alan. Why would I get rid of him? If it weren’t for Alan, you’d already be branded a traitor by now.”

“You keep bringing up… poisoned…! Anyway, never mind that. I’m asking because I’ve heard things.”

“I don’t know what you’ve heard.”

“I’ve heard that Alan Medoff has been running errands lately. I’ve heard he even ordered sawdust, masato, and bran that can scarcely be used even for animal feed. And, I’ve also heard he was seen at the blacksmith’s and the herbalist’s.”

“…”

“It was something people told me. Probably just coincidental sightings.”

There was nothing coincidental about it. It looked like Anais had deliberately sent someone to snoop. Siena let out a small laugh and gave her sister’s blatant face a glance.

Regardless of personal feelings, she still had a pretty face.

Just compared to before, subtly… very subtly, it had faded. Like the pimples on her forehead and the split ends.

It even seemed as if her gaze had become somewhat sinister, evidence of her heightened sense of persecution.

‘And she’s even watching Alan now.’

What did she want so badly that she’d go this far?

There was no need to even ask. Anais seemed to realize this as she bit her lip and brought up the main topic.

“Big sister, I can’t forget how that man used to grind his pills in front of me.”

“…”

“Of course, it was something you made him do, so I know he had no choice. Someone who knows how to wield a knife wouldn’t do it on their own accord, right? …But what matters is how I feel. Just thinking about his face makes my teeth chatter.”

“Actually, it was Alan’s plan.” Anyway, Siena decided to hear her out.

“So?”

“Just let me handle him. From how you’ve demoted him to a lackey, it seems like you’ve grown tired of him.”

“…”

“I’m different from you, so I won’t kill him. I’ll just exile him. On a merchant ship traveling to the east for about ten years? Oh, it would also be nice if you handed over Bono’s custody.”

It seemed Anais was convinced that Alan had been abandoned for some reason.

But her assumption wasn’t baseless. It was true that Alan had been acting peculiar recently.

Alan had been seen around in street clothes, buying all sorts of strange items.

While purchasing lime powder was understandable, when she heard he had ordered three different kinds of sawdust of varying particle sizes from the lumberyard, she had questioned what he was up to. He had also acquired an assortment of other odd materials.

‘I didn’t ask him what he was up to. That was the agreement.’

It was indeed peculiar.

But contrary to Anais’s confidence, Siena had not abandoned Alan. She was merely waiting for him to deliver results.

Siena tapped on the table a few times and fell silent for a moment.

Had her demeanor led Anais to believe that there was a possibility?

Anais looked at her with gleaming eyes and made another tempting offer.

“Alan Medoff and Bono Miller. If you give me those two, I’ll drop out of the Academy.”

“You’ll leave the Academy?”

“Yeah. Wasn’t that your wish? I only endure the external activities to pressure you. …Anyway, life with you is hell, so I do have intentions to quit. In return, I just want you to hand over two resources you’ve already discarded.”

Having said that, Anais curled her lips into a somewhat eerie smile.

‘You’ve really gone off the deep end, haven’t you?’

Of course, to Siena, she still seemed somewhat cute.

But even Anais, who had been pretending to be a good girl, was left with nothing but ferocity.

She had always been excessively attached to the Academy, yet now she was making her revenge contingent on quitting.

There was no intention to accept her offer. While Siena did want Anais to leave the Academy, Alan was too valuable to give up for this reason.

“I’m afraid just quitting won’t be enough.”

“What? I was trying really…!”

“It’s not bad that you continue attending the Academy. After all, it’s not easy to keep checking on professors and classmates these days, right? …Besides, come to think of it, you might encounter the relatives of the people sacrificed for you this time. Now, that will be quite a spectacle.”

“…You’re insane. Siena.”

Siena laughed and let the profanity slide. Then, Anais muttered something else and abruptly left.

That ended the negotiation.

‘Still, she provided some entertainment at the end.’

Was this what sibling affection was like? Siena laughed and stood up.

Inspired by what her younger sister said, she suddenly wanted to check up on Alan’s business.

Even though they had an agreement not to interfere, she could at least inspect. She just wanted to see why he was taking his time selling what could just be mixed into wine.

Soon, Siena headed to the modest palace annex she had lent to Medoff Pharmaceuticals.

She thought she’d take a quick look around and return.

However, as the building got closer, Siena’s face slightly wrinkled.

“What the hell is he doing?”

It was due to a suspicious smell emanating.

**

After hiring the Bono brothers.

I had them set up a properly ventilated production room and personally procured the necessary raw materials for the manufacture.

What was immediately essential was quicklime, ammonium chloride, and various-sized heat-resistant containers.

The latter was hard to get, but it wasn’t something money couldn’t buy. Although, thanks to this being a fantasy world, there was heat-resistant magic, and it came at an enormous cost.

Also, I ordered items that weren’t immediately necessary.

Sawdust, masato, bran, agar, and more. All these were preparations for artificially cultivating psilocybin, which Empress Lianhua adores.

Although they could have been prepared gradually, there was a reason I had ordered them early.

It’s because I felt someone’s distant gaze watching me.

Therefore, as a way to throw them off, I also purchased several items that weren’t needed. Exposing information would lead to no good, so I employed some clever tricks.

Had I been overcautious?

‘No. Anyway, I’ll have to distribute soon, right?’

Over the last few days, I had been working nonstop day and night on the production.

Mixing, precipitation, filtration, heating.

Dividing the finished product into sealed containers could be given to the Bono brothers, but I judged it wasn’t yet time to share the manufacturing process with others and had been handling everything alone for days.

‘What insanity.’

Occasionally, I questioned what I was doing, not because of self-contempt, but purely out of exhaustion.

Still, is there any choice? I have to endure.

Thinking about this, I was about to add ammonium chloride to the mixing solution I got from the herbalist when—

“Alan?”

I heard someone calling my name. That too, a woman’s voice.

Who else could it be, coming here? Thus, I halted the work and, for the first time in a while, ventured out of the production room.

“There you were holed up, Alan.”

The investor who owned 49% of the shares was staring at me in surprise.

She had been passively observing without a word, but perhaps had started feeling uneasy. To be honest, it hadn’t been such a long time, but considering Siena’s personality, she had waited quite patiently.

“Your Highness, my disheveled appearance embarrasses me in your presence.”

“Disheveled is an accurate description, but it’s fine. …Still, may I ask what you’re working on? If you consider this an interference, you don’t have to answer.”

“Of course, I’m in the midst of producing medicine.”

“…It looks like it’s taking a lot of effort. Judging by your appearance.”

My condition seems a bit rough, huh? I just smiled.

“I’m not wasting time without reason.”

“That’s good. Looking at the equipment here, it seems like all the cash I invested has been used. I trust that this investment wasn’t wasted… meaning it must be far superior to merely purified opium.”

“You’re spot on, Your Highness.”

“Is it better than what I made?”

The opium wine in port that she had made—something she concocted on her own after countless experiments for recreational use—couldn’t even hold a candle to the product I was making here.

“Undeniably, it has superior efficacy.”

“Then, when…?”

“I already have some completed stock. Would you like to see it?”

I showed her the item at my words.

White crystalline powder—morphine.

A narcotic with a pain-relief effect ten times stronger than regular opium.

Siena carefully observed it and nodded. She likely inferred it was a concentrated efficacy substance. She seemed curious about where and how such a product would be sold but, thankfully, did not ask.

Instead, she kindly warned me.

“Alan. Many people are watching you. I don’t have to tell you who they are, right?”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“You’d best be careful not to have any accidents. They’ll find any excuse to pick a fight. If this were my business, I would have protected it, but it’s not, isn’t it?”

“I thank you for the warning.”

At these words, as if signaling for me to figure it out, Siena turned on her heels.

What I had just told her was genuinely sincere. I was already aware of the many eyes watching me, but it didn’t concern me.

Because I intended to use that attention to my advantage in my business. It was something I had been pondering while manufacturing morphine.

We already had over 15 kilograms of completed morphine, with more set to increase.

This was a quantity that absolutely couldn’t be disposed of indiscriminately.

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